McLean Project for the Arts

06/23/2026

McLean Project for the Arts will open the next two exhibitions at the new MPA Berlage Arts & Education Center on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

CREST+ HOLLOW by Joseph Cortina (Gallery Vivienne), and From the Cellular to the Celestial by Georgia Nassikas (Yasmine C. Iskander Gallery) will run through August 15, 2026.

An Opening Exhibition Reception will take place this Thursday, June 25 from 7-9pm.

Please RSVP on our website at MPAart.org

ArtsFairfax
East City Art
Mclean Living Magazine
McLean Community Center

06/17/2026

Thanks, Mark Jenkins, for this review of our three Spring Solo exhibitions in your DisCerning Eye substack.

Gardens of Stones
Kathryn Camicia fuses stone and cloud; Scott Robinson seeks patterns; Leslie Kiefer encircles nature; two video surveys at VisArts; Susan R. Johnson fashions the past; three soloists in McLean
MARK JENKINS
JUN 11

STRAIGHTFORWARD IMAGERY IS HEIGHTENED by complex textures or color schemes in the work of the three local artists featured in the McLean Project for the Arts’s “Spring Solo Exhibitions.” Sabine Carlson paints vignettes in which cartoony birds interact with more realistically rendered humans. Zsudayka Nzinga makes fabric-and-paper collages that draw on folklore of the American South. Also a collagist who engages the past, Darlene R. Taylor depicts silhouetted Black women garbed in actual heirloom textiles.

The work of Nzinga and Taylor, who share a gallery, is quite compatible. One difference is that the style of Taylor’s “Heirlooms: Garden Beauty” is more orderly, with compositions that focus on a single woman. Taylor’s colors are also more muted than those of Nzinga, whose “Ancestral Iconography” highlights bright reds and yellows in multi-figure scenes set in what appear to be deep-shadowed forests. The settings seem apt, since Nzinga’s human subjects are overlooked and possibly exploited laborers. Both Taylor and Nzinga summon people from the recesses of history, conjuring them in part with materials that literally embody the past.

The import of Carlson’s “Dream a Better World” appears ecological, although perhaps these small paintings are simply appeals for empathy. The people and birds “appear to be engaged in various kinds of rescue efforts,” says the show’s catalogue. The artist’s blobby birds eye or nudge life-preserver-like objects, which may be symbols of hope. But perhaps the most significant thing about the U-shaped objects is that they’re orange, a color that jauntily contrasts the pictures’s mostly blue and green fields.

06/12/2026

Coming Soon to MPA Berlage Arts & Education Center: Work by Joseph Cortina & Georgia Nassikas

CREST + HOLLOW by Joseph Cortina
From the Cellular to the Celestial by Georgia Nassikas
June 25 - August 15, 2026

Opening Reception Thursday, June 25, 7-9pm
MPA Berlage Arts & Education Center

McLean Project for the Arts will open the next two exhibitions at the new MPA Berlage Arts & Education Center on Thursday, June 25, 2026. CREST+ HOLLOW by Joseph Cortina (Gallery Vivienne), and From the Cellular to the Celestial by Georgia Nassikas (Yasmine C. Iskander Gallery) will run through August 15, 2026. An Opening Exhibition Reception will take place June 25 from 7-9pm.

CREST + HOLLOW immerses viewers in a unique visual experience. Projections on three walls and the floor become a living canvas of line and shape creating a world of its own. The title describes the anatomy of a wave. Waves—both literal in nature and symbolic in art—represent a fundamental path of everything we experience. This oscillation of light and sound, of emotion and thought, of pulses and tide, and even the invisible hum of electromagnetic energy is the stuff of waves. A scientific truth and an emotional reflection invites viewers to feel the constant motion that shapes every experience.

“This installation encourages you to interact with these waves,” explains Cortina. “By dissolving the boundary between observer and artwork, the installation reminds us that we are not separate from these rhythms. We are carried by them … we are part of them.

Georgia Nassikas: From the Cellular to the Celestial presents a series of paintings depicting small impressionistic geometries—the cellular—and larger visions of the cosmos—the celestial. Nassikas’ artistic explorations reflect her observations of our natural world, from the tiniest forms of life to the vast mysteries beyond.

In addition to the June 25 Opening Exhibition Reception, MPA Artistic Director and Curator Nancy Sausser will host an Artist Talk featuring Cortina and Nassikas on Thursday, July 16 at 7pm.

Both exhibition events are free, but RSVP is requested. Visit mpaart.org to register.

ArtsFairfax
East City Art
McLean Community Center

06/12/2026

MPA’s Emerson & Atrium galleries are closed until 12:30pm today due to a power outage. Please watch our social media and website at mpaart.org for any updates.

Update about McLean Community Center:

Due to a power outage, the McLean Community Center is currently closed on Friday, June 12, and all classes and rentals are cancelled until 12:30 p.m. Please check back for additional updates and operational status.

06/11/2026

A new chapter for the arts in McLean has begun ✨

After five years in the making, McLean Project for the Arts has opened the doors to the new MPA Berlage Arts & Education Center, a creative space designed for gathering, learning, and connecting through art.

This new home brings MPA's mission to life in a bigger way, with inspiring contemporary exhibitions, classrooms for creative learning, a state-of-the-art ceramics studio, and Café Monet, a beautiful all-day café and bistro at the heart of it all.

More than a new building, this is a place for the community to discover new work, develop new skills, and experience the arts together.

Plan your visit today at mpaart.org

06/06/2026

Stop by our NEW Café Monet this weekend…and take a few minutes to see the work of artists Yasmine C. Iskander and David Carlson in our NEW Berlage Arts & Education Center galleries!

🥞✨ One more reason to be a morning person…

Meet our Pain Perdu - custard-soaked brioche topped with crème fraîche, maple syrup, and fresh berries.

And the good news? Starting Monday, June 8, breakfast begins Daily at 8am at Café Monet. ☕️🎨

Whether you’re stopping in for coffee and a croissant or settling in for a proper breakfast, we’ll be ready when the morning starts.

⏰ Hours:
Breakfast | Mon–Fri 8AM–11:30AM
Brunch | Sat & Sun 8AM–3PM
Lunch | Mon–Fri 11:30AM–4PM
Dinner | Mon–Thurs 4PM–9PM • Fri 4PM–10PM • Sat 3PM–10PM • Sun 3PM–9PM
Happy Hour | Mon–Fri 3PM–6PM

🎨 Reservations available on OpenTable and RESY

NorthernVirginiaEats

06/05/2026

This weekend is your last opportunity to see “Life Through the Power of Color: Works by Yasmine C. Iskander” at our new Berlage Arts & Education Center. Don’t miss it!

Thanks to all who joined us for last night’s gallery talk and closing reception!

Learn more at MPAart.org.

VisualArtsDC
ArtsFairfax
East City Art

06/02/2026

David Carlson’s exhibition, Subtle Connections, has officially opened our new Sally & John Simms Gallery at MPA’s Berlage Center for Arts & Education.

“Through the language of abstraction, I seek to express deeper themes of connection, perception, and the ineffable. The goal is an exploration into that which is and that which is ongoing,” Carlson shared.

Thanks to all who joined us… we were thrilled to have such a fabulous turnout and invite you to see the exhibition through August 15, 2026.

Learn more at https://www.mpaart.org/exhibition-details/subtle-connections

ArtsFairfax
East City Art
McLean Community Center

05/29/2026

Join us Saturday morning at 11am and hear from our three Spring Solos artists — Sabine Carlson (pictured), Zsudayka Nzinga and Darlene R. Taylor — as well as Artistic Director & Curator Nancy Sausser!

McLean Project for the Arts invites you to an Artist Talk, led by our curator and Artistic Director Nancy Sausser!

Saturday, May 30, 11 a.m.
MPA's MCC Galleries
Register: https://ow.ly/pVOv50Z5JSK