Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at the George Washington University

This semester, we listened to 219,168 minutes of creativity, late-night studio sessions, and unforgettable moments. Here our some of our favorite moments:

🎨Corcoran x NGA’s : ForFreedoms Residency & Launch.

🎤“How Women Made Music: a Revolutionary History” artist talk.

🎸 Corcoran Music Festival ft. TAK Ensemble, ATLANTICUS, MATMOS, Chromic Duo, and more! Fall 2024 Corcoran Band and Orchestra Concerts.

👩‍🎨 Student Exhibitions/ Spotlight : “We Know Who They Are” (WKWTA) by Conflicted Art - Benjamin Cunningham and Yevgen Nemchenko ; “Knees” by MC Daubendiek ; “Chimeric Whims” by Ava Martin ; “Salon Doré: The Past, The Present and The Future with Dare Hartwell” by Maximus Vogt ; and “In the Making,” an ARTREACH GW student exhibition.

🏛️ Corcoran Exhibitions : “93 Fragments,” “Rome Now,” “Anatomically Speaking,” and “Piranesi’s Rome: Views of the Eternal City.”

We thank all of our Corcoran students, staff, faculty and friends in DC! We are grateful to everyone’s continued dedication to the arts, leadership, and scholarship.

Our public-facing galleries are now closed for winter break, and will reopen to all on January 22. Our gallery hours next year will be 1-5 pm, every Wednesday through Saturday. 

We would like to remind our students that studio cleanouts begin on December 18th. There will be no open studios during winter break from December 23, 2024 - January 12, 2025; personal studios remain accessible.

Have a safe, creative, and wonderful holiday season! ❄️👩‍🎨🎸🎤🏛️❄️☃️

Images 1 & 2: Lily Speredelozzi (Photojournalism ’25)
Image 3: Florence Tian
Image 5: Calie Champoux (Photojournalism ’25)
Image 6: Olena Bu Shdid, “Temporary Truce”
Image 7: Sarah Hochstein (Photojournalism ’26)

This past week, the Corcoran hosted ‘African Art Collection: Origin and Context in the George Washington University Collection.’ Committed to the ethical handling of non-Western art, the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, in partnership with the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, hosted a symposium exploring GW’s African art collection. Using the PechaKucha format, students in Prof. Clement Akpang’s seminar on African art and museum politics presented their research into specific objects, tracing their creation, origin, ownership, and cultural contexts. In this culmination of the semester’s research, students offered their findings and recommendations considering debates around contemporary museum ethics.

Congratulations to all who presented!

Images 2-5: Calie Champoux ’25

, ,

“IT”S TIMEEEEE.”

Be sure to join us December 8th for our annual GW University Band and Orchestra Concert, scheduled for 1-2:30 pm and 5-6:30 respectively, in Lisner Auditorium.

The night promises to be a moving night, full of music and excitement. The University brand will perform under the baton of Prof. Michael Schmitz and will feature the Symphonic Band & Wind Ensemble! Later on in the evening, the GW University Orchestra will perform under the baton of Professor A. Scott Wood!

A native of Dyersville, Iowa, Professor Michael J. Schmitz began his musical studies on trumpet and trombone, earning his Bachelor of Music (Education) degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and a Master of Music (Performance) degree from Northwestern University. He studied trombone with Jon Hansen and Frank Crisafulli and conducted with Karl Holvik and Tony Maiello.

A. Scott Wood is Director of Orchestral Activities at the George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Arts and Design, and has been lauded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts as “an incredible talent.” He currently holds the position of
Music Director and Conductor at the Arlington Philharmonic and the Amadeus Orchestra.

Use our link below for tickets. We hope to see you there!

Photos from the Fall 2023 concert, photographed by Sarah Hochstein (BFA, Photojournalism ‘26)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gw-university-band-fall-concert-2024-tickets-989205649727?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gw-university-orchestra-fall-2024-concert-tickets-989209410977?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

The Corcoran wishes everyone a happy and warm Thanksgiving! May your travels be safe and your time spent with loved ones be full of rest and companionship. 🧡🦃🧡

PSA: Please note, the Flagg Building’s public galleries and the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery will be closed from Saturday, November 23 to Tuesday, December 3 for the Thanksgiving holiday. Thank you.



Photography by Harrison Jones (Photojournalism ‘19).

As the semester comes to a close, here is a TBT to September! We kicked off the fall with a peer mentoring event, where upperclassmen teamed up with our new first-year students to help them settle into university life.

One of the highlights? A playful photo recreation activity inspired by Ben Tankersley’s studio lighting class! Since 2013, Tankersley’s students have captured stunning class self portraits that blend traditional techniques with whimsical creativity. Check out this post to see the new takes on these iconic photos and compare them to the originals. Swipe to see the reenactments and the fun behind the lens!

We wish the Class of 2027 and all others, a happy, exciting semester!

Stop by the Flagg Building Atrium for the Student Holiday Art Market! Complete your holiday shopping with unique artwork and pieces from our students, and don’t miss the BFA, BA, and MFA student exhibitions. 

Join us on December 6th from 12-6 PM and December 7th, 10 AM - 4 PM! 

Cash and Venmo Only.

500 17th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20052

Visit the link below for “Salon Doré: The Past, The Present, and The Future with Dare Hartwell,” by Corcoran student Maximus Vogt (Art History and Fine Arts, ’26). Vogt recounts an evening spent with Dare Hartwell, former Head Conservator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Olivia Kohler-Maga, Assistant Director of the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, delving into the history and future of the iconic 18th-century French period room.

Originally part of the hôtel de Clermont in Paris’ Faubourg Saint-Germain, this stunning room’s paneling was acquired by William A. Clark and installed in his Fifth Avenue mansion. After his passing, it was relocated to the Corcoran Gallery.

Vogt beautifully describes the majesty of the Salon, noting how “the afternoon sun transforms into heavenly light as it permeates the space and reflects off the magnificent gold.” We encourage you to read on and discover more!

https://blogs.gwu.edu/foundingwcollection/2024/04/30/salon-dore-the-past-the-present-and-the-future-with-dare-hartwell/

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our event, ‘How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History,’ earlier this semester!

Moderated by Corcoran Director Lauren Onkey, the panel featured NPR Music critic Ann Powers and book contributors Gayle Wald, Elizabeth Nelson, and Jenny Gathright for a fascinating discussion on the seminal work “How Women Made Music.”



Photos by Lily Speredelozzi (Photojournalism ‘25)

The Corcoran sends congratulations to Ava Martin for her October exhibition, “Chimeric Whims.” Located in Gallery 102, Chimeric Whims investigated the ties between the fantastical, the grotesque, and the uncanny, combining different histories of western painting, Asian-American identity, speculative biology, and girlhood.

Ava Martin is double majoring in Fine Art and Biology at the Corcoran School. Her multi-disciplinary and intersectional background informs and inspires her art by reimagining the body, girlhood, and nature through a fantastical lens. In addition, she is a museum assistant at the Corcoran, an undergraduate researcher in the Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Research Lab, and an undergraduate teaching assistant for Intro Biology Lab.

Congratulations, Ava! Visit the link below to see more about her work.

Photography by Florence Tian

https://amartin369520.myportfolio.com

Corcoran’s Fall Dance concert opens tomorrow! You can see the show on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of November at 7:30 pm in the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre (800 21 St, NW)! Prepare to be dazzled as the students of Dance grace the stage of the Betts Theatre. Their performances will take you on a journey through movement, rhythm, and artistic expression!! ✨⭐️

Tickets start at $10, but are free with a valid GWorld card for GW students, faculty, and staff.

Use the link to RSVP! We hope to see you there!

https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/dance-concert-fall-2024?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=GW+Calendar

Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21 St, NW
Washington, D.C.
20052

Opening Soon: Engaging with themes such as restitution, reclamation, transmutation and talismanic connection, “93 fragments,” an exhibition hosted by the Washington Project of the Arts and organized by Mojdeh Rezaeipour, brings together the creative practices and methodologies of artists, writers and thinkers who are in direct conversation with materials of cultural heritage.

Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to take off their shoes, sit together, drink tea, and engage with an evolving array of visual artwork, poetry, video, and fragments (material, linguistic, and otherwise) by participants in the project. This will include installations and visual artworks by The Collaborative Fragment Library, Saj Issa, Tsedaye Makonnen, Jackie Milad, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, and Dima Srouji, and a commissioned poem by Solmaz Sharif.

The exhibition will be on view in the Flagg Building, November 14, 2024 - February 15, 2025. The opening reception is November 14 from 6:30 - 9 pm and will feature performances by Tsedaye Makonnen and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi starting at 7pm.

To learn more about 93 Fragments, including the RSVP for the opening ceremony, use the links below.

Flagg Building
500 17th St, NW
Washington, D.C
20052
Please Use the New York Ave door

Opening Reception: November 14 from 6:30 - 9 pm
On view: November 14, 2024 - February 15, 2025; 1-5 pm

https://wpadc.org/exhibitions/mojdeh-rezaeipour-93-fragments/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opening-reception-93-fragments-tickets-1001549390187?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Corcoran photo and design students joined peers from Johns Hopkins, VCU and design professionals at an inspiring workshop at District Architecture Center this past September. Led by globally-renowned designers Aiyemobisi “Bisi” Williams and Bruce Mau, workshop participants collaborated to envision system change that can unlock positive impact at a broad scale and address global crises.

Aiyemobisi “Bisi” Williams and Bruce Mau are co-founders of Massive Change Network. Massive Change Network is an organization whose mission is to advance massive positive change and collectively design a better future for every living thing.

Photos by Christopher Peirce (New Media Photojournalism ‘26).

We would like to thank all who came to celebrate the For Freedoms residency launch, Interdependence (a convening)! Hosted from October 4-6, the event provided a space for artistic gathering, collaboration, and exploration beyond tradition art education with featured activities such as kite making workshops, artist talks, and book discussions, including sessions at the National Gallery of Art.

The collaboration, created as part of the partnership of the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran School, solidifies our shared commitment to elevating students and artists through programming, research and education in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition, “For Freedoms: Billboards On View” will be on view until December 14th, 2024, on the second floor of the Flagg Building. The exhibit will serve as the start of future programming for the residency.

For Freedoms is an artist-led organization that centers art as a catalyst for creative civic engagement, discourse and direct action. It works closely with a variety of artists, organizations, institutions and brands to expand what participation in a democracy looks like and reshape conversations about politics.

To learn more, click the link:

https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/freedoms-kicks-residency-hosted-gws-corcoran-school-and-national-gallery-art

Images 1, 3, 4, & 5: Photos shot during “Interdependence,” a convening on Oct. 4-5, 2024, by Lily Speredelozzi (New Media Photojournalism ‘25).

Image 2: Roundtable discussions during “Interdependence,” Oct. 4-5, 2024, facilitated by members of For Freedoms, Corcoran and the National Gallery of Art. Photos by Gabriela Passos (New Media Photojournalism '25).

Images 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10: Talks by Jessica Ingram and Wesaam Al-Badry, moderated Susan Sterner, during “Interdependence,” Oct. 4-5, 2024. Photos by Maria Luz Bravo (New Media Photojournalism ‘17).

This fall, Art History professor Clement Akpang is taking over the 2nd floor gallery of the Flagg Building. In collaboration with the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Akpang’s project will dive deep into the African pieces housed in the GW Collection. Furthermore, His seminars which will span the history and provenance of these objects this fall and the ethical exhibition guidelines in the spring, seeking to encourage students to have conversations about artifact history and conservation. Students will present their findings each semester, with an exhibition and a pedagogical report to follow next year!

Photos by Calie Champoux ‘25.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars November 2 from 9:30am-3:45pm for the AU/GW Graduate Art History Symposium. Eight graduate students from George Washington and American University will present their research. The presented topics include:

🎨”More Than Beauty: The Court Lady’s Role in Representing Literate Women in the Mughal Court and Addressing Misattributions” Speaker: Vivien C. Coleman
🎨 “Fixed and Persisted in Desire: The Use of the Judgment of Paris as Allegory Within European Monarchal Paintings” Speaker: Deirdre Lafferty
🎨”Riffin’ Off: History According to Henry Taylor” Speaker: Thea Polsky
🎨” Boys Will Be Boys: Depictions of ‘Pathetic Masculinity’ in the Works of Eric Fischl and Mike Kelley” Speaker: Valerie Morales

To register for either online or in-person attendance, please use the link below. A Zoom link will be sent before the event for those who choose online attendance.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6cIG2mjzCq62bjcaWOEDWAfC0g0kVkkB7mX7sX8snN24j0A/viewform?pli=1

Katzen Center, American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, D.C.
20016

Please join the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery on October 21st from 4:00pm - 6:00 pm, in celebrating the opening of the pop up exhibition: Rome Now. The programming will include a talk by Dr. Rachel Pollack titled “Rome—What Remains” in the Salon Doré followed by a reception with some of the artists in the exhibition.

The pop-up exhibition will be shown alongside Piranesi’s Rome — focusing on the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi — is Rome Now, with Roman-inspired artwork from the GW community.

Please use the link below to RSVP; we would love to see you there!

https://www.paperlesspost.com/go/4BmLae7h05lym4iVgA1Mq

Monday, October 21
4:00pm - 6:00 pm
Luther W. Brady Art Gallery
500 17th ST, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Come join us October 24-26 for our annual music festival, which is now *free* and open to the public. Organized by Professor Ning Yu, the festival will bring together performers, faculty, students, and community members as well as eclectic (and often electric!) ensembles like Chromic Duo, TAK Ensemble, and Matmos.

The event will start with opening remarks in the Salon Doré, followed by a performance from GW’s faculty member Dr. Shana Mashego alongside Dr. Patrick Merrill. The night will conclude with a performance from the band ATLANTICUS.

The event is free for all, and we would love to see you there. For more information and to RSVP, please visit the link below.

Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Washington, D.C. 20052
Please use the New York Avenue door.

More information about some of the featured artists:

Chromic Duo: Blending toy piano, electronics, and multimedia into genre-fluid concerts, installations, and long-term residencies at colleges + cultural institutions, Chromic Duo: Lucy Yao and Dorothy Chan, cultivate spaces and partnerships that share their commitment to inclusivity, equity, storytelling, gathering, and innovation.

TAK Ensemble: TAK is a mixed-quintet committed to musical exploration and experimentation through commissions of new work with composers and other artists.

MATMOS: Started by innovative auteurs in the world of electronic music and sampling culture, MATMOS — Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt — creates music from unusual sources and objects like cameras and VCRs, chin implant surgery, contact microphones on human hair, and rat cages. By blending sounds, the ensemble hopes to connect sources and outcomes together while providing the listener with entry points into the recordings that have the direct sensory immediacy of pop music.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/corcoran-music-festival-2024-tickets-989221878267

CORCORAN MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024 An eclectic (and often electric!) mix -featuring Chromic Duo, ATLANTICUS, Salar Nader & Homayoun Sakhi, TAK Ensemble, and MATMOS.

Come join us for the For Freedoms Residency Launch Interdependence (a convening) starting today and continuing this weekend! The three day convening will include programming such as artist talks, a film screening, a kite/billboard making workshop and much more.

For the full schedule of events, please follow the eventbrite link located below. The event is free, but we ask that you RSVP, which you can do with the same link.

Saturday’s programming starts at 11 am with a Kite and Billboard Making Public Workshop. At 2 pm, the National Gallery of Art East Building will host the talk, “Where Do We Go From Here?” with Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, and Nekisha Durrett. Advance registration is required for this event, via the National Gallery website.

Concurrently, from 1 to 5 pm, the Flagg building will be open to the public, where visitors can view installations and participate with creative prompts as designed by our faculty.

For a full programming list and more information such as locations and RSVP, please use the link below. See you there!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/for-freedoms-residency-launch-interdependence-a-convening-tickets-1002571858417?aff=oddtdtcreator

Image: Billboard by installed in Atlanta, GA in partnership with for Initiative.

Photo by