Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: Raphael’s masterful drawings, political art that speaks to the times, charming gardens for enjoying sculpture, and more!
Raphael and His Circle
Raphael was one of the greatest artistic figures working in the Western classical tradition. To mark the 500th anniversary of his death, the National Gallery of Art presents Raphael and His Circle, an installation of 26 prints and drawings that can be viewed as a 3-D virtual tour, along with a curator’s lecture and other resources associated with the artists and those in his circle.
This Familiar Space/Cet Espace Familier
“I use the camera to quietly document the threads that connect us, visible in the natural and built landscapes if we take time to look,” says artist Stacey Evans. Her project This Familiar Space/Cet Espace Familier visually links sister cities Charlottesville, Virginia, where Evans lives, and Besançon, France, where she did an artist residency, through photographs, videos, and collages created in collaboration with artists and students from both cities. See it online at Charlottesville’s Second Street Gallery.
Outside Art
Our region is reopening! Three area sculpture gardens are welcoming visitors back, but with adjustments to meet new health and safety guidelines. The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, with its beautiful fountain and art by Tony Smith, Barry Flanagan and Louise Bourgeois, is now open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland, features works by Richard Serra, Michael Heizer, and Jeff Koons. And with 300 acres of outdoor space, it is a walker’s paradise (reservations required).
The Baltimore Museum of Art has two lovely gardens—the Janet and Alan Wurtzburger Sculpture Garden and the Ryda and Robert H. Levi Sculpture Garden—spanning three terraced acres with pieces by Alexander Calder, Auguste Rodin and Elsworth Kelly. A cellphone tour with commentary is available. Access to facilities such as restrooms, cafes, and gift shops may be limited so check with museums before visiting.
What If? The Prison Drawings of Carlos Walker
Carlos Walker, a self-taught artist who was formerly incarcerated, offers a racial role reversal as a provocative antidote to systemic racism in his exhibit What If?, a series of 48 oil pastel drawings. It is on view through July 5 at the Center for Contemporary Political Art, 916 G St. NW.
Everything is Double
Starting with paper that she handcrafts, Elzbieta Skorska explores the timeless theme of duality—in man, gods, nature, ideas, gender—in layered, gauzy images that make the familiar feel mysterious. Everything is Double is on view through July 29 at the Athenaeum Gallery, 201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA.
Stay safe and wear your mask.