Studio Gallery is open to the public Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays from 1pm to 6pm and on Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. Masks are recommended but optional. To schedule a guided visit, please contact director@studiogallerydc.com or call (202) 232-8734.

Divertimento

Deborah Addison Coburn

Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

September 3rd - September 27th, 2025

While experimenting with a new medium, gouache, I was inspired by the intense colors to have fun. The results are some bold abstracts and playful pictures based on my own childhood drawings.

In the Lower Gallery

Portrait of Ré as a Bird Photographer
and other paintings

Thierry Guillemin


Curated by Gaby Mizes

September 3rd - September 27th, 2025

Painting one’s muse, one’s love, is a time-honored tradition in art. The triptych, by its structure, invites a dimension of time, tells a story. The contrast of darkness and light, chiaroscuro, touches something deep, dramatizes the scene. I am intrigued by the paradox of using abstract elements of form to get to the truth of a moment.

Most paintings in this show are large format, in the vein of impressionistic realism I have been working with for some time now.

Circe’s Cavern: The Jewel in the Abyss

Leslie Kiefer


Curated by Gaby Mizes

September 3rd - September 27th, 2025

My work explores ambiguous grief; loss without the finality of death or closure. Through personal and metaphoric storytelling, I examine enduring life changes: aging, disability of a loved one, and loss of self. I embrace the fluidity of identity and existence. In my latest work, I explore the ideas of Metamorphosis and its uses, both natural and supernatural. Metamorphoses in Greek mythology was often used to explain events that were not easily understood; the shapeshifting brought about by supernatural means or magic.

The gods transformed a human into a plant or animal to punish or protect the person. Fleeing the attentions of Apollo, Daphne, was changed into a laurel tree. While the girl Daphne was lost, the laurel tree remained to become a symbol of victory in Greek culture. As punishment for boastfulness, the goddess Athena transformed Medusa into a vicious creature with snakes for hair, an evil and vengeful character. Caves often serve as sacred spaces and portals for transformation. The darkness and echoey sound encouraged rituals and worship, trust and betrayal, birth and rebirth. I have chosen Circe as my starting point as she was both betrayed and betrayer, magical transformer of men into pigs, beautiful seducer of Odysseus and finally, savior of his life.

The images in this exhibition begin with the idea of metamorphoses: the snake sheds its skin to be born again, the oyster becomes a jewel, the shoe turns into a garden, a leaf becomes a forest. As we grow and age, we ourselves turn into different beings, changed by learning and experience, joy and grief, the cycle of life, death and regeneration. The journey of the soul leads to enlightenment and acceptance; you are the jewel in the abyss.

In the Garden Gallery

Scribblings of the Time

Sabiha Iqbal


Curated by Robert Cwiok and Iza Thomas

September 3rd - September 27th, 2025

In this series of work Sabiha Iqbal uses mixed media abstract compositions, figures and blurred text to emphasize her belief that people are connected in diverse contexts. It was a natural transition for her to integrate text into paintings. The inspiration to paint always comes from something she has read, and images she has seen. In several of the paintings, she used the Urdu text of her native Pakistan. The script is Arabic but the words are in Urdu. At times she used poetry, and other times whatever she reads in the newspaper spills into the painting as blurred words, pertinent to the times.

Ineffable Things

Iza Thomas


Curated by Robert Cwiok

September 3rd - September 27th, 2025

This series of paintings is about ineffable things: brief flowers, joyful music, glowing orbs. It is my hope that, collectively, they will bring joy to the viewer.