Artful Weekend April 9-10 – The Art League

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

This weekend: Screen Dream and Life is Fragile: Handle With Care at the League; Rose Jaffe’s open studio benefit for Ukraine; Bienvenue Fotso’s colorful botanicals at African Art Beats; and Aboriginal art at Watergate Gallery.

Screen Dream

Lights! Camera! Action! Screen Dream, our April themed exhibit, features artworks inspired by the stories, images, writers, actors, directors, or musical scores from movies and television. In keeping with the show’s theme, we asked film and tv actor Xander Berkeley to serve as juror. You may know him for his television roles as Sheriff Thomas McAllister on the crime drama The Mentalist, George Mason on the political thriller series 24, or notable film roles in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and  Air Force One, but Berkeley also an accomplished painter and sculptor.

Screen Dream is on view through May 1.

Life is Fragile: Handle With Care by Amy Browning-Dill

In this exhibit, mixed media artist Amy Browning-Dill seeks to explore the ways in which human beings are connected to ecology: how we pollute the earth, destroy it, and how this destruction ultimately affects us. As she considers humans to be part of this natural world, she aims to not only show how we are wrecking havoc on non-sentient life, but to explore how humanity itself suffers from our wantonness. Life is Fragile: Handle With Care is on view through May 1.

Join us for an in-person opening reception celebrating the April member exhibit, and April solo artist Amy Browning-Dill. Five-minute artist talks with award winners and our solo artist will be hosted from (approximately) 4:30 to 5:30 pm. RSVP here.

Rose Jaffe Open Studio Benefit

“Spring is finally here. The cherry blossoms are blooming and the weather is warming to allow for…you guessed it…mural season! I wanted to share a quick update of recent works and, most importantly, my upcoming open studio event and art sale on April 10th. Please come and bring a friend as part of the proceeds will be donated to support Ukraine refugees and resistance efforts.

Come hang out, check out some art demos by Jen and me, munch on some baked goods by my sister Anna Jaffe and support refugee and resistance efforts in Ukraine! A portion of all art sales and 100% of baked-good sales will be donated to a select organization. I will have brand new giclee prints as well as paintings, tote bags, and older works I am ready to part with.” – Rose Jaffe

Rose Jaffe’s studio is located at 925 Emerson Street, NW.

Bienvenue Fotso: Fipan Grass

African Art Beats gallery presents Fipan Grass, the latest works by Cameroonian artist Bienvenue Fotso. Named after an herb used to treat fever in  her home country, Fotso’s exhibit of “plant portraits”—luminous flowers, majestic trees laden with fruit—are meant to remind us that nature feeds and regenerates our bodies and souls, and that our very survival depends on its conservation. Fipan Grass is on view through May 7; 3501 Lowell St. NW.

Emerging Aboriginal Artists

This collection of Aboriginal art, on view at The Watergate Gallery, showcases some of the most promising young artists from Australia. The artists live and work in Warlukurlangu: Artists of Yuendumu, which is one of the longest running and successful Aboriginal-owned art centres in Central Australia. Warlukurlangu Artists is supported by funding from the Australian government through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support as well as by the sale of the art. It is on view through May 7. Join the gallery for a reception Saturday, April 9, 5-7 p.m.; 2552 Virginia Avenue NW.

Enjoy the weekend!