Alert

Update: Quincy St entrance closed during upgrades at Central Library. More Info

Arlington Public Library

Art Exhibits

“Am I Welcome Here?” An art exhibit about diversity and inclusion from international students’ eyes

Central Library, January 14 - April 29, 2025

Participating artists: Miki Nishida Goerdt, Yasmeen Houdaib, Youn Lee, Alexandra Rivera Rivera, Xinhang Xu, Chengjiaoyang (Valentine) Xue

We are a group of artists who have the experience of being international students in American colleges and universities. We left our home countries (Japan, Palestine/Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Korea, and China) to study in the United States. We share a passion for art therapy, and we believe art can bring people together. American universities and colleges seek out international students like us, not only to increase campus awareness of global issues, but also for promotional purposes and revenue generation. Although approximately one million international students are enrolled in American higher education, it is unclear what it means to truly welcome and support them once they arrive here.

According to published research on their experiences, international students often struggle to navigate the institutional communities they’ve been invited to join, dealing with issues ranging from differences between educational systems to language barriers and cultural differences. Students desire to “belong” within their new host environments, but they also report feeling caught between racial stereotyping and being ignored. Although they are not always seen as an equityseeking group, they experience real structural barriers. One study found that images of international students were used to celebrate diversity, but institutions’ strategic communications rarely addressed these students’ racial identities or their experiences of racism on campus.

We were invited to be in this country, but are we welcome here? With the art in this exhibition, we are exploring what it means to create an inclusive community with you. How do we include and support everyone? How do we cultivate a sense of belonging for all of us?

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Slima Shahati: Patchwork

Westover Library, Jan 3 - April 2025

Slima Shahati

As an artist, I create handmade patchwork pieces from fabric scraps. Each piece is carefully stitched together to form vibrant and unique designs. My work celebrates the beauty in small, forgotten materials, turning them into something new and meaningful. Through my art, I hope to show how even the smallest pieces can come together to create something beautiful.

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Zafri Yussoff: Neon Noir

Shirlington Library, January - April 2025

Artist's Reception: April 8, 2025, 6-8PM @ Shirlington Branch Library

Zafri Yussoff:

Various media have depicted what the future could look like. Some portray it as post-apocalyptic, a dystopia, or in neon. The latter has always been the most intriguing to me, as it gives a mysterious but technological feeling.
​
To create these images, I combined the photo acquisition of infrared with neon glow effects, through Adobe Photoshop. The purpose of infrared is to capture the natural light of any subject in a wavelength that is invisible to the human eye. The best time to capture infrared photos is at noon, on a sunny day in the spring or summer. The final aesthetic of each would result in monochrome, instead of color.
​
With the neon glow effects, learning a new technique in Photoshop was easy. I used the pen tool and set it to the color white. Next, I precisely clicked to pinpoint each corner or curve on any line that I saw. Finally, with each line finished, I set the outer glow effect to the color of my choosing, such as blue and pink. The consistency of them was important because this aesthetic was heavily inspired by the movie Blade Runner and video game Cyberpunk 2077, in which both are set in the future, featuring neon and noir respectively. Likewise, I chose the remaining colors to have a subtle presence, acting as the background.

Another reason for this aesthetic came from listening to lofi music and synthwave music (electronic microgenre). Whenever I listened, they would be interpreted as electronically peaceful and calming. With the presence of these luminous lights, the monochrome aesthetic allows me to see the world in a different way.

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Christine Williams: Art is My Therapy

Columbia Pike Library, January 4 - April 30, 2025

Artist Talk: March 2025

Christine Williams

My favorite materials to work with are yarn and canvas. Using yarn to create shapes and visually appealing pieces is therapeutic for me. Art has been known to help relieve stress, lower depression levels, and help to enhance critical thinking skills. My work definitely does all of those things and will benefit the community. I want my work to be an inspiration to others to pursue their dreams and to reassure them that the sky is the limit.

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Michelle Israel: Paintings

Aurora Hills Library, January 3 - April 30, 2025

Michelle Israel

Naturaleza Viva explores the intricate relationship between nature and my hometown, Mexico City, capturing the essence of both in vibrant, emotive compositions that weave together the past and present. Through my work, I aim to evoke a profound sense of nostalgia and belonging, celebrating the beauty of flowers, cacti, or landscapes and the memories they hold within them. I seek to highlight not only the visual splendor of these surroundings but also the emotional connections they foster within me and others who share similar experiences. Each brushstroke and color choice reflects my deep, personal connection to the natural world around me, inviting viewers to rediscover the familiar and appreciate the subtle, often overlooked wonders of our environment. My art serves as a reminder that nature is not just a backdrop but a living, breathing part of our daily lives, shaping our identities and leaving an indelible mark on our hearts.

The titles of each of my paintings are folkloric expressions from my beloved Mexico, reflecting not only the connection to the work but also how Mexicans use language as a playful art form. These expressions poetically capture the wisdom inherited from our abuelitas, with lessons often condensed into a single phrase or just a few words.

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Ken Beerbohm: Sculptures

Glencarlyn Library, January 3 - April 30, 2025

Ken Beerbohm

Growing up in a small town in Montana with few possessions, the mountain behind our house became a giant playground full of nature’s wonders from moss-covered rocks to spring creeks. My love of what nature could produce was firmly rooted. I would spend my retirement years combining that love with a passion to sculpt, with most of my works driven by humor, the one thing that keeps me somewhat sane in a not-so-sane world. If my works bring an observer to laugh, ponder or to appreciate, I have accomplished my mission.​

For more information contact Mr. Beerbohm at ken.beerbohm@gmail.com​

Learn More About Art Exhibits at the Library

Voices of Little Saigon in Clarendon: Public Art on View at Central Library

Public Art and Oral Histories Honor Clarendon’s Vietnamese Heritage

Clarendon Neighborhood History ad

On May 9, 2015, artist Khánh H. Lê’s temporary public installation will be on display in the fountain of Clarendon Central Park for “Echoes of Saigon,” a multimedia celebration honoring the journey of Clarendon’s Vietnamese community during the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

In addition to the public art installation, Echoes of Saigon will include hands on art activities, music, a walking tour led by former community members, a County Board proclamation, special guest speakers, other displays, and the Lemongrass Food Truck.

Following the May 9 event, the artwork will move to the Center for Local History at Central Library.

 

About the Artist and Installation

This artwork draws on primary sources to highlight the history of Little Saigon – the thriving hub of Vietnamese commerce and social activity that existed in Clarendon in the late 1970s and ‘80s. Similar to his work for the mobile gallery Art on the ART Bus, Lê has created a mixed media townscape, embedded with memories of an ethnic enclave that no longer exists.

Lê has reproduced photographs by Michael Horsley, who documented Little Saigon during its heyday, to create structures that resemble individual businesses that existed. The buildings further tell the stories of Little Saigon through the inclusion of audio components that play excerpts of recent oral history interviews with former Little Saigon community members. The interviews were conducted by graduate students from Urban Affairs & Planning in Virginia Tech’s School of Public & International Affairs.

Commissioned by Arlington Public Art, the installation also includes a sculptural apricot blossom tree and folded paper boats that come together to form flowers, symbolizing the journeys of Vietnamese immigrants who left their homeland to create a new community in Clarendon and a new life in America.

 

About “Echoes of Little Saigon”

In the fall of 2014, Arlington County’s Historic Preservation Program and the Center for Local History collaborated with graduate students from Virginia Tech’s Department of Urban Affairs & Planning to explore ways to document, preserve, and celebrate the cultural heritage and diversity of Arlington. One of the resulting projects focused on the enclave in Clarendon once known as Little Saigon. The students conducted oral histories with members of the Vietnamese community who immigrated to Arlington during the 1970s and ‘80s, and those who shopped at or owned the many Vietnamese restaurants and businesses that existed in Clarendon during that time. The students also provided recommendations for increasing awareness about Little Saigon and recognizing the contributions of the Vietnamese community to Arlington.

Inspired by the students’ work, County staff and volunteers have continued to collaborate with community members, Virginia Tech professor Dr. Elizabeth Morton, and her students Judd Ullom and Carlin Tacey to organize today’s event honoring Clarendon’s Vietnamese heritage and to launch a Little Saigon Smartphone tour created by Judd Ullom.

County staff, local artists, students, and members of the region’s Vietnamese American community are continuing to explore other ways to commemorate and raise awareness about the contributions of Little Saigon to Arlington’s cultural heritage. Future goals include creating a permanent historic marker to honor this history.


For additional information, and to access the Little Saigon Smartphone tour, visit www.littlesaigonclarendon.com.

 



Download the Library App