IN THE NEWS
2023
september 27, 2023 \\ washington blade
29 local LGBTQ supportive groups awarded gov’t grants
Mayor Muriel Bowser has awarded community grants to 29 D.C. organizations that provide direct services to the LGBTQ community, according to a Sept. 22 announcement by the mayor’s office. Information released in the announcement says the 29 LGBTQ supportive organizations receiving the grants for Fiscal Year 2024 are among a total of 137 D.C.-based community organizations that will receive a total of more than $2.2 million in funding through these grants.
August 10, 2023 \\ washingtonian
36 Best Things to Do in the DC Area This Weekend
“Take a stroll through each of DC’s neighborhood quadrants to view the summer installation of ‘Mythic Futures.’ The new four-part mural series by local artist Antoine Williams showcases Afrofuturist and surrealist paintings that reflect contemporary Black folklore. Every mural is accompanied with augmented reality animation and audio components for spectator interaction via Instagram.”
August 4, 2023 \\ The washington post
In the galleries: dynamic exhibits drawn from personal histories
“Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.” Those words are written on a shroud that Brooklyn artist Zachary Fabri wore while moving ritually through central Philadelphia. The garment and photographs of the shroud-wearing Fabri in blurred motion are on display at the Nicholson Project, a cultural center in Southeast D.C. where Fabri will perform Aug. 5. The pieces in the show, which include a nine-minute video, respond to what the gallery’s statement calls “the successive murders of Black people by police officers in public space.”, a psychological state of flux and shift of being, has weighed heavily on my mind since visiting the Nicholson Project earlier this month.
August 3, 2023 \\ washington city paper
Fort Reno Summer Concerts and More Best Bets for Aug. 3-9
Mythic Futures, a four-part public art mural by Antoine Williams for the Nicholson Project, is currently on view in all four quadrants of the District. The Nicholson Project, an organization meant to specifically amplify artists of color voices by engaging in community-based programming, has been active since 2019. Through Mythic Futures, Williams depicts an Afrofuturist narrative of four mythological deities—Ayana (the southeast mural), Tuma (the southwest mural), Emem (the northeast mural), and Waseme (the northwest mural)—who are meant to offer guidance similar to the deities of African-based spiritual belief systems such as Yoruba, Voodoo, and Santeria. But unlike these traditional spiritual belief systems, Williams’ deities combat particularly contemporary issues impacting African diasporic people to foster fruitful futures.
JANUARY 23, 2023 \\ BMORE ART
INSIDE PHYLICIA GHEE’S STORY OF REMEMBRANCE
Liminality, a psychological state of flux and shift of being, has weighed heavily on my mind since visiting the Nicholson Project earlier this month. In Phylicia Ghee’s installation of the same name, she channels the fragmented history of midwifery and herbalism into communion with the present. By her hand, a two-room, white-walled gallery became an altar for transfiguration, unencumbered by time.
January 13, 2o23 \\ district FRAY
A Sacred Space: Artist Phylicia Ghee on “Liminality: A Story of Remembrance”
Baltimore-based artist Phylicia Ghee communes with her ancestors, recovers family history, embraces herbal knowledge and womanist philosophies and commemorates female-centric spaces in her immersive, multi-sensory and richly detailed installation “Liminality: A Story of Remembrance” at The Nicholson Project, currently on view until January 28.
2022
november 3, 2022 \\ east of the river magazine
News from Anacostia and Wards 7 & 8 of Washington, DC
On Nov. 6 through Jan. 28, the Nicholson Project presents Liminality: A Story of Remembrance, a solo exhibition by Phylicia Ghee. An immersive installation created during Ghee's time in residence at The Nicholson Project, Liminality: A Story of Remembrance is an ode to the self-taught herbalists, midwives, and root women whose stories are shrouded in the mysteries of Ghee's personal family history and the history of this country. Incorporating sound, texture, and an apothecary cabinet that feels like walking into the living space of a family matriarch, Ghee transforms gallery into a place that feels sacred, where herbs are hanging and herbal remedies are cultivated, and found objects are interwoven with family stories.
FEBRUARY 27, 2022 \\ The WASHINGTON Post
Artist Hoesy Corona grapples with big ideas: climate change, the migrant crisis and inequality (Download PDF of Print Version)
In pieces spanning textiles, sculpture and performance, Corona imagines wanderers who travel drawn-out distances toward uncertain destinations. His art is all about journeys, so it’s fitting that his work is scattered across the city. It takes three spaces for his broader project to unfold: a message about climate, identity and status, dressed up in a fauvist fantasia of color. Start at the Nicholson Project, a community garden and gallery located east of the Anacostia River in D.C.’s Ward 7. The juxtaposition between color and content is the first thing that will grab viewers in the artist’s work.
FEBRUARY 17, 2022 \\ WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
The 2022 Spring Arts Guide: Locals to the Front
As the Nicholson Project notes, viewers are asked to play the role of voyeur in Corona’s exhibit that manages to be colorful and shiny, despite its unsettled subject matter. Nestled in the glittering light, viewers see implications of the journeys many immigrants continue to face. It’s a stark reality, but displayed in compelling colors, hope is present.
2021
January 18, 2022 \\ Bmore Art
BmoreArt’s Picks: January 18-24
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.The Nicholson Project is proud to present WAYFARING, a solo exhibition by Hoesy Corona.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 \\ The Washington post
In the galleries: Multiple works by Black artists create a vision of authority
Contemporary and historical also mingle in the work of Stan Squirewell, a D.C. native who is based in Louisville, but lately has been in residence at the Nicholson Project in Southeast Washington…Two large photo-collages in a similar style are featured in “Guest Artist: Stan Squirewell,” a one-room show at the Kreeger Museum. In the manner of the Phillips Collection’s “Intersections” series, the idea is for Squirewell to juxtapose his pieces with Kreeger-owned pieces by other artists, including a painted-wood Sam Gilliam sculpture and an abstract Simmie Knox painting in oxidized-metal hues.
May 13, 2021 \\ Washington City Paper
As D.C. Prepares to Reopen, What Will We Incorporate Into Our New Normal The pandemic exposed fault lines and places of possibility. Here’s what we might keep from this radical period of change.
Local artists need more infrastructure, says Angela Byrd, founder of Made in the DMV. That can come in multiple forms: She mentions a need for more recording studios and artist housing, and praises artists’ residencies such as the Nicholson Project in Southeast.
April 16, 2021 \\ The Washington post
In the galleries: Face to face with a world both beautiful and horrific
She actually arrived from Chicago, not the future, but A.J. McClenon wants visitors to “Notes From Vega” to imagine she’s bringing the news from 2112. Part of the multidisciplinary artist’s ongoing project, the show uses collages, drawings and a map made of braided yarn to express “the resilience of Black people and their ability to adapt and evolve in any circumstance.”
March 9, 2021 \\ The Culture Type
Nicholson Project Announced Two Artists in Residence
A.J. McClenon and Stan Squirewell have been named 2021 Artists-in-Residence at The Nicholson Project. Founded in 2019 and located in the Fairlawn neighborhood of SE Washington, D.C., The Nicholson Project pairs a three-month artist residency program with a neighborhood garden.
2019
SEP 18, 2019 \\ CONGRESS HEIGHTS ON THE RISE
Paid Artist Residency at The Nicholson Project in Ward 7
ART AT NICHOLSON—An exploration of how art & Design Can strengthen community. The Nicholson Project creates a safe, equitable space for artists to work on their studio practice and/or produce onsite activations.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 \\ DC LINE
New artist residency in Ward 7 opens Saturday
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.
SEP 12, 2019 \\ GOOD MORNING WASHINGTON
Program to support DC artist coming to DC
The Nicholson Project’s founder, Stefanie Reiser, sits down with Good Morning Washington’s Lindsey Mastis to talk about the new artist residency and neighborhood garden coming to Ward 7.
SEP 11, 2019 \\ EAST CITY ART
The Nicholson Project Opens in Southeast DC
The Nicholson Project proudly announces its grand opening as an artist residency and neighborhood garden in Southeast DC.
SEP 10, 2019 \\ THE DCIST
The Nicholson Project, An Artist Residency And Neighborhood Garden, Comes To Ward 7
On the outside, it looks like any other single-family rowhouse in the District. But 2310 Nicholson Street SE will soon be opening up as a project unique to the street and rare for the city: a residency for artists, with a community garden in an adjacent lot.