ARCHIVE OF PAST PROGRAMs
2020-2021
What does it mean to be American?
April 28, 2021
5:30 P.M.
Looking for America brings people together from across the political spectrum and the country to explore what it means to be American in a deeply polarized society. Art and storytelling are the foundation for creating deliberative dialogue that sparks humanizing conversations aimed at building relationships that can transform society.
Join us for an interactive conversation moderated by Philippa P.B. Hughes, Social Sculptor + Chief Creative Strategist at Curiosity Connects Us and the founder of Looking for America. We’ll hear from Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow, Douglas, and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy and Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and Sherrill Roland, artist and founder of The Jumpsuit Project.
Then join the dialogue. During this interactive program, participants will be briefly paired in randomly selected break-out rooms to share what being an American means to them. Meet someone new and broaden your worldview in this humanizing virtual experience.
TRANSMISSIONS: video screening considering the impact of HIV and AIDS beyond the United States
December 1, 2020
Virtual
In honor of late artist and Georgetown alumnus Rotimi Fani-Kayode, the GU Art Galleries are proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2020 by presenting TRANSMISSIONS, a program of six new videos considering the impact of HIV and AIDS beyond the United States. The video program brings together artists working across the world: Jorge Bordello (Mexico), Gevi Dimitrakopoulou (Greece), Las Indetectables (Chile), Lucía Egaña Rojas (Chile/Spain), Charan Singh (India/UK), and George Stanley Nsamba (Uganda).
The program does not intend to give a comprehensive account of the global AIDS epidemic, but provides a platform for a diversity of voices from beyond the United States, offering insight into the divergent and overlapping experiences of people living with HIV around the world today. The six commissioned videos cover a broad range of subjects, such as the erasure of women living with HIV in South America, ineffective Western public health campaigns in India, and the realities of stigma and disclosure for young people in Uganda.
As the world continues to adapt to living with a new virus, COVID-19, these videos offer an opportunity to reflect on the resonances and differences between the two epidemics and their uneven distribution across geography, race, and gender.
The TRANSMISSIONS video program is available to view online at visualaids.org/transmissions.
Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy because AIDS is not over.
Plan Your Vote!
November 1, 2020 - November 3, 2020
We’re supporting PLAN YOUR VOTE, a 2020 artist initiative that harnesses the power of art to promote and empower citizens to exercise their right to vote. The project has brought together sixty seven artists to create captivating work that helps citizens gain access to all the voting resources that they need. GU Art Galleries will be sharing works from this project weekly on Instagram, leading up to election day on November 3rd. For more information, go to PlanYourVote.org
Public Dialogue Webinar: COVID-19's Impact on the Art World
October 29, 2020
How has COVID-19 impacted the art world? Hear how a collector, curator, art dealer, and auction house dealer have responded to the moment. Watch the webinar here.
Speakers include:
Isabel Ernst (I’86, MBA’88, P’14, P’21), Art Collector
Helaine Posner (C’75), Chief Curator Emerita, Neuberger Museum of Art
Graham Steele (C’04), Art Dealer
Jennifer Wright (C’96), Vice President, Client Relationship Director, Christie’s
Moderated by:
Al Miner, Founding Director/Chief Curator, Georgetown University Art Galleries
Presented with:
Georgetown University’s Art & Museum Studies Program
2019-2020
Chemi Rosado-Seijo and Ben Ashworth In Dialogue
January 30, 2020
6:00 - 7:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Film Screening: Waste Land
December 4, 2019
6:30 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
See Lucy Walker’s award-winning documentary film about a unique collaboration between a renowned contemporary photographer (Vik Muniz) and trash pickers from the world’s largest landfill, Jardim Gramacho outside Rio de Janeiro. This film is presented in collaboration with Georgetown U’s Core Pathways Program and the Department of Film and Media Studies.
Sculpture Workshop with Visiting Artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo
November 14, 2019
6:00 - 7:30 P.M.
Walsh Building room 295: 1221 36th St NW
Puerto Rican artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo is best known for orchestrating urban interventions with community partners. Collaborate with him by making a series of sculptures for his spring GU Art Galleries exhibition Community in Motion/Communidad en Movimiento. Participants will use simple tools and recycled skateboard parts to create works inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s refined, vertical sculptures. No art experience is required. Refreshments served.
Open House with Art-Making & Drop-In Tours
November 8, 2019
2:00 - 6:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Engage with the current exhibition, Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagined. Make an impact yourself by creating a button from waste or learn more by taking a student-led tour in English or Chinese. Organized by students from GU’s Art & Museum Studies Masters Program, Renewable Energy and Environmental Network, and Maker Hub who encourage you to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE IN JORDAN WITH AMMAR KHAMMASH
November 6, 2019
6:00- 7:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
A Public Dialogue on Sustainable Architecture led by the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies’ Sakka Family Fund Visiting Scholar, Ammar Khammash. Khammash is one of Jordan’s most noted architects and the 2019 laureate of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture.
Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagined Panel Discussion
October 3, 2019
6:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Three exhibiting designers and the exhibition curator discuss themes in the exhibition including the intersection of creativity and sustainability; moderated by Peter Marra, Director, Georgetown Environment Initiative + Laudato Si’ Professor of Biology and the Environment + Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy (pictured: designer, Agne Kucerenkaite)
Opening Reception: Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagined
October 2, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery and Lucille M. & Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Art Gallery
above: Charlotte Kidger, Material Futures, 2018
2018-2019
Salon Concert with Somi
April 12, 2019
4:00 - 4:45 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
While in residence on Georgetown’s campus, world-renowned vocalist and songwriter, Somi will perform a salon-style performance of selections from Dreaming Zenzile, her original modern jazz play based on the extraordinary life of South African singer and political activist Miriam Makeba.
Dreaming Zenzile is presented as part of The Lab’s CrossCurrents festival, a citywide biennial festival that highlights innovative artists from around the world who are harnessing the power of performance to humanize global politics.
This event is sponsored by Georgetown School of Foreign Service, with support from Georgetown College.
Interactive Performance Art Event
April 11, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Sherrill Roland: The Jumpsuit Project (Day 2)
The Jumpsuit Project DC walk begins in the morning at Stadium-Armory Metro Station. The walk ends at the Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery.
6:00 – 7:00 P.M.: The Jumpsuit Project performance in the de la Cruz Art Gallery
7:00 – 8:00 P.M.: Public Dialogue with Artist Sherrill Roland and Dr. Marc Morjé Howard in the de la Cruz Art Gallery
Co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Art Galleries & the Prisons and Justice Initiative.
Interactive Performance Art Event
April 10, 2019
10:30 A.M. - 3:30 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Sherrill Roland: The Jumpsuit Project (Day 1)
Roland spent 10.5 months in a DC prison for a crime he did not commit. Exonerated of all charges in 2015 and able to return to art school, he developed this performance. Interact with Roland as he wears an orange jumpsuit and shares personal stories to shed light on mass incarceration and challenge assumptions.
Co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Art Galleries & the Prisons and Justice Initiative.
Public Dialogue with Glenn Ligon and Steven Nelson
April 1, 2019
6:30 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Hear internationally acclaimed artist Glenn Ligon in conversation with distinguished art historian Dr. Steven Nelson, Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts & Director of the African Studies Center and Professor of Art History at UCLA. Ligon and Nelson will discuss themes in the current de la Cruz Gallery exhibition and more.
Artist's Talk with Georgie Friedman
February 26, 2019
Artist’s talk was followed by a reception in the Nora Cooney Marra Memorial Atrium of the Walsh Building and the Spagnuolo Art Gallery.
Public Dialogue with Artist Adrienne Gaither & Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins
February 19, 2019
“ON DIGNITY: Policy & Art”
Join us for the DC Inaugural event of the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) Art Forum. Adrienne Gaither’s series of paintings How I Got Over will be the foundation for a dialogue between the artist and WCAPS founder, Ambassador Bonnie D. Jenkins.
Presented by Art to Zebras, the Georgetown University Department of Art & Art History, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, and WCAPs.
Film Screening: I Am Not Your Negro
February 13, 2019
Raoul Peck’s experimental documentary film I Am Not Your Negro (2017) builds upon James Baldwin’s unfinished book, Remember This House (1979), a consideration of America’s history of race through the lives and deaths of his friends Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X. Like Peck, visual artist Glenn Ligon reads, reworks, and collaborates with Baldwin in the exhibition, Glenn Ligon: To be a Negro in this country is really never to be looked at.
Presented in collaboration with the Film and Media Studies Program.
Talk with Dr. Jennifer DeVere Brody
January 28, 2019
“Free Form: Art, Activism and Racial Justice”
Dr. Jennifer DeVere Brody is a Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. Her research and teaching focus on performance, aesthetics, politics and subjectivity as well as feminist theory, queer studies and contemporary cultural studies. This lecture honored Georgetown University’s recent initiative to highlight art, activism and racial justice by focusing on work by literary, visual and performance artists whose art serves the on-going struggle to produce new forms of racial freedom. Part of the “Racial Justice: Arts and Activism” series; co-sponsored by the Race and Justice Institute and the Departments of African American Studies and Performing Arts.
Public Opening Reception with Glenn Ligon
January 24, 2019
6:00 P.M.
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery
Jake Blount in Concert
November 8, 2018
Local fiddler, banjoist, singer, and scholar Jake Blount played tunes by Choctaw fiddler William H. Stepp and Cherokee fiddlers Manco Sneed and Osey Helton.
Artist’s Talk WITH BETH artist katleman
October 16, 2018
Brooklyn-based artist Beth Katleman scours Ebay, flea markets, and specialty shops for mass-produced items she later casts in porcelain to create fantastical installations. Katleman discussed her influences as well as the conceptual and physical processes required to create what she describes as “cheerfully apocalyptic” works.
Public Dialogue with artist Jefferey Gibson
September 28, 2018
Choctaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson appeared on stage with Paul Chaat Smith ̶ Comanche author, essayist, and Associate Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian ̶ and Al Miner, Founding Director/Chief Curator of Georgetown University Art Galleries, for a casual dialogue about the key issues addressed in Gibson’s recent work.
Jeffery Gibson: Public Opening Reception and Performance
September 27, 2018
The Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Jeffrey Gibson: DON’T MAKE ME OVER, opened on September 27, 2018. At 6:30pm, the artist premiered a new performance art piece inspired by the music of Dionne Warwick, Native American dance, and queer identities.
Interactive Performance Art Event
August 29, 2018 - August 30, 2018
Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market is based on a real flea market, where diverse vendors come together to sell their various wares at affordable prices and enliven a single space while doing so. This was the first time Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market was staged at a University with DC-area professional artists and community organizations, Georgetown University student clubs, performers and entrepreneurs.
2017-2018
Public Dialogue with wangechi mutu
November 8, 2017
Dialogues on Being Human: The Intersections of Art, Health, and Dignity with Wangechi Mutu