Dark Side, 2011, oil on canvas, 59 x 47 inches

The summer doldrums are over and we’re starting to get back into the swing of things. So what can we look forward to in the arts this week? Let’s check it out:

>> In this era of putting everything online for the world to see can we still reasonably expect to maintain a copyright on the work we produce? That’s what the panelists at Lunch Bytes – Copy Culture will discuss today at the Goethe-Institut from 12 to 2 p.m. Free. RSVP to rsvp@washington.goethe.org

>> The Art Museum of the Americas is hosting two exhibitions showcasing the work of seven Chilean artists. The exhibition on the ground floor is Traveling Light and features site-specific installations by five artists that focuses on the materiality of contemporary art and it’s connection with politics. The second exhibition, Common Place, uses photographs, videos, and surveys of 100 women to examine the relationship between housekeepers and their housewife employers. Opening reception tonight at 6:30 p.m.

>> The Library of Congress is always on the lookout for awesome new things it can acquire and make available for public viewing. Over the past decade the Library has amassed a collection of original cartoon artwork in the form of political and social satire, comic-strip and comic-book drawings, and New Yorker magazine illustrations and graphic narratives. (I know, right? We always suspected the government was full of comic book nerds but we finally have confirmation!) And because they don’t want to keep the fun all to themselves they’re putting 48 works on display in the Graphic Arts Galleries on the ground level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building for us to enjoy. The exhibition Timely and Timeless: New Comic Art Acquisitions opens tomorrow. The galleries are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday so you’ll have ample opportunity to spend your lunch hour geeking out over cartoons.

>> Opening tomorrow at the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland is an exhibition featuring 60 pieces of artwork by the center’s namesake, David C. Driskell. The show, Creative Spirit: The Art of David C. Driskell, aims to explore the depth and breadth of his career. Co-curated by Dr. Adrienne L. Childs, Independent Scholar, and Dr. Julie L. McGee, former Curator of African American Art, University Museums, University of Delaware, the opening reception will feature an hour long discussion between Professor Driskell and Artist Carrie Mae Weems. Reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Discussion begins at 6 p.m.

>> Washington Project for the Arts will open the fourteenth installment of it’s biennial exhibition of works by emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia tomorrow. Options 2011 will include the work of 14 local artists and highlights the variety of contemporary artwork in the DC area. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. and a talk with the curator and artists will be on October 1 at 3 p.m.

>> The Kreeger Museum has two new sculptures that they’re looking to show off by Washington Sculptors Group artists Martha Jackson-Jarvis and Dalya Luttwak. The work will be featured on the grounds of the museum and the artists will be at the opening reception tomorrow evening if you’d like to pop over and say “hi.” 6 to 8 p.m.

>> Transformer Gallery’s transformers exhibition opened back on August 31 but tomorrow they will be featuring Poesy/ Poetry/ Poetics with Casey Smith from 6 to 8 p.m. Free at Gallery 31.

>> Morton Fine Art gallery will be exhibiting the work of California artist Vonn Sumner and hosting an opening reception for his solo exhibition Late Empire Style on Friday. Sumner’s show features figures that appear to be warriors wielding swords and shields but are actually contemporary figures wearing sneakers carrying trash can lids and giant paint brushes. 6 to 8 p.m. The artist will be in attendance.

>> When you see the paintings of Mary Page Evans you get the feeling that if you looked hard enough you might see a familiar feature or location, a beach or wooded area that you visited once many years ago. They bring back memories that are just out of focus but that at any moment might become crystal clear. Years of experience has allowed her to create the beautiful and elegant paintings that are on display at Addison/Ripley Fine Art. This Friday will be an opening reception for her exhibition Skies, Tree and Sea from 6 to 8 p.m. Ms. Evans will be in attendance.

On Saturday:

>> For those looking for something family friendly to do then the family workshop “Barriletes: Kites from Guatemala” at the Art Museum of the Americas is for you. From 10 a.m. to noon you’re invited to make and fly your own kites. RSVP to aospinaj@oas.org.

>> Join Washington Post Culture Critic Philip Kennicott, Wanda Aikens, executive director of Ward 7 Arts Collaborative, Mary Brown, executive director of Life Pieces to Masterpieces, local artists Rik Freeman and Craig Kraft, David Furchgott, president of International Arts & Artists, and Deirdre Thayer Ehlen, public art project manager of D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities for “The Importance of Art in Public Places: A Panel Discussion” at the Anacostia Library. The discussion will focus on why government and public institutions invest in public art and the impact that art has on communities. 1 p.m. Free.

>> Fall season at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery opens with Sam Gilliam: Paintings. Opening reception 4 to 6 p.m.

>> Running in tandem with their transformers exhibition is transformers: the next generation at the Transformer Gallery. This exhibition features new work by five recent graduates of Corcoran College of Art and Design’s class of 2011. Opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

>> Irvine Contemporary will be hosting Gaia: Urban Interventions an exhibition of new work and on-site installations that will be on display at Montserrat House. Gaia’s street work offers a type of reverse-vandalism that surprises viewers and provides them with a moment of reflection while his gallery work focuses on the contemporary city and the environment. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m.

>> Two new exhibitions will be opening at Civilian Art Projects on Saturday, Pan’s Pipes, featuring the work of Ryan Hill, Erick Jackson, George Jenne, and Site/Schema by Nikki Painter. Pan’s Pipes seeks to recreate the sights, smells, and sounds of head shops and other illicit places where teens go to escape reality. The exhibition covers two galleries and includes a black light storeroom and a back room filled with works on paper, dozens of images, and found objects. Painter’s work focuses on the relationship between order and chaos. Bright colors and patterns are brought together in her drawings as well as a site-specific installations. 7 to 9 p.m.

>> The Hamiltonian Gallery will have two concurrent exhibitions dealing with issues of identity, power, fear, and safety. Artists David Page and Nora Howell use video, photography, and sculptural installations to examine the signs and symbolism of identity in every day exchanges. From shooting paintballs at someone hidden inside a giant yellow duck decoy to figuring out what coffee color your skin tone most resembles, it’s sure to have you looking at things in a whole new way. Both Page and Howell will be on hand for the opening reception for one-night only performances. 7 to 9 p.m.

>> There will be a closing reception for Natalie Cheung’s show at The Art Registry Gallery at Todd Christofaro from 7 to 9 p.m.

>> When I was ten my family went from DC to San Diego on the train. It was an amazing trip and introduced me to a lot of things I’d never seen before. One thing in particular was graffiti covered freight cars. I remember wondering where each car started, who painted it, and who else would see it along the way. Aerosol artist Tim Conlon might have thought something similar when he first discovered freight train graffiti in Baltimore while a student in college. Derailed 2 is Conlon’s solo exhibition at Art Whino and will feature life-size aerosol paintings of freight cars, weathered model trains with scaled-to-size graffiti, and photographs of trains in their environs. 8 to 11 p.m.

Next Week:

>> If you made it through Saturday’s myriad of events and openings then took advantage of Sunday and Monday to recover you should have plenty of energy to check out Fall Arts Colloquia: Courtney Smith at the Katzen Arts Center’s Abramson Family Recital Hall on Tuesday. Smith uses constructed and deconstructed furniture to create her sculptures. 6 to 7:30 p.m.

>> As a kid you probably saw a cardboard box and imagined a rocket ship, or a car, or a huge mansion with an indoor pool, ball pit, twisty slide, and ice cream shop. No? Just me? Well anyway, after seeing what artist Artemis Herber does with cardboard you might look at it a little differently. In her exhibition Sculpture 1275: Artemis Herber with Washington Sculptors Group in partnership with Axent Realty, Herber creates specific shapes using linear, structural cuts to help her bend and sculpt the cardboard. An opening reception with the artist will be held on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m.