Pictured Above: Jackson, Selena – Comparative Anatomy (Petrus Camper) – 24×36

By F. Lennox Campello

In 2023 I proposed to various DC area art venues an idea to curate an exhibition of 100+ works by 100+ women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in the Greater DC region.

As most of you know, that region is now known as “the DMV” for “District, Maryland & Virginia” – a term which according to the Washington City Paper, I may have invented a couple of decades ago… cough… cough…

This culturally and ethnically diverse region provides a rich universe of female artists to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists. Equally diverse as the artists, will be the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated survey exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100+ works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

Women Artists of the DMV – the show is on!

It will open middle of September 2025 and run for about 8-9 weeks at the American University’s gorgeous Katzen Museum in DC (as part of the Alper Initiative), the classical and beautiful Athenaeum in Alexandria, Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, an independent, woman-owned fine arts commercial gallery space, and the Galleries at the Strathmore Mansion, also in Rockville!

I’m also working on a book deal with the same publisher which I did for 100 Artists of Washington, DC over a decade ago, and I plan to coordinate with the Smithsonian Institution to archive the exhibitions in order to record a snap-shot in time of our working DMV-based artists in 2025!

Less than a month after these exhibitions were announced, I’ve received over 2,000 emails from interested artists – Oh yeah: In order to be considered/reviewed, just send me an email with a note and your website – my email is super easy to find on my website at lennycampello.com!

So far, I’ve reviewed hundreds and hundreds of artists and selected quite a few, with lots more to come.

I’ve curated over 200 group art shows in the DC area since the mid-90s, and often I find that the first few pieces chosen often also speaks about the show as a whole. My formula for group shows is essentially the same, and a proven, successful, and bordering on brilliant technique:

• The group show is a pyramid of artists at various points in their artistic career and development – blue chip, well-known artists;
• A large set of well-known, mid-career artists;
• And the pyramid’s wide and powerful base: a set of young (not simply in age, but perhaps also in artistic age – think of a 95-year-old artist who just started painting five years ago – artists who need the exposure and push that a well-attended, widely publicized, and wildly successful art show offers their young careers.

The first work chosen for the show is a “new” artist – at least “new” to me: Selena “Noir” Jackson.  She was born and raised in Washington DC, attended Montgomery College School of Art, where she earned her A.F.A. in Studio Arts, and from what I can tell from her website, has not exhibited widely around here or anywhere else. One of her works, titled “Comparative Anatomy (Petrus Camper)” and illustrated here, was the first piece that I have chosen for the epic “Women Artists of the DMV” survey show.  I predict great things for this artist: DMV gallerists: CONTACT.HER.NOW!

Some of the other works chosen and illustrated here, are “Cracked Baby” by überartist Renée Stout, “Coastal Communities” by Judith Peck, and “Gunlicker I” by Kate Kretz.

Lots more to come: DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!

About the Author: F. Lennox Campello’s art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area has been a premier source for the art community for over 20 years. Since 2003, his blog has been the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet with over SIX million visitors.