Alexandria Artist Shines in Prestigious Regional Female Art Exhibition

Alexandria artist Amy Perlman Gura, standing beside her piece on the left at opening night August 29 at DC gallery. Photo courtesy Amy Perlman Gura

WASHINGTON, DC – The hum of a packed art gallery on busy U Street buzzed with excitement Friday night August 29. On a sublime evening, as the last month of summer wound down, artists and guests descended on the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery in Washington, D.C. for a historic event. Women Artists of the DMV, an ambitious exhibition in the works since 2023, was making its debut. Opening Night ushered in the largest curated fine arts show in the U.S, with over 550 female artists chosen from a field of over 4000 applicants.

This mammoth arts survey will run through the fall, scattered across 18 venues in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Two of those exhibitions will be held in Alexandria. The first is the Athenaeum, opening September 28, 2025 at 4:00 pm and Nepenthe Gallery on December 4. Around forty women from Alexandria are featured in this months-long art exhibition.

One of those Alexandria artists lucky enough to be selected from the huge field of candidates is Amy Perlman Gura. Not only was she chosen, but her work is showcased in the very gallery that hosted the grand opening night. Gura, a DC native, moved to Alexandria when she married her husband exactly twenty years ago.  Her silkscreen print, “Woman of Valor with Redbud,” will hang at the Hisaoka Gallery through September 28.

In a conversation with Zebra, Gura said her piece is the culmination of a deeply personal journey.  It is inspired by her grandfather, who had created a painting dedicated to his wife.

“It’s a simpler piece, but there’s a certain grace to it. It feels like it fits this gallery for healing,” Gura mused. She shared that when her mother was dying of cancer, she attended a retreat run by the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts which houses the Joan Hisaoka Gallery.

“It’s an interesting sort of serendipity that I was just matched with this particular gallery. It feels like the woman of valor in my piece is my mother.”

This impressive project is curated by the renowned Florencio Lennox (Lenny) Campello, a legendary figure on the local arts scene, with four decades and over 200 shows to his name.

The “Women Artists of the DMV” exhibition is not just a showcase of established female artists but also a platform for mid-career and emerging artists to shine.

Campello, who has been a significant figure in the DMV arts scene since 1997, emphasized the communal effort behind the exhibition. “This region is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of commercial art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, embassy art spaces, and fine arts organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes some of the most unique and creative visual art scenes in the nation,” he remarked. Campello told the gathered crowd it’s an even better market than New York.

But even for a seasoned pro like Campello, the scale of this project was monumental. “Never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be 18 venues,” he told Zebra in a phone interview the day after the opening. “I never initially thought that this was going to reach these proportions. I know it surprised everyone.” Campello chose one piece from each artist by sifting through their website and Instagram account, a digital-age curatorial method for a show of unprecedented scope. The exhibitions are staggered, with new shows opening weekly across the DMV. Campello says he is still receiving submissions.

Campello said the term DMV, acryonym for DC Maryland, and Virginia, has been traced to him, according to Washington City Paper. The paper notes that the very first reference of this term is credited to Campello’s art blog in 2003.

To many, still to this day, when they hear DMV, they think of the Department of Motor Vehicles. To wit, Campello joked he received applications from women artists in places like West Virginia who actually work at the DMV. They thought Campello was curating an exhibition of women artists who work at the Department of Motor Vehicles by day while nurturing their artistic passions in the off hours. He had to explain to them that no, in this case, DMV is not about driver’s license renewal.

Close to 100 people came to view the show in DC and listen to the legendary local art guru.

“I firmly believe that the best place for your artwork is on somebody else’s walls. Somebody else’s house, not your studio,” Campello told the crowd.” Think of your art as a footprint.”

When mom or grandmother dies, guess what?”, Campello continued. “One of the few things a family keeps? Art? Whatever grandma had gets passed around so you’re leaving a footprint. Chances are that probably at least 50% of the stuff that you see on this wall, 300 years from now it’s still going to be around somewhere. That beats any digital thing, right?”

Gura, the Alexandria artist, is an Affiliate at Discover Graphics Atelier, a printmaking studio, in the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. Rosemary Covey, another local artist, will be featured at the Katzen Arts Center at American University on September 6.

Left: Smith Center for Healing and Arts Executive Director Lisa Simms Booth. Photo: Judith Fogel/Zebra Press

Women Artists of the DMV is a first-of-its-kind survey of the region’s female artists. It’s a sprawling, bold endeavor meant to shine a light on the creative pulse of the community, from established artists to those just beginning to make their mark.