The work of local artists has a new home at The Crossing Clarendon.
The Arlington Artists Alliance opened a 1,000-square-foot boutique gallery this past Thursday, July 18, to showcase the work of professional artists in the area.
The Alliance Gallery, located at 2700 Clarendon Blvd in the breezeway between SoulCycle and Chip City, is accessible to the public from noon to 6 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, at no charge.
This isn’t the nonprofit’s first stay at The Crossing Clarendon. It previously occupied a then-vacant space at 2800 Clarendon Blvd with its Gallery Clarendon from late 2018 to early 2020, before the space became pizza place Colony Grill.
The new gallery’s debut showcase, Ad Astra Per Aspera — “through hardships to the stars,” in Latin — focuses on empowerment through textiles, collages, print and photography.
The works were created by Eleftheria Easley, Justyne Fischer, Pedro Ledesma III, Anna Nazaretz Radjou and Nicole Tobin. The gallery is curated by executive director Christina Papanicolaou.
“The common theme between [the artists] was empowerment in some kind of way,” Papanicolaou says.
The exhibition confronts “a range of social and personal challenges, such as gender and racial inequality, the fight for self-empowerment, and the struggle to connect in the digital age,” according to the nonprofit.
Ad Astra Per Aspera will be on display until Sunday, Aug. 18. All featured works will be on sale in-person and online via the nonprofit’s webpage.
The public is welcome to RSVP and attend the gallery’s opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, which will include complimentary food, drink and live music.
After Ad Astra, the gallery will feature over 30 Arlington-based works in Locally Sourced, an exhibit juried by Yigit Cakar, alliance member and Arlington Arts commissioner. (Juried shows require artists to apply for features selected by a juror, while curated shows select pieces without applications.)
Art from D.C., Falls Church and Alexandria will be shown at the gallery later this fall. Its third show will be juried by the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Rosemary Feit Covey, a printmaker Papanicolaou describes as a “legend.”
The gallery’s primary intention, however, is to feature Arlington art and uplift the alliance’s 200-plus members.
The nonprofit’s Gallery Underground, meanwhile, is still operating in Crystal City at 2100 Crystal Drive, though its future is uncertain.
JBG Smith has asked the alliance to vacate the donated space by the end of October, ARLnow is told, amid the broader closure of the Crystal City Underground shopping center and ongoing redevelopment.