Join us for an opening reception in the Park View Gallery. Marilyn Gates-Davis, the winner of the 2024 Park View Artist Award at the 53rd Annual Labor Day Art Show, presents a solo exhibition of dreamscape paintings. Light refreshments and beverages available.

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Artist Biography
Painting since a child, Marilyn Gates-Davis has over 40 years and counting as an artist. She has been working as a graphic designer for the past 30+ years, designing magazines, books, and print materials. She typically paints intimate portraits of friends and family members as well as iconic figures. 
To counteract negative stereotypes, she chooses to depict the joy of the black culture through her paintings. Marilyn paints images that celebrate grace, strength, dignity and love of black people, often utilizing her art to share personal stories and childhood memories. 
Marilyn paints primarily in acrylics and oils. She also creates collage work using cut paper, acrylic paint and other organic textured materials. Her goal is to take the everyday images and life experiences and elevate them to tell stories that connect us all.  

Artist Statement: Pieces of a Dream
I dream a lot. Some of my dreams feel so vivid and real that I wake up carrying the emotions they stirred within me. As a teenager, I often found myself daydreaming, letting my imagination take flight. These moments of dreaming—both asleep and awake—are the foundation of my creative journey and the inspiration for Pieces of a Dream.

After the passing of my grandmother in 1999, her presence became a recurring theme in my dreams. Sometimes she appeared directly, and other times her essence seemed woven into the fabric of the dreamscape, appearing in unexpected places. Someone once explained this as her way of watching over me. These experiences deeply influenced my art, as they blend personal memory with a sense of connection to something greater.

In my dreams, I often find myself floating freely through rooms instead of walking. This sensation has been interpreted as a symbol of freedom, happiness, satisfaction, and success. These themes resonate in my work, as I strive to evoke a sense of possibility and emotional connection.

Through Pieces of a Dream, I explore the interplay between cherished childhood memories, personal loss, and the symbolic language of dreams. My goal is to create pieces that invite viewers to reflect on their own subconscious worlds.

Join us for an opening reception in the Stone Tower Gallery. Artist Jill McCarthy Stauffer present a solo exhibition, If Saltwater Heals Wounds. Light refreshments and beverages available.

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Artist Statement:  Jill McCarthy Stauffer’s work explores the transmutation of natural spaces through memories, myths, and digital manipulation. In local and coastal ecologies, they see metaphors for transformation, growth, cycles of death, and the hope for restoration. Mixed media installations combine personal experiences of light, sound, and shape in nature with scanning and natural samples in order to unify both qualitative and quantitative experiences of natural places. Stauffer negotiates the increasingly interconnected relationship between technology, memory, and nature — the quality of the representation of natural landscapes in digital interfaces, built with materials mined from the earth, increases as the natural environment is further degraded. At the core of the work is a sense of anticipatory grief - of fear for a future where natural spaces are primarily experienced through digital media in the absence of the original, and how this shapes our relationship with the natural world.

Artist Bio: Jill Stauffer is an installation artist from Pembroke Pines, FL, currently living in College Park, MD. They are a third year MFA candidate in Studio Art at the University of Maryland, College Park where they also work as a Teaching Assistant. In 2019, Jill received a BA from Middlebury College with majors in Studio Art and Architectural Studies. Jill has participated in artist residencies with NE Sculpture, Josephine Sculpture Park and Snow Farm. Notable exhibitions include the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts Juried Exhibition at TF Green Airport, Currents at NE Sculpture Gallery, and LevelUp at the Brentwood Arts Exchange, where they received the Juror’s Award. Jill’s research at the intersection of art and technology has been recognized by their reception of the ArtsAmp Interdisciplinary Grant and the Clarvit Research Fellowship from the University of Maryland. Their work has been featured in articles by the Washington Post and the Independent RI. In addition to their art practice, they have worked in support of community arts organizations as an arts administrator and teaching artist.  Jill creates mixed media installations that explore the transmutation of the natural environment through digital documentation, artificial replication, storytelling, and memory.

Exhibition Concept Statement:  If Saltwater Heals Wounds features three new media installations that reference the coastal ecologies of southern Rhode Island, as warped through the memory and digital replication of the artist. Stauffer negotiates the increasingly interconnected relationship between technology, memory, and nature - the quality of the representation of natural landscapes in digital interfaces, built with materials mined from the earth, increases as the natural environment is further degraded. Starting with organic coastal debris collected in these ecologies, Stauffer explores how different methods of documentation  (2D scanning, 3D scanning, photography, video recording, and audio recording) augments and alters memories of light, sound, shape, and movement in the environment. Using the products of these documentation methods (3D models, images, recordings), Stauffer devises digital replicas of natural phenomena occurring in these ecosystems as a method of preserving their own memories of these natural spaces in an era of rapid change.
 

Join us for an opening reception in the Popcorn Gallery. Glen Echo Glassworks presents a group exhibition of blown and fused glass artwork. Light refreshments and beverages available.

Featuring artists: Paul Swartwood, Michaela Borghese, Ian Kessler-Gowell, Mark Hill, Carol Hurwitch, Michele Rubin, Ian Schmidt, Amy Snyder, Phil Valencia, Karen Wilson, and Janet Wittenberg. 

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What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, April 12, 2025

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, March 8, 2025

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, February 8, 2025

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday, November 16 at 9:30 a.m.

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday, November 16 at 9:30 a.m.

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

What: Four Mile Ranger Guided History Hike from the Carousel in Glen Echo Park to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, Union Arch Bridge and the Clara Barton NHS

When: Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday, November 16 at 9:30 a.m.

Starting Point: The Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812

This two hour, four mile guided hike starts at the Carousel in Glen Echo Park. We will walk through the park and uncover the story of what was once Washington’s premiere amusement park. Next, we will walk a downhill trail and cross over the C&O Canal where we will learn about African American canal worker, George Pointer. We will walk up-stream before crossing the canal again and ascending the hill to learn about the Union Arch Bridge, part of the Washington Aqueduct. Finally, we will stroll through the town of Glen Echo to Clara Barton National Historic Site where we will discover the history of the house and the story of its famous resident, the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton. Clara Barton NHS is adjacent to Glen Echo Park where the hike started.

This four mile circuit hike is for the physically fit walker. There is elevation change between MacArthur Blvd. and the C&O Canal. Some sections of unpaved trail are uneven with rocks and tree roots. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Ample parking is available in the main Glen Echo Park parking lot off Oxford Road. Please e-mail kevin_patti@nps.gov to register for this free program. You may also call, 301-320-1400, if you have any questions.

Join the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts & Culture and the National Park Service’s George Washington Memorial Parkway as we honor the culture and history of Native Americans with the presentation of Tribal Voices: A Native American Heritage Celebration on Sunday, November 3, 2024 from 1pm to 4pm in the Park’s historic Bumper Car Pavilion.