Georgetown Summer Art Walk Showcases Artists, Businesses
By • June 8, 2026 0 546
By Callie Solomon and Caroline Woodward
In 90-degree heat and with the sun beating down, dozens of Washingtonians and tourists alike made their way down Wisconsin Avenue, popping into local art galleries and small businesses.
The inaugural Georgetown Summer Art Walk took place on June 6 and featured 16 local venues. Participants were invited to begin at the top of Book Hill and make their way down, exploring galleries and businesses.
Georgetown Executive Director Main Street Rachel Shank said previous art walks in the spring and fall had been so successful that she decided to organize one in the summer, too. “We really just want to continue to educate our neighborhood and the D.C. community and visitors that are paying attention, that our small businesses are crucial to our community,” she said.
L’Enfant Gallery, an antique store on P Street, hosted a live art collaboration, “Painting with a Poet,” that featured painter Christina Sevilla and traveling poet Aidan Fitzsimons. Inspired by concepts from Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost, they sat in the window of the gallery, painting and writing poetry.
Fitzsimons conversed with participants individually, composing a poem in real time inspired by the stories and experiences they shared with him.
Meanwhile, Sevilla created two identical paintings—one meant to stay in her studio in Virginia and the other to travel across the U.S. with Fitzsimons in his converted school bus. Sevilla said the paintings will “have different experiences and adventures over the years, just like you would if you had made different choices or taken different paths.”
Ruth Allan, who manages planning events for L’Enfant Gallery, said the Summer Art Walk is so important because it brings visibility to an area with a high concentration of galleries. “We’ve been trying to use these art walks to provide a stage for local creatives to perform in whatever their medium is,” Allan said.
Washington Printmakers Gallery hosted “Street Markets: Woodblock and Reduction Screenprints,” an exhibition depicting scenes from street markets across Asia and Latin America. Alongside the prints, the gallery also featured photographs, additional prints and artists’ books.
Photographer Doug Hochberg said part of what makes Washington Printmakers Gallery unique is its cooperative structure, where artists from different backgrounds are accepted into the group and have the autonomy to decide which works are displayed on the walls, rather than a committee making those decisions.
Hochberg said events like the Georgetown Summer Art Walk are important to bring visibility to artists because they expose more people to work they might not otherwise encounter. He predicted that from the Art Walk, the gallery would see around 50 more visitors than it usually would that day.
The hybrid gallery-studio Studiolab RD hosted an exhibition, “In the Making,” that allowed visitors to observe studio owner and artist Robin Davisson create a large-scale art piece that evolved throughout the day.
Davisson is also a molecular biologist, who combines science into her art. Studio Lab RD hosts a variety of art and non-art related events for the community, such as progressive dinners throughout galleries and boutiques on Book Hill.
“I always think of Studio Lab as being 50 percent art and painting, but 50 percent community,” she said.
“There are a lot of fun spaces here that we want to bring people up, kind of towards the Book Hill area,” Lily Schwegler, studio manager of Studio Lab RD, said. “So we’re trying to create fun evening events and trying to get people excited about art.”
Gallery Article 15 specializes in contemporary art from the Democratic Republic of Congo and hosted an exhibition, “Portraits of a People: Portraiture in Contemporary Congolese Art.”
Owner and director of Gallery 15 Elizabeth Jaffe said, “One of our missions really is to introduce the art and the artists from the DRC to an audience that probably isn’t familiar with the rich cultural heritage that exists in the country.” She added the Georgetown Art Walk both helps unite the Georgetown community and introduces people to galleries in Georgetown.
Shop Made in DC hosted the PROUD Show exhibition, featuring a wide range of works by LGBTQIA+ artists. The space also held two pop-up workshops, including tote bag and candle-making activities.
Kelley Black, general manager of Shop Made in DC Georgetown, said she saw an increased volume of tourists and local community members during the Summer Art Walk. “We’ve had an incredible day,” she said. “Lots of happy, happy people.”
“People pick up the energy,” L’Enfant Gallery owner Peter Colasante said of the Art Walk. “And the energy is open and positive.”
Shank emphasized how art walks spread positivity by connecting visitors with local businesses and allowing them to explore Washington, D.C. “Break out of your routine,” she said. “Take advantage of things that are going on in the neighborhood to discover new things to love about the place you live.”
Robin Davisson’s painting in progress during the exhibition, “In the Making.” at Studiolab RD. Photo by Caroline Woodward.
Outside Gallery Article 15. Photo by Caroline Woodward.
