Artist Panel: The Narrative of Portrait at Willow St. Gallery

The Willow Street Gallery in Takoma, DC is pleased to announce a group exhibition to close out 2023 featuring works by twelve DC Arts Studios artists: Susannah Brown, Jacqueline Bryant Campbell, Mei Mei Chang, Martha Crawley, Jonathan Ege, Sharon Farmer, Kaeti Hinck, Sonnie Mason, Rohan Thomas, Aime Vailes-Macarie, Katie Jett Walls, and Stephanie Williams.

A portrait is the representation of an individual seen through a historical and cultural lens from the artist’s perspective.
Since ancient times, people have been fascinated with images of themselves and others. Flourishing in Europe in the Renaissance, portrait art was mostly realistic, intended to impress viewers with the status and beauty of influential, wealthy, or religious subjects and their surroundings. Later, social realism challenged this tradition by including middle and working class people and settings. In the early 1900s and beyond, many artists shifted to less realistic styles including expressionistic and psychological portrayals that conveyed inner turmoil or emotions, and raised issues of identity, gender and race. Abstract approaches deconstructed traditional forms. In every case, the portrait serves as a narrative of its subject, and portraiture itself has a narrative which reveals shifts in cultural perceptions and values.
Today artists explore all variations of portraiture. The exhibition at Willow Street Gallery presents a variety of media, ranging from painting and drawing to photography and textiles, and a variety of styles: realistic, documentary, satirical, and abstract.

THE NARRATIVE OF PORTRAIT will run from November 10 to December 1, 2023. An opening reception will take place on Friday, November 10, 2023 from 6-8pm in the Gallery.

There is a Panel Discussion scheduled for Friday, November 17th from 6-8pm, featuring Jacqueline Bryant Campbell, Jonathan Ege, Martha Crawley, Katie Jett Walls, and Christian Wulffen.

All events are free and the gallery will be open to the public during each event, as well as DC Arts Studios Annual Open Studios on November 12, 2023 from 12-5pm.

Private showings require an appointment. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.
There will also be a live Portrait Demonstration with Jonathan Ege on December 1st.
The Willow Street Gallery is a part of DC Arts Studios. The gallery’s mission is to provide exhibition opportunities for artists and DC Arts Studio members. Led by Jonathan Ege, the gallery is run by a DCAS members-only committee that oversees the schedule of exhibitions, jury selection and installation.
For additional information please contact [email protected] or phone: (202) 294-0271