The rain was pouring down as a line began to form promptly at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 outside of a church basement in northwest D.C. The few people left on the streets took little notice of the crowd; the commotion was presumably caused by pedestrians trying to escape the rain.
What many did not know was that the line led into a room full of color and energy, where pictures lined the walls and sculptures peered down from the windows’ shelves. Servers offering hors d’oeuvres and refreshments to homeless D.C. residents walked around tables covered with paint-splattered cloths. This was the scene of Miriam’s Kitchen’s fourth annual “Vernissage: Art Extravaganza!” exhibition.
At one table, painter Carl Foley spoke casually with fellow artists as he watched out for the passing trays of finger-food. He did not brag about his artwork on the opposite end of the room, he did not even want to display what he considered his best examples.
“For the people that come here… it’s an outlet to express their feelings, their emotions and their thoughts about being homeless,” he said when asked about his modesty. “Whatever’s bothering them, they put it on paper.”
Many pieces on the wall are wrought with emotion, and each is very personal.
In another corner of the salon-style studio, artist Randy Pressley expressed similar feelings of privacy. “I don’t like to make [the exhibition] into a big deal,” he said. “But it feels good; it’s really a big difference to see [my paintings] hanging.”
Pressley wasn’t an artist before he began coming to Miriam’s Kitchen 12 years ago, but now when he sits down to paint, he is confident and shameless about his work.
Jewelers, too, attended the event to share their art with guests and fellow clients. An artist who prefers to be identified as “The Great LaDale” has been making necklaces and other jewelry to sell and gift at Miriam’s Kitchen for three years. At the exhibition, he sat at a center table covered with hundreds of beads, hard at work trading with fellow jewelers from his own personal collection of beads for pieces that fit his visions.
“I’m trying to beautify the beautiful with jewelry,” he said. “I treasure the art of it.”
Miriam’s Kitchen’s art therapy program offers an outlet for the homeless to come and express themselves and find relief from the streets through art. Supplies are available to everyone at no cost. Many artists come every day to escape and to work, and the annual exhibition is clients’ chance to share what they have created.
“They are really serious about their work, even if they might throw it away,” said Kate Baasch, the program’s senior art therapist and case manager. “It’s about coming and about the process, and we want to give them the opportunity to do what real artists do: participate in exhibitions and share their work.”
