Roots by Kate McConnell. 18″x36″ oil on canvas.

>> The new Leica retail store downtown isn’t just the place to go for fancy cameras and high quality lenses. At the grand opening today it’s also the place to see photographs by internationally acclaimed photojournalist Peter Tunley. The exhibition will include black and white silver gelatin prints of images produced in Indiana and Paris. While tonight’s lecture series with the artist is sold out, there will be future events held through the Leica Akademie so be sure to check those out. Grand opening hours: Today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

>> Tonight, Washington Project for the Arts and Hamiltonian Artists present part two of Art21: Change and History. This screening of Change, from PBS’s acclaimed series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century, focuses on Ai WeiWei, El Anatsui, and Catherine Opie, three artists who blend art and activism. An artist-led discussion will follow the 7 p.m. screening at Hamiltonian Gallery.

>> Phillips after 5 is Going Dutch on Thursday in honor of the Dutch artists in the Snapshot exhibition. You’ll be able to sample food and drink from the region and watch a double Dutch performance by the DC Retro Jumpers. At 6 and 7 p.m. a gallery talk will cover Urban Photographic Pioneers including George Henrik Breitner and Henri Rivière. Tickets are required for Phillips after 5: $12 for visitors; $10 for those over 62 and students; members are free.

>> PM @ The TM returns to the Textile Museum with Hapi Hour starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Grab a drink and relax on the lawn or head inside to explore Woven Treasures of Japan’s Tawaraya Workshop and Sourcing the Museum, two exhibits currently on view. At 7 p.m., return to your blanket for a screening of A Honeymoon in Hell: Mr and Mrs Oki’s Fabulous Trip (Ôki-ke no tanoshii ryokô: Shinkon jigoku-hen). Tickets are $15 and include one drink (bring your own blanket for the lawn).

>> It’s common knowledge that you guys love dogs – at least in the “dogs are so cuuuute!!” way, if you love dogs in any other way I don’t need to know – so I fully expect all of you to head out to Strathmore Thursday evening for the opening reception of Strathmore Unleashed! It features work from 25 artists, including William Wegman, and takes a look at the impact of those cuddly canines in our lives including their economical, emotional, and societal significance. If an evening of looking at paintings, photographs, video, and sculptures related to dogs just wouldn’t be the same without your own four-legged friend then you’re in luck! The opening reception runs from 7 to 9 p.m. with a special Yappy Hour from 6 to 7 p.m. Of course your dog must be a good canine citizen and you’re responsible for cleaning up after them, so keep that in mind before you bring them along.

>> Lisa Dillin creates sculptures to simulate an outdoor environment indoors using materials reminiscent of their original, natural forms, like wood-grain and engineered wood, to question our de/connection with nature. The Alternate Present opens at Flashpoint Friday with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

>> SCIENCE! Science is awesome. What happens when you combine a love of science with a love of creating art? You get METALmorphology: A Coup d’Espace Project by Edward Bigelow Baker III at Washington Project for the Arts, of course. Baker uses his background in physics and chemistry to create sculptures through the process of electrodeposition. Once the sculptures are created he uses microphotography to capture their detailed surfaces. An opening reception will be held on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m.

>> Two solo exhibitions will be opening at Touchstone Gallery on Friday – It’s My Nature by Kate McConnell and Vivid Horizon: Color and Light by Colleen Sabo. McConnell’s paintings of treescapes capture the humanistic gestures and spirit of the trees while her abstract landscapes come to life through her use of vibrant color. Sabo has lived on the Chesapeake Bay for 27 years and strives to bring awareness of the beauty of the Bay by capturing landscapes with color and light. Opening reception is from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

>> Frédéric Nauczyciel connects modern life with the French countryside through richly-designed photographs, sparking conversation about contemporary living and a return to a more simple farming-geared mindset. Le Temps Devant: Anachronism and Utopia in the French Countryside opens at Honfleur Gallery on Friday with a reception at 7 p.m.

>> In a time when you can read a constant stream of conscience from anyone and everyone in the world is there ever a point when you’re taking in too much information? Zeitgeist III: Too Much Information?, curated by Sondra N. Arkin and Ellyn R. Weiss at the DC Arts Center, features the responses of 15 artists to the effects of this constant stream of information coming to us from a variety of devices and directions. The opening reception is on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. A panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. and the artists and curators will talk on Sunday, June 10 at 3 p.m.

>> The creation of amazing art is not exclusive to adults, many times the work created by people under the age of 18 is better than anything you’ll see in a gallery or museum. Beginning on Friday with the opening reception from 7 to 10 p.m. the work of thirteen T.C. Williams students will be on display at Del Ray Artisans. These students are all members of the National Art Honor Society and many will go on to study art in college.

>> Friday also marks the opening of The DC Latino Collective Art Show at The Fridge. This trio of artists, comprised of Mauricio Lopez, UNJUANTED (Juan Lopez), and Vicente Herrera, represent the creative forces from three Washington, D.C., neighborhoods, and whose surrealism and abstract expressionist works inspire hope, memory and fantasy. 7 to 11 p.m.

>> The Alexandria Art Market returns Saturday for another season at Nicholas A. Colasanto Park, adjoining the Del Ray Artisans gallery. With over 25 artists present each week, this rain-or-shine event will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month, May through September, and also November (sorry, October).

Art Notes:

• The National Gallery of Art free films continue this week with Henri-Georges Clouzot’s homage to his friend Picasso, Le Mystère Picasso on Wednesday and Thursday at 12:30 p.m. On Sunday at 4:30 p.m. the gallery will show the ciné-concert Segundo de Chomón Shorts, which features 10 short films by visionary Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón. The series “Japanese Divas” ends this week with Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood on Friday at 2:00 p.m. Two films will be show on Saturday: at 1:00 p.m., Flowing, an adaption of a novel by female writer Aya Kōda and at 3:30 p.m., Yasujiro Ozu’s Equinox Flower, the director’s first color film.
• Meet multi-media artist Roni Horn as she discusses new projects tonight at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Horn’s work, which surveys identity and gender, is currently part of the Museum’s Dark Matters exhibit. 7 p.m., free.
• On Saturday at 10 a.m. at Hemphill Fine Arts, Colby Caldwell will discuss the current exhibition gun shy. Caldwell will cover the anatomy of the exhibition and how it was organized, as well as its relationship with photography in the 21st century.
• Washington Printmakers Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition for the whimsical and thought provoking work of Ellen Verdon Winkler. An opening reception will be held on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. and a gallery talk will take place on Saturday, May 12 from 1 to 4 p.m.
• Glenn Moreton’s acrylic cityscapes appear as a photograph-painting hybrid, thanks to his realist style (it’s the window reflections and metallic nature of the vehicles that puzzled me). Get Real opens at Gallery 555dc on Saturday with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m.
• An opening reception for Gene Davis: Paintings and Drawings from the Estate of the Artist will be held at Marsha Mateyka Gallery on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m.
• On Saturday, Hillyer Art Space hosts Cinco de Sandra, an evening lineup of storytellers, spoken word poets, comics writers, cartoonists, and more. 8 to 11 p.m., $5.
• Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design will present Brown Davis Interiors: DC/Miami Design Mix a lecture by interior designers Rob Brown and Todd Davis on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Non-member tickets are $15; Member tickets are $12; Non-Corcoran student tickets are $7.50.

A HUGE thanks to Angela Kleis for helping out with this week’s overloaded Arts Agenda.