Concept 1 design by Michael Janis for DC’s OP & CAH TAP project in Ward 5
WGS Co-Director Michael Janis’ public art design (concept 1 & 2) for DC’s memorial to the Enslaved People that built the US Capitol has many steps before the Mayor’s approval. One can see -and vote! – on the two concepts online :https://engage.dc.gov/JD4865#tab-50371
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH), in collaboration with the DC Office of Planning (OP), awarded Janis the commission create the significant project that aims to shed light on the often overlooked role of over 200 enslaved people whose labor laid the foundation for one of the most iconic symbols of democracy.
Photo of first community input event in Ward 5 site, April 20, 2024
With social injustice a common theme around the world, we are also currently witnessing the injustices committed against our natural environment. Like our ancestors, we sense nature’s vastness, yet we lack the same respect those indigenous peoples had for nature as a sentient being. We take the Earth’s vastness for granted. What we experience as nature pushing back is nature seeking balance.
Michael Janis: Transformation; cast glass, ceramic
With this exhibit, Fragile Beauty, 33 DC artists seek to bring a sense of balance to an array of environmental injustices. Their art and their vision advocate awareness, mindfulness, consciousness, and stewardship, offering pathways towards personal partnership with our planet. They tell their stories with painting, sculpture, prints, photography, and installations. They inform us of both the joyful and the sorrowful, the woeful and the hopeful. Their work will challenge, enlighten, and inform your sense of wonder for exploring the beauty, power, and magnificent mystery of our home planet. We thank these artists for their commitment to illuminating the importance of nurturing and protecting the fragile beauty of the place we all call home.
Fragile Beauty is the first juried art exhibition initiated by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The new Juried Exhibition Grant provides support for DC artists to exhibit their creative vision to the residents of Washington, DC.
-Jarvis Grant
Featured artists: Tammy Barnes, Jeffrey Berg, Monica Jahan Bose, Elizabeth Casqueiro, Gloria Chapa, Michèle Colburn, Chris Combs, Shaughn Cooper with Kelsye Adams, Frank Hallam Day, Anna U Davis, R.A. Dean, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Cheryl D. Edwards, David Allen Harris, Michael Iacovone, Michael Janis, Noel Kassewitz, Sally Kauffman, Barry D. Lindley, Patrick McDonough, Regina Miele, Steven Muñoz, Werllayne Nunes, Chelsea Ritter-Soronen, Lisa K. Rosenstein, Carly Rounds, Amanda Sauer, Alexandra Silverthorne, Ira Tattelman, Roderick Turner, Jessica van Brakle, Dawn Whitmore, Bahar Yürükoğlu.
Fragile Beauty May 9 – July 1, 2022 Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm ET
Opening Reception Thu, May 12, 2022 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT Masks are required
Environmental Justice Juried Exhibition Grant now open!
DC’s Commision on the Arts + Humanities invites District-based artists to apply for their new Juried Exhibition Grant! (Note: Must be a resident of Washington, DC)
Application deadline: Friday, January 21, 4:00 pm
Exhibition dates: May 9 – July 1, 2022
Exhibition theme: Environmental Justice. In their work, artists may address local and/or global questions of ecology, environmentalism, biodiversity, climate change, stewardship, the relationship of climate justice to social justice, and/or other related concepts and issues.
SYNERGY features visual arts applicants for the FY20 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP) general support grant. On display are pieces submitted by the artists that represent their individual style and body of work. This exhibition allows grant review panelists an opportunity to evaluate the applicants’ works in a gallery setting, while at the same time showcasing the broad scope of the District’s dynamic art scene to the public.
Free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.
GALLERY HOURS
Monday – Friday
9 am – 6 pm
CLOSING RECEPTION
Friday, July 19, 2019, 6 – 8 pm
I Street Galleries
200 I Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
The Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP) provides general funding support of up to $10,000 to individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity. These grant funds are intended to encourage the creative contributions of the District’s established and emerging individual artists and humanities practitioners and further cultivate the District’s dynamic cultural sector. The works in this exhibit will be evaluated by a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) review panel.
About CAH
Established in 1968, CAH supports programs that promote progress in the arts and humanities through grants, professional opportunities, and other services to individuals and nonprofit organizations in all communities within the District of Columbia. CAH is the designated state arts agency for the District of Columbia, and is supported primarily by District government funds and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
FY20 Art Bank Program (ABP) –In support of local visual artists, District art galleries, and District art nonprofit organizations, CAH acquires fine art from metropolitan artists to grow the Art Bank Collection. Artwork in the collection is owned by CAH and loaned to District Government agencies for display in public areas and offices of government buildings. The Art Bank Collection, which started in 1986, has over 3,400 artworks.
CAH seeks grant applications from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artwork including, but not limited to:
Paintings;
Drawings;
Mixed media works;
Prints;
Photographs;
Fabric arts;
Ceramics; and,
Sculptures.
For the purpose of this grant, metropolitan artist is defined as a legal resident of Washington, DC, or a legal resident within a 50-mile radius of the Washington, DC boundaries, for at least one (1) year prior to the application deadline.
Application Release: Friday | May 3, 2019 Application Deadline: Friday | July 19, 2019 | 4:00 pm ET
Click HERE for info on how to submit for DCCAH Art Bank.
DCCAH Staff Contact: Ron Humbertson, Art Collections Registrar | ron.humbertson@dc.gov
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities presents a visual arts exhibition featuring some of the District’s finest visual artists. Works by WGS artists Michael Janis and Tim Tate are featured in the exhibit.
SYNERGY
Opening Night – Friday, July 7, 2017
This exhibition, curated by the DCCAH, features artists applying for the FY 2018 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP). “Synergy” captures the broad scope of the District’s dynamic art scene and provides an opportunity for the artists to express their visions directly to the panel of peer reviewers evaluating their applications and to the public.
Opening Night Details Friday, July 7, 2017, 6 – 8 pm I Street Galleries 200 I Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 RSVP here
GALLERY HOURS Monday – Friday 9 am – 6 pm Exhibition Closes Friday, August 11 at 6 pm
DC Mayor’s Arts Awards are presented in a similar manner to Hollywood’s Academy Awards.
The Mayor’s Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by the city of Washington, D.C. on artists, teachers, nonprofit organizations and patrons of the arts and humanities. D.C.’s 31st Annual Awards ceremony was held at the Historic Lincoln Theater this past Thursday, and Washington Glass School Co-Director Michael Janis was awarded the “Excellence in the Arts” honor!
Michael Janis onstage at the Historic Lincoln Theatre
The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities works hard at supporting and advancing the arts, humanities and creative industries and presented the awards as recognition of how the creative community impacts the District.
Michael Janis interviewed at the Lincoln Theatre.
The Awards Gala – modeled after Hollywood’s Academy Awards – had it all – the red carpet (but in green), media and press interviews, glamor, gowns, glitter.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomes the audience to the 31st Mayors Arts Awards.
Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed the audience to the award ceremony and some incredible performances were throughout the evening’s ceremony. In addition to Michael Janis winning the Excellence in the Arts, the winners included Once Common Unity for Excellence in Creative Industries, Leron Boyd for Outstanding Student, Dawn Johnson for Excellence in Teaching and Tara Campbell for Outstanding New Artist. The DCCAH also presented three honors – Lou Stovall, for Lifetime Achievement, Julianne Brienza for Visionary Leadership and E. Ethelbert Miller for Distinguished Honor.
Washington Performing Arts, Children of the Gospel Choir performed.
Congratulations on the Award Michael! What will you be doing next?
Michael Janis with Kay Kendall, Chair of the Board of Commissioners DCCAH
Opening night at the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities AHFP visual arts exhibition at the DCCAH Main Gallery.
The Washington, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities opened its exhibit of visual artists applying for the FY 2017 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP) on Friday, July 29, 2016.Each artist had submitted a piece that represents their body of work and artistic perspective. The new Deputy Director – Michael Bigley – commented on the broad scope of the District’s dynamic art scene.
DCCAH Curator Zoma Wallace and DCCAH Deputy Director Michael Bigley.
Some familiar faces from the DC visual arts scene were to be found on opening night.
DC Commission on Arts and Humanities
Main Gallery 200 I (Eye) Street, SE Washington, DC 20003
Exhibition closes August 31 Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
featuring applicants of the 2017 Artist Fellowship Program.
Tim Tate, “21st Century Guernica”; Glass, Cast Images, LED; 36″ x 36 x 4″. In this piece a ring of translucent refugee boats float in the center, all with no where to turn to.
This free exhibition presents some of the District’s finest visual artists applying for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ FY17 Artist Fellowship Program (AFP) grant. Through the AFP, artists residing in the District may be awarded up to $10,000 in unrestricted support for FY 2017. Each artist has submitted a piece that represents their body of work and artistic perspective.
Washington Glass School artists Tim Tate and Michael Janis will each have artwork on display at the gallery thru Wednesday, August 31, 2016.
The gathering of these artworks in the District’s first operated public gallery captures the broad scope of the dynamic art scene and provides an opportunity for artists to express their visions directly to the panel of peer reviewers evaluating their applications and to the public.
