Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy art in person or virtually.

This weekend: Solo shows and an open exhibit at the League; Shanye Huang’s large-scale paper installations and paintings at CCACC; Ron Meick’s recent works at Washington Printmakers; Natalie Cox’s abstract landscapes at The Athenaeum; and Transformer’s Envisioning at Katz Arts Center.

October 2021 Open Exhibit

Our October Open Exhibit, juried by artist and Howard University Adjunct LecturerSummer Brown, is now on view! Open exhibits are a great way to view the breath of mediums and styles of our member artists. It is on view through Sunday, November 7.

Tania Karpowitz: Headlands

Expressive faces merge with boundless skies and landscapes in Headlands, a series of large-scale portraiture by Tania Karpowitz. Breaching the irregular, jagged edge that exists between person and place, Karpowitz’s paintings push the boundaries between a face and the environment, where head, mountain, and sky encounter one another, joined and distinct. Read what the artist says about her exhibit and artistry here.

Dongpei He: The Principles of Nature

The Principles of Nature, by painter Dongpei He, features graceful, luminous visions of peony flowers. Painted in watercolor and ink on rice paper using traditional oriental brushwork, Dongpei’s work is a celebration of the beauty and perseverance of nature.

Read Washington Post art critic Mark Jenkins’ review of Headlands and The Principles of Nature here.

Shanye Huang: Life Imprint

Shanye Huang’s art connects his southern Chinese folkloric heritage with the disciplined skills of Chinese academic painting and western contemporary concepts. In Life Imprint, Huang’s exhibit at CCACC Art Gallery, the artist’s large-scale contemporary painted cut-paper installations and paintings explore the resilient and tenacious human spirit that sustains us through the multitudes of struggles and emotions at these difficult times. His art comes with a personal narrative and observation yet reflects largely our shared experiences. It is on view through December 18, 9318 Gaither Road, Suite 215, Gaithersburg, MD.

Ron Meick: Illuminations

Printmaker Ron Meick’s exhibition of recent works explores illumination as both a phenomenological characteristic of light and enlightenment of information or wisdom acquired from visual objects. Meick utilized several printmaking techniques—woodcuts, relief prints, and monotypes with chine collé printed on or over images—to make his one-of-a-kind objects. Illuminations is on view through November 28 at Washington Printmakers Gallery (WPA), 1641 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., and online here. The opening reception for Illuminations is Saturday, November 6, from 1-4 p.m. at WPA.

Natalie Cox

“I create landscape paintings that represent my visual expression of a strangely abstract domain,” says Virginia artist Natalie Cox. Her nonrepresentational landscape and portal-like compositions speak to contemporary environmentalism and create an illusionistic world that allows the viewer to decide what forms are familiar to them. Natalie Cox is on view through December 12 at The Athenaeum Gallery, 201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA. The opening reception is Sunday, November 7, from 4-6 p.m.

Envisioning

Art organization Transformer presents Envisioning, a Benefit Exhibition + Online Auction featuring 100+ artworks in a variety of mediums by a diverse group of local and national artists. Envisioning is on view November 6 – 21 at American University’s Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, with an accompanying online art auction.

Enjoy the weekend!