Transformer

HAPPY ✨FLATFILE FRIDAY!✨⁠Check out some photos from one of our favorite MidCity Dog Day’s FlatFile sales back in 2021!

You can shop the FlatFile TOMORROW at our sidewalk sale in collaboration with ‘s MidCity Dog Days of Summer. ALSO join the artists of Pointless Theater in “Intro to Puppetry & Pageantry as a Storytelling Device” program presented as part of “Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” ⁠
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Sidewalk Sale (Outside Transformer): 12-4pm⁠
Intro to Puppetry & Pageantry as a Storytelling Device (Inside Transformer): 12-3pm⁠

Transformer’s FlatFile Collection is a growing and ever-changing collection of 400+ works by 40+ artists. All works are 2D, sized 16” x 20” or smaller, and priced at $500 and below.

🎭OPENING DAY🎭

“Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” is now open! Come see us during gallery hours TODAY from 12-6pm!

Transformer presents artists from DC’s Pointless Theatre in a ‘creation lab’, as they engage community in the artistry of puppet-making and the historic use of puppets in story-telling. Focusing on themes of democracy, “Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” will emphasize the transformative potential of art, and how artists & community play an active role in shaping social change. The exhibition and series of artist-led programs stress the importance of democracy through contemplation on its potential loss.

“Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” is funded in part by Humanities DC

Gallery Hours | Wed-Sat | 12-6pm

Happy FlatFileFriday! Each week Transformer highlights an artist from our ever-growing FlatFile collection. This week, meet DC based artist Catie Leonard! ()⁠
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Catie Leonard is a photographer living and working in Washington, D.C. She earned her BFA in Fine Art Photography at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University in 2020. Catie focuses on an intimate and personal approach to memory, identity, place, and family dynamics.⁠
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Click the to view all of Leonard’s work available for sale through our FlatFile!⁠
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Image Credits:⁠
Leonard, ⁠”LIC,”⁠ 2022⁠
Leonard, ⁠”Bo,”⁠ 2020⁠
Leonard, ⁠”Christmas Tree,”⁠ 2020⁠
Leonard, ⁠”Woods (Day),”⁠ 2022⁠
Leonard, ⁠”Untitled,” 2022

🎭”DEMOCRACY’S LAST HURRAH?”🎭 Opening July 20, 2024⁠
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Transformer is honored to present artists from DC’s Pointless Theatre in a ‘creation lab’ at our 1404 P St. NW space this summer, as they engage community in the artistry of puppet-making and the historic use of puppets in story-telling. Focusing on themes of democracy, “Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” will emphasize the transformative potential of art, and how artists & community play an active role in shaping social change. The exhibition and series of artist-led programs stress the importance of democracy through contemplation on its potential loss.⁠
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“Democracy’s Last Hurrah?” is funded in part by Humanities DC ⁠
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Click the link in bio for more details!

🗺️E21 ARTIST HIGHLIGHT🗺️⁠
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Take a look at the BTS process of E21: A Different Horizon Atlas artist, E Clayton Scofield! ⁠
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E Clayton Scofield is an artist and poet adhering to a nonphilosophy of play, an experiment of self-making that invites intimacy through immersive states where the self may dissolve. Inspired by their experience in a trans body, they use their body as conduit across media, transforming ideas through form to reveal unexpected meaning. Their projects contain many iterations, including video, performance and poetry, that culminate as bodies of work. ⁠
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“E21: A DIFFERENT HORIZON ATLAS: Collaboratively Mapping Q***r Utopias” is now open! Click the for more details!⁠
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Gallery Hours⁠
Wed-Sat | 12-6PM

Artists Sustaining Artists is an initiative created with mid-career and established artists to provide honoraria support to their emerging artist peers.⁠ All works are available to purchase NOW! ⁠
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Take a look at DC based participating artist Mahy Polymeropoulos! ⁠
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“Forty years, I have been interested and practicing in art and design, as well as art history and development. Nature, the universe, the globe, favorite artists, human issues, humanity, and animals have been my source of inspiration. I use different popular techniques and have developed several of my own. Some of my work centers upon self-expression, while other pieces reflect reactions and feelings. “⁠
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Click the to purchase Polymeropoulos’ work!⁠
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Image Credits:⁠
Polymeropoulos, “Innocent Passion”

Transformer is thrilled to sponsor a performance by Mercedes this Sat. June 15th at Walk on the Wild Side Pride Party! ⁠
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“I Hold You Close” articulates the precarious emotions of being q***r in a society riddled by violence. Using steel, forged and transformed weapons, and motors this installation reflects on my own experiences of q***rness and q***r love. Rather than framing vulnerability as a weakness, these works invite the viewer to consider vulnerability as a weapon.⁠
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Performance: starting between 9 - 10 PM⁠
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Click the to get your tickets now!⁠
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Image Credits: Amir Pourmand

Thank you to everyone who came to our Pride Parade Art Build on Tuesday!⁠ If you missed it, don’t worry, we have more upcoming programming!⁠
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📍Zoom Artist Talk with all Participating Artists | June 18, 2024 | 5-7PM⁠
Join Jaimes Mayhew and the E21cohort to hear more about each artist, their map, and the inspiration behind it. ⁠
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📍Zoom Panel on Q***r Speculation with Jaimes Mayhew, Alexis Lothian, and Kalima Young | July 2, 2024 | 5PM⁠
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Join us for a conversation about q***r speculation, q***r histories and the possibilities of that speculation creates with Dr. Alexis Lothian, Associate Professor at University of Maryland and author of Old Futures: Speculative Fiction and Q***r Possibility and Dr. Kalima Young, Assistant Professor at Towson University, author of Mediated Misogynoir: The Erasure of Black Women and Girls’ Pain the Public Imagination, and A Different Horizon Atlas collaborator. ⁠
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Gallery Hours | Wed-Sat | 12-6pm⁠
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Click the for more details!

Artists Sustaining Artists is an initiative created with mid-career and established artists to provide honoraria support to their emerging artist peers.⁠ All works are available to purchase NOW! ⁠
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Take a look at DMV based participating artist Sue Wrbican⁠ ⁠ new works and works available for sale through Artists Sustaining Artists!⁠
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“Since 1989 I have created photographs, videos, sculptures and installations grounded  in personal narrative examining labor, culture, time, place, and weather. My continued practice has shifted  from its beginnings in photographic large-format portraiture to a multilayered poetic experience in a dialogue between documentary and the musings of imagination. Regarding present political circumstances I have also collaborated with individuals and communities to address issues such as empowerment, the environment and economics.” ⁠
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“The recent work on this site is inspired by the landscapes of surrealist Kay Sage. I’ve created collage and maquettes for site-specific sculpture and installations. The constructions also function as props in photographic narratives that present open-ended outcomes. While my sculptural interpretations draw Sage’s charged landscapes into a third dimension, the photographs provide yet a fourth dimension implied through the interstitial lens of time and history.”⁠
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Click the to purchase Wrbican’s work!⁠
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Image Credits:⁠
Slide 1: New work courtesy of ⁠
Slide 2: Wrbican, All the Hands to Crude Gathering #3,” 2021⁠
Slide 3: Wrbican, “Spirit,” 2024⁠
Slide 4: New work courtesy of

Big things in the works this summer in Asbury Park, NJ! IS BACK! and better than ever ✨ Take a sneak peek above!

THANK YOU to for the Siren Arts pop up space this summer that will present and support a variety of artists this summer‼️ and thank you for the great press piece!

Stay tuned for more details and follow to stay in the loop 🌊

Happy ✨ Each week Transformer highlights an artist from our ever-growing FlatFile program. This week we are featuring works available for sale by Lindsay Bottos! ( )⁠
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Lindsay Bottos is a Baltimore based multidisciplinary artist working mostly in film photography, video, and poetry. Personal experience is the driving force behind their work; especially experiences with intimacy, interpersonal relationships, and often the ways that those experiences are affected by the current digital and social media age.

Dreamy and poignant are words often used to describe Lindsay’s work. Many of their words and images are dripping in softness and nostalgia, but maintain a grounded and often profoundly simple viewpoint and aesthetic.⁠
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Click the to view all of Botto’s work available for sale through our FlatFile!⁠
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Image Credits:⁠
Bottos, ⁠”Sunrise Bedroom”⁠
Bottos, “Central Florida Alligator Farm”⁠
Bottos, “Gray in George’s Room”⁠
Bottos, “Florida Swamp”

✨OPEN ART ACTION CALL to all trans and/or gender expansive folks ✨

This Trans Day of Visibility, March 31, 2024, CASSILS STUDIO will be creating a large scale performance/ live photographic intervention by making the worlds largest cyanotype, with over 100 trans and non-binary performers, on the Washington Mall!

The goal of this trans justice art action is to drive viewership and attention towards the work of the NCTE which will be harnessing the trans, non binary and intersex voting block, as a viable powerful voting block, for the first time in history.⁠
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Click the to learn more and to RSVP to be part of the magic!

✨Happy ! ✨

Each week we highlight one artist & their artwork from our ever-evolving FlatFile Collection. Check out these new works from DC based artist, Eames Armstrong! ()⁠
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“Eames Armstrong works in performance, noise, language, and time. Eames likes challenge, and art that is difficult.⁠”
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Take a look at all of Armstrong’s new works available for sale by clicking the ✨
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Image Credits:⁠
Armstrong, “Did You Fall Asleep,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “Three Months,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “Windswept,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “The Dive,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “Friday,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “Winters Day,” 2024⁠
Armstrong, “Something Familiar,” 2024

We’re ready! Stop by TOMORROW from 2-5PM for a flower pressing workshop led by Transformer staff!⁠💐💐💐⁠
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Bring your Valentines Day flowers and a book to press them in! Free & open to the public while supplies last. ⁠
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Thank you for the donation!

Heartbreakers Ball in 🖤🥀💔

TOMORROW! SAT. FEB 10! ! Click the tickets!

V DAY HEARTBREAKERS BALL COLLAGING W/ ✂️❤️🥀

Come by THIS SAT 3 PM for a special Valentine’s day collage workshop with FlatFile artist !

Click the for more details & to purchase tickets!

💕💔 HEARTBREAKERS BALL 2024 💔⁠💕
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Join us for Transformer’s 8th Annual Heartbreaker’s Ball - celebrating our love of the emerging artist community and works from the FlatFile! ⁠
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This year, Transformer is excited to collaborate with DC artist collective to present our Heartbreakers Ball at in Union Market District!⁠
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DAYTIME FESTIVITIES (FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) | 3 - 5:30 PM⁠
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🥀 FlatFile Pop-Up Sale⁠
🥀 Valentines Day tattoos by artist & tattooer
🥀 Spellwork by Baltimore based artist
🥀 Valentines Day Card Making Workshop by collage artist
🥀 artist activations & live painting⁠
🥀 V-DAY Photobooth & Polaroid Photos⁠
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NIGHTTIME FESTIVITIES (MUST PURCHASE AN ADMISSION TICKET FOR ENTRY) | 6:30 - 9:30 PM⁠
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🥀 FlatFile Pop-Up Sale⁠
🥀 Pizzas by ; Dumplings by
🥀 Complimentary beer, wine, and special Heartbreakers cocktail⁠
🥀 V-DAY Photobooth & Polaroid Photos⁠
🥀 Tarot Card Readings by Baltimore based artist
🥀 Burlesque Performance by
🥀RAFFLES! Purchase a $100 ticket to be automatically entered in a raffle to win any FlatFile artwork of your choosing or a copy of transformer20: The Book! Raffle tickets will be available for purchase at the event.⁠
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CLICK THE TO GET YOUR TICKET!

Happy ! Each week, Transformer highlights artists & artworks featured in our ever-evolving FlatFile Collection. Check out these works from Cynthia Connolly !⁠
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Cynthia Connolly is a photographer, curator, letterpress printer and artist who lives in the Arlington, Virginia. She has been curator for Arlington County, Virginia for over a decade and continues to search the world both as curator and artist to connect disparate places, people and things.⁠
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Click the to view Connolly’s E-Z U-Frame-It made especially for the Transformer FlatFile!⁠
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Image Credits:⁠
Connolly, “Boxwood and Rose, Portland, OR, 5-22-2000 (E-Z U-Frame-It series)”⁠
Connolly, “Lips and Eye, Side of Truck, Miami, Florida, 5-9-2014 (E-Z U-Frame-It series)”⁠
Connolly, “Chicken and Breakfast, Ocean City, Maryland, 7-8-2013 (E-Z U-Frame-It series) “⁠
Connolly, “Pool at Historic Timberline Lodge, Mt Hood, OR, 7-29-00 (E-Z U-Frame-It series)”⁠
Connolly, “MilkBone and Twinkies, Walmart, Luray, Virginia, 8-17-2013 (E-Z U-Frame-It series)”

COME SEE US TODAY ✨

Transformer is back to normal gallery hours this week: Weds - Sat | 12 - 6 PM!

“Apricity,” Transformer’s Winter FlatFile exhibition is on view until January 13th. All works featured are available for sale in person and via our online FlatFile store!

📖PRE-ORDER 2nd Printing of transformer20: The Book 📚

Transformer’s first retrospective book, transformer20, delves into the rich history and impact of Transformer as a leading non-profit visual arts organization based in Washington, DC, with notable national and international reach.

This first printing of the Collector’s Edition of transformer20 is sold out. Thank you!

Pre-order the second printing now for our 20th anniversary book, available for pick-up and shipping in January 2024.

Click the to order yours today!

📸: .desanto.photography

On top of 150+ artworks featured in the exhibition, there will be 16 SPECIAL EXPERIENCES up for silent bidding NOW and at “The Invincible Visible” Benefit Auction Gala!

Including, but not limited to: An Exclusive Cannabis Supper Club for 12, an Experience with Celebrity Psychic Sarah Potter, 2 Night Stay at The Line DC and Bar Charley Dinner for 4 with Artist Robin Bell. Check out the online auction to view all 16 experiences!

Can’t make it to the Gala? You can still bid on the fantastic array of artworks AND special experiences HERE! Online bidding is open through Saturday, November 18, 2023, closing at 9 PM sharp. We hope to see you at the Gala to celebrate our Artist community, collaborators, and supporters!

Click the , to bid online & get tickets to the gala!

🌟ONE WEEK LEFT TO BID 🌟 ⁠
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“The Invincible Visible” features 150+ artworks in a variety of mediums by DC, national, and international emerging & more established artists, presented in person at American University’s Katzen Arts Center.⁠
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Proceeds support Transformer throughout the year to develop innovative, multi-faceted exhibition and program platforms, both independently and through global partnerships, to present emerging artists’ evolving ideas and work, advance new and best visual arts practices, and engage audiences with emerging contemporary art.⁠
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BIDDING CLOSES ON NOVEMBER 18 @ 9 PM. Click the place your bids TODAY!⁠
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Image Credits: Camille DeSanto

Another Auction ‘23 ! This week we are showcasing 6 more of our amazing FlatFile artists who are participating in this year’s Auction Gala, “The Invincible Visible!”

Click the to purchase tickets to the Auction Gala and find more details!

Image Credits:
MK Bailey, “Too Many Clematis,” 2022
Andres Izquierdo, “George,” 2023
Geoffery Aldridge, “Untitled,” 2023
Alexander D’Agostino, “Q***r Shroud: Dionysus,” 2021
Katana Lippart, “Capturing an Essence of Home,” 2020
Amy Boone-McCreesh, “Chaos Days,” 2023

Transformer was thrilled to celebrate our collaboration with the Embassy of Argentina () & our upcoming Benefit Auction Exhibition, “The Invincible Visible”.

Connecting emerging visual artists across global platforms, Transformer’s collaboration with the Embassy of Argentina features a special selection of artworks by Argentine artists alongside their Washington, DC peers in this year’s Auction Exhibition. This partnership brings US and Argentine communities together to celebrate the enduring and invincible spirit of artists.

Be sure to check out all the incredible artists, including all Argentine selectinos, during “The Invisible Visible” at AU’s Katzen Arts Center opening November 4. Early Bird tickets to the Auction Gala are now FOR SALE! Get yours today!

📸: .photo

Come say hi to “Beth L’Hamme” & “Keanna Rae” during gallery hours this week!

bay sick: an excursion of perversion by Balitmore, MD based artist Felipe Pereira Gonçalves is open this week: Weds - Sat, 12 - 6 PM!



Click the for more details on the exhibition!

Be a part of the exhibition! Make your mark on vintage school desks ✏️✂️📚

Come visit Transformer’s current exhibition: “bay sick: an excursion of perversion” by during gallery hours this week: WEDS - SAT: 12 - 6 PM!

📸 .desanto.photography

🧩PUZZLE GLITCH PROGRAM TODAY 2 - 5 🧩

Be apart of the art making process and assist in the assembly of a puzzle that will glitch on site and frame! The shared energy and conversation is intended to be fuel for the piece. Free & open to the public.

Click the to RSVP!

⭐️ANNOUNCING⭐️

THE INVINCIBLE VISIBLE

This 19th iteration of Transformer’s Annual Auction event will feature a two-week public exhibition, The Invincible Visible, at American University’s Katzen Arts Center, with a Benefit Auction Gala on November 18.

Advance tickets to The Invincible Visible Benefit Gala, with additional benefits including an exhibition preview with early bidding & 'buy now' access to all artworks are NOW AVAILABLE to Transformer's Visionary Leaders Circle members!

Secure your Gala tickets & additional special benefits TODAY by joining or renewing your Visionary Leaders Circle membership! You will receive an enhanced Transformer experience AND provide vital support to our operations & innovative programs, advancing emerging artists & experimental contemporary art across evolving global platforms.

Transformer's Visionary Leaders Circle donors will also receive a special invitation to a mid-October reception hosted by our Auction Diplomatic Chair, His Excellency Jorge Argüello, Ambassador of Argentina to the United States. This reception will celebrate the artistic collaboration Transformer has been building throughout this year with Argentinian artists and the Embassy of Argentina.

Click the to join!