Artist Talk with Jeffrey Jenkins, James Mallos, and VIENNE REA

Artist Talk with Jeffrey Jenkins, James Mallos, and VIENNE REA

Thursday, August 28, 2025

5:30pm Artist Talk in the 1st Floor Gallery - Main Floor West

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Public Library

901 G Street NW

Washington, DC 20001

Listen to how the library was used to inspire sculptures. Engage with three artists whose works are included in the Washington Sculptors Group 40th Anniversary exhibition Looking Back – Look Forward: Sources of Artistic Inspiration on View at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library through September 7, 2025.

Registration for the talk is appreciated but Not Required. Thank you!

Looking Back - Look Forward: Sources of Artistic Inspiration marks the 40th anniversary of the Washington Sculptors Group (WSG), celebrating the organization’s lasting contributions to the DC arts community. It also honors the DC Public Library’s role as a living cultural archive, preserving the stories and histories of the District through its vast collections of literature, artifacts, and primary source documents.

For this milestone show, WSG members were invited to create works inspired by archival materials held by the Library or to respond to its mission as a vital space for learning, memory, and community. Artists were encouraged to explore The People’s Archive—including the WSG collection—and to reflect on the Library as both a site and symbol of public knowledge. Whether drawing on specific documents or broader concepts, the selected works engage the past while speaking to the present and future of our shared cultural life.

The exhibition includes freestanding and wall-hung sculptures in a range of media and approaches. Each artist brings a distinct voice to the conversation, reflecting the diversity, curiosity, and innovation that have defined WSG over four decades. This anniversary exhibition celebrates not only the legacy of Washington sculptors but also the Library’s enduring role as a catalyst for creativity, civic engagement, and collective memory.

This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

WASHINGTON SCULPTORS GROUP

PO Box 42534

Washington DC 20015

(202) 686-869

[email protected]

www.washingtonsculptors.org

Supporting Sculptors and the Arts Since 1984

Host or Publisher Washington Sculptors Group