Artist Talk with Jeff Jenkins, James Mallos, and Vienne Rea
This exhibition marks the 40th anniversary of the Washington Sculptors Group (WSG), celebrating the organization’s lasting contributions to the DC arts community. It also honors the DC Public Library’s role as a living cultural archive, preserving the stories and histories of the District through its vast collections of literature, artifacts, and primary source documents.
For this milestone show, WSG members were invited to create works inspired by archival materials held by the Library or to respond to its mission as a vital space for learning, memory, and community. Artists were encouraged to explore The People’s Archive—including the WSG collection—and to reflect on the Library as both a site and symbol of public knowledge. Whether drawing on specific documents or broader concepts, the selected works engage the past while speaking to the present and future of our shared cultural life.
The exhibition includes freestanding and wall-hung sculptures in a range of media and approaches. Each artist brings a distinct voice to the conversation, reflecting the diversity, curiosity, and innovation that have defined WSG over four decades. This anniversary exhibition celebrates not only the legacy of Washington sculptors but also the Library’s enduring role as a catalyst for creativity, civic engagement, and collective memory.
This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Juried by Michelle May-Curry, Babette Pendleton & Linnea Hegarty
Babette Pendleton is the Program manager for the Corcoran / National Gallery Partnership. Within this role she manages the newly established Corcoran Institute which serves as an interdisciplinary lab for art, experimentation, and research. Babette assists the Corcoran Director in managing all aspects of the National Gallery of Art/GW partnership to establish and grow the institute. Responsibilities include management of programming, exhibitions, artists-in-residence, visiting artists, student workers, and contractors related to the partnership.
Pendleton creates activated environments, immersive installations, and performances through her multidisciplinary work as an artist and curator-producer. Her national and international curatorial work manifests in forms of collective and collaborative organizing, project management, visionary and strategic consulting, and exhibition/performance producing. Pendleton is also currently the director of Yellow Fish Durational Performance Art Festival. The festival brings awareness to the significance and study of Time while facilitating community involvement in historical and contemporary thought surrounding Durational Performance Art. Pendleton maintains a rigorous performance and land art practice utilizing forms of movement, sculpture, and photography. She holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Dr. Michelle May-Curry is a curator, professor, writer, public humanities consultant, and photographer based in Washington, D.C. She is the Curator at the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and core faculty in Georgetown University’s Master’s program in Engaged and Public Humanities.
May-Curry has held fellowships at Harvard University, as well as the Carr Center in Detroit. Her scholarly and curatorial work has appeared in the New York Times and American Quarterly, and exhibitions at The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Art Institute of Chicago, Harvard Art Museums, The Carr Center Gallery, and The 2019 Havana Biennial. She received her Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan.
Linnea Hegarty is the Director of Events, Exhibits and Development at the DC Public Library, where her recent initiatives have included major traveling exhibitions and locally focused exhibitions grounded in the library’s collections, as well as cultural partnerships with local and national institutions. Hegarty brings more than 17 years of experience in leadership positions at nonprofit and political organizations to the DC Public Library. Prior to joining the Library, for seven years, she served as the Executive Director of the DC Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides programmatic resources to the DC Public Library to supplement local government funding. Linnea lives in Mount Pleasant, DC, with her husband and two young boys, where they are frequent visitors at their favorite neighborhood library.