Top 3 Takeaways: Northern Virginia Art Galleries

As a former PTA volunteer, one of my favorite roles was the coordinator for the Greater Reston Art Center’s (now the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art) GRACE Art Program at my children’s elementary school. This incredible program held more than 150 portfolios of artists or types of art, complete with age-appropriate curriculum covering the biography, historical significance, styles, and more of the artist, reinforced with fun art projects bringing home the idea. We studied Seurat’s pointillism, Keith Haring’s subway drawings, Patrick Hocker’s photography, Frida Kahlo’s paintings, and classic masters like Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo. One of my favorite reinforcement projects was taping paper to the underside of the kids’ desks and asking them to draw their masterpieces.

Northern Virginia offers many opportunities to be inspired by the many styles of art in our region. We’ve provided the below list so you can get out and support your local community.

Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (formerly the Greater Reston Art Center
12001 Market Street #103 Reston, VA 20190
www.tephraica.org

Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St. Alexandria, VA 22314
torpedofactory.org

Workhouse Arts Center
9518 Workhouse Way Lorton, VA 22079
www.workhousearts.org

Gallery Underground
The Shops at 2100 Crystal Drive
(2120-A Crystal Plaza Arcade)
Arlington, VA 22202
www.arlingtonartistsalliance.org/gallery-underground

Vienna Arts Society Art Center
243 Church Street NW, Suite 100 LL, Vienna, VA 22180
https://www.viennaartssociety.org/vas-gallery/

Wentworth Gallery Tysons
1807 Galleria at Tysons II Tysons, VA 22102
wentworthgallery.com