Collector’s View 2019

The12th Year of Transformer’s Annual Series sharing the private collections of DC’s prominent contemporary art collectors

May 5 – June 9, 2019

Transformer is thrilled to announce our 2019 Collector’s View series, the 12th year of this innovative program in support of our exhibitions and programs advancing emerging contemporary artists.

Collector’s View shares the private collections of a select and diverse group of DC’s prominent contemporary art collectors. Through this series of special receptions, guests are provided an intimate, insider’s perspective on the motivations, interests, and passions of our dynamic collector Hosts on the work they collect.
 
In celebration of our 12th season of the Collector’s View series, we are honored to present a unique line-up of Views hosted by a distinguished group of DC area African-American art collectors.

Transformer thanks Long & Foster | Christie's International Real Estate, our Exclusive 2019 Collector's View Sponsor, for their generous support.

JOIN THE SERIES

$50 / Individual Views
Participation for Collector's View is $50 per person for each View.

$225 / Full Series Subscription
Transformer is offering a special discount package of $225 for registration of all five Views in this year's series, plus complimentary attendance to this year's Bonus Artist View, offered exclusively to Full Series supporters.  

All Collector’s View ticket and subscription purchases are fully tax-deductible to the extent the law allows. All proceeds directly benefit Transformer’s exhibitions and programming.

Addresses for each View will be emailed to confirmed guests a few days prior to each View.

Light fare and libations will be served at each View. 

HOSTS | COLLECTOR'S VIEW 2019

Imar Hutchins (Palisades, DC)

Sunday, May 5, 4–6pm
 
Transformer launches this year’s Collector’s View series with a special Artist & Collector View at the home of Imar Hutchins, artist and owner of the historic Florida Avenue Grill. Imar is a deeply invested DC collage artist and printmaker, as well as a collector. Guests will enjoy tastes from the Grill, all while taking a tour of his studio, discussing his intricate process, and viewing a body of artwork that Imar is currently developing for a traveling exhibition that will be launched this August. In addition to discussing the inspiration and motivation behind his own work, he will share his personal collection of rare political posters and an extensive archive of vintage periodicals that heavily inform his practice.

Jessica Stafford Davis (McLean, VA)

Sunday, May 19, 4–6pm
 
Jessica Stafford Davis has resided in Northern Virginia for over 35 years and currently resides with her two sons in McLean, Virginia.  A burgeoning art patron, her collection focuses on memory and identity as it relates to the African-American experience.  Washington DC based artists who are in her collection include Sheldon Scott, Larry Cook, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Michael B. Platt, Nakeya Brown, and Renee Stout. In addition, she has artworks from artists such as Edgar Arceneaux, Sadie Barnette, Jacolby Satterwhite, Deborah Roberts, and Mequitta Ahuja.

Lisa & Bruce Brown (Forest Hills, DC)

Sunday, June 2, 4–6pm
 
Lisa & Bruce Brown began collecting ‘street’ art from various places they traveled as a young married couple.  Originally from California, the Brown’s moved East where Lisa’s love of art eventually turned into a business when she opened P Street Gallerie in the Georgetown shopping district of Washington, DC.  At P Street Gallerie, Lisa focused on presenting the work of local, national and international emerging artists to art lovers in the DC area.  Hence, a large part of the couple’s collection are pieces by artists shown at the gallery such as Dana Ellyn, Jose Gomez, Billy Colbert, Suman Sorg, Anu Das, Daniel Angeles and others. Additional works in the Brown’s collection speak to Bruce and Lisa’s shared interest in mixed media as a medium to portray such heady topics as Social Justice, American History, Politics and Cultural Identity. Additional artists in their collection include Michael Schiffer, Matt Sesow, Imar Hutchins, Willie Earl Robinson, Edwin Lester, Wilson Biguad, Fortune Sitole, Wayan Paramartha, Kiyomi Kubo and Craig Tinsky, among others.

Desirée Venn Frederic & Tony Gyepi-Garbrah (Trinidad, DC)

Saturday, June 8, 4-6pm

Desirée Venn Frederic and Tony Gyepi-Garbrah are themselves artists, archivists and collectors. Their Washington D.C. home is layered with works on paper, photography, oil painting, acrylic painting, tapestry, quilting, paper sculptures, mixed media and the fashion arts. They opt to engage art and all its implications - to culture, to design, to commerce, to industry, to history, to individual and group identity. They observe the industry as it evolves from a rarified, elitist service into a global accessible market phenomenon. Art is after all the most successful, they are inclined to say, form of internationalism. Their collection of museum quality antiques, textiles and ephemera span the 1800’s to the 1990’s. Tony, a first generation Ghanaian-American, and Desirée, a Sierra Leonean-born immigrant, have developed collections that are deeply personal, exploring the transcultural. Their connection is as much with the artist as with the art, hence a burgeoning Washington, D.C. focused collection. The thrill is in discovering the new. Outside of works by Elizabeth Catlett, Victor Ekpuk, and Alex Gardner, they focus on collecting works from people they build friendships with. For example, Julian Alexander Barnes' work evokes a dense textural quality. To know the man behind the work makes it all the more surreal. Their visual collections also include Steven M. Cummings, Basil Kincaid, Sir E.U., Victor Ekpuk, Ibey Crawley, Wangechi Mutu, Andrew Cressman, David R. Ibata, Nate Lewis, Bethel Aniaku, Edward Steichen and others.

Kera & Bennie F. Johnson (Anacostia, DC)

Sunday, June 9, 4–6pm

Kera and Bennie F. Johnson welcome Transformer and Collector’s View guests to their Anacostia home to experience their collection of contemporary art primarily featuring abstract and conceptual works by artists of color. The Johnson collection includes works by artists Sam Gilliam, Howardena Pindell, Floyd Coleman, Norman Lewis, Rodney McMillian, Adam Pendleton, Kara Walker, Eric N. Mack, Jennifer Packer, Felandus Thames, Nate Young, Jefferson Pinder, Leslie Smith III, and Alteronce Gumby.

*Bonus Artist View for Full Series Subscribers Only* 
Larry Cook (Shaw, DC)

Saturday, June 1, 4-6pm

Larry Cook is a photographer and conceptual artist originally from Landover, MD. Cook received his MFA from The George Washington University in 2013. Cook is a 2017 Trawick Prize Winner, a 2013 and 2016 Sondheim finalist. In 2014, he had a large-scale public artwork on view as part of Ceremonies of Dark Men, part of the 5 X 5 Project Public Art, organzied by the DC Commission on the Arts. He completed a fellowship at the Hamiltonian Gallery (2013-2015) and later became an artist-in-residence at the Washington Project for the Arts (2017). He is a recipient of the MASC Individual Artist Grant (2017) and Department of General Services Public Art Grant (2018). Cook has exhibited his work in various galleries and museums including the Baltimore Museum of Art (2016) and the National Gallery of Art (2017). Cook recently completed an artist residency at Art on the Vine in Martha's Vineyard (2018). Cook is currently an Assistant Professor of Photograpy at Howard University.  This is an exclusive studio visit with artist Larry Cook for Full Series Subscribers only. Space is limited.

Transformer thanks BmoreArt, our 2019 Collector's View Media Partner, for their coverage of the series this year.