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Tues - Sun 11 a.m - 4 p.m.
Closed Monday
Free admission
Alper Initiative for Washington Art
A home for Washington art at the American University Museum, established 2016.
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art is dedicated to preserving, presenting, and creating Washington’s art history through three annual exhibitions, a salon-style gallery talk series, a library of 200+ Washington art books, and a database of Washington artist proposals made available to guest curators.
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art was made possible through a generous endowment from American University alumna, artist, and art advocate, Carolyn Small Alper (1927-2020). According to her vision, the Alper provides the space and resources to fulfill one of the American University Museum's primary objectives and the region's greatest needs: promote an understanding and appreciation of our region's art and artists from our past, present, and future. The Alper is an exhibition space and a center for study and research, but primarily a meeting place for people and ideas.
Fall ’24 Exhibition - Joseph Holston: Call and Response
View our current Alper exhibition
Joseph Holston: Call and Response, September 7 – December 8
Joseph Holston, Grand Finale, 2013. Oil on canvas, 42 x 50 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Past exhibitions
Browse
- Dickson Carroll, Retrospective, 1973 to 2023
- A Drawing Like No Other: Marilyn Brought Back to Life in 9,000,000 Marks
- Gail Rebhan: About Time
- Haunted Koreas: Mina Cheon with Kim Il Soon
- Vertiginous Matter: Jason Horowitz
- Paper Light: Works by Claudia Smigrod
- Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery
- Raya Bodnarchuk: This is a True Picture of How it Was
- Border Wall | Allan Gerson
- Yuri Schwebler: The Spiritual Plane
- Behind the Scenes: Preparators and their Art
- Communicating Vessels: Ed Bisese, Elyse Harrison, Wayne Paige
- Christine Neill: Observations from the Valley Floor
- Prints & Artists: WD Printmaking Workshop 1970-Present
- Crossing Boundaries & Breaking Borders: DMV Printmaking
- Kenneth Victor Young: Continuum
- Michael B. Platt + Carol A. Beane: Influences and Connections
- Ian Jehle: Dynamical Systems
- D'Arista Legacy
- Latitude: The Washington Women's Arts Center
- Michael Clark: Washington Artist
- Frank DiPerna Retrospective
- The Trawick Prize
- Making a Scene: Jefferson Place
- Performing the Border
- Summerford Legacy
- Joe Cameron: Touching Air
- Melissa Ichiuji: Make You Love Me
- It Takes a Nation: Art for Social Justice
- The Looking Glass: Artist Immigrants of Washington
- Twisted Teenage Plot
- Circle of Friends
Submit Your
Art Project
We review submissions from Washington-area artists for Alper exhibitions on a rolling basis. Learn more about the Alper Initiative and make a submission.