DISPLACED ARTISTS RETURN TO F STREET

From email:

Artists displaced by downtown development will celebrate their return at 923 F Street, NW beginning 6:30 PM Friday, September 5. The return highlights "extraordinary cooperation in preserving cultural assets downtown," stated Downtown Artist Coalition President (DAC) Michael Berman.

The cooperation was spurred by DAC, which was formed in 1999 to organize the many artists who were facing possible eviction by redevelopment of the 900 block of F Street. The effort to preserve some of the last remaining artists' studios downtown culminated in a 2001 agreement which ultimately involved not only DAC but also the Committee of 100, the DC Preservation League, the landowner, the Archdiocese of Washington; the developer, Akridge; and the District government.

Included in the new Carroll Square development at 975 F Street, NW, is 7000 square feet of working art studio space, now leased from Akridge by DAC, which subleases 6 studios to many of the artists who originally occupied space on the street.


Called F St Arts the studios occupy the 2nd and 3rd floors of the preserved and rehabbed townhouses that are incorporated into the development. Paintings, photographs, sculpture, crafted jewelry, and wood furniture are some of the artwork that will be featured in the space. Artists will be producing as well as displaying work.

F St Arts will hold quarterly open studio events, in conjunction with the gallery located in the Carroll Square lobby, as well as other functions. Studios are open by appointment only in August. Public hours of operation will be announced in September.

Artists featured at F St Arts include:

· Unit #201: Gediyon Kifle. Gediyon Kifle Photography and AYN Communications. Kifle is an award-winning photographer who specializes in photography, video, and multi-media. His current assignments include photographing the Martin Luther King Memorial Project.

· Unit #202: Stuart Gosswein. Painting and sculpture. Gosswein's subject repertoire includes figurative images, still life, landscape and memorial designs.

· Unit #203: CAOS on F. Exhibition space for a coalition of artists to display and sell their work. Co-founded by painter Michael Berman, and furniture designer Matthew Falls. Berman is a mixed-media painter of abstract figurative images and cityscapes. Falls handcrafts furniture for the home and office using the finest materials available. Collaborations with fine artists add unique presentations to Falls’ functional forms. CAOS on F will present, as its inaugural show, work by Michael Berman, Matthew Falls, painter Quint Marshall, and ceramicist Joe Hicks.

· Unit #301: Mimi Masse. Jewelry and sculpture. Masse is multi media artist who works with iron, silver, woods, leather and other natural objects. Beatrice Valdes Paz. Photographer and illustrator. Valdes Paz is represented by Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NY.

· Unit #302: Judy Jashinsky. Painter. Jashinsky's "history paintings" include subjects from the prehistoric Iceman to the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the grand opening Judy will feature a video from previous exhibitions, 1989 - 2002. Reyes + Davis. Independent Exhibitions. Exhibiting new work by sculptor Barbara Liotta thru October 10th. Also representing the artwork of Pepa Leon, Janis Goodman, Judy Jashinsky, and Johanna Mueller.

· Unit #303: Richard Dana. Painting, mixed media and drawings. Dana is also a DC based independent curator and arts administrator.
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The Downtown Artists Coalition is a non-profit organization formed to preserve, foster and maintain affordable artists' studio spaces within the District of Columbia generally and specifically within the District of Columbia's Downtown Arts District. The Coalition also provides public education opportunities through exhibitions. Members of the Coalition include the artists whose studios are located on the 900 block of F St. NW. For more information contact Michael Berman.