Day of the Dead for October’s Second Thursday at the Torpedo Factory Art Center

The Torpedo Factory Art Center celebrates Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, this month for Second Thursday Art Night on Thursday, October 13; 6 – 9 pm. The evening features live music, a hands-on silkscreening project, three-dimensional paper sugar skulls, gallery receptions, and more.

With October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month, visitors are asked to bring household goods for home warming baskets. Drop-off is in Target Gallery as part of A (Mis)Perceived Physique: Bodyscapes by Three Women Artists and will continue through the close of the exhibition on Sunday, October 16.

• Paulette Palacios, the winter 2016 Post-Graduate Resident, has created work that incorporates Day of the Dead themes. She will lead visitors in a progressive silkscreening activity with ink stations located throughout the building.
• Jihee Kang, the fall 2016 Post-Graduate Resident, guides people to create three-dimensional paper sugar-skulls.
• Marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Target Gallery will have The Clothesline Project on view as part of A (Mis)Perceived Physique. This display of vividly decorated t-shirts strung on a clothesline bears witness to domestic violence and the strength to survive.
• The Art League (Studio 21) hosts openings for Transformations: Tapestries in Glass, featuring contemporary mosaics by Anita Bucsay Damron, and Op-Ed, which challenged artists to create work that provokes a reaction, juried by photographer David Bellard.
• The Associates Gallery (Studio 311) hosts a reception for Upside Down, Inside Out: The Fanciful in Daily Life, featuring three-dimensional fiber work by Erika Cleveland.
• The Alexandria Archaeology Museum (Studio 327) will be telling stories about the ghosts that haunt Old Town Alexandria. Alexandria’s Footsteps to the Past will recount stories of paranormal activity at Alexandria’s historic landmarks.

About The Alexandria Archaeology Museum

The Alexandria Archaeology Museum opened in 1984 in the newly renovated Torpedo Factory Art Center. The museum serves as the hub of the City’s archaeology program where visitors interact with archaeologists and volunteers working in the public laboratory; experience Alexandria’s 13,000 year-old-history through exhibits, self-guided tours, and hands-on activities; and view the latest finds from current excavations. For more information, go to www.alexandriaarchaeology.org.

About The Art League

Founded in 1954, The Art League, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, is among the nation’s largest and oldest multi-service organizations for visual artists. As a major component of the cultural fabric of Alexandria, The Art League offers extensive exhibit opportunities for artists through its gallery, outstanding fine art education through the school, and valuable outreach programs to the local community. The Art League is headquartered in the landmark Torpedo Factory Art Center.

About the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association

The Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association is a professional artist community with over 275 members, all selected through an independent jury process. Membership includes visual artists working in a variety of media, comprised of the leaseholding artists working onsite in open studios at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, and over 150 associate members working across the Washington D.C. region and beyond.

About the Torpedo Factory Art Center

Founded in 1974 in an old munitions plant, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to the largest number of publicly accessible working artist studios in the U.S. The organization’s mission is to foster connections between artists and the public that ignite the creative spirit. Just south of Washington, D.C., the Torpedo Factory Art Center overlooks the Potomac River in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Va. Each year, a half million national and international visitors meet and interact with more than 165 resident in 82 working studios and seven galleries. The Torpedo Factory Art Center is also home to The Art League School and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. For more information visit torpedofactory.org or follow the Torpedo Factory Art Center on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram via @torpedofactory.