August in Alexandria: Art Exhibits You Shouldn’t Miss
A Sure Cure for the Summertime Blues: Exploring the Colors of the Season
Alexandria, VA – APRÈS-MIDSUMMER MUSINGS
The palette of summertime bursts with bright, intensely saturated color. From the azure blues of a picture-postcard perfect beach day, to the silver-lining shades of a cooling rain, to the swirling scarlet, tangerine, coral, amethyst, and ochre brushstrokes painting a fire-in-the-sky summery sunset, Mother Nature celebrates the season with great bravado.
Art currently on exhibit around Alexandria and beyond captures the sultry season’s fields of gold, the poetic beauty of a tree, and sun-soaked skies blinding and blue. Given the painterly plethora of galleries and museums all around and surrounding Port City, art school is still IN for the summer.
LOOKING UP AT DEL RAY ARTISANS
“I think that I shall never see. A poem lovely as a tree.” Del Ray Artisans Gallery turns our view to the verdant canopy shading this Earth. Inspired by Joyce Kilmer’s beloved poem Trees, curator Robyn Seaton McGarry presents As Beautiful as a Tree – on exhibit through August 30, 2025.
The opening reception on Friday, August 1, is free and everyone is invited. Check the DRA website for countless creative art workshops and events throughout the month. Don’t miss making your own tree-inspired mixed-media collage, inspired by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy Thursday, August 7, from 6:30 to 8pm during First Thursday in Del Ray.
COLOR ME HAPPY!
Over in the West End at the Hilton Mark Center Hotel lobby the DRA Gallery Without Walls program exhibits select works from Del Ray Artisans members. The intimate showcase emphasizes the transformative power of both monochromatic and multicolored compositions. Experiencing Color, diverse perspectives in art, presented in partnership with the Alexandria Office of the Arts, is on exhibit through September 21, 2025.
NEW AT NEPENTHE ~ IT’S ART + WINE + CHEESE = A PARTY TIME for ART!
Thursday is the new Friday each week from 6 to 7:30 at Nepenthe Gallery in Hollin Hall at 7918 Fort Hunt Road. The dog days of August have gone to the ponies! On August 7, the gallery will host a fundraiser for We Will Survive Cancer showcasing polo pony art as well as South American art and artists.
On August 14, meet landscape artist Marietje Chamberlain. Her mysterious, esoteric landscape imagery is luminous and haunting. Working as both an illustrator and commercial artist, her paintings evoke fairytale lore and worlds about which dreams are made.
New works by Andreas Barrett are on exhibit August 21. Andreas is a musician who turned to painting to further express his creative voice during the pandemic. His vivid, kinetic abstractions demonstrate the evocative essence of color and its elevating impact upon our psyche, especially when the post-COVID world holds us captive still.
Discover newly acquired work on August 28. Nepenthe represents emerging and established artists from within the Alexandria community, across the USA, and the world over. Relax with a glass of wine and discover these new artists for yourself at the final ART + WINE + CHEESE of the summer.
FALLING for FALLS CHURCH ARTS
If you haven’t yet discovered Falls Church Arts, make sure to catch the final weeks of the 2025 All Member Show (part 2 artists M-Z) before all the art is gone. The light-infused gallery at 709-B West Broad Street in Falls Church is open every day. Online gallery exhibit viewing and previewing is also available.
Their next exhibit is Layers, an all-media invitational demonstrating the various mediums and techniques by which depth is expressed through layering. Layers, juried by Tricia Ratliff, opens August 16 with a meet-the-artist reception from 7:00 to 9:00pm. The exhibit closes September 28, 2025.
SUMMER SALUTATIONS
Cool down via the aesthetically pleasing AC inside the many fabulous art spaces throughout Alexandria and across the DMV. Celebrate the colors of summer in all its many splendored spectrums. Art free for all is all around. From the Art League of the Torpedo Factory to the Zenith Gallery in DC, you’ll find your shade in art.
