News & Features
PRIMO
“A trio of artistic cousins show how we are better together.”
Make Studio, Art Enables (Washington, DC), and Riera Studio / Art Brut Project Cuba (Havana, Cuba) are proud to present “PRIMO,” a two-site exhibition that brings together work by artists from all three progressive art studios.
On view at both Art Enables and Make Studio, this exhibition marks the Riera Studio artists’ U.S. debut. We invoke the word “primo” as both English slang for “excellent” and the Spanish word for “cousin.”
The works on view display a wide range of artistic visions, while stylistic and thematic similarities reveal a meaningful kinship. Groupings of works sharing recognizable threads–– e.g., “warm glow”,"little ones in a big crowd","artifacts from the future—are gathered together in a conversation that spans borders. The artworks speak to one other and are also part of a larger discourse, that of the rich history of self-taught and other artistry described as “outsider”. While the genre definitions have evolved over time, the heart of what they define persists— self-taught artists who express themselves on the margin of the established cultural mainstream.
All three participating studios celebrate these unique perspectives, their crucial place in the larger arts landscape, and the crucial connectivity that is amplified when we are together.
Art Enables • APR 27 – JUN 8, 2024
2204 Rhode Island Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20018
Gallery hours: MON - FRI, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., SAT 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & by appt.
OPENING RECEPTION: APR 27, 5 - 7 p.m.
art-enables.org
Make Studio • MAY 4 – JUN 15, 2024
3326 Keswick Rd. Baltimore, MD 21211
Gallery hours: TUE - FRI, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., SAT 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. & by appt.
OPENING RECEPTION: MAY 4, 5 - 7 p.m.
Additional hours will be announced on social media.
FEB 2024 • Exhibit Update
Make Studio artists currently featured in exhibitions in CA, IL & MD:
• Woody, Eddie Kil, and Tyrone Weedon in "Perennial Hug”, Arts of Life's annual exhibition at Circle Contemporary North Shore (Chicago, IL) from Jan 25-Mar 15.
• Woody, Kareem, Nadine Baldwin, Erika Clark, Seth Jackson, and Iragi Nkere in "Totally Open: Black Arts Celebration", an exhibition honoring Black artists in the greater Baltimore region hosted by Baltimore County Arts Guild (Catonsville, MD) from Feb 1-Mar 1.
• Woody's "Fresco at the National Palace, Mexico” in “CORE: Defining Ourselves" hosted by Able ARTS Work (Long Beach, CA) from Feb 2-April 12. This piece was selected for a juror's prize!
• Jules, Zach, Katelynn Herty, Alex Albert, and Marcie Hill are showing work in "Tails of Comfort: Exploring our Connections with Animals" at OCA Mocha (Arbutus, MD) from Feb 7-March 15.
2023 Exhibition Round-Up
Make Studio artists continued to be busy with exhibitions activities throughout the second half of 2023, and have already made a strong start to 2024. Highlights from 2023 include:
Zach Manue’ls autobiographical comics on living with autism were shown in "Destroy the Gap",
an exhibition engaging in disability discourse through aesthetics at Bowling Green State University (OH). He as well as Louis Middleton had their innovative landscape works in "Beyond the Horizon: Explorations of Landscape" at
Annmarie Art Center and Sculpture Garden (Solomons, MD). Another Louis piece, "The Grand Ole Opry”, was featured in the Quickest Flip invitational show, "Today is the Greatest"
at NIAD Art Center (Richmond, CA). Zach, Louis, Jules Hinmon, Chuck Fischer, Kareem Samuels, and Jerry Williams participated in Arc of Baltimore’s annual art auction, Art in the Round.
Margie Smeller was accepted to join the White Columns artist registry. Margie, Kareem, Jerry, Janel Jenkins, Dontavius Woody, Tony LaBate,
and Gary Schmedes had artwork exhibited in "Outside Forces" at Art Enables (DC).