Alexandria, VA – September came and went all too quickly, chock full of Hallmark moments for the art groupies in ALX and all around the DMV. Highlights of the season were the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Torpedo Factory Art Center and the opening, straight from the City of Light, of the blockbuster exhibit Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment at the National Gallery of Art.
This highly anticipated exhibit, here through January 19, 2025, explores the origins of the Impressionist art movement. Despite not having the virtual reality feature of the Paris show, curators have masterfully recreated the experience of visiting the storied Paris art salon expositions, a radical departure from the well-established norms of 19th-century aesthetics. This show reunites the Impressionist rock stars Cèzanne, Degas, Money, Manet, Morisot, Pissarro, and Renoir, each credited with kickstarting shifting mores in painting, juxtaposed with less-famously seminal yet nonetheless influential artists you’ve never heard of before.
The National Gallery of Art is the only opportunity to enjoy this revisiting of Paris 1874. While the exhibit is not ticketed, the queues can be daunting. On a weekday, the lines frequently extend beyond the rotunda of the second floor galleries at lunchtime but dissipate later. Early risers lining up outside the Oz-like outer steel doors of the National Gallery’s four entry points sprint to the exhibition portal. An anonymous gallery staffer likens it to the running of the brides at the Filene’s Basement wedding dress sale.
Make no mistake: This is a not-to-be-missed moment in the DMV art scene. This exhibition, more than most in recent memory, is a scholarly fait accompli for sure. It’s a deeper dive into the cultural, political, and social chasm predicating Impressionism into the momentous movement burgeoning in later 19th Century Paris, the cradle of modern art.
Who needs virtual reality? The NGA has promoted the exhibition wonderfully with fabulous French fare in the cafes and a très chic 1874 Parisian-centric NGA Nights soirée. Parisienne partiers were treated to an evening viewing of the exhibit and Can Can dancing demos. Impressionist impresarios created copyist pastels of several exhibit masterpieces before dancing the night away under the stealth momentum of the ginormous Calder mobile.
Mark your calendars for this month’s NGA Nights theme event, Dia de Los Muertos: October 10, 6:00 – 9:00 pm. Tickets are free, but you must sign up for the lottery to gain guaranteed entry. If you forget or miss the entry deadline, there are always walk-up opportunities that begin at 5:30 outside the East Building. The final NGA Night event for the year takes place November 14 and is called To the District, With Love, a shout-out to our nation’s capital.
Across the moat at The Torpedo Factory, a soirée of a different sort was held. Last month, the quintessential working artist studio space celebrated 50 years since its 1974 founding. The weekend-long pARTay kicked off Friday night with an appropriately 70s-themed happening, open to the public. Saturday night was the art prom Gala, where local VIPs and Torpedo Factory studio artists past and present gathered to honor Torpedo Factory founder Marian Van Landingham.
This month marks the 29th Art on the Avenue Festival in Del Ray on October 5. Six hundred eighty artists and artisans applied for a vendor space along the ever-popular Mount Vernon Avenue. AOTA veteran fan-favorites return this year, attracting over 50,000 festival goers along with the many first-time vendors among the 350 exhibiting artists, as do the four stages of live music and numerous eclectic food temptations, including the annual pie-baking contest, with a gamut of fun activities for the kids. Founder of Art on the Avenue Pat Miller has also curated an exhibit spotlighting featured AOTA artists, which is still on view at the Mark Center Hilton lobby art space in the West End.
Alexandria City’s 275th Birthday Party continues with the ALX275 Photography Challenge Contest this fall. The theme is “Connecting to Our Past to Define a Brighter Future” in Alexandria. Open to all shutterbugs, young and older, phonies and pros, entries will be accepted for an online exhibit on the City website and social media. Selected entries will be awarded a gift bag of ALX 275 bling with their photographs exhibited at City facilities across town. Winners will be announced at the 2024 Holiday Tree Lighting. Enter by Friday, November 1 at 11:59 pm. Go to the City website and look for the PDF with the Photo Challenge details.
Exhibits and Events of Note
The Art League hosted the hottest party of the season on September 26 at the fabulous new Hotel Heron. Art on the Rocks, a fundraiser for the local arts community, returned showcasing masterpieces of a culinary and cocktail kind inspired by selected works of 14 local artists. Members of the Art League were permitted to submit up to three works of art for consideration. One piece was chosen among 100 entries by each of the mixologists and chefs from around Alexandria who divined an appetizer and cocktail using the artwork as a muse. Contenders such as Bastille, Captain Gregory’s, Casa Luna, Chadwick’s, Chop Shop Taco, Hank’s Oyster Bar, Hotel AKA, Hotel Heron’s Kiln, Josephine, The Majestic, People’s Drug, Pork Barrel BBQ, Vermillion, and Whiskey & Oyster vied to win the top honors.
The music of Rook Richards entertained a packed house of art aficionados inside while others were tasting Basil Hayden Bourbon at the pushcart in the alley or after-partying on the stylish rooftop bar serving up expansive views of Old Town and beyond. Judges selected Chop Shop Taco’s floral-infused fuschia elixir and savory taco as the top pairing. Captain Gregory’s took second-place honors with a seductive Bees Knees homage cocktail of Laphroaig Scotch and Sipsmith gin. The cocktail, titled Follow the Queen, took its buzz from Julie Paez’s mixed media piece, Save the Bees Garden.
Del Ray Artisans is taking STEAM to the next level with an exhibit devoted to exploring challenges to the creative process, given the inevitable interplay between AI and art. On exhibit from October 3 to 26 and curated by Nancy Galib and Nancy Mahoney, Artificial or Intelligence? features artwork in all media, which examines the possibilities of a future world driven by AI.
Curators Galib and Mahoney and the City of Alexandria Office of the Arts also cohost an event, AI & Artists: A Discussion on What Artists Should Know, at the Torpedo Factory grand hall from 6:30 – 8 pm on October 19. Learn all about AI and protecting your creativity from the experts. A performance at Waterfront Park by Laptop Orchestra follows the program.
Nepenthe Gallery Hollin Hall at 7918 Fort Hunt Road is as busy as ever each week in October! Each Friday, the gallery features special pricing on a selected work of art. Get on the Nepenthe mailing list for first dibs on some great art deals. Be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday’s ART + WINE + CHEESE events from 6 – 7:30 pm.
* October 3: Come Play with Maggie O’Neill’s “DC Money Map,” when there will be a raffle for a Ben Franklin ($100).
* October 10: Meet Upstate NY artist Kathy Feighery
* October 17: Meet playful landscape artist Ruth LaGue from Massachusetts
* October 24: Washington Commanders Art!!! Hail to the…Maroon and Gold!
Printmakers, Inc. held a wonderful open house last month to celebrate the Torpedo Factory’s 50th Anniversary. One lucky partier won an artist portfolio of prints! Now through November 30, 2024 there will be a solo show called Characters. The playful, humorous artistry of Claire A. Meyer demonstrates her deft ability in multiple printmaking mediums: collagraph, intaglio, relief, reduction linocut, and pochoir, a type of stenciling.
The holidays are coming, folks! Art makes a marvelous gift for all ages. Gift certificates for art instruction and workshops are a gift that keeps on giving. The Art League and Del Ray Artisans have extensive class offerings throughout the year. And if you’re suffering from Christougenniatikophobia, a fear of Christmas, every weekend in Alexandria is an artful one. That is surely something to celebrate!!!
ICYMI: Enjoy Chirilagua Neighborhood Arts Day in Alexandria Oct. 12
