By F. Lennox Campello

This month I’m going to discuss both the March exhibition at the Art League in Alexandria (on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory) as well as their upcoming April exhibition.

Over 20 years ago, in 2005, I had the honor to jury one of the monthly shows at the Art League – which as I’ve noted before, is one of the crown jewels of the DMV A art scene – Back then about 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for my review and I selected 120 of them for exhibition in the Art League Gallery on the first floor of the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria.

Jurying an art show is a very time consuming, and arduous task. In this case, there were some absolutely brilliant works, a lot of OK work, and a few head scratchers. But the sublime pleasure of being surrounded by artwork from artists of all ranges, ages and skills, is unequaled. This is what the love of visual arts is all about!

As I’ve noted, seldom is the task of jurying an art show an easy task, and even though I have juried many shows over the last forty plus years, I always approach the task with the realization that a lot of effort and work must be delivered in order to do a proper job.

Back to the present: The March Open Exhibit was juried by Fanna Gebreyesus and was on display through April 6, 2026. As you constant readers know, I like to re-jury shows, and offer my own picks for prizes – never knowing who the juror picked for a prize.

My top prize goes to a gorgeous work title Light Air by Ellyse Stauffer, who tackles a very popular subject (flowers) and delivers a work worth of not only a prize, but also space on some collector’s wall. It is a display of quite spectacular artistic skills!  On the same subject of flowers, I also like the polar opposite: a very fluid and beautiful work by Alexandra Tolstoy titled Irises 2.

Those two works are perfect examples of the sublime nature of painting at the hands of two skilled artists who could not be any more different in painting approaches to the subject, yet both equally good at delivering memorable work!

The April show is themed to the subject of “Savor” and will be on exhibit through April 26.

Another fine arts crown jewel is Multiple Exposures Gallery (MEG), also located inside the Torpedo Factory. Multiple Exposures Gallery represents 15 fine art photographers whose work is featured in thoughtfully curated rotating exhibitions often developed in collaboration with nationally recognized jurors and curators – I have also had the honor of curating multiple shows for MEG over the years, and they are without a doubt one of the top photography galleries in the nation. The gallery also offers an exceptional selection of original fine art photographs and photography books.

Through April 19 they have a show title “Ambiguity” by Alan Sislen, a well-seasoned and immensely talented fine arts photographer whose footprint in the photographic scene of the DMV spans many decades.

In this new body of work, Sislen explores the “moment when perception pauses”— described by MEG as “a fleeting second when the eye recognizes a form, but the mind cannot yet define it. Through reflection, repetition, and abstraction, his images of familiar places unsettle orientation, disrupt our sense of space, and blur the line between what is seen, felt and understood.”

Finally, also on the ground floor of the Factory is the Target Gallery, and yes: I’ve also juried multiple shows for them over the years.

Currently on exhibit is the Nikki Giovanni: Immersive Experience, a exhibition presented by the City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts and Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology.

We’re told that “The Nikki Giovanni Immersive Experience” combines her poetry (as recorded by Giovanni at different times in her life) with audio soundscapes and motion graphic projections. This is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a composer, designers, literary experts, embodied performance artists, and creative technologists, converging to create a multi-sensory experience. Each projection will be crafted to capture the essence of Giovanni’s poetry, drawing inspiration from its themes, imagery, and rhythmic cadence. Additionally, we utilized the library’s motion capture studios in collaboration with faculty and students from the School of Performing Arts to develop visual avatars featured in select final motion graphic works. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the art on a deeper level, allowing themselves to be enveloped by the interplay of sight and sound, word and image.”

Go see some art in town!

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.