Featuring Artists from the “Exercises for Emerging Artists” Program – E22: Glass for Social Justice
Washington Glass School is hosted this year’s Exercises for Emerging Artists program with Transformer DC – and the resulting exhibition, A Litany for Survival, opens July 26, 2025 at Transformer Gallery.
Now in its 22nd year, Transformer’s Exercises for Emerging Artists is a landmark mentorship program designed to support DC-based emerging artists at pivotal moments in their creative and professional development. Each year focuses on a different discipline, and for 2025, the spotlight is on glass as a medium for social justice.
E22: Glass for Social Justice brings together four powerful voices in the DMV art scene — Arden Colley, C.S. Corbin, Tina Villadolid, and Nilou Kazemzadeh — for an intensive four-month residency of glassmaking and critique sessions, hosted here at the Washington Glass School. Under the lead mentorship of WGS co-founder Tim Tate, the participating artists explored deep relief dry plaster casting techniques in glass — a kiln-forming process that allows for nuanced, sculptural impressions rich in symbolism and narrative.
The exhibition’s title, A Litany for Survival, is drawn from the celebrated poem by Audre Lorde and sets the tone for the work on view: pieces that disrupt dominant narratives, honor resilience, and speak to the layered complexities of identity, memory, and activism. As the artists write in a shared statement:
“Translucent, metamorphic, solid yet fragile, glass speaks to the fluidity and complexity of our self-determination… So it is better to speak / remembering / we were never meant to survive.”
This year’s program was coordinated by Camille DeSanto, Exhibitions & Programs Coordinator at Transformer, with guest mentorship from an exceptional group of artists and curators including Therman Statom, Diana Baird N’Diaye, Cheryl Derricotte, Joyce Scott, Jabari Owens-Bailey, Jennifer Scanlan, and Geoffrey Bowton.
Founded in 2001, the Washington Glass School continues to champion community-based glass education, expanding the boundaries of what glass art can be. Said Tate: “I have learned that glass can shatter silence, that castings can hold history, and that the hands that make are also hands that heal. This knowledge rewired my spirit — I began to see my art as a tool, not just for expression, but for disruption, truth, and change.” We are honored to collaborate with Transformer to help shape the next generation of artists pushing the medium forward.
Exhibition Details:
A Litany for Survival
Part of Transformer’s E22: Glass for Social Justice
🗓 July 26 – September 6, 2025
📍Transformer Gallery, 1404 P Street NW, Washington, DC
Don’t miss this powerful and timely exhibition. Visit transformerdc.org for more info.
