This spring McLean Project for the Arts’ current location of the McLean Community Center will undergo a renovation, one that will not much change the current gallery space—though it will create a more noticeable entrance to the gallery from the community center—but will bring the addition of a second gallery, MPA@ChainBridge, which opened last month and will remain open for two years.
The temporary relocation starts now even though the construction on the community center won’t begin until this spring. And with the new 3,400-square-foot location in the Chain Bridge Corner Shopping Center, the gallery staff has big plans.
To take advantage of the storefront location and the ability to stay open longer hours, there are plans for Thursday night MPA+ events. “We’ll have some sort of cool event on Thursday nights that people can come in and participate, make art, listen to music,” says Dabney Cortina, a representative at McLean Project for the Arts. What can you expect from these Thursday nights? Think a night of jazz, opera or DJs with some imbibing surrounded by the contemporary exhibits.
Cortina also notes that patrons should be on the lookout for pop-up parties in the winter. While nothing is set just yet, they’ll be announcing them about 10 days prior to the event.
Until the spring, traditional programs such as ArtReach will continue at both locations. And exhibits will still be taking place in the two spaces, giving patrons more options to take in art.
At the McLean Community Center the Emerson Gallery will exhibit Construction Work: New Sculpture by Mary Walker (Jan. 12-March 4, with a reception Jan. 12 from 7-9 p.m.), the Atrium Gallery will exhibit Alice Kresse’s Some Assembly Desired: The Printmaker as Jeweler, and the Ramp Gallery will exhibit Power Poles: Sculpture by Alonzo Davis. Then, through Jan. 21, MPA@ChainBridge will exhibit in the 1,400-foot gallery space Moving Through: Works by David A. Douglas followed by Sculpture Now, running Feb. 2 through March 4.
