Welcome to Artful Weekend, our new weekly listing of area art happenings! Check it out every Friday for fun and interesting exhibits and events occurring throughout the DMV. Share your experience at these and other weekend art destinations by tagging us (@theartleague) and including the hashtag #artfulweekend on social media.
This weekend: Imaginative ways to celebrate Lunar New Year, Lou Stovall’s colorful remix, hand-made magic, and more!
Lunar New Year Art and Fun
Happy Lunar New Year! Ring in the Year of the Rat with Asian exhibits and fun art activities: Spend early Saturday afternoon making paper lanterns, woodblock paintings or prints, and watching sugar painting demonstrations at The Kennedy Center’s Chinese New Year Family Day. Stick around until 5:30 to see the REACH Winter Lanterns (up until February 2), a stunning display of 100 lamps crafted by Chinese artisans and made from 10,000 colored LED lights, adorning the Center’s public plaza. On Sunday, the Freer Gallery’s sixth annual Lunar New Year celebration is the place to be for art, food, and performances representing the richness of New Year celebrations in China, Korea, and Mongolia.
Lou Stovall: New Work
Known for his collaborations with Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Gene Davis, and Lois Mailou Jones, renowned artist and printmaker Lou Stovall has a solo exhibit titled New Work, at Addison/Ripley Fine Art through February 22. This series of assembled collages, composed of fragments from his prior abstract prints, is a testament to the beauty and possibility of color; opening reception Saturday, 5-7 p.m., Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Avenue, NW.
Winter Exhibitions
Political satire, surrealism, mid-century photography, and works from the Washington Print Club are some of the themes explored in the American University Museum’s six new Winter Exhibitions, on view until March 15. Mix and mingle with artists, curators and patrons at an opening reception Saturday from 6-9 p.m.; American University Museum, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW.
Material Women: The Power of the Feminine Hand
In Material Women: The Power of the Feminine Hand, at Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery through March 24, ten female artists reframe pursuits typically associated with women—think sewing, weaving, embroidery, and typing—into something more mystical, adding enchantment to the inanimate; Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, 1632 U Street, NW.
High Caliber
High Caliber, at Gallery Underground through January 31, features work by six members of the Arlington Artists Alliance chosen to represent the best of a wide-ranging collection of different styles and media; Gallery Underground, 21 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia.