The John A. Wilson Building primarily serves as the District’s city hall, where the D.C. Council holds its hearings and its members have offices. But it’s also a gallery that’s home to dozens of works by artists with a connection to D.C., including many who are also women. To mark Women’s History Month, we asked the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to highlight a selection of pieces by female artists on display.
Who: Renée Stout
What: “Peter’s Numbers” (2004)
Where: First floor east
Stout moved to D.C. in 1985, “as she began to explore the roots of her African American heritage in her work.” She writes, “‘Peter’s Numbers’ deals with another recurring theme in my work: the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. In this case it was an experience I had in Jamaica, but it could be just about anywhere in the world, including right here in Northwest Washington, D.C.”
Who: Alexandra Huttinger
What: “Corn Ditties: Portraits of Survival” (2002-2003)
Where: Second floor west
“Through my prints I examine how social conditions and constructs—such as gender, race, ethnicity, and inequality—determine the physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals and communities,” writes Huttinger, who was born and raised in D.C.
Who: Maggie Michael
What: “Phantom” (2005)
Where: First floor east
“‘Phantom’ is a painting that combines a number of series I’ve worked on over the years. It is part clone, landscape, atmosphere, and drawing,” writes Michael, whose name will be familiar to anyone who frequents contemporary art museums in D.C. “It can be read as an image of an alternate world, which is both suspended in matter and in a mind’s reading.”
Who: Janis Goodman
What: “Tracks, Low Tide” (2006)
Where: First floor east
Goodman, a professor of fine art at GW’s Corcoran School of Art and Design, writes, “The work is a response to natural forces and phenomenon, things outside our control and things we can access.”
Who: Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter
What: “Ain’t I a Woman?” (2005)
Where: Second floor east
“My intention of this piece is to pay homage to the tenacity of Black women to continuously push against the presupposed boundaries of Black womanhood while striving to define themselves for themselves,” writes Gibson-Hunter, who co-founded Black Artists of D.C.
Who: Alma Thomas
What: “Untitled (Rainbow)” (1970)
Where: Second floor east
One of the crown jewels of the City Hall Art Collection is this piece by Thomas, who was associated with the Washington Color School. Her Dupont Circle home is on the National Register of Historic Places, and her image is included in Zachary Oxman’s Shaw mural “Symphony in DC Major.”
Photos courtesy D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities