Dawn Black, Pilgrimage, gouache, ink, and watercolor on paper, 14 x 21 inches, 2011.

>> Dawn Black’s The Magic Foxhole, inspired by an unpublished J. D. Salinger short story, illustrates a distorted cycle between death and foolishness, portrayed through the use of whimsical colors, fanciful fashion, griefs of war and human behavior. Her ink, gouache, and watercolor works on paper opens at Curators Office with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

>> Tonight, Hamiltonian Gallery hosts artists Joyce Yu-Jean Lee and Matthew Mann who will discuss their newly-opened duo solo shows Passages and Buddy Pictures, respectively. 7 p.m., free.

>> Artisphere takes an intimate look at the life of painter Frida Kahlo through photos from her very own personal collection. 6,500 photographs sealed upon her death were removed from storage 100 years after the artist’s birth and inventoried by Mexican photographer and curator Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, who culled the exhibit down to 259 images. This grouping is further divided among six periods of the artist’s life and reveal details of her artistic origins, the traumatic bus crash that battered her body, her photography, her loves, her husband, and their home. Friday Kahlo: Her Photos opens Thursday with a free reception from 7 to 10 p.m. On Saturday, catch the 2002 film Frida at 8 p.m. in the Dome Theatre. $8

>> Starting Thursday, the Atlas Performing Arts Center presents the third installment of INTERSECTIONS – A New America Arts Festival, a 12-day celebration of visual arts, dance, films, music, theater, workshops and family events that reach beyond cultural boundaries. Take a look at the full schedule for times, tickets, and locations.

>> Artist Tony Savoie’s shadowboxes mirror the troubles many of us have these days about politics, power and disappearing humanitarianism and the ability we all have to break from the pack. Using text and imagery, each shadowbox becomes its own political landscape demonstrating human decency and brutal reality. In Thoughts, Words and Deeds opens at Long View Gallery on Thursday with a reception from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

>> Also on Thursday, the Hirshhorn chases away the winter blues with Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color and Space, a large-scale light and color installation exploring spacial and optical effects, bringing all of your senses out of hibernation. The exhibition is kicked off Thursday evening with a panel discussion on the international Light and Space movement from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

>> The free films at the National Gallery of Art focus on on the use of still photography in moving-picture format. The Photofilm! series gets kicked off with How Much Movement Does the Image Need?, featuring a series of films that bridge the nature of photographs and moving images at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The theme continues on Sunday with Recall and Memory, another set of films that look closely at the different functions of film and photography in cinema, 4:30 p.m. All films are free and screened in the Gallery’s East Building Auditorium and seating is on first-come, first-seated basis.

Art Notes:

• Starting tonight, see The Art League’s annual Student/Faculty Show in the The Art League Gallery, and mark your calendars for the closing reception on March 4 from 2 to 4 p.m.
• On Sunday, former NBA players Elliot Perry and Darrell Walker discuss their personal art collections, which include African American Art and art of the African diaspora, with Michael D. Harris, associate professor of art history and African American studies at Emory University, in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium at 2 p.m., free.
• Congratulations to Critical Exposure’s students at The Washington Metropolitan High School who used their photojournalism skills to successfully lobby for a proper library and resources in which to learn. Join them in celebrating this victory at the grand opening this Friday from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
• Art Enables turns 10! Join them for Cake, Confetti, & Canvases starting at 2 p.m. Saturday. Meet the artists and see the changing-of-the-guard as organization founder and Executive Director Joyce Muis-Lowery announces her retirement at the end of February and welcomes Mary Liniger as the new Executive Director who assumes the position in March.
• Submit your photos to the FotoDC National Cherry Blossom Photo Contest in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The early bird deadline is March 11.