Thursday: Nicole Chung at People’s Book

Author Nicole Chung continues to take the DMV by storm with an event celebrating the paperback release of her bestselling 2023 memoir, A Living Remedy. Chung will be joined by Clint Smith, the D.C.-based author of How the Word Is Passed and an Atlantic columnist. Chung has done many events across the region and just read at Capitol Hill’s East City Bookshop on May 2 (featured in our 2024 Spring Arts Guide), but Thursday’s event marks her first time reading at People’s, Takoma Park’s newest addition to our robust indie bookstore scene. In the nearly one year since People’s Book opened last June, the store has become a hub for community events, readings, workshops, and more. Similarly, A Living Remedy has brought people together in its first year of publication, thanks to Chung’s vulnerable and resonant writing, as well as her long tour that’s convened readers and writers across the country. Chung shared on X that this will be her last event in the area for a while, so make sure to catch her and Smith in conversation. Nicole Chung talks at 7 p.m. on May 16 at People’s Book, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park. peoplesbooktakoma.com. Free. —Serena Zets 

Saturday and Sunday: Walk Weekend throughout the Dupont-Kalorama Neighborhoods

This Saturday and Sunday is “Walk Weekend,” a free, community-oriented event organized by the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium. For two days, seven of the city’s “off the mall” museums will open their doors to guests of all ages, complete with music, special exhibitions, and tours, as well as hands-on activities to excite even the youngest of museum-goers. The participating spots include many favorites, as well as some hidden gems, that run the gamut of specializations from architecture to fine arts: Dumbarton House, the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, the Phillips Collection, the Woodrow Wilson House, the American Revolution Institute of the Society of Cincinnati, Dupont Underground, and, for the first time, O Museum in the Mansion.

If it’s novel retrospection you’re after, consider the Revolution Institute’s exhibit titled Fete Lafayette, or, translated to English, the much less catchy Party Lafayette. The thorough collection celebrates—through letters, textiles, silvers, and other rare artifacts—the 200-year anniversary of the Frenchman’s farewell tour of America. His visit took a whopping 13 months to complete and allowed the famed Marquis and civil rights supporter to witness the country’s democratic experiment in bare light. Alternatively, if it’s sleuthing among cherry blossoms that strikes your fancy, the O Museum, aka Rosa Parks’ former abode, will open the gates of its Secret Gardens of Asia exhibit, filled with hidden passageways and whimsical blooms. And if you’d like to get your hands messy and brain whizzing with art of your own, the Phillips will host interactive arts and crafts for walkers of all ages. Consider checking out the vibrant, Technicolor collages of Sam Gilliam or the flowery, bold abstractions of Alma W. Thomas before you take to the page for gummy inspiration. Visit the Consortium’s website for a complete map of participating museums. Walk Weekend runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 18 and 19 throughout the Dupont-Kalorama neighborhoods. dkmuseums.com. Free. —Emma Francois

Sunday: “Zodiac Suite,” presented by U.S. Air Force Band and Washington Performing Arts at Lincoln Theatre

Washington’s military bands are not generally associated with breaking new ground in jazz or classical music; John Philip Sousa, evening tattoos, and “Hail to the Chief” are more their jam. But thanks to a partnership with local concert presenter Washington Performing Arts, the United States Air Force Band will deliver the D.C. premiere of “Zodiac Suite,” a landmark work for piano trio and orchestra by pioneering composer, pianist, and arranger Mary Lou Williams. Originally written just for piano trio, then enlarged for jazz ensemble, and, eventually, an orchestra, “Zodiac Suite” was played at New York’s Town Hall in 1945. But as Black woman, Williams saw her grand accomplishment undeservedly shelved for decades, and there was no definitive copy of Williams’ orchestrations. Until the pandemic, that is, when out-of-work pianist Aaron Diehl began seriously noodling around with a scratchy recording and Williams’ scores, determined for “the lady who swings the band” to find an audience again. He has succeeded. Last November, Zodiac Suite, Diehl’s album recorded with New York classical ensemble the Knights, received a Grammy nomination. Williams’ music dates “from an era when Black composers with sway in jazz circles dared to pursue hybrid musical styles, all while meeting various forms of resistance or disrespect,” wrote New York Times critic Seth Colter Walls in his glowing album review.  You can listen on Spotify, but wouldn’t it be better to hear Diehl, his trio, and the Air Force Band play “Zodiac Suite” live—for free? The concert also includes George Gershwin’s “Lullaby for Strings,” William Grant Still’s “Out of the Silence,” and Duke Ellington’s classic “Caravan.” “Zodiac Suite,” presented by the U.S. Air Force Band and Washington Performing Arts, starts at 7:30 p.m. on May 19 at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. washingtonperformingarts.org. Free. —Rebecca Ritzell

Ongoing: So It Goes at Photoworks

Few of the more than two dozen photographers in the Photoworks exhibit So It Goes are making truly revolutionary work, but that can be forgiven: They’re students from four local high schools (Holton-Arms, Walter Johnson, and Sienna in Maryland, and Virginia’s Potomac). Still, many of these young artists have soaked up moods from their photographic forebears impressively well. Zachary Dalva–Baird’s red truck surrounded by brambles channels William Christenberry’s depictions of Hale County, Alabama, right down to its muted color palette; Alexis Vaughan’s moody portrayal of a blue car suggests the visual ballads of Gregory Crewdson; Karina Satoskar’s rocky seascape communicates the fluidity of a 19th-century landscape by Carleton Watkins; while Kabir Singh’s image of three figures in the distance framed by a semicircular canopy call to mind W. Eugene Smith’s “A Walk to the Paradise Garden.” Other notable works include Javier Almonte’s photograph of a stray dog reclining next to a beige wall that echoes the color of the dog; Britt Nordquist’s collage-like depiction of a figure holding old-school photographic negatives to the light; Addison Burakiewicz’s image of a face blending into a backdrop of tree branches; Ella Moore’s orderly look through 10 repeating sandstone-colored doorways; and Alden Darufsky’s pair of inscrutable abstractions, one in placid blue green and the other in fiery orange red. The standout image, albeit an understated one, may be Maisy Bedell’s black-and-white photograph of a half dozen small drops of water, which, despite their pleasing chiaroscuro, end up being less interesting than the copious negative space that surrounds them. Bonus: The images sell for a very reasonable $50 or $75. So It Goes runs through May 26 at Photoworks, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 7 p.m. glenechophotoworks.org. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Editor’s note: This has been updated with the correct start time for “Zodiac Suite,” which starts at 7:30 p.m. on May 18.

Thursday: Billy Dee Williams at MLK Library

If the mere mention of the movies Brian’s Song, Lady Sings the Blues, and Mahogany makes you break out into Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor II hand-clapping “Billy Dee! Billy Dee!” then the arrival of Billy Dee Williams’ autobiography, What Have We Here? Portraits of A Life (out now), will turn your palms beet red. In the fantastic memoir, Williams explores his life and wide-ranging career. He’ll also be discussing this with NBC’s Jummy Olabanji at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Feb. 15. “My life has been very interesting in that it’s been an eclectic life,” Williams tells City Paper. “I’ve been very fortunate and I have had the opportunity to witness and be a part of a lot of experiences that probably most people never have.” Williams’ history with D.C. goes back decades, starting with the actor performing in productions by the Washington Theater Club (which closed in 1974), opening “I Have a Dream” at Ford’s Theater in 1976, attending the premiere of The Empire Strikes Back at the Kennedy Center in 1980, and having his paintings exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery. But it’s another Washingtonian, Duke Ellington, who had an immense impact on Williams. “I’ll never forget when I first met him,” says Williams. “All of these ladies were from wall to wall waiting for him to come into the room. He and his father used to compete with each other to see who was most charming … He made each woman feel like she was the only woman in that room and I was busy taking notes.” Now more than 50 years after his breakthrough role in Brian’s Song, Williams’ varied portrayals, from the swashbuckling Lando Calrissian (“I always enjoy the idea of the hero as the vulnerable hero … I wanted to bring a dubious kind of charm.”) to Batman’s Harvey Dent, have cemented his iconic sex symbol, leading-man status. Although he does admit to being unaware of that Nutty Professor II scene. “I’ve never seen it,” Williams admits. “I think I heard about it.” When told of the scene, where Murphy’s Mama Klump calls her son “dashing” and compares him to Billy Dee, Williams shrugs and says with a sly smile, “I’m used to that.” A conversation with Billy Dee Williams starts at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 at MLK Library, 901 G St. NW. dclibrary.org. Free. —Christina Smart

Friday: Jamila Woods at the Howard Theatre

Jamila Woods’ third album, 2023’s Water Made Us, was a commercial and critical success due to her lush, neo-soul vocals and to her clever lyrical takes on the ups and downs of love and relationships. The Chicago-based R&B singer, who grew up listening to R&B and indie rock, and singing in a church choir, first started establishing her name reciting poetry at open mic events at Young Chicago Authors, where a not-yet-famous Chance the Rapper also performed. After attending Brown University, Woods and a classmate formed a band, and soon Woods was back in Chicago collaborating with Chance and his buddy, trumpeter Nico Segal. Her first album, 2016’s Heavn, which quotes from the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” includes the political “Blk Girl Soldier,” where Woods emotes “Look at what they did to my sisters/ (last century last week).” On Woods’ second album, 2019’s Legacy! Legacy!, she titled each song after her artistic heroes, from Basquiat to Giovanni, Sun Ra and Frida Kahlo. The more personal Water Made Us features Woods noting in “Tiny Garden” that her shyly expressed love will be constant but not a big production; in “Thermostat” she addresses relationship struggles, and in “Backburner” she confesses to jealousy. Throughout the album, which offers some spoken word interludes, Woods sparkles the most when she cleverly and effortlessly shifts from orated to soaring vocals and dispenses catchy melodies such as on the upbeat “Boomerang.” Jamila Woods plays at 8 p.m.  on Feb. 16 at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. thehowardtheatre.com. $27.50–$50. —Steve Kiviat

Friday: Big Head Todd and the Monsters at the Fillmore

If a musician is late to an interview, one might assume it’s rock star behavior in play. Todd Mohr, lead singer of alt-rock band Big Head Todd and the Monsters, has a very good reason for his delay. “I got a French bulldog puppy who’s three months old,” explains Mohr, a bit wearily. “So that’s why I’m a little late—he puked all over the stairs. I mean all over it.” Puppy puke aside, Mohr and his band have a lot to celebrate. “Her Way Out,” a new single from the band was released in January and a forthcoming album—their first studio production since 2017—is set for release on May 25. The band is currently touring including a show at the Fillmore on Feb. 16. Temporarily suspending their Monsters Music Monthly project (where the band released a song and music video each month for over two years), Big Head Todd and the Monsters decided mid-pandemic to focus their attention on creating a full-length album. While the details of the album are still under wraps, Mohr was able to provide some clues on the new material. “There’s a lot of historical, kind of Americana themes,” says Mohr. “There’s a song about Annie Oakley. There’s a song about King Kong. Our song ‘Thunderbird” is about the movie American Graffiti. Just sort of touchstone things like that. Like all my material it’s more relationship oriented. I’m pushing 60 so I have something to say about relationships.” Big Head Todd and the Monsters play at 8 p.m. on Feb. 16 at Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. livenation.com $48–$77. —Christina Smart

Saturday: Speak Softly, a Gatsby Party at Union Station

Finally, an excuse to dig out your best vintage/thrifted/costumed Gatsby-inspired suits and tassels. This exclusive, one-night only event hosted by Morris American Bar will transform the Beaux-Art columns and archways of Union Station into a Roaring ’20s-style saloon, complete with secret speakeasies and a live big band trumpeting swinging versions of all the greatest Jazz Age hits. The immersive experience also includes aerialist performances, a burlesque show, and a DJ, plus champagne floats and finger foods to fuel the evening. (If the glamorous photos from last year’s event are any indication, you can expect literal fire from the artisanal bartenders on this night of time travel). With plenty of photo opportunities to capture the night’s bubbles and glitz, you can focus your sights on the feathered flappers and dapper derby hats of the fellow guests. That said, we recommend grabbing a flock of friends and investing in matching felted cloches which, though named for their teardrop shape, are sure to inspire nothing but laughing and shimmying, made all the more dramatic thanks to the sartorial backdrop of fringe and glitter. Speak Softly, a Gatsby Party starts at 9 p.m. on Feb. 17 at Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Ave. NE. morrisbardc.com. $75. —Emma Francois

Sunday: Living the Dream … Singing the Dream at the Kennedy Center

“Dr. King’s legacy has long served as the catalyst for this joyous collaboration with Choral Arts,” shares Theodore Thorpe III, artistic director of the Washington Performing Arts’ Men and Women of the Gospel Choir. Thorpe is talking about this year’s 36th-annual tribute concert to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Living the Dream …Singing the Dream. “Through the spirit of our community and the power of the human voice, we hope to honor Dr. King’s indelible impact and instill a sense of resilience, action, and peace in our audience, as we have done for the thousands of Living the Dream… attendees over the years.” Co-presented by Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Washington Performing Arts, the evening honors Dr. King’s legacy with his inspirational messages and performances of such favorites such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” “Birmingham Letter,” “Promised Land,” and “If I Can Help Somebody.” The evening’s featured performers include Ralph Alan Herndon, pianist and vocalist; Simone Paulwell, soprano; hip-hop artist Konshens the MC; and actor David Anthony Johnson. This year, beloved D.C. restaurateur José Andrés will receive the 2024 Humanitarian Award from Choral Arts, for his organization World Center Kitchen—a global response center providing meals to people in crisis. Living the Dream … Singing the Dream, A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. starts  at 7 p.m. on Feb.18  at the Kennedy Center,  2700 F St. NW. washingtonperformingarts.org. $25–$75. —Colleen Kennedy

Opens Wednesday: Swan Lake at the Kennedy Center

American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake is back at the Kennedy Center, where it had its 2000 world premiere, for the first time since 2017. It seems Washingtonians are eager for its return: at the time of writing, all seven performances were sold out, but the Kennedy Center website encourages would-be audience members to check back or call for availability as “[a] limited number of seats could become available closer to performance time.” Prince Siegfried celebrates his 21st birthday by hunting, only to discover the swan he pursues is a cursed princess, Odette. They swear the eternal love necessary to lift the sorcerer’s curse, but the forces of evil will not let Odette go so easily. The familiar story diverges depending on the production. Over the ballet’s 140-year-history numerous changes have been made by different directors and choreographers. Nowhere are the differences greater than in the ending, ranging from joyful, with the lovers living happily ever after, to heartbreaking, with the alienated lovers dying. American Ballet’s production in two acts is based on the 1895 Mariinsky Theatre revival and has a similar bittersweet ending. With choreography by Kevin McKenzie, following the work of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov for the Mariinsky production, American Ballet’ Swan Lake promises a “romantic fable…of ill-fated passion, dreamlike transformation…[and] forgiveness” set amid “grand sets” that “[evoke] a Renaissance court at a lakeside castle” and replete, of course, with white tutus. Swan Lake runs from Feb. 21 to 25  at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. Check the website or call (202) 467-4600 for last-minute ticket availability. —Allison R. Shely

Opens Friday: tick, tick…BOOM! at the Kennedy Center 

Starting Jan. 26, the Kennedy Center will put on a new production of tick, tick…BOOM! The play is an earlier work of Rent creator Jonathan Larson, an artist whose life has become inextricably linked to his art. Known not just for Rent but for the fact that he did not live to see its success—he died the night before the musical’s first off-Broadway premiere of a misdiagnosed heart condition. Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM! builds on the connection of art with the artist’s biography. Described in a Kennedy Center press release as a “semi-autobiographical musical about life, death, and the necessity of art,” the story centers on “Jon, a composer struggling to break into New York City’s theater scene.” But this production’s claim to fame is tied to its director: Emmy and Tony laureate Neil Patrick Harris, best known as incorrigible womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother. Harris’ connection to Larson’s body of work runs deep: He played Mark in Rent’s 1997 national tour and Jon in a 2005 production of tick, tick…BOOM! The D.C. production will also feature new orchestrations, vocal arrangements, and the addition of a small ensemble to the show’s intimate three-person cast: Jon (Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz), Susan (Tony nominee Denée Benton), and Michael (Tony nominee Grey Henson). tick, tick…BOOM! runs Jan. 26 to Feb. 4 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. $59–$349. —Allison R. Shely

Saturday: Marc Cary’s Indigenous People at Takoma Station  

Marc Cary is best known for his days as a New York-based pianist who accompanied jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, and Roy Hargrove, as well as R&B greats including Erykah Badu. Cary, who also plays synthesizers and organs, has led his own jazz combos and taught music at Juilliard. He can play with subtlety or do dramatic flourishes. But Cary, who now lives near Baltimore in Parkville, grew up in D.C. playing in go-go bands while attending the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Over the years, Cary has combined his love for go-go, jazz, and R&B in his occasional band Indigenous People. They have, with varying memberships, played live and released albums such as 1999’s Indigenous People Captured Live in Brazil. The latest incarnation of that outfit will be joining Cary for his birthday gig at Takoma Station this weekend. For this show, Indigenous People will feature D.C. go-go musicians YML (aka Domo Young Man Lee) on drums, Dre Blalock on bass, and BJ (born Brion Scott)—son of legendary go-go percussionist GoGo Mickey—on congas. Cary’s manager also promises surprise vocalists, and music drawn from the group’s 2021 South Arts Grants Creative Residency at Bloom Bar, as well as their 2003 effort N.G.G.R. Please (which stands for Native Go-Go Rhythms Please, according to the album cover). Such projects mean one can look for the ensemble to energetically meld the nation’s capital’s official brand of funky, party rhythms with noisy post-bebop jazz and earthy Parliament Funkadelic-style grooves. Marc Cary’s Indigenous People play at 7 p.m. on Jan. 27 at Takoma Station Tavern, 6914 4th St NW. takomastation.com. $20–$25. —Steve Kiviat

Closing Sunday: Winter at Multiple Exposures Gallery

To have your work chosen for a photography exhibition with the theme “winter,” you could go the dramatic route, as Van Pulley did with the fog-shrouded peak of Punta Bariloche or as Alan Sislen did with his image of a silvery inlet hugged by ice-covered peaks. But as the 13-artist group show at Multiple Exposures Gallery demonstrates you don’t have to chase towering landforms to leverage the visual power of wintry snow; the humdrum can produce imagery that’s just as compelling. For Tom Sliter, the charm comes from how wet snow fills in the voids of wire lawn flamingos; for Soomin Ham, it’s how a group of ducks forms a line against a misty backdrop. Clara Young Kim captures how a single evergreen stands out against an almost horizonless white expanse, while Fred Zafran focuses on the pairing of a circular-shaped tree perched over a swath of reeds, echoing Jerry Uelsmann’s dreamy 1969 “Floating Tree.” Several photographers make use of strong diagonals to shake up the winter reverie, including Zafran’s abstract expressionist zip of water trickling through accumulated snow and some carefully arranged portrayals of receding fences by Sislen and Matt Leedham; meanwhile, Sarah Hood Salomon adapts her arboreal studies to the season by making them even dreamier. Maureen Minehan makes a rare use of color by documenting a yellow-hued shed within an otherwise monochromatic sweep. But the standout is Irina Dakhnovskaia–Lawton’s tiny (2-by-3-inch) landscape, with a lovely blurring that stems from its eccentric solarplate etching process. The question for all of these artists: Where on earth are they finding so much snow? Certainly not the DMV, had been snow starved in recent years until just this last past week. Winter is on view through Jan. 28 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. multipleexposuresgallery.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Closing soon: Walter Plotnick at Photoworks

Walter Plotnick’s pair of exhibits at Photoworks are decidedly inventive—fanciful, even. To create one series about circus performers, Plotnick, a Philadelphia-based artist, begins with vintage photographs, scans them, prints the resulting images onto clear Mylar, then exposes them and other geometric shapes to photosensitive paper in the darkroom, before digitally fine-tuning and printing the works in cool-toned black-and-white. The acrobats and other performers present as dreamily removed from time, but Plotnick’s highly abstracted works most closely evoke proto-surrealist “rayographs,” the cameraless darkroom images that Man Ray experimented with in the 1920s. Plotnick’s second series of works is even more imaginative. It features similarly old-fashioned imagery (swimmers, acrobats, and a whole lot of chinoiserie) projected onto the blank insides of unfolded cardboard boxes, then photographed in black-and-white, with the beige of the boxes’ interiors lending the works a sepia tone. The boxes’ varied flap designs provide geometrical intrigue to the sometimes absurdist photographic arrangements, but the artist has a more straightforward explanation for his choice of material: Depicting imagery on the inside of a box is a “metaphor for anticipation,” he writes, in which the opening of a box exposes the contents, even if the hidden gift in this case is evanescent rather than tangible. The drawback is that, once you accept this metaphor, viewers are prevented from experiencing the reveal as the actual opening of a box. Perhaps that could be rectified in the next project by the creative Mr. Plotnick. Surprise inside series and CIRCUS SERIES is on view through Feb. 4 at Photoworks, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 7 p.m. glenechophotoworks.org. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Ongoing: Rich in Blessings: Women, Wealth, and the Late Antique Household at Dumbarton Oaks

This gem of an exhibit at Dumbarton Oaks is small—occupying only one room—but mighty, scattered and dripping with exasperatingly old gilded necklaces and bejeweled earrings that, remarkably, seem just as fashionable today as they did when they were first designed more than 2,000 years ago. The gold cuff, for example, featuring two felines—perhaps lionesses—embracing a crown centerpiece of pearls and burgundy stones, looks like it could saunter off the runways of a modern-day Chanel or Cartier show. However, it is the tapestries on display that are especially worth noting: The fragile remnants are one-of-a-kind examples of textiles from the final centuries of classical civilization (200 to 700 CE). For example, the rarely seen hanging of Hestia Polyolbos, from which the exhibit gets its name, is a woolen Byzantine tapestry depicting the goddess of the hearth. She is an image of complexities; perched on a throne, she hands out silver discs etched with Greek “aspirational attributes” such as “festivity,” “advancement,” and “virtue.” Alongside these meditations for a moral home are “wealth” and “mirth,” symbolized by Hestia’s own earthly bling: pearl-laden chandelier earrings. The textile serves as a visual argument for the show’s thesis that connects women, through beautiful objects, to the transfer of wealth, a story of antique agency and power (however framed by patriarchy) that is not often told. Another must-see is the “Marriage Belt,” an expensive cincture of luxe gold medallions that look all too like money, the only other example of which resides at the Louvre. Many of the objects were acquired by women collectors over the years, including Belle da Costa Greene, a prominent librarian who worked for J.P. Morgan. Born in 1879 to a well-known Black family in D.C., da Costa Greene passed as White. An avid collector and fashionista, she may have even worn the 5th-century lavender sapphire drop earrings during a night out. For us beholders today, we can only imagine. But happily, the column-lined courtyard is dimmed, to preserve the delicate textiles, and studded, so you can roam and wander as if you’re whiling away in the interiors of a haute collector’s fabric jewelry box. Rich in Blessings: Women, Wealth, and the Late Antique Household is on view through June 9 at Dumbarton Oaks, 1703 32nd St. NW. Tuesday through Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. doaks.org. Free. —Emma Francois

Friday and Saturday: 13th Annual Elvis’ Birthday Fight Club

Every year, for two weekends only, Elvis Presley briefly comes back to life to host a bizarre, glamorous, and utterly original fight show. Catch him and his D-list celebrity sidekick, Kittie Glitter, this weekend as they oversee raunchy and ridiculous fights between unforgettable characters, like Godzilla, members of the Supreme Court, Vladimir Putin, and more. Put on by Astro Pop Events, a D.C.-based group of artists and performers that specialize in unique and offbeat entertaining, the show is intended to be subversive and playful. Kate Taylor Davis, wearer of many hats, including producer, director, and writer, has been part of the show since its inception 13 years ago. She describes the production as completely ridiculous, and that’s exactly why she can’t wait for this year’s unlucky anniversary show. Davis says it originally started as an experiment: “We had this date that happened to be Elvis’ birthday that we were going to do a burlesque show … and we were like, ‘oh, we should do something a little more interesting.’” After just three rehearsals, Davis and her crew came up with an action-packed burlesque affair that doesn’t take itself too seriously—“it was far better than it had any right to be,” she says. The show is now so popular that people come in from across the nation to get a peak at Elvis, Kittie, and the rest of the famous and infamous brawlers. To keep new and old audience members on their toes, the fight list is kept a secret until show time, but you can always count on Streaking Lincoln to make an appearance, which is exactly what you’re picturing. Viewers will also get to see a host of talented burlesque performers, including Delilah Dentata, Candy del Rio, Cherie Sweetbottom, Callie Pigeon, and Betty O’Hellno. If you miss the D.C. showing, the fight club heads to Baltimore’s Creative Alliance on Jan. 12 and 13. The 13th Annual Elvis’ Birthday Fight Club shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 and 6 at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. astropopevents. $33–$45. —Abby Grifno

Opening Saturday: George Lorio, Oluwatoyin Tella, and Dan Ortiz Leizman at IA&A at Hillyer

George Lorio is not trying to trick you. Yes, the American artist’s sculptural depictions of trees—stumped, curved, cracked, and ornamented—do appear so breathlessly detailed that they look alive, or at least like a once-live trunk, now dead, transformed into a rotting, intricate home for insects and burrowing animals, slowly decaying to refurbish and nurture the forest bed. But the skilled prowess or intimate study necessary to capture the whimsy of a woodland with such realism is not Lorio’s primary focus. Rather than the unfailing wonders of trompe l’oeil, it is what the woods represent—life, vitality, resilience, decay—and how human destruction and climate change affect these magnificent organisms, that captures Lorio’s interest. “These constructions are fictions of trees, stumps and logs,” Lorio says. “They are not renderings but reinterpretations of living forms.” In other woods, the sculptural creations are evocations of wood fauna, intended to spark the imagination of the audience, the forest-wanderers. Wood pellets and shards surround the sculptures, highlighting the theme of environmental degradation. But in these handmade, inventive works, the product of one solitary artist’s collaging and rebuilding, inspired by and composed of felled trees, is a brave ode to renewal, encouraging a more active, hopeful, rejuvenated approach to restoration. Lorio’s works, on view at the IA&A at Hillyer (a nonprofit initiative from the International Arts & Artists organization) are part of three new artist showcases at the gallery this January. In addition to Lorio, Oluwatoyin Tella will exhibit her signature indigo figures that portray the dialoguing aesthetics of contemporary Black Diaspora with that of precolonial Yoruba. And Dan Ortiz Leizman’s immersive “NUCLEAR” installation explores queer pregnancy, evoking an imagined dystopia where, in the face of destruction from war and radiation exposure, asexual pregnancy is the norm. While working across different themes and mediums, all three artists have at least one thing in common: looking to the past to question the present and render a more equitable, imaginative, hearty future. Newly Selected Artists: George Lorio, Oluwatoyin Tella, and Dan Ortiz Leizman opens Jan. 6 and runs through the 28 at IA&A at Hillyer, 9 Hillyer Ct. NW. athillyer.org. Free, donation suggested. —Emma Francois

Sunday: Emily Wilson on The Iliad at Politics and Prose

Calling all “classics girlies” and “guys who think about Ancient Greece and Rome too much”: Make sure you stop by Politics and Prose to see legendary classics professor Emily Wilson on tour for her new translation of The Iliad. As every news article must note, Wilson was the first woman to publish a translation of The Odyssey in 2017, creating a definitive version of Homer for the 21st century. Her translation of The Iliad (that’s the one with the Trojan War), released in September, has been equally well-received as a clear and beautiful interpretation of Homer’s original epic poem. Given the Cambrian explosion of Greek mythology-inspired works coming out, it was about time for new translations of Homer and his OG Greek God shenanigans. Wilson, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the most respected classicists in the field and has produced translations of Seneca, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. In addition to being technically brilliant—her translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey are entirely in iambic pentameter and conform to the original number of lines in Ancient Greek—Wilson’s translations are known for being simultaneously progressive and truer to the “original” text. Wilson does not use the euphemisms and Christian influences added by centuries of Western translations but also manages to give the original Greek new meaning by offering simple and clean language. For modern readers obsessed with the classics or casual readers who want to learn more, Wilson’s translations are a must. After a lifetime of stodgy translations written by Victorian men, this is a breath of fresh air—maybe reading this version would’ve kept me from giving up on the Iliad after 20 pages when I was in high school. Wilson will be at Politics and Prose on Sunday, where she’ll read some of her translation aloud, as is intended by the oral tradition of Homer’s epics. Emily Wilson on The Iliad starts at 3 p.m. on Jan. 7 at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW. politics-prose.com. Free. —Tristan Jung

Sunday: Milarepa Dorji, Liam Grant, Dechen at Rhizome

It’s 2024 and Rhizome, the small community art space, is still located and active at a house in D.C.’s Takoma neighborhood. As its website says, “There is a contract to build apartments on the property,” but Rhizome expects to stay where it is “at least through the first half of 2024.”  For adventurous D.C.-area music fans,, this is a good thing. Take Sunday’s intriguing triple bill. Milarepa Dorji is the Maine-based, electric guitar-playing son of Bhutanese improvisational guitarist Tashi Dorji. The younger Dorji employs his dexterous fingerwork and affects pedals to create discordant instrumental songs that meld post-punk, jazz rock, and avant-ambient sounds. New England-raised acoustic guitarist Liam Grant uses a fingerpicking, John Fahey-like style to play blues, country, and South Asian raga-rooted instrumentals. While less noisy than Dorji, Grant uses repetition and drone to make his approach equally challenging. Opener Dechen (aka Ellen McSweeney), who recently finished spiritual training in a Buddhist monastic community, is a local musician who plays acoustic guitar, violin, and ukulele and sings her own artsy folk compositions in a high, earnest voice. She’ll be accompanied by classical bassist Alex Jacobsen of the National Symphony Orchestra at this gig. The triple bill starts at 7 p.m. on Jan. 7 at Rhizome, 6950 Maple St. NW. rhizomedc.org. $10–$20. —Steve Kiviat 

Ongoing: Mini Memories: Souvenir Buildings at the National Building Museum

Much like the objects it spotlights, the National Building Museum’s exhibit of small souvenir buildings packs a lot into a small space. The one-room exhibit features some 400 miniature buildings from 70 countries, part of a 3,000-piece collection that architects David Weingarten and Lucia Howard assembled and then donated to the museum. The exhibit’s prefatory wall note acknowledges that many of the items are “not necessarily the best examples of architecture,” and that’s for sure; examples include a humdrum Ford plant in Belgium, a bunch of ordinary-looking banks, and a midwestern grain elevator. The items were produced for all kinds of purposes (swag for employees, gifts for tourists, home decor) and they depict structures from lots of eras (from the Great Pyramid of Giza to the Eiffel Tower to Dubai’s contemporary skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa). But the most striking diversity is in material. The miniatures are rendered in at least 20 different mediums, ranging from Bakelite, wax, and repurposed currency to bronze, silver, and terra cotta. (The porcelain and cloisonné examples tend to age more gracefully than the metal ones.) Each state—except, for some reason, Montana—is represented by at least one example. The exhibit is definitely more kitsch than art; how to explain a miniature of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in an unexpected shade of pink? If I had a favorite, it might well be the replica of the classic Los Angeles restaurant, the Brown Derby. The restaurant’s eponymous bowler shape makes the replica on display a case of art imitating life imitating art. Mini Memories: Souvenir Buildings from the David Weingarten Collection will run through 2024 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. nbm.org. $7–$10. —Louis Jacobson

Tonight: Holiday Desserts Around the World at S. Dillon Ripley Center

Food historian and cookbook author Francine Segan has lectured on a true smorgasbord of topics: from the art of dining in Downton Abbey, to the 21st-century breakthroughs in Italian ravioli to the myth-laden secrets of libidinous foods like oysters and ginseng. When it comes to desserts, she can talk to you about the fruity (and brandy-infused) “Election Cakes” women during the late 1700s sold to male voters who needed grub to fuel their exclusive all-day civil affair. She is also an expert on chocolate—another aphrodisiac—and exactly which dessert wines compliment your confection of choice. In celebration of the holiday season, Segan will deliver a lecture on celebratory desserts across the globe, complete with recipe handouts and a dessert tasting to satisfy your cravings after an evening of toothsome descriptions and delectable history. On the menu are lessons from around the world, including the lesser known backstories behind American wintry staples like glossed candy canes or spiced gingerbread houses. The evening will also cover the sweet treats shared during Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, Diwali, and Ramadan. Bonne note: As Rachael Ray said, “Francine feeds her readers well—stomach and soul,” so you just may want to come with an empty stomach, even if that means eating dessert first. Holiday Desserts Around the World: In-Person Program with Tasting starts at 6:45 p.m. on Dec. 14 at S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr. SW. smithsonianassociates.org. $45–$55. —Emma Francois 

Friday and Saturday: The Spirit of Kwanzaa

Back in 2020, City Paper covered what D.C. dance students lost when COVID canceled the holiday performances that, in a typical year, they spend months preparing for. These shows matter because they give young dancers a rare opportunity to perform for audiences wider than their friends and family. One of these shows is The Spirit of Kwanzaa, put on since 1995 by the Dance Institute of Washington, an elite and Black-led dance school in Columbia Heights. The production is a cultural experience that’s rooted in Kwanzaa and the agricultural ceremonies of Africa that the holiday draws from. Through this lens, DIW designed a show that conveys both the struggles and artistry of the Black diaspora. “The Spirit of Kwanzaa is always such an amazing event for DIW,” says Kahina Haynes, the school’s executive director. “It’s a perfect opportunity to bring the community together while celebrating everything enduring and beautiful about Black culture and creativity.” The cast consists of local dancers with support from guest choreographers Earl Mosley and Katherine Smith. The Spirit of Kwanzaa runs at 6 p.m. on Dec. 15 and 16 at Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium, 2455 6th St. NW. danceinstituteofwashington.org. $30. —Mary Scott Manning

Friday: The King’s Singers at the National Cathedral

Grammy-winning British choral sextet the King’s Singers return to the National Cathedral for their 2023 holiday tour. Mere months after releasing Wonderland, their third album of this year, the Singers will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Disney and the 400th anniversary of the death of 16th-century composer William Byrd. The concert will feature music that pays tribute to both. The Singers have had several rotations since their 1968 founding in Cambridge, England, but they’ve maintained the same pitch formation since their debut: two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones, and a bass. Today, the Singers consist of Patrick Dunachie, Edward Button, Julian Gregory, Christopher Bruerton, Nick Ashby, and Jonathan Howard. Speaking with City Paper, Dunachie and Ashby explain that their combination of pitches deepens the sonority, and creates a richness and familiarity to their a cappella music. The holiday tour focuses primarily on Christmas music, but features a selection of works from Byrd and a generous sprinkling of Disney. “For us, Christmas takes us back to childhood, and I think for kids the season is a truly magical time of year,” Ashby says. “Disney pulls in many of those same feelings.” The concert will also incorporate songs from Finding Harmony, a 2020 release that aimed to demonstrate how music can bring humanity together. “The theme pulls in a similar message of togetherness and community, and shows what love can achieve this time of year,” Ashby says. The King’s Singers perform at 7 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. cathedral.org. $25–$95. —Camila Bailey

Saturday: Dance Club With Kilopatrah Jones at the Owl Room

A body of water ripples in a pinkish looping GIF. “No need to fear the glitches in the quicksand,” says the Instagram flier for the latest installment of Dance Club, the semiregular party thrown by D.C’s Joyce Lim, Tommy C, and Baronhawk Poitier. It’s a typically stylish way of saying “let go, we got you,” by the three DJs, all of them deeply embedded in the city’s globally known dance-music scene. The goal of Dance Club is to “create a haven for the underground LGBTQ and BIPOC+ community,” Lim says. “Everyone is welcome.” What to expect: impeccably chosen house, techno, and club tracks, this time with guest Kilopatrah Jones, a high-energy New Yorker who is the latest out-of-towner to be featured as a headliner. “Our spaces are meant to be playful, so our dance floors are fun,” says Lim, who is also co-founder of D.C.’s 1432R label. (There’s a New Year’s Eve event on the books, too, headlined by locals including Dee Clark.) Dance Club begins at 9 p.m. on Dec. 16 at the Owl Room, 2007 14th St. NW. danceclub.link. $13.60. —Joe Warminsky

Wednesday: A John Waters Christmas at the Birchmere

O come all ye faithless, jailbirds, and rusty trumpets: Filmmaker John Waters is ready to spread some holiday cheer (and a few rounds of antibiotics should clear that up again). The “Pope of Trash” is beloved for his transgressive Baltimore-set films—including Pink Flamingos, Hairspray (and its subsequent Broadway success), Cry-Baby, and Serial Mom—focused on outsiders and featuring his cast of “Dreamlanders” such as Divine and Mink Stole. At age 77, the pencil-mustachioed provocateur remains as busy as ever. He wrote his first novel, Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance, last year and is currently adapting the screenplay. It will be his first directorial effort since 2004’s A Dirty Shame. (Aubrey Plaza’s name has been circling as the most likely actor to take the lead role.) Earlier this year, Waters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures hosted John Waters: The Pope of Trash, a comprehensive exhibition of his cinematic contributions, while the Baltimore Museum of Art gave a sneak peek of his museum bequest with the exhibition Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection. Maybe the “Baron of Bad Taste” is finally in good fashion? All accolades aside, when it’s the holiday season, Waters puts the “X” back into X-Mas with his annual show. Even though Waters distorts family memories and beloved traditions to riff on a variety of topics more naughty than nice, the ribald and raunchy humor is all in good spirit and demonstrates his deep love for the holidays. Each season, Waters revises and updates his not-so-silent script—this year’s revue is titled “Blow It Up!”—and is followed by a lively Q&A session with the audience. A John Waters Christmas: Blow It Up! starts at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 20 at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. birchmere.com. Sold out. —Colleen Kennedy

During a 2021 field trip to South Africa’s Kruger National Park as part of her masters studies in science, South African artist and activist Hannelie Coetzee threw a few drawing materials into her bag. She had always created among and from nature—often at ginormous scales for her public installations—but never had she sketched in the wild before. With the windows of her car down, mere feet away from hyenas, wildebeest, and warthogs, she trained her ink to mimic the flow of the mammals’ wily movements. Sometimes should would shake or tilt the papers to mirror their patterns. Sometimes she thanked the wind for a well-timed gust to splash the ink with its natural velocity.

“That’s when the spontaneity started developing,” Coetzee tells City Paper. “It’s a full collaboration with nature.”  

When she ran out of ink, which she laughs about now, she dipped her brush into her thermos, immediately falling in love with how the dusty-rose hues of the tea (or sometimes coffee) matched the coats of the mammals she sketched. The infusion of the “domestic,” as she refers to it, intrigued her.  

“The funny thing was in Kruger Park, I’d be super focused on the drawing and trying to figure it out,” she says. “Then the freakin’ safari vehicles would stop, between me and the animals, and look at me drawing—and not even look at the hyenas!”

The resulting exhibit from her time at Kruger Park, In mid-loping gait on view through Dec. 19 at Morton Fine Art, showcases Coetzee’s animated sketches, often on reused industrial papers, of same-sex creatures (and a few birds and insects for good measure) engaging in queer behaviors. Giraffes, zebras, penguins, ostriches, baboons (oh my), and more can be seen necking, bowing, bounding, shaking, kissing, mating, and frolicking in perfectly harmonious, “natural,” loving unison. Her personal studies in nature, in addition to eco-queer theory—the study of ecology from a nonbinary, non-human-centered approach—inform the collection. Coetzee has found inspiration from one 1999 text in particular, Biological Exuberance, which scientifically documents homosexual lifestyles of more than 300 animals.

“Every time I opened that book, it was just phenomenal,” Coetzee says. “I turned 52 this year, and I’ve always been queer. But I’ve never felt so welcome in the world.”

In mid-loping gait is a pivotal collection for Coetzee. It’s her first solo exhibit in the U.S., a country she has yet to visit, but would like to—sketchbook in hand. Amy Morton, curator of the exhibit and founder of the gallery, first discovered Coetzee’s work by accident during a trip to South Africa more than 10 years ago. Morton has been dreaming of bringing Coetzee’s work to American audiences ever since. Usually Coetzee works in large, “site-responsive” installments with an emphasis on community engagement and activism. A recent example is her 16-foot salvaged marble and steel sculpture featuring two giraffes “necking,” which showcases a combination of sustainable, earth-conscious art that also challenges binary, heterosexual records of science and nature. She designed the piece to enliven a collective of artist studios in Johannesburg. When Morton heard Coetzee had begun translating her works into drawings, which made for much easier—and less risky—transport to D.C., she began plans with Coetzee to finally show her work stateside.

The reception by Washingtonians has been positive, with such a demand for Coetzee’s fierce yet delicate tea-stained animal drawings that Morton asked Coetzee to send more her way to buoy the landmark show. 

“This body of work not only brings me much closer to the natural world, but also creates an opportunity for me to bring another lens to fight homophobia,” Coetzee says. “It gives me goosebumps to think there are people who want to buy art, because we don’t have that culture [in South Africa].”

Coetzee uses the Afrikaans word “samesyn” to describe her current momentum—indicataing a kind of “togetherness,” where aspects of life come together and interweave, like the communion of ecology and queer studies, or the marriage of wind and rooibos on sketch paper. 

“That’s why it’s such a celebration,” Coetzee says.

Hannelie Coetzee’s In mid-loping gait is on view through Dec. 19 at Morton Fine Arts. mortonfineart.com.

Saturday: Liz Phair at the Anthem

Thirty years ago, Liz Phair released her debut, Exile in Guyville, loosely conceived as a track-by-track feminist response to the rock machismo of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 record Exile on Main Street. We live in a postmodern era of constant remakes, reboots, and revivals, but Phair’s lo-fi Exile was nothing less than a revelatory and renegade album. Bold, brazen, and bawdy, Phair’s girl-next-door looks belied the darkness and candor of her lyrics. Sonically, she sounded more like her acoustic singer-songwriter Lilith Fair cohorts, but the sexual bravado and utter angst of her lyrics also aligned her with the third-wave feminism of the riot grrrl movement. In the album’s opener, “6’1″,” she has all the swagger of Mick Jagger, as she squares off with an ex. But in other tracks across the 55-minute record, the facade of a sexually liberated, nonchalant cool chick dissolves, and we uncover much more complex characters. In “Fuck and Run,” she laments “I want a boyfriend,” after another unfulfilling one-night stand in a long history of dating disasters (with a gut-punch last line); a road trip dissolves an unhappy marriage in “Divorce Song,” and in “Strange Loop,” love is just not enough. Musically, the album is pretty no-frills DIY indie, but there are still sonic surprises—the bluesy heartbreaker “Dance of the Seven Veils,” the swirling guitar and echoing chorus of the album’s solo radio release “Never Said Nothing,” the 2.5 minutes of plucky acoustic guitar and slowly emerging static before the first plaintive vocals of “Shatter,” and the sacrilegious hymnal “Flower” with a choir of angelic voices joining Phair’s deadpan list of “impure, unchaste” sexual fantasies. Exile in Guyville was an immediate critical success and is still extolled on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time and 100 best albums of the ’90s lists, as well as Pitchfork’s top 100 albums of the ’90s, among others. In 2018, Matador Records reissued the album and released a deluxe box set titled Girly-Sound to Guyville, covering Phair’s early cassette-recorded demos preceding her monumental debut. In the past few years, Phair released her seventh studio album, Soberish, in 2021 and a starkly candid memoir, Horror Stories (2019). Blondshell, highlighted as a City Paper Fall Arts Guide pick, open the show with “new shade of rage meets sarcastic grunge.” Liz Phair performs her album Exile in Guyville after Blondshell open at 8 p.m on Nov. 25 at the Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Seated show. theanthemdc.com. $55–$95. —Colleen Kennedy

Now Open: Dorothea Lange: Seeing People at the National Gallery of Art

Few photographers are as closely defined by one image as Dorothea Lange is by her Depression-era portrait “Migrant Mother.” But that image is only a pivot point for the National Gallery of Art’s retrospective of work by Lange (1895-1965). In her early years, Lange sometimes produced ghostly, blurred portraits, but in the 1920s, her decades-long penchant for socially charged realism emerged, initially in piercing images of Indigenous people, including a Hopi man and a Mexican American child. Lange proved skillful at capturing crowds, including labor rallies and bread lines, as well as individuals and small groups with pained faces, including a family of drought refugees from Oklahoma and a farmer from Missouri sitting with his wife in their car. While Lange’s images largely fit within the era’s straightforward documentary approach, a few break fruitfully with that style, notably a 1935 image of three Mexican American farm workers set against a blinding white sky, decades before this approach was adopted by Richard Avedon. One image from 1942 is particularly poignant: It shows a grocery store in Oakland, California, owned by a family of Japanese ancestry who put up a sign saying in bold letters, “I AM AN AMERICAN.” It didn’t help; the family was sent to an internment camp, and, once released, they never returned to Oakland. The curators deserve credit for charting the limitations of Lange’s work, particularly in an image of a Southern country store with several White and Black men standing and seated on the porch; the wall caption emphasizes the uncertainty about whether the men’s seeming harmony in the image is genuine or simply a show for the camera. The exhibit also offers a melancholy postscript to Lange’s most celebrated photograph: The subject of “Migrant Mother” appears to have received no financial benefit despite becoming a worldwide icon. Dorothea Lange: Seeing People runs through March 31 at the National Gallery of Art, 6th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. nga.gov. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Wednesday: Modern Evergreen Wreath via Zoom

D.C. artist Arrin Sutliff is known for her distinctive, romantic, and wild floral arrangements. Her lively designs—which are perhaps more accurately described as textured, flower-filled living sculptures—capture the whimsy of nature and are sourced from seasonal, native shrubs and plants. In an upcoming virtual workshop with the Smithsonian as part of their holiday-themed, hands-on programming, Sutliff will demonstrate how attendees can create modern, artistic wreaths with festive (and even foraged!) evergreens and any other leafy finds that strike their creative fancy. Open to decoration lovers and green thumb owners of any expertise, the class covers Sutliff’s versatile wiring technique, which can also be used to create garlands or art nouveau bouquets; thoughtful gifts and plastic-free, sustainable, and subtly sublime holiday decor. If you’re in the mood for more natural crafts to celebrate (or decompress) this season, there is also a workshop on creating flower arrangements out of crepe paper so you can add a few more blossoms to your holiday tableaus that will last through the new year. Also on offer, storied orchid connoisseur Barb Schmidt will lead another workshop on the cosmopolitan plant that includes a whole festival of floral fun: orchid trivia, orchid care, orchid history, orchid arrangement—everything but a partridge in a pear tree. The Modern Evergreen Wreath starts at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 and Dec. 5. Crepe Paper Flowers—Paperwhites starts at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 2. Orchids for the Holidays starts at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 5 All workshops will be held on Zoom; register online. smithsonianassociates.org. $30—$85. —Emma Francois

Through Dec. 10: Timeless 2023 at Photoworks

For photography geeks like me, it almost doesn’t matter what the subject matter is when archaic techniques are in play. That’s the case with Timeless 2023: A Contemporary Look at Handmade Photographic Processes at Photoworks at Glen Echo Park, in which nine photographers contribute new works made using old formats. Mac Cosgrove–Davies offers a range of small images, notably a number made with the gum bichromate process, which was developed in 1859, less than two decades after the birth of photography. His images, as well other gum bichromate prints by Christopher Gumm, offer soft-focus renderings of the natural and built environment using a primitive but appealing color palette. (Gumm’s postcard-style images of a wooded landscape and the U.S. Capitol are inspired.) Another commonly used method in the exhibit is the cyanotype, which as its name suggests, is often (but not necessarily) blue. Rachael van der Linden uses the cyanotype process to document a trip to the beach, most effectively when the details she sees are at their most abstract. Colin Gore, meanwhile, uses it to capture patterns of repeated parallel lines, while Paige Billin–Frye manipulates the toning of her wide landscapes through ingredients such as yerba mate tea and grape leaves, producing a compelling image of a multicolored row of drying laundry hung amid a largely colorless sweep of grass and trees. The unsung stars of the show are Billin-Frye’s manhole covers, whose classic, textured surfaces pair surprisingly well with the relatively lo-fi cyanotype process. Timeless 2023 runs through Dec. 10 at Photoworks at Glen Echo Park, 7300 Macarthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. glenechophotoworks.org. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Thru Jan. 25: Mastery and Milestones at Leica Store 

For its 11th anniversary, the D.C. outpost of the Leica camera store is mounting a retrospective exhibit of work by D.C.-area photographers. It doesn’t include any blockbuster images, but the work—a mix of black-and-white and color photographs—is consistently strong. Appropriately, about two-thirds of the images feature D.C.-area residents. They include political marches downtown (images of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests by Tony Mobley and Cheriss May, and an antiabortion rally by Chaz Neil); U Street NW soul food restaurant Oohhs & Aahhs by John Buckley; a Marine and his bride getting married at the Lincoln Memorial by Chuck Kennedy; the presentation of Mr. and Ms. UDC by May; and an image by Amitava Chatterjee of a seated museumgoer at the National Gallery of Art as he ignores several nude paintings in favor of his reading material. Street images by Chatterjee and Randy Blythe serve as reminders of how an aptly timed photograph of strangers in public can offer an intriguing mix of simultaneous, split-second facial expressions. Further afield, on the Montana prairie, Tim Hyde offers a long-distance landscape that features isolated trees, a large cross, and a flagpole under a dusky blue cloud front. The work photographers may most identify with, however, is Kyle Myles’ image of a skateboarder captured in midair at our very own Freedom Plaza; the dramatic freeze-frame is undercut by an unwelcome backdrop, a Don’s Johns porta-potty. Mastery and Milestones runs through Jan. 25 at Leica Store D.C., 977 F St. NW. Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to  6 p.m.; Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. leicacamerausa.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Growing up in Vietnam after the war, artist Tiffany Chung remembers being surrounded by monuments honoring heroic soldiers from North Vietnam, but also feeling disconnected from the towering pillars.

“I felt that monuments in general didn’t have much to do with ordinary citizens,” Chung, whose work appears in Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, tells City Paper. “This war killed so many people: the Americans, the Vietnamese, Laotians, Hmong, Cambodians. There were a lot of lives taken. I always wondered why there was no mention of ordinary people—or the other side.”

Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, premiering Aug. 18 on the National Mall, seeks to engage with this question of which stories, people, and histories are left out of our monuments. Beyond Granite also explores how to reveal more of the truths that lie beyond the marble facades spread across the Mall’s 700 acres. The exhibit features the bespoke creations of six contemporary artists, including Chung, and marks the first time a curated, outdoor collection will open to the public on the historic grounds. 

Julie Moore, vice president of communications at the Trust for the National Mall, described the pilot project as an opportunity to test the power of temporary art to inspire change, prompt reflection, and continuously weave new narratives into the “sacred” landscape. 

“This is a way of sharing new stories, perspectives, and memories, in a meaningful way,” Moore says, “and also protecting that grand, open space.”

The installations, which vary in style, will be spread out across the Mall, each placed near a memorial it’s in dialogue with. 

For example, Wendy Red Star’s glassy sculpture, titled “The Soil You See…,” is a stark, bright thumbprint, textured with the names, in a fiery red, of the Apsáalooke nation chiefs who signed treaties with the U.S. from 1825 to 1880 to protect their land and freedom, reflecting—and refracting—the adjacent 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial. 

Nearby, Derrick Adams’ interactive playground tells the story of desegregation here in D.C. And next to the Washington Monument, Ashon T. Crawley’s “HOMEGOING” is a sonic memorial to the AIDS crisis, with a spiritual maze of tranquil blue honoring the lives of Black queer musicians who died of AIDS. Near the Smithsonian Metro, Paul Ramírez Jonas’ aptly titled interactive bell tower, “Let Freedom Ring,” is what he describes as an “empty monument,” a structure inviting—and necessitating—audience participation that will change with time, just as America does. And near the Lincoln Memorial, vanessa german imagined a soaring portrait of singer Marian Anderson, planted where she sang on Easter Sunday in 1939 after being barred from Constitution Hall due to segregation. German’s statue is a loving collage of flowers, uplifted arms, and mirrors, which together she describes as a “monument to the human heart.”

Chung’s cartographic embroidery sits near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a sprawling piece of land art with rainbow threads tracing the routes of Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees following the Vietnam War. It’s the result of years of research gained from traveling the world, digging through archives in search of lost data and stories detailing the journeys people were forced to endure at the hands of the violent conflict. Her design began by “thinking about the living,” she says, and all those “ordinary” people her younger self saw to be missing.

“For me, it was another take on the project,” she says. “I want to really deconstruct monuments; it is not threatening, it is not me over you, it is not making you feel so little and insignificant. I want the map to be so relatable. In fact, it’s on the landscape, on the ground.”

Since Aug. 8, she’s been on site with her team of landscapers, all women, with their tools and tenacity, as Chung put it, literally carving new lines and routes into the Mall’s contours.

“And who knows?” she asks. “Grass will grow over the lines. Soil will be washed away in the rain. It’s really about the brevity of life on earth, of what we will become when we go away from this world. I think monuments should be about us as well, so the title is ‘For the Living.’”

Beyond Granite: Pulling Together runs through Sept. 18 along the National Mall. See website for a map of the exhibit and the schedule of special events accompanying each project. beyondgranite.org. Free.

Tonight: Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The third floor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is under renovation, which means one of D.C.’s most luminous art landmarks—Nam June Paik‘s room-filling, U.S.-shaped Electronic Superhighway—isn’t on display right now. Its neon tubes and CRT screens will glow again in September, but for now the museum’s deep relationship with the late Korean video artist will have a different expression: a showing of Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV, a documentary that premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Director Amanda Kim will be on hand for a post-screening conversation about the film, which not only chronicles Paik’s groundbreaking works, but also frames his career within a long list of mentors and collaborators, including musicians John Cage and Charlotte Moorman. (Paik himself was a gifted pianist.) The highlight might be the segment on Global Groove, his 1973 half-hour special for public TV, which arguably presaged everything from MTV to YouTube. Kim wisely avoids trying to outdo Paik himself; it’s a case where telling a compact and memorable story honors the subject as much as any wild gestures could. Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV screens at 6:30 p.m. on July 13 at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, 8th and G streets NW. si.edu. Free, registration required. —Joe Warminsky

Saturday: Destroy Boys at the Black Cat

Destroy Boys showed up on the scene in 2016 with “I Threw Glass at my Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation,” an unpolished song from their Sorry Mom EP that evoked the slippery humor of bands like Dead Milkmen and Propagandhi. “Glass” is funny in the dark sort of way that makes you wonder if a band realizes how funny they are. (In this case, they do.) But Destroy Boys really leveled up with the release of 2021’s Open Mouth, Open Heart. Try listening to the album while looking at the record jacket sometime. Every one of the song’s 13 tracks is personified on the cover. Songs such as “Cherry Garcia” and “Te Llevo Conmigo” attracted big-name fans like Laura Jane Grace and Billie Joe Armstrong, and confirmed the Bay Area band was more than a hard-edged sound and a one-off joke. We have the pandemic to thank for Open Mouth. At peak quarantine, vocalist-guitarist Alexia Roditis and drummer Narsai Malik were cooped up together in Philadelphia. Lockdown gave them the opportunity to focus their attention on songwriting, and to create the most technically proficient music of their artistic careers so far. That said, even with the benefit of slick production, thanks in part to Will Yip, who has produced songs for the Menzingers, Destroy Boys have preserved the X factor that made “Glass” so exciting. Beautiful mixing is great, we love it, but it wouldn’t have been worth it if Destroy Boys had lost the roaring furnace of gnarly humor, scuzzy poetry, and radical politics at the heart of their sound. Destroy Boys play at 7 p.m. on July 15 at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. blackcatdc.com. Sold out. —Will Lennon  

Sunday: Jessie Gaynor on The Glow at Politics and Prose

Thin, radiant, and miserable as ever, PR maven Jane goes into a bookstore looking to run into her ex-boyfriend. Perusing a stack of paperback novels, including “last season’s triumphant, groundbreaking tour de force[,] she wished people would stop writing books, just for a little while.” Voracious readers—and book critics—will identify with this strain of prestige literary fatigue, but they won’t feel it reading The Glow. It’s an important book without being a pompous bummer, and for the cynics out there, take comfort in the fact that there is nothing triumphant about it. In this debut novel, Jessie Gaynor has produced a savage takedown of self-help culture (skin-deep but poreless) and a chilling portrait of self-sabotage (down to the bone, baby). In many ways, The Glow is a love triangle between a pathologically insecure Ph.D. student turned media professional; a lonely trust-fund kid, grown up but still aching for approval; and a lifestyle guru named Cass, whose intoxicating blend of Holly Golightly, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Gwyneth Paltrow smells of bone broth and goose poop. But it’s mostly about the kind of love Cass can monetize—a “glow so spacious that she could host others inside it”—which is to say, compulsorily intimate and completely impersonal. Do not come to Cass’ upstate retreat—or to Gaynor’s novel, for that matter—to find a friend. These characters are unlikable in the best ways: vivid, hilarious, more Reddit than Insta. Trust that, if you see yourself in this picture, you will not like it. Still, Gaynor has captured something so timely—grotesque without being exaggerated—in this book. With its rapid-fire prose, its unflinching humor, and its quieter moments too, The Glow will live in your heart far longer than a plate of activated zucchini noodles will survive your intestinal tract. Jessie Gaynor discusses The Glow at 3 p.m. on July 16 at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. politics-prose.com. Free. —Annie Berke

Sunday and Wednesday: Oklahoma! in local theaters

Since finishing journalist Sam Anderson’s book Boom Town earlier this year, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Oklahoma. The saucepan-shaped state in the middle of the nation has an outsize presence in our collective imagination, in part because it’s endured horrific disasters and in part because of an earworm-y song written 80 years ago that taught listeners how to spell the state’s name. Oklahoma!, the musical that launched the creative partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, lacks the overwrought emotion and timeless songs of future collaborations, such as Carousel or The Sound of Music—at least in my opinion—but its story is particularly immersive, making it an ideal candidate to watch on the big screen. To celebrate the musical’s 80th birthday, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Trafalgar Releasing, and Concord Originals have come together to show the 1998 London production in movie theaters across the globe on July 16 and 19. Gorgeously lit and dressed, the Trevor Nunn-directed production drew rave reviews when it first opened and subsequently transferred to the West End and Broadway. It also, for better or worse, introduced the world to an Australian newcomer named Hugh Jackman. Yes, the slightly Aussie, slightly southern accent is distracting, but don’t let it stop you from reveling in a trip back to musical theater’s golden age. Oklahoma! screens on July 16 and 19 at numerous local theaters, including AMC Georgetown, Regal Gallery Place, Landmark E Street, and Old Greenbelt Theatre. oklahomaincinemas.com. Ticket prices vary. —Caroline Jones

Monday: Cisco Swank at Songbyrd

When Kendrick Lamar released his triumphant rap-jazz fusion album, To Pimp a Butterfly, in 2015, Francisco Haye was a freshman concentrating in music at New York’s LaGuardia High School, the 23-year-old told Marcus J. Moore in the New York Times last month. To Pimp a Butterfly’s influence on Haye, who performs under the moniker Cisco Swank, is abundantly clear on More Better, Swank’s recently released debut solo album. Like Lamar did in 2015, Swank unspools traditional jazz motifs, and reconfigures them to fit snugly around his contemporary rap flows and vocals. Make no mistake, though: More Better sounds firmly grounded in 2023, and in Swank’s experience coming into his 20s during a pandemic. On “If You’re Out There,” Swank confesses that he’s “teary-eyed still thinkin’ ‘bout 2020,” as horns swell in and out. He is “back home with the fam” on “What Came From Above,” which transports its listener to his Brooklyn neighborhood: “Crown Heights, fish fry, soul food.” Swank’s calm, almost sleepy voice recalls Earl Sweatshirt, and the album’s chilled-out vibe carries forward the torches of bedroom pop and lo-fi beats, two sounds that have experienced meteoric rises in the Spotify age. “Still Trying,” More Better’s standout last track, is a gentle exercise in vulnerability and perseverance. “I’m weary of my faults but I’m still trying,” he says during the song’s hook, before it fades into a slow, jazzy piano solo that showcases his chops as a pianist. “I hope the flow up to par,” Swank confesses earlier on the track. See him perform at Songbyrd, and you’ll find out that it very much is. Cisco Swank plays at 7 p.m. on July 17 at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. songbyrddc.com. $15–$18. —Ella Feldman

Through July 30: National Small Works at Washington Printmakers Gallery

“I often think of artists as poets of the visual, presenting concepts and feelings through images,” says LuLen Walker, art curator for Georgetown University and this year’s juror of the Washington Printmakers Gallery’s National Small Works. The subsequent exhibit, which runs until July 30, showcases 36 exquisite, however petite, pieces from around the country highlighting the obsessions and concerns of today’s innovative printmakers. The themes are timeless, exploring existential, human wonderings such as the conceptions of selfhood, light after grief, and the effervescence of nature. But the pieces, many of which were crafted during the pandemic, reflect today’s particular urgencies; like how to give voice to nature in the face of climate change, or how to crisscross over lines and boundaries that seek to divide us. Take, for example, Curtis Bartone’s interweaving stone lithograph of buzzy flora overlaying a familiar, geometric cityscape, with an eye-catching moth, or butterfly, hanging from the sky mirroring the shape of a crucifix, where one might expect to see a moon or sun. “My work addresses the uneasy and nebular relationship between human beings and what we label as the ‘natural’ world,” Bartone explains. Through his multimedia techniques blending collage and sketching, he writes, “similarities and connections begin to emerge. Divisions between native and invasive, wild and domestic, or beautiful and ugly disappear.” In another boundary-bursting work titled “Seaclipse” by Katharine Warinner, planets draped across a torn sky dance like stars, all visually anchored by a silvery orb reminiscent of a tire’s wheel, or a sliced cucumber. “I think of my work as organic abstraction and work with shapes and patterns found in nature,” Warinner writes. “My goal is to create images that reach beyond a literal sense of place to an internal, meditative one.” And on the subject of fluidity, Linda Yoshizawa’s etching, titled “My Winter Journey,” features scrawling, naked trees whose velvety darkness renders the stark white of the snowy hearth pillowy soft. “I believe my artwork reflects the mixing of two cultures – American and Japanese,” Yoshizawa writes. “When I see a twisted tree, I am inspired by its strong, defiant will to survive in the face of adversity … My artwork reflects these layers of my identity. The colors, values, and textures in my work elicit mood, questions, and a sense of serenity.” The National Small Works exhibit runs through July 30 at Washington Printmakers Gallery, 1675 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. washingtonprintmakers.com. Free. —Emma Francois

Saturday: Centennial Open Market at Freer Plaza

Building on the immense popularity of REDEYE, the inaugural, one-night-only event that transformed Pennsylvania Avenue NW into an outdoor market reminiscent of East and Southeast Asian cities in November 2021, No Kings Collective has partnered with the National Museum of Asian Art to illuminate the flavors and stories of AAPI-owned and DMV-based businesses as part of the museum’s Centennial Celebration, which runs through May 14. Featured makers and artisans include bakery Chiboo, online fashion retailer Fangyan, and Taeri Ceramics. Food vendors include D.C.’s Moon Rabbit and Arlington’s Lucky Danger. As a proud Filipino, first-generation immigrant, I selfishly want to shout out Purple Patch, Mahal BBQ, and Balangay DC. And as an equally prideful Baltimore transplant, I recommend Ekiben—a local Asian fusion favorite that opened its third storefront in South Baltimore in December 2022. Ekiben’s website reads, “Baltimore loves our artisanal steamed bun sandwiches and rice bowls, and we know you will too!” I can vouch for this sentiment, and know firsthand that the generous portions can easily last you a meal or two. REDEYE x The Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Centennial Open Market runs from noon to 4:30 p.m. on May 13 at the Arts & Industries Building and Freer Plaza, 900 Jefferson Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Free; registration required. —Irene Bantigue

Saturday and Sunday: Sean Dorsey Dance: The Lost Art of Dreaming at Dance Place

Last weekend I attended my 4-year-old cousin’s dance recital. About a third of the dances were modern; picture flowy dresses, chaotic energy, and lots of crawling. Each seemed to end with the dancers face down on the stage. Each piece had strange, beautiful moments. But their oddity—especially amid the toddler-tutu dances and sassy jazz numbers—reminded me that modern dance isn’t easy for nonexperts to interpret. (“Another one,” my aunt groaned.) This disconnect is part of Sean Dorsey’s inspiration for The Lost Art of Dreaming, a multi-format dance experience coming to Dance Place this weekend. “I really wanted to carve out and create a space that was brimming with joy and possibility and expansive and pleasure and connection,” Dorsey tells City Paper. The San Francisco-based Dorsey, the founder of Sean Dorsey Dance, is considered the country’s first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer. The centerpiece of The Lost Art of Dreaming is an evening-length dance performed onstage by an ensemble of trans, queer, and gender-nonconforming dancers to original scores. (“We dance our butts off,” says Dorsey.) After the show, audiences can pick up one of the specially commissioned postcards “with space for a loving message from the future” (also available online). People who can’t attend one of the dance company’s 10 tour stops can engage with the online accompaniment: dance films, the postcards, an interactive dictionary, a personal pledge to live with hope and joy. “The more points of access that we provide to a dance-based project, the better,” Dorsey explains. “I think often, especially, modern dance is considered by so many people to be cryptic and inaccessible or irrelevant to their actual lived experience.” By creating this experience, the choreographer and Sean Dorsey Dance are helping audiences build that bridge. Sean Dorsey Dance presents The Lost Art of Dreaming at 7 p.m. on May 13 (with ASL interpretation) and 4 p.m. on May 14 at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. danceplace.org. $10–$25. —Mary Scott Manning

Tuesday: Y La Bamba at Songbyrd

“When I’m alone, you pace around my mind,” Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos croons in “Walk Along,” the closing track from Lucha, released last month by Ramos’ bilingual indie project Y La Bamba. The dreamy love song, Ramos confesses to Brooklyn Vegan, is the “first song I wrote for a woman.” It’s a fitting end for Lucha—a quiet triumph of an album that finds power in its vulnerability, using it to explore grief, loneliness, heritage, empowerment, and love. The album opens with “Eight,” a tender, harmonic bilingual track written following the death of a friend. Mourning and isolation are recurring themes in Lucha, which features a distorted cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” But so is healing. Traces of it are found in “Collapse,” an upbeat number about self-empowerment, “Nunca,” a warm song about learning gratitude from family, and “Ceniza,” a gentle ode to overcoming trauma. Lucha unfolds like a kaleidoscope, warping traditional rhythms borrowed from corridos and rancheras with a psychedelic sensibility. The result is a sound that’s at once ancestral and entirely new. Y La Bamba plays at 7 p.m. on May 16 at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. songbyrddc.com. Sold out, but a waiting list is available. —Ella Feldman

Through June 3: Trevor Young at Addison/Ripley Fine Art

More than two decades ago, when I first encountered Trevor Young’s paintings, I wrote—enthusiastically—that Young “paints banal, unpopulated industrial scenes notable mostly for their anonymity—rail yards, airport tarmacs, and highway overpasses, among other things.” That could pretty well describe the works in his latest exhibit at Addison/Ripley Fine Art. But this is hardly a disappointment; over the years, Young’s spare, lovingly crafted paintings of boring-verging-on-ugly settings have remained compelling. Moreover, the current exhibit, Wastelands, throws a few welcome curveballs. In “Night Court,” Young paints a large tree adjoining a sports complex in near total darkness, crafted with subtle shadings and a highly polished surface. In “Sodium Descending,” Young depicts a metal exterior staircase amid a dazzling mist of bright amber illumination. Three groupings of smaller paintings are arranged together, heightening the thematic resonance among them; of these, the most coherent is a group of nine works that depict gas station overhangs, a frequent Young trope, shining as beacons within the gloomy darkness. Some of Young’s most impressive works benefit from their sharply horizontal or vertical dimensions. The titular horizontal painting “Wastelands,” at 34 by 98 inches, offers a sweeping view of an industrial landscape, dotted with tiny flecks of yellow flame, reminiscent of Edward Burtynsky’s photographs of oil derrick fields in and around Bakersfield, California. The distinctly vertical “Fort Reno,” meanwhile, depicts a soaring radio transmission tower, decorated with small red safety lights, set against a sky that ranges from blue to pink. Trevor Young’s Wastelands runs through June 3 at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. addisonripleyfineart.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Ongoing: Ellsworth Kelly at 100 at Glenstone

“I think what we all want from art is a sense of fixity,” Ellsworth Kelly remarked in 1996. “A sense of opposing the chaos of daily living.” Said differently, Kelly surmised that we look to art to be a refuge from the uncertainty of life, or at least a salve for it. Of course, this is an “illusion,” as Kelly called it; “What I’ve tried to capture is the reality of flux, to keep art an open, incomplete situation, to get at the rapture of seeing.” In Glenstone Museum’s landmark new exhibit celebrating the artist’s centennial, nearly 70 works from the museum’s archives, along with 24 works on loan from Kelly’s husband, Jack Shear, decorate the walls (and floors!) of the sweeping, fluid architecture of Glenstone. The survey, one of the most comprehensive looks at the artist this century, traces Kelly’s relationship with color, line, and shape, offering a rare insight into a life lived with the “rapture of seeing.” In photographs taken by the artist, seemingly quotidian silhouettes, like a barn facade or a city-street shadow, become lessons in the beauty of angles and shapes, the ability of the everyday to surprise us, if only we train our eyes to behold. One particularly special work on exhibit is the “Yellow Curve.” At a whopping 600 square feet, this large floor-based painting, to speak simply, is a stunning reflection pond of bright yellow and cannot be experienced through photographs alone. The artist conceived the aptly named installation in 1990, specifically for a show at Portikus in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The conceptual piece was disassembled; Glenstone acquired the remnants in 2012 and through a tedious detective process of analyzing photographs and writings, reassembled it for the first time since. Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone, recalls the opportunity to share the refabrication with the artist. “We had an audience of one,” she says. “He was all smiles that wonderful day. We served yellow cookies.” As you meander through the exhibits, blanketing yourself in the colors and shapes, be sure to head to the opposite side, between rooms 10 and 11, where you can stand across the pond in the museum’s center—perhaps spotting a red-winged blackbird or a festival of baby-bloom lilies—and view the immersive “Colored Panels for a Large Wall II” from this distance. It’s easy to imagine that Kelly, who loved nature and “always chose to be delighted by sights and colors and shapes,” as Rales recalls, would have found particular joy in this view. “He always had a twinkle in his eye,” she adds. “He knew that even at 92 you can always find joy around you.” Ellsworth Kelly at 100 runs through March 2024 at Glenstone (before traveling to Paris and later, Doha). 12100 Glen Rd., Potomac. Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. glenstone.org. Free, but advanced scheduling required. —Emma Francois