First Friday: Art Walk

The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office is hosting a special exhibition presented by United for Human Rights, Youth for Human Rights DC Chapter, and Art Impact® International to celebrate Black History Month! Special guests from the African American Civil War Museum:  Dr. Frank Smith, Founder and Director; Dr. Dawn Chitty, Director of Education and Marquett Milton, Historic Interpreter, with their artwork “Bloom”;  and Marcus Manning, Director Mayor's Office of African American Affairs. The show also features four artists with a variety of styles who will be present to discuss their art with you. Wm (Bill) Jones • Fine Art Painter and Digital Artist; Patrick Smith • Modern Art Portraitist; Jorge Fernando Sodero • Abstract Painter; J. Thomas Wells • Assemblage Fine Artist. Come and enjoy the artwork and meet the artists who stand united for human rights! 

Dupont Underground will be open and presenting Everybody Wants to Be a Showgirl, a Black History Month exhibition celebrating the artistry, cultural impact, and living legacy of Black burlesque performers. Featuring over 100 Black performers from around the world, the exhibition highlights how Black burlesque artists have shaped American performance, fashion, and commercial entertainment—often without institutional recognition. Through costumes, archival materials, immersive installations, and live programming, the exhibition centers on living artists while honoring the lineage of Black performance traditions that continue to influence culture today.. Dupont Underground is located at 19 Dupont Circle, NW.

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The Embassy of Peru will be open for ArtWalk and showing Reflections of Matter. Its creator, Aldo Chaparro, invites viewers to experience art not as a static object but as a living, emotional encounter in which matter, gesture, and perception converge. Drawing from a lineage of Latin American artists who explored light, movement, and sensation, Chaparro transforms sheets of steel and other materials through direct physical engagement, bending and intervening in them to capture the moment where body and matter meet. The resulting sculptures fragment reflections, activate space, and function as responsive membranes between interior and exterior, permanence and transformation. In Reflections of Matter, these works embody an ongoing cycle of construction and deconstruction, turning the act of looking into an act of awareness and inviting viewers to emotionally participate in the energy, movement, and vitality embedded in the creative process. The Embassy of Peru is located on 1700 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.

IA&A at Hillyer in January will present three new exhibitions: Jun Lee, “Unbreakable Elements,” Calliandra Marian Hermanson, “of permutations and patterns,” and Prescott Lassman, ”RESIST.” IA&A is Dupont Circle’s largest art gallery located in a carriage house behind the Phillips Collection. Admission is free but a $10 donation is suggested. IA&A at Hillyer is located at 9 Hillyer Court NW.

Dive into the charm of Minhwa on the first Friday night of February. The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. (KCCDC) and the Seoul Museum of History proudly presents Charm of Seoul, Minhwa: Wishes in Korean Folk Painting, a new exhibition of rare original 19th and 20th century art works that reveal the personal history of Seoul through the aspirations and desires of its upper class embedded in the popular genre’s symbolism and folk motifs. The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. will remain open late for this special viewing, and visitors are invited to enjoy a self-guided tour.The Korean Cultural Center is located at 2370 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

The Museum of the Palestinian People welcomes you to see our new cycling exhibit titled, Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine. In light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the cultural erasure of the Palestinian people, it is important to highlight and platform the Palestinian narrative. The exhibit's overall aim is to educate and portray the struggle, fragmentation, and resilience of the Palestinian people. The Museum of the Palestinian People is located at 1900 18th St. NW.

Studio Gallery presents Dialogues in Layers by Harriet Lesser and Sue Bikoff. This exhibition presents the collaborative woodcarvings by Sue Bikoff and Harriet Lesser, merging traditions of printmaking and painting in richly layered reliefs. Imagery develops from photographs and preparatory drawings of tropical vegetation. The wood is carved by Bikoff, who focuses on fine detail and texture. Lesser continues with layers of acrylic glazes, alcohol inks, and colored pencils. Mixed media photo transfers are frequently integrated into the relief. Studio Gallery is located at 2108 R Street, NW.

Vika Gallery is proud to present Elevation — the solo exhibition of international and renowned artist, Vian Borchert — on February 6 from 6pm to 8pm. Shaped by personal experience, including time spent at sea, and the resonance of childhood memory, Vian Borchert’s work aspires to create a meditative exchange that encourages stillness, reflection, and an uplifted state of awareness. Through expressive brushwork and luminous blue color fields, these paintings act as a bridge to renewal—visually, emotionally, and intellectually. Join us and become immersed in the experience. Vika Gallery is located at 1700 Connecticut Avenue, and the entrance is on R Street. 

The Washington Center of ADA University, ADA Art Gallery presents “Forward Seasons” by Chong Kang & Elizabeth Keithline. Kang and Keithline paint contemporary abstract environments using color and composition to mirror the joy, energy and movement of contemporary life. From the caves of Lascaux, to the cathedrals of Rome to the post-war Abstract Expressionist movement, art is often created as a reaction to the time in which it is made. Contemporary art continues to express current circumstances—in this case, the noise and chaos of the 21st century. Kang captures this expression through bright, sometimes neon color and graphic line. Keithline uses pale colors and softer lines to express a need for serenity as a panacea for modern times. ADA Art Gallery is located at 1627 21st Street, NW on the corner of 21st & R Street NW.

Join Washington Studio School for their February First Friday ArtWalk programming featuring their current exhibition, WHY PAINT? II in their gallery on Friday, February 6th, from 6-8pm. Curated by Reem Bassous and Jan Dickey, WHY PAINT? II brings together twelve painters working in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago to consider a deceptively simple yet essential question: Why paint? Building on the 2020–2021 exhibition Why Are You Painting?, this sequel shifts focus from painting as action or inquiry to paint itself; its presence, weight, and material fact. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog featuring short, edited essays reflecting each artist’s response, alongside works on view in the gallery during January 16th through February 27th 2026. Every five years, every painter would do well to ask: Why paint? Washington Studio School is located at 2129 S Street NW.

Wise & Partners' Pop-Up space is open for ArtWalk December. They're displaying Might As Well Live, a series of never-before-seen paintings by the DC artist, Daryle Locko. Might As Well Live explores the relationship between his signature self-portrait, the Lockadoodle, and real-world objects, figures, and situations they inhabit. Throughout the exhibition, Locko introduces a recurring figure that serves as an anchor of realism, its role shifting dramatically from one painting to the next. The pop-up space is located at 1740 N St. NW. Suite 1.