programs1

PROGRAMS

Image from Itsy Bitsy Bollocks (Mar-Apr 2006)

TRANSFORMER is a Washington, DC based 501 (c) 3 non-profit, artist-centered organization that connects and promotes emerging artists locally, nationally and internationally. Partnering with artists, curators, and cultural institutions, Transformer serves as a catalyst and advocate for emergent expression in the visual arts. Programs and services are designed to help artists grow their audience and patronage while educating them about opportunities for sustainability. Transformer works to strengthen community by supporting emerging artists in their development.

Transformer is an exciting and essential part of the Washington, DC cultural community providing a broad range of experience to artists and audiences. Founded by arts and development professionals Jayme McLellan and Victoria Reis in summer 2002 to profile experimental work by up and coming artists of all ages and backgrounds, “Transformer has steadily made its mark on the D.C. arts scene...the emphasis is on change and freedom, diverse voices and new artistic mediums for expression.”
-- The Washington Post

With a unique store-front exhibition space at 1404 P Street, NW, Transformer’s Exhibition Series, consisting of six to seven exhibitions per season, encourages artists to be site-responsive, often producing a deeper and more thoughtful exploration of ideas and solutions to the presentation of their work. Exhibitions run five to six weeks and are organized by Transformer staff in conjunction with participating artists, guest curators, and advisors.

Seeking to connect emerging artists with the larger cultural milieu, exhibiting artists are provided increased exposure to peer artists, curators and the local arts community, and are encouraged to: meet collectors at exhibition previews, speak with the press about their work, and participate in organized artist talks with the public. As an artist-centered organization, Transformer is committed to providing artists’ honorariums and material costs. Artists are never charged fees for participating in Transformer’s exhibition series.

Exhibitions are profiled on Transformer’s website, www.transformergallery.org, and press releases are sent to an extensive press list and a general audience list-serve of several hundred individual and organizational supporters. For each exhibition, Transformer also works with professional DC graphic designers to develop creative exhibition announcement cards sent to a growing mailing list of Visionary Friends of Transformer.

In the hopes of understanding diverse cultures and to expand the opportunities available to artists based in the DC region, Transformer exhibitions present Washington emerging artists with their counterparts nationally and internationally. Always working to further our mission to be a catalyst and advocate for emergent expression in the visual arts, Transformer regularly assists emerging arts groups, co-ops, collectives, curators and individual artists in providing temporal exhibition space, professional development advice and assistance, curatorial input, and program development. To date, Transformer has presented over twenty-five comprehensive exhibitions and has hosted special events by independent bands (French Toast, CutPurse), the DC Lady DJ Collective, the Bookmobile Project/Projet Mobilivre, The DC Hope Collective, and The Mount Pleasant Writers Club, among others.

Recognized as a leader in the arts field, in March 2005 Transformer was selected to participate in the Warhol Initiative, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Art's national capacity-building grant program for visual arts organizations. Transformer joins Stage II of the Initiative, geared at supporting relatively young organizations that operate on modest budgets, and are regarded by the foundation as "the next generation of artist spaces."

Transformer is supported by:

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
The Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities
Transformer's Board and Advisory Council, the Visionary Friends of Transformer, and
the tireless in-kind donations of time and expertise by friends, volunteers and supporters.
Thank You!