- January 2001 marked the 3rd Inaugural Exhibit and the official opening of the Millennium Arts Center. Since then we have had many successful exhibits. Here is the list, starting with the most recent event:
- Mali Folk Art (October 2003)- Thousands of Folk Art items from the African Nation of Mali-first shown at the Smithsonian’s Folk Life Festival.
- Meltdown Art Exhibit (September-October 2003)- Glass art created by artists from around the US including several students of the Meltdown Glass Studio at the Millennium Arts Center. The exhibit was planned to coincide with the Warm Glass Weekend which draws thousands of glass artists and collectors.
- Cherry Blossom Poster Contest– For three years, the Millennium Arts Center worked with the Cherry Blossom Festival committee in organizing their poster contest. The MAC sent out a Call to Artists, collected entries and participated in the jury process.
- Life Pieces to Masterpieces (June)- Rehearsal for Color of Love, Life Pieces to Masterpieces–their one-day benefit.
- Take Me to the River (May-June 2003)- An exhibit featuring artists from seven countries, six of the artists being from the Washington, DC area. First exhibited in Cairo, Egypt in October 2002. Staged in conjunction with the exhibition “Whispers From the Other River: Contemporary Egyptian Art” at the World Bank.
- Very Special Arts (December 2002)- Benefit for MAC and VSA with an exhibit of hundreds of original paintings, sculptures and posters.
- Pyramid Atlantic at the Millennium (May-June 2002)- Pyramid, a center for hand papermaking & printmaking, displayed an exhibition of contemporary prints; June 2- included a demonstration of silkscreen monotypes by local paper/ print-making artists.
- Collective Improvisation (April 10-May 11, 2002)- An exhibit of artwork created by professors at Howard University.
- Crosstown Jam (April 2002)- A weekend feast of musical styles and workshops by the Washington Area Music Association.
- Options (February-March 2002)- Biennial exhibit of emerging local artists curated by the Program Committee of the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran.
- Phot Op2– Photo Op, a collection of photographs from artists around the country, which was exhibited in Salt Lake City, Utah during the Olympics, arrived at the Millennium Arts Center for a two-month run.
- Deconstructed West (December 6, 2001-January 26 2002)- Represented fellowship artists from Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. ” It is important to see their work because the art world tends to polarize itself between California and New York- as if nothing existed between. These artists give lie to this assumption and engage us with their individual artisitic perspectives.”-Juror, Lowery Stokes Sims, Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem.
- Rorschach Theatre (September-October 2001)- Weekend performancesof “J.B.”, Archibald MacLeish’s 1960 adaptation of the story of Job.
- Through the Eyes of Children…September 11, 2001 Sponsored in part byAOL/Time-Warner, this exhibit showcased art from various elementary and secondary schools from around the country with emphasis on children’s perspectives concerning the events surrounding September 11th. Drawings, writings and sculpture arrived from Washington DC, Virginia, New Jersey, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Maryland, plus Finland and Quebec, Canada. Other sponsors included Gary Heurich, president of Heurch Brewing Company, Tortilla Coast and over 30 Representatives including the MAC advisory board. A major success, this exhibit was covered by the Washington Post, local channels 7and 9, CBC Radio and PBS the night of the reception, which hosted approximately 150-200 people.
- Systems (September-December 2001)- A sculpture installation of glass work by artist Graham Caldwell.
- Lucky 7 (September 2001)- An exhibit curated by Annie Adjchavanich, acting director of the WPA/Corcoran, featuring the work of artists Jose A. Ruiz, Champneys Taylor, Andres Tremols, Ryan Hackett, Clavin Edward Ramsburg, Peter Regas and Hanna Rose, the 8-year-old daughter of painter Robin Rose.
- Spacia (August 2001)- An exhibit of local artists curated by J.W. Mahoney. ” The exhibition will be an essay in the sense of space that an artwork invokes, from the imaginative industrial/emotional spaces of Champ Taylor to the meld of depicted and suggested space in Jeffrey Smith and Nan Montgomery’s work; to the metaphysical spaces of Simon Gouverneur, Vincente Pascal and Astrid Colomar.”-J.W. Mahoney.
- eMotion Pictures (April-May 2001)- An exhibit of artwork created by orthopaedic surgeons and their patients. This is a traveling exhibit that has been shown both in the US and abroad; among places it will be exhibited is the UN Building in New York City. The second major event of the year, the exhibit was a success and the opening reception was attended by approximately 200 people.
- Frederick (March 2001)- An exhibit of paintings, collages and sculpture, the exhibit featured the work of six Frederick County, MD artists. Curated by Annie Adjchavanich, the exhibit included the artwork of Steven Dobbin, Sonya Evanisko, Mike Mendez, Don Diego Ramirez, Brian Slagle and Jason Swafford.
- Women Marching Into the New Millennium (March 2001)- Members of the Women’s Caucus for Art displayed artwork they created, both past and present. A history of their organization accompanied the exhibit. Martha Tabor, a local artist, was given a life achievement award fro her work in the arts.
- Inaugural Exhibit and Artist’s Inaugural Ball (January-February 2001)- Actually the 3rd Inaugural Exhibit organized by Bill Wooby… the first was at his Collector Art Gallery & Restaurant in DuPont Circle, the 2nd at his gallery-Art on the 7th Floor at the Washington Design Center. It was the first public event held at MAC. The exhibit included the artwork of artists representing 26 states, plus DC.
The Artists’s Inaugural Ball was held the weekend of the official balls and despite the inclement weather and heavy traffic, both events were huge successes. Close to 300 people attended the ball, wityh approximately 200 attending the opening reception of the exhibit. Those attending came from states outside the Metropolitan DC area as well as locally.
- Washington Opera (September-November 2000)- Fro 3 months the sounds of music were heard at the Millennium Arts Center while the Washington Opera House rehearsed. The Auditorium was turned into a stage set and “Don Quixote” reigned in the building.