The Kreeger Museum

07/17/2024

Chan Chao’s arresting portraits are photographed outdoors, with natural light illuminating their subjects’ expressive faces and glimpses of contextualizing landscapes. In the late 1990s, Chan traveled to Burma (now called Myanmar), the country from which he and his family had emigrated twenty years earlier. He photographed pro-democracy fighters and activists along the country’s remote borders with India and Thailand, people who are among a broad coalition of ethnic and religious minorities, students, and others who stand in resistance to the military dictatorship that took power in the aftermath of British colonization, which ended in 1948. A land of tremendous natural resources prior to colonization, by the 1990s, Burma was among the ten least developed nations in the world according to the United Nations.

Over twenty-five years later, Burma’s civil war continues largely outside of the media spotlight, as do many other conflicts and conditions in which humans struggle on the planet that we share. In 2003 and 2004, Chao photographed an internationally-composed group of UN peacekeepers in Cyprus. The serene sea and mountains of the island belies its history of colonization by first the Ottomans and then the British, as well as the ongoing dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots over governance and territory. A couple of years later, Chao visited a prison in Peru, photographing women from an array of countries all convicted for having a part in global drug trafficking. As with members of the Burmese resistance and UN peacekeepers, the Peruvian prisoners come from many backgrounds to form a diverse community coexisting in challenging circumstances.

Chao’s work can be viewed in “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at the Kreeger” through October 5th.

Pictured:
First Image:
Various artworks by Chan Chao and Shahla Arbabi

Second Image:
Chan Chao, “Sandra & Son”, October 2006, 2021, Country of Origin: Peru, archival pigment print

Third Image:
Chan Chao, “Ladislav”, January 2004, 2021, Country of Origin: Slovakia, archival pigment print

07/09/2024

Understanding the natural world not as a realm differentiated from the human mind and body, but as a united field animated by the same vital energy, David Carlson makes abstract paintings where the external and internal kaleidoscope onto one another. By varying areas of thick, viscous paint with translucent passages, pulsing color with veiling whites, and cellular shapes with arterial networks, Carlson balances a dizzying variety of sensual form within the rectilinear boundaries of a painting.

For Carlson, there is an undeniable spiritual pursuit in his painting practice. As a longtime student of Tai Chi who has lectured on Western art in China, he tempers the Western notion of the sublime, or awe-inspiring, power of nature so influential to Romantic landscape painters of the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth-century (The Kreeger Museum’s “On the River Meuse”, 1883, by Eugène Boudin gives a sense of European Romanticism), with a perspective informed by Chinese traditions of an integrated relationship between people and the environment around them. Notably, the visual vocabulary that Carlson uses to express this cross-cultural perspective is one that has roots in the abstract breakthroughs of artists in the Kreeger collection such as Arshile Gorky, Wassily Kandinsky, and Pablo Picasso.

Carlson’s work can be viewed in “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at the Kreeger” through October 5th. Join us for an artist talk and Tai Chi workshop with Carlson on September 14th. More information can be found on our website.

Pictured:

First image:
David Carlson, Tree, 2023, acrylic on canvas

Second image, from left to right:
David Carlson, Blood is the Root and Call, 2020, acrylic and oil on canvas
David Carlson, Qi Field, 2020, acrylic and oil on canvas

Third image:
Jae Ko, JK2158 Red on Ash Black, 2023, rolled paper and colored ink. Courtesy of the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery.
David Carlson, Talking with a Bird, 2023, acrylic on canvas

Images courtesy of Danbi Co.

07/02/2024

Shahla Arbabi has had a long career as an abstract painter, studying and teaching in Iran (her country of birth), Italy, and the United States. Arbabi’s abstractions are suffused with subtly toned color, light, and shadow that elicit emotions and evoke the hues and shapes of architecture and landscape. Over the last two decades, her work has become more representational in response to the crises of war, human rights abuses, population displacement, and environmental precarity that weigh heavily on the early twenty-first-century. 

Bringing forward atmospheric passages from her earlier abstractions, Arbabi creates roiling seas, cloudy skies, and blazing firestorms against which silhouettes, fighter planes, and small, unstable ships suggest human struggles and vulnerabilities. Forces of destruction and decay also appear to be at work in small sculptures of crumbling architecture. In other more purely abstract paintings (such as “Black Sea”, 2023), made over a number of years and completed in 2022 and 2023, Arbabi offers an elegiac vision of the sea in moments of calm pierced by light, perhaps drawing upon memories of her youth in the Middle East.

Arbabi’s work can be viewed in “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at the Kreeger” through October 5th. 

Pictured:

First image, from top left to bottom right: 
Shahla Arbabi, “Pollution”, 2023, mixed media on paper
Shahla Arbabi, “Separation”, 2023, mixed media on paper
Shahla Arbabi, “Takeoff”, 2023, mixed media on paper
Shahla Arbabi, “Waiting”, 2023, mixed media on board
Shahla Arbabi, “Ominous Night”, 2023, acrylic on board
Shahla Arbabi, “Spiral”, 2023, mixed media on paper
Shahla Arbabi, Frozen in Time #2, 2022, acrylic, cardboard, and metal
Image courtesy of Danbi Co.

Second image: 
Shahla Arbabi, “Takeoff”, 2023, mixed media on paper Image courtesy of the artist.

Third image:
Shahla Arbabi, Frozen in Time #1, 2022, acrylic, cardboard, and metal
Image courtesy of Danbi Co.

06/14/2024

Explore our latest exhibition, “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at The Kreeger” curated by Kristen Hileman. On view through October 5th, the exhibition features fourteen artists from nine countries reflecting on our interactions with the natural environment.

Pictured:
Soledad Salamé, “In Silence”, from the “In Silence” series, 2001-02, resin and insects. Courtesy of Goya Contemporary and the Artist.

Monsieur Zohore, “Primitivism (Plinth)”, 2012-2024, fake flowers and resin in Windex bottles. Courtesy of the Artist and Magenta Plains New York.

Marty Koelsch, “Marshland Elegy”, 2024, American sycamore. Courtesy of the Artist; metalwork by Ringo Lisko.

Kristin Putchinski,” Reaping & Sowing”, 2023, digital video loop with sound; running time: 12 minutes, 30 seconds. Courtesy of the Artist.

linn meyers, “Mirror World”, 2022, acrylic ink on panel. Courtesy Jason Haam, copyright linn meyers.

Kei Ito, Burning Away #22, 2023, silver gelatin chemigram (sunlight, honey, various oils, and syrup). Courtesy of the Artist. 
Kei Ito, Burning Away #7, 2022, silver gelatin chemigram (sunlight, honey, various oils, and syrup). Courtesy of the Artist.

Images courtesy of Danbi Co.

06/01/2024

The Kreeger Museum opened its doors 30 years ago today, on June 1, 1994. Join us today from 10am-4pm to explore our 30th Anniversary Exhibition, “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at the Kreeger”, curated by Kristen Hileman.

05/19/2024

The Kreeger Museum offers a range of unique, interactive educational experiences for students that encourage and deepen students’ appreciation of art, architecture, and music. Our three school programs, ‘Hear Art / See Music’, ‘Seeing Shapes and Colors’, and ‘The Making of Architecture’, highlight different aspects of the permanent collection, making concepts and content accessible through specialized tours and hands-on workshops led by Teaching Artists.

Support our education program by joining us for The Kreeger Museum’s 30th Anniversary Celebration on June 1st. View ticket information at the link in our bio.

05/09/2024

David and Carmen Kreeger were prominent supporters of the arts and shared their world of art and music with the Washington DC community and beyond. A passionate amateur musician, David Lloyd Kreeger often performed with friends, including prominent musicians, in informal musicales in their home. Today, the Museum is proud to honor this legacy by presenting classical concerts and opera, as well as Jazz at The Kreeger, a monthly series that features DC artists.

Support our music program by joining us for The Kreeger Museum’s 30th Anniversary Celebration on June 1st. View ticket information here:

https://www.kreegermuseum.org/30thanniversarycelebration

Pictured:
1969: A performance in the Great Hall where David and Carmen Kreeger often hosted small, informal musicales. The hall’s large open space is topped by three vaulted domes that create a natural amplification system that enhances acoustics.

1972: David Lloyd Kreeger performs in an ensemble with friends in a lower level gallery.

2023: Alfred Yun and Bobby Mundy perform on the Sculpture Terrace at The Kreeger Museum’s Open House.

2023: Elijah Jamal Balbed’s East Coast All Stars perform as part of the Jazz at The Kreeger series.

04/30/2024

Join us for a very special evening to celebrate thirty years of sharing art, architecture, and music! Click the following link to learn more and purchase tickets for our 30th Anniversary Celebration on June 1st.

https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/upyaYUoBqgZVT

We are honored to open our anniversary exhibition, “Here, in this little Bay: Celebrating 30 Years at the Kreeger”, and welcome Guest Curator Kristen Hileman and the participating artists.

Enjoy fabulous food and drink, live jazz, and conversation with artists in our iconic building and stunning grounds. Your contribution helps support our exhibition and education programs.

04/22/2024

Do The Loop this Saturday! Join us for a free day of indoor and outdoor programming in collaboration with Dumbarton Oaks, Katzen Art Center, Jackson Art Center, Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Klagsbrun Studios, and Georgetown University Art Galleries.

All locations will be open on April 27th from 11am–4pm The Kreeger will be hosting Sculpture Garden tours at 12pm and 1pm, Kreeger Kricket family scavenger hunts throughout the day, and will have food trucks on site from 12:00pm–3:00pm.

Stay up to date on the day’s events by visiting and dotheloopdc.org. See you there!

Participants:
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
Dumbarton Oaks

12/07/2023

Give the gift of art this holiday season!

Share art, architecture, and music with a loved one by gifting a membership to The Kreeger Museum. Click the link below to learn more:

https://www.kreegermuseum.org/support/membership

05/24/2023

Born to Far Rockaway, NY, Baltimore-based Kyrae Dawaun received a B.F.A. from Corcoran College of Art and Design, and an M.F.A. with a concentration of Painting at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been invited to work, reside, and exhibit in Los Angeles, Italy, Toronto, and Berlin. Dawaun has been awarded Fellowships to Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, and Hamiltonian Artists. He has recently exhibited at Museum of Modern Art Arlington, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Hampton Roads, and Sculpture Center in Long Island City.

Dawaun’s “a confluence toward an ill Delta” can be viewed in “Doing The Work”, our collaborative exhibition with @ on view through August 5th.

Pictured: Kayrae Dawaun, “a confluence toward an ill Delta”, 2023.

Cover image by Vivian Marie Doering.

03/07/2023

Through language and language-based works on paper, K. Lorraine Graham documents and reimagines the tasks and gestures required to support and care for oneself and others. By creating poems and drawings that emerge from performances and processes exploring everyday life, she aims to offer new and strange strategies for material, emotional, intellectual and creative survival. Imbued with a sense of humor and sadness, her work points to the possibility of thriving despite the disembodied, frenetic, neoliberal demand for productivity.

Graham’s “Study”,  can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: K. Lorraine Graham, “Study”, 2023; Thomas Couture, “Seated N**e in a Landscape”, n.d.

Cover Image by Anne Kim.

03/04/2023

Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter is a mixed media artist who combines painting, printmaking, collage, and assemblage in her work. She investigates themes of identity, agency, spirituality, and memory using acrylic paint, ink, and colored pencil, and she is a cofounding member of Black Artists of DC. Gibson-Hunter began this project in 2019 and completed 111 gris gris in two years. A gris gris is a talisman that is filled with spiritual text. Each element was matched and titled with the name of a Black musician or tune. “After family, friends, and art making, it is the music of my people continues to sustain me,” says Gibson-Hunter. The gris gris were arranged as if they were attempting to leave a white room, which for this installation symbolized the extremely limited world of whiteness.

Gibson-Hunter’s “Gris Gris” series can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter, “Mary Lou Williams (Mary Lou Williams)”; “Yes. We Must Be Free (Pharoah Sanders”; “Mario Bouza’s Chucho (Mario Bouza)”; “Some Call Me Mr. Re (Sun Ra); Never Trapped (Terry Lyne Carrington), 2020.

03/02/2023

Adrienne Gaither () is a visual artist whose abstract paintings explore a variety of topics including race, familial ties, emotional health, class, and the politics of geometric abstraction. Gaither states, “My personal experiences as a Black q***r masculine-presenting woman informs my art and practice. By using geometric abstraction, I deconstruct the world as I see it and reassemble it in a way that preserves and encodes the breadth of my perspective. I am aware of the tension between canonized geo-abstract movements such as Suprematism and Constructivism and their aesthetic origins, which are stolen interpretations of indigenous West African pattern making co-opted as tools of intellectual elitism and white supremacy.” Gaither’s art practice is an act of resistance against the constraining boundaries of the figure and whitewashed art history, providing the ability to produce emotionally meaningful and visually compelling works.

Gaither’s “This Won’t Save Me”, 2021 can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: Adrienne Gaither, “This Won’t Save Me”, 2021; Milton Avery, “Gaspé”, 1941.

Cover Image by Anne Kim.

02/28/2023

Tim Doud’s paintings and drawings address two seemingly distinct bodies of work, one figurative and one abstract. These bodies of works serve as a backdrop to broader discussions around constructed identities, branding, and commodity culture. Doud graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. Doud is interested in the ways painting genres function as practice and cultural signifiers. He establishes perimeters -- rules and obstacles governing the craft and development of the work. He believes that the cultural referentiality and legibility of a work is key, and often well read by viewers.

Doud’s “PSK (Plank)”, 2023 can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: Gene Davis, “Untitled”, 1969; Tim Doud, “PSK (Plank)”, 2023.

Cover Image by Anne Kim.

02/23/2023

Rex Delafkaran is an Iranian-American interdisciplinary artist and dancer from California, based in Washington, DC. Delafkaran holds a degree in Ceramics and Performance Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Using movement and objects she explores ideas of failure and hybridity among bodies, objects, identities and language. She is the co-founder and co-director of “but, also”, an artist-run space that sells artist made products, produces exhibitions and works with a mission of empowering artists to both self-sustain and experiment. Delafkaran makes her work at STABLE arts studio in Washington, and exhibits and performs nationally and internationally.

Delafakaran’s “Walkflag (Exarcheia, GR)” can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: Rex Delafkaran, “Walkflag (Exarcheia, GR)”, 2019.

Cover Image by Anne Kim.

02/21/2023

Leigh Davis is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores grief, memory, and storytelling and how these universal experiences help define what it means to be human. Trained as a photographer, her work now ranges across media, from sculpture and installation to sound, performance, and video. In recent years, Davis has been producing a body of work about end-of-life experiences (ELEs)—in particular, how they help us understand the emotional intricacy of grief and the ways in which we construct our beliefs about human consciousness and a possible afterlife.

Leigh’s video installation “Workshops” can be viewed in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Pictured: Video still from Leigh Davis, “Workshops”, 2022.

Cover image by Anne Kim.

02/17/2023

View Nancy Daly’s work, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack” in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Nancy Daly is a Washington, DC-based interdisciplinary artist whose work examines systems created and/or perpetuated by technology and the effects these systems have on identity and social behavior. By creating interactive machines reminiscent of outdated technology, prints, replicas and sculptures, she addresses the contradictions present in various technology that are at once ephemeral and entirely permanent and challenges the viewer to look beyond the user-friendliness of online technology and consider what their participation in these technologies mean.

Daly earned an MFA in Photographic and Electronic Media at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and holds a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design from James Madison University. She is an alum of the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship Program (2014-2016) and maintains a studio practice at STABLE.  Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Gallery 406 at Elon University (Elon, NC), New Image Gallery at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) and Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, MD).Daly is the co-founder of “but, also”, an artist-run space in Washington, DC dedicated to the sustaining of art practices, in a multitude of forms, through a series of short-term projects.

Pictured: Wassily Kandinsky, “Contrasts”, 1937; Nancy Daly, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack”, 2022.

Cover image by Anne Kim.

02/17/2023

View Nancy Daly’s work, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack” in INTERLUDE, our collaborative exhibition with on view through March 25th.

Nancy Daly is a Washington, DC-based interdisciplinary artist whose work examines systems created and/or perpetuated by technology and the effects these systems have on identity and social behavior. By creating interactive machines reminiscent of outdated technology, prints, replicas and sculptures, she addresses the contradictions present in various technology that are at once ephemeral and entirely permanent and challenges the viewer to look beyond the user-friendliness of online technology and consider what their participation in these technologies mean.

Pictured: Wassily Kandinsky, “Contrasts”, 1937; Nancy Daly, “All Work and No Play Makes Jack”, 2022.

Cover image by Anne Kim.

01/26/2023

and present INTERLUDE, an exhibition featuring fifteen artists of the STABLE studios whose works are in conversation with the museum's permanent collection. The exhibition spans media, engaging theories of color composition and spirituality, and broadening definitions of cultural iconography, portraiture, landscape, and performance. This exhibition is presented under The Collaborative, a program developed by The Kreeger Museum in 2021 to support Washington-area artists.

INTERLUDE expresses the poetics of relation as these artists work with common aesthetic and conceptual interests, reflecting and responding to precious environments of modernity. These artists meet through their approaches and applications to mirror, respond to, and complement each other. This interlude is the moment in-between collective past and future and the present moment of the artist's practice. 

Artists: , , , .doud, , , , , , , Gail Shaw-Clemons, , , , Ying Zhu.

Curated by STABLE, Executive Director, Maleke Glee.

Images:
Left: Matthew Mann, “Moonlight Sinew”, 2022, oil, acrylic, and collage on canvas, Courtesy of the artist.
Right: David Urban, “Band of Hope”, 1996, oil on canvas, Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

12/30/2022

Wishing a peaceful and joyful 2023 to all!

The Kreeger Museum will be open on New Year’s Eve (Saturday, December 31st) and will be closed on Sunday, January 1st and Monday, January 2nd. We look forward to sharing art and music with you in the new year.

12/15/2022

12/09/2022

Share the joy of art this holiday season by helping us provide arts education for all and support DC-area artists. Your contribution is vital to sustain these quality programs and enables us to continue to provide engaging art experiences to those across the city.

Please consider sharing the joy of art through the link in our bio.

Image by Natalie Courtney.

12/07/2022

The holiday season is the perfect season for jazz! Join the EJB Quartet for their Holiday Concert next Saturday, December 17th at 3:30pm. Click the link in our bio to purchase tickets!

Artists:
Elijah Jamal Balbed: Saxophone
Mark G. Meadows: Piano
Will Hazlehurst: Bass
Kelton Norris: Drums

Image by

12/03/2022

12/01/2022

Looking for the perfect gift this holiday season? Gift a membership to The Kreeger Museum and continue to celebrate art throughout the year. Members receive unlimited free admission, invitations to exhibition openings and receptions, discounted tickets to select programs, and more!

Follow the link in our bio to learn more and gift a membership today.

Image: Steven A Jones

11/24/2022

Happy Thanksgiving! We are grateful for the DC community and the ability to share art and music with all.

The Kreeger Museum will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th, but will be open on Saturday, November 26th.

11/18/2022

Join the artists of “Perplexity” for an Artists in Conversation on Saturday, December 10th at 2pm! Curator Tomora Wright () will lead a conversation discussing the works included in the show. The talk will be followed by a walk-through of the galleries with the artists.

Learn more and reserve your spot at the link in our bio. Advanced registration is free and is encouraged.



Image: Vivian Marie Doering ()

11/18/2022

Join the artists of “Perplexity” for an Artists in Conversation on Saturday, December 10th at 2pm! Curator Tomora Wright () will lead a conversation discussing the works included in the show. The talk will be followed by a walk-through of the galleries with the artists.

Learn more and reserve your spot at the link in our bio. Advanced registration is free and is encouraged.

Image Credit: Vivian Marie Doering ()

Pictured from left to right;
-Claude Monet, “The Pointe du Petit Ailly in Gray Weather”, 1897
-Brian Michael Dunn, “Deluge”, 2021
-Pierre Bonnard, “Seascape, Cannes”, 1931

11/07/2022

Jerry Truong is an interdisciplinary artists whose work deals with history and memory as they relate to the exercise of power and the residuals of trauma. Truong received his B.A. in Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine and his M.F.A. in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego, where he was also a recipient of the San Diego Fellowship.

He has had solo exhibitions at the Arlington Arts Center (VA), Northwestern University (IL), Hood College (MD), and Lycoming College (PA). His work has been shown at venues such as the VAALA Cultural Center (CA), American University Museum (DC), BlackRock Center for the Arts (MD), CUE Foundation (NY), and Flashpoint Gallery (DC). He was a fellow at Hamiltonian Artists from 2012-14 and a member of the Sparkplug Collective at the DC Arts Center from 2014-16.

Truong’s work is on view now through December 10th!