Transformer

PRIDE Celebration Rooftop at the LINE DC presented as part of Icons & Flow photography exhibition by Rachel A Sale & John Coplen

Weds. June 10, 5 - 8 PM
The LINE DC Rooftop
2468 Champlain Street, Washington, DC 20009

Join us for a special Summer Soirée PRIDE Celebration Rooftop at the LINE DC! Complimentary Wine and Bites + Cash Bar Available! Free & Open to the Public. RSVP HERE!

Transformer continues its exhibition partnership with the LINE DC to present a compelling new body of work bringing together two interconnected photographic series, Icons and Flow. Icons, developed through a collaboration between photographer Rachel A Sale and creative director John Coplen, reimagines culturally iconic images through the reversal of gender - not as imitation, but as disruption. In parallel, Flow, created by Rachel A Sale, centers on women who embody resilience not as an abstract ideal, but as a daily, lived practice. On view in the G Level Level Lobby of the LINE DC, 2468 Champlain Street, Washington, DC.

Transformer’s PRIDE Celebration Rooftop at the LINE DC is an official partner event with the The Capital Pride Alliance and the 2026 Capital Pride Celebration!

Thank you Robert Heggestad for hosting another incredible Collector’s View reception last Thursday! Swipe to view photos from last week.

FINALE COLLECTOR’S VIEW THIS THURSDAY, MAY 28 ✨

Join us for the final reception in this years Collector’s View series at the home of Lauren & Nando Silva-Pinto in Potomac, MD!

Lauren and Luis Fernando Silva-Pinto’s contemporary collection is reflective of their careers as international journalists and a shared passion for art that began in childhood. Starting at age 10, Fernando would ride his bike to the São Paulo Bienal to experience the latest in contemporary art in the burgeoning international art center. Lauren virtually grew up in the Detroit Institute of Arts, where her mother was a docent for 50 years.

Since moving to Washington, DC, they have collected DMV artists such as Tendai Johnson, Luis Silva, Nicole Salimbene and Ruza Spak. International artists include Teresa Esgaio (Lisbon), Patricia Secco (Rio), Candido Portinari (Rio), Aldemir Martins (São Paulo), Marignelli (São Paulo) and Christel Lechner (Germany). A favorite work is a 1955 piece by Huey Lee Smith.

LINK IN BIO FOR TICKETS! Address will be released via email.

📸 Katie Simonian

It’s FlatFile Friday! Swipe to view FlatFile artworks available for sale by artists Maps Glover & Sifu Sun. Catch them in conversation in Friendship Heights as part of “A Distinct Terroir” FlatFile exhibition next Weds. April 1!

Maps Glover is a DC based conceptual artist with a desire to create and tell new stories through an Afrofuturist lens. These stories weave together the past and the present projecting visions of blackness into the infinite future. ”My work stands as a portal between the past and the future the forms and shapes are familiar but there is always something beneath the surface. Even the creation of “Maps Glover” itself is an experiment in projecting a surrogate being into virtual space. I want my work to be inviting, I want it to pull you in closer and peel back the layers of judgment.” - Glover

Sifu Sun is a creative powerhouse, operating as a manifestation of a higher operating system. Working with sound, acrylic paint, permanent markers, and the physical body, each presentation of work prompts reflection and release for the artist and audience alike.

APPLY TODAY! This year’s iteration of Transformer’s annual Exercises for Emerging Artists program invites Comics Artists and Illustrators to participate in its peer critique & mentorship program!

Led by DWIGHTMESS gallery director Adam Griffiths , four DC area based-artists will be selected to meet biweekly during the spring to develop artwork for a culminating summer exhibition at Transformer in Washington DC. Guest lecturers, access to multipurpose spaces, borrowing privileges from an extensive comics and rare film collection, and intensives in screenprinting and risograph printing will be offered at DWIGHTMESS compound, located in Silver Spring, MD.

Experimental illustrators & storytellers, image-based zine-makers, & new-to-comics artists are encouraged to apply!

**Submit by 11:59 PM, 02/16/2026 for consideration.
Mentorship sessions begin mid-March 2026 and end in July 2026 with a culminating group show at Transformer summer 2026.**

For any questions, please email Camille DeSanto, Transformer’s Exhibitions and Programs Coordinator, at [email protected].

ABOUT EXERCISES FOR EMERGING ARTISTS/

Launched in March 2004, Transformer’s annual Exercises For Emerging Artists is a peer critique & mentorship program created to support DC based emerging artists at critical points or crossroads in their professional growth and creative development.
Now in its 23rd year, this annual spring mentorship program acts as an accelerated MFA course for DC area based artists, providing them with intensive, bi-weekly peer and mentor critiques led by local, national and international arts leaders as they create new by work.

Focusing on a different artistic discipline each year, the Exercises culminates in a summer exhibition / exhibition series for the public to engage with artworks created throughout the program.

CLICK LINK IN BIO TO APPLY TODAY! Visit transformerdc.org/exercises-1 for more information.