Amber Robles-Gordon’s Colorful Abstraction of Medical and Environmental Trauma at the Nicholson Project

November 19, 2019 in review

In DC, neighborhoods are facing an unprecedented amount of change in appearance, racial makeup, and social policies that runs counter to the once-prevalent idea of DC being “Chocolate City.” However, there are ways to balance change with paying respects to DC’s living history. The Nicholson Project, an artist residency that recently opened in Ward 7, hopes to demonstrate this change effectively with the inaugural resident artist Amber Robles-Gordon, who lives only eight minutes from the building. For me, it feels like a house turned into a relic, with its period-accurate rehab details; however, the Nicholson Project owners do not focus on the actual former owners, but highlight contemporary artists of color instead.

The Nicholson Project's plans include a neighborhood garden as well as an artist-in-residence. (Photo courtesy of Nicholson Project)

New artist residency in Ward 7 opens Saturday

September 13, 2019 in article

Just a few blocks east of the Anacostia River, an unsuspecting row house in Ward 7’s Fairlawn neighborhood is being transformed. On Saturday, the Nicholson Project, a new artist residency program, will host an exhibition and celebration in the house at 2310 Nicholson St. SE from 3 to 8 p.m. The event will mark the launch of a space that will soon be home to a revolving artist-in-residence, who will live and work there.

IT TAKES A NATION

September 06, 2016 in exhibit

EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION

In the Alper Initiative space, Washington artists respond to the graphics of Black Panther artist Emory Douglas with sculpture, paintings, photography and multi-media installations. The exhibition features Emory Douglas and Howard University colleagues and members of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (“AFRICOBRA”): Jeff Donaldson, Akili Ron Anderson, James Phillips, Jay Jarrell and Wadsworth Jarrell. Collectively, they create a powerful lens to the socio-political landscape of the late 1960s and 70s that helps to visualize the 1967 Black Panther Party 10-point platform addressing issues of freedom, employment, economic exploitation, affordable housing, education, war, police brutality, prison, due process, and access. The exhibition also includes artists examining these same issues 50 years later within a contemporary context, including: Holly Bass, Wesley Clark, Jay Coleman, Larry Cook, Tim Davis, Jamea Richmond Edwards, Shaunte Gates, Jennifer Gray, Amber Robles Gordon, Njena Jarvis, Simmie Knox, Graham Patrick, Beverly Price, Sheldon Scott, Stan Squirewell and Hank Willis Thomas.