HUAC GWDC sponsors this art exhibition for the purpose of raising funds to provide art materials and scholarships for outstanding students enrolled at Howard University.
This event will take place from May 1st through June 30, 2026, at the Pepco Edison Gallery, located at 702 8th Street, NW.
VIBES is a gathering of African art that honors the role of creative expression as a tool for reflection, reckoning, and repair in the present moment. In a time marked by uncertainty, rapid change, and social strain, the artists featured in this exhibition return us to something steady: the discipline of craft, the patience of process, and the power of making with intention. Their work resists disposability and distraction, offering instead care, skill, memory, and vision as acts of grounding and resilience.
Curated by Mimi Wolford, VIBES invites viewers to slow down, feel deeply, and engage with art not as escape, but as a meaningful way of understanding where we are—and imagining where we might go next, together..
Exhibition Events and Dates
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June 4, 2026
Celebrate the return of summer by dressing to impress and purchasing some art among your fellow Region II and Divine 9 community. -
June 18, 2026
Details TBD
Event Sponsors & Partners
Patron Sponsors:
Jeri Groce
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Hazel Robinson
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Chauncey D. Manson, III - Life Member- HUAC-Greater Washington, D.C
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Jeri Groce ⭐️ Hazel Robinson ⭐️ Chauncey D. Manson, III - Life Member- HUAC-Greater Washington, D.C ⭐️
Advertise in the 2026 Exhibition Catalogue
Print Inclusion Deadline March 6th, 2026 - ACT FAST!
2026 Exhibitors
Click each artwork to be taken to the Artists independent website to learn more
Almigdad Aldikhaiiry
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AlMigdad Aldikhaiiry is a Sudanese visual artist based in the United States. He travels extensively throughout the country, showcasing his unique style and artistic vision. His work focuses on environmental issues, and climate change , reflecting the challenges through his paintings. He has become a pioneer in this field. Aldikhaiiry’s works have been exhibited in numerous international museums and galleries
His work in this exhibition focuses on environmental issues.
Larry Poncho Brown
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Larry “Poncho” Brown, is a native of Baltimore, MD. He started his first business at the age of 17 as a signwriter and he has been a full time artist ever since. Poncho received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in graphic design and photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. His art, both fine and commercial, has been published nationally in Upscale, Ebony, Ebony Man, Essence, and Jet magazines. His art is featured in the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History book entitled “Wrapped In Pride” and “Connecting People With Art”. His popular works have been prominently featured on several TV shows including “A Different World”, “In the House”, “The Wire”, “The Carmichael Show”, “Star”, and “Greenleaf”. Movies featuring his art include “Avalon”, “He Said, She Said”, and “Soulfood”. His work adorns the walls of the likes of Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Anita Baker, Susan Taylor, Ed Gordon and Bernard Bronner just to name a few. His original works are in the corporate and institutional collections of Coppin State University, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the District of Columbia Superior Courts, the Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, Howard University Hospital, and Yale New Haven Health Park Avenue Medical Center. Poncho’s early published works in the mid 80’s like his “Black is Black” Series was the first to address the subject of colorism in the African American art realm. He was one of many artists often referenced as “The Popular Artists” who gained national recognition during “The Cosby Show” era, and found commercial success between 1985-2000 during a period known as “The Golden Age of African American Art”, by making their art accessible to the masses through direct participation in community art and cultural festivals, foregoing the traditional artist arrangement of artist representation, gallery representation, and art publisher distribution. At the height of this era his works were sold in 3000 galleries across the country, and on the walls of nearly 500,000 homes.
Luis Del Valle
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Luis Peralta Del Valle is an award-winning artist born in Nicaragua in 1980 who migrated to the United States in 1986. He began painting graffiti murals at the age of 13 throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. His formal artistic training began at Bell Multicultural High School and continued at the Corcoran College of Art and Design.
Del Valle has received numerous honors for his artistic and cultural contributions, including Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 2023 SOMOS DC Award and the 2023 LIT in DC Award for the Arts. His earlier recognitions include 2nd place in the 2019 Chroma International Juried Art Exhibition, the 2017 NCIS Director’s Coin, the 2014 National Artist Award from the National Museum of Catholic Art and Library presented by Prince Lorenzo Maria De Medici, and the 2013 East of the River Distinguished Artist Award. In 2015, he was selected as the commissioned artist for the Beijing/District of Columbia Sister Cities Project, creating a panda sculpture presented as a state gift to the Mayor of Beijing.
Del Valle received his first professional commission at age 16 from the fitness franchise Body by Jake. Since then, his work has been commissioned by businesses, foundations, museums, public institutions, and private collectors. His work has been exhibited at NCIS Headquarters, Vatican City, the Embassy of Italy, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., and the Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
He continues to live and work in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where he remains an active leader in the arts community and a strong advocate for art as a catalyst for community development and social change.
Artist Statement
My work is rooted in lived experience, history, and the visual language of the street. Growing up between cultures after immigrating to the United States, I found early expression through graffiti, mark-making that claimed space, identity, and voice. What began on walls evolved into a lifelong practice that bridges fine art, public art, and community storytelling.
I work across painting, sculpture, murals, and mixed media, often incorporating unconventional surfaces and layered textures. These choices reflect my belief that materials carry memory. Weathered objects, signs, and architectural references become vessels for narratives about migration, faith, justice, and resilience. My imagery frequently draws from spiritual symbolism, social history, and portraiture, asking viewers to confront both personal and collective truths.
Community is central to my practice. I view art not as decoration, but as a tool for reflection and transformation. Whether working in public spaces or institutional settings, my goal is to spark dialogue and create moments of recognition, especially for communities whose stories are too often overlooked. I am particularly interested in how art can shift perception, influence behavior, and restore dignity through visibility.
My work exists in the tension between beauty and discomfort, tradition and disruption. It invites viewers to slow down, to look closely, and to consider how identity, memory, and responsibility intersect. Ultimately, my practice is about redemption, of space, of story, and of the human spirit and about using art as a means to imagine more just and connected futures.
Rackie Diankha
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Artist Rackie Diankha Diallo
Born in 1974 in Dakar, Senegal, she graduated from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Dakar: She has inspired many young artists through projects and workshops.
Rackie Diankha is fascinated with the woven textiles and patterns she grew up with. Traditional textiles are not only used as a personal expression, but over the centuries, also used as a communication tool indicating the status, tribe, family with their color and patterns. They are a form of storytelling. Rackie integrates traditional textiles and uses the loom's wefts in her paintings characterized by colors and expressive brushwork. The rhythm and lines in weaving are omnipresent in nature, whether in animals or vegetation and one finds this in her paintings. Between each line, whether small or large there is always a small space that allows one to see a void where light enters and gives a different vision of life in this world.
Rackie has dedicated some of her rich textural work to the women of the world, who she feels should be able to get an education, express themselves freely and realize their true worth.
Mahkai Dominique
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Mahkai Dominique is a multidisciplinary artist and designer from PG County, MD, who's curious about the unfiltered human experience. Through mixed media she creates work rooted in identity, reflection, and presence. With "Feechurs," she invites people to see themselves more clearly and boldly. From paintings to wearable pieces, Mahkai is interested in what happens when we slow down, look inward, and invite people to see themselves as art. She must communicate that we are more alike than we are different and beneath our individual experiences lives a shared humanity like the same emotions, questions, and longings. Mahkai's work exists to hold that truth and create moments of connection between us.
Mekbib Gerbertsadik
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Mekbib Wodajo Gebertsadik was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a city rich in cultural heritage and the home of the African Union’s headquarters. During his early childhood, his family moved to Dessie in the Wollo province, where he spent his formative years. From an early age, Mekbib displayed a remarkable passion for art, sketching, and painting as soon as he could hold a pencil. His mother, who recognized his natural gift, became his earliest supporter, supplying him with art materials and enrolling him in an after-school art center that nurtured his creativity throughout his elementary and high school years.
In 1990, Mekbib was admitted to the Addis Ababa Fine Art School, a dream his mother had long cherished for him. There, he refined his skills in painting, drawing, and visual composition under the mentorship of renowned Ethiopian artists. After five years of rigorous study, he graduated in 1994 with a degree in Painting. Following his graduation, he worked as a full-time studio artist, participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Ethiopia. His vibrant works captured the attention of diplomats, collectors, and art enthusiasts, leading to international sales that carried his art across continents.
In pursuit of new artistic and academic opportunities, Mekbib relocated to the United States in September 2001. The following year, he joined Gibbs College, earning an associate degree in Visual Communication with a focus on Graphic Design. His artistic growth continued when he enrolled at Howard University in 2007 to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree. While studying, he organized art exhibitions and contributed to several public art projects across the Washington, D.C., area, strengthening his connection to the local and international art community.
Today, Mekbib serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Theatrical Arts at Howard University, where he teaches scenic painting, basic drawing, and painting. Beyond academia, he is the founder and vice president of Artist’s Ashara, an organization dedicated to promoting Ethiopian art and cultural heritage globally. Residing in Virginia, Mekbib continues to paint and exhibit while cherishing his most crucial role, being a devoted father to his two daughters, Hosanna and Galilee.
Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter
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Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter is a mixed media artist that combines painting, drawing, collage and papermaking. Acrylic paint and colored pencil are utilized to create abstracted narratives shared through metaphor, coded patterns, and symbols. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to parents that were ardent supporters of the arts. She graduated from Temple University, (BS), later she completed her MFA from Howard University. . Her artwork has been shown nationally and internationally and can be found in the collections of the Washington DC permanent collection, American Embassy in Liberia, the Boston Children’s Hospital, Price Waterhouse Cooper, American Express, the Library of Congress, United States State department, and other noted collections.. She is a co-founder of Black Artists of DC and works with sister artists, through membership in Where We At, WOAUA, and Dandelion Black Women Artists.
Carolyn Goodridge
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Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter is a mixed media artist that combines painting, drawing, collage and papermaking. Acrylic paint and colored pencil are utilized to create abstracted narratives shared through metaphor, coded patterns, and symbols. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to parents that were ardent supporters of the arts. She graduated from Temple University, (BS), later she completed her MFA from Howard University. . Her artwork has been shown nationally and internationally and can be found in the collections of the Washington DC permanent collection, American Embassy in Liberia, the Boston Children’s Hospital, Price Waterhouse Cooper, American Express, the Library of Congress, United States State department, and other noted collections.. She is a co-founder of Black Artists of DC and works with sister artists, through membership in Where We At, WOAUA, and Dandelion Black Women Artists.
Jarvis Grant
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Jarvis Grant is an award-winning photographer, arts educator, creative strategist, and artist/curator whose prolific career includes commercial assignments, fine art exhibitions, and publications worldwide. An early adopter of digital media, Jarvis is a creative professional who helps others realize their vision. Whether it’s building art curricula for universities, wiring public schools for the Internet, or enabling artists to actualize visual existences, his attitude is fresh, authentic, and resourceful.
His educator credentials include Assistant Professor of Art, Howard University, Co-Chair of the Museum Studies Dept. at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, creator of the Art of Light Digital Imaging Workshops, and a Founding member of the Surdna Art Educator Fellowship. Commercial clients include Coca-Cola, Southwest Airlines, Smithsonian Institution, Black Enterprise, Men’s Fitness, Prudential Life, and Sony Music.
With exhibitions at Corcoran Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Howard University Gallery of Art, the Center of Fine Art Photography, the David Driskill Center, Montgomery College Media Arts Gallery, and American University’s Katzen Center Museum. Receiving support from the NEA & DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Jarvis curated the photography exhibit, Lay of the Land: Perspective on the American Landscape at the DC Commission Galleries.
Awards include artist, educational, and cultural honors from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, Humanities Council of Washington, DC, National Endowment for the Arts, and a semi-finalist in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.
His work in this exhibition focuses on environmental issues.
Robert Hudson
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In reflecting in my own practice, I have come to see the through line of which my artistic process coincides with is acceptance. The use of self-portraiture is the primary communication tool within my practice. To make works from my lens and use of myself as the vessel for exploring notions of belonging, community, emotions and expression through clothing. Intricately weaving references ranging from literary works, pop culture signs, and fashion brands. Communication through every intentional piece of the works allows for dialogues to spark within spaces beyond these walls. Investigating my place within this world through my work while simultaneously capturing the hopefulness of the resilience of everyday life in the human experience. With aspects of surrealism and naturalism in conversation with each other, I use them to help capture the essence of a moment in time within my works.
Sheila Jackson
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My work is rooted in a lifelong love of color, texture, and storytelling. Though I have no formal art training, creativity has always been part of who I am. From an early age, I found joy in drawing and making things by hand. In 1997, my husband and I retired from Rochester, New York, and moved to Culpeper, Virginia. That transition marked a turning point in my creative journey. With time and space to explore, my imagination was fully unleashed. I began creating dolls, weaving baskets from scraps, and designing wall art. Surrounded by a workshop filled with fabric, I felt inspired to experiment and push my creativity further. For more than 30 years as a fiber and watercolor artist, I have continued to draw inspiration from the landscapes and light I encountered while traveling across the United States in our motorhome—especially the whimsical hues of the Southwest. Expansive skies, desert tones, and vibrant contrasts sparked a pivotal shift in my artistic practice. A true lightbulb moment came when I began incorporating upcycled and scrap materials into my work. I started to see discarded fabric not as waste, but as memory—something that carries history, texture, and possibility. By layering these materials onto canvas and sculpting them by hand, I create dimensional wall hangings that feel warm, expressive, and alive. Each piece is an original design, fully hand-sculpted and sealed with a non-toxic finish that enhances color and adds a subtle gloss. Through watercolor and fiber, I strive to create artwork that brings joy, sparks imagination, and invites viewers to pause, smile, and reconnect with their own memories. Art, for me, is about transformation—of materials, of moments, and of emotion. Simple Pleasures Create Joy.
Hamid Kachmar
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Hamid Kachmar, born in 1969 in Tadighoust, Southeast Morocco, holds a BA from Meknes University and an MFA from Howard University. Over the past three decades, his work has been showcased in numerous exhibitions across Morocco, France, Spain, Canada, and the United States. Kachmar's artistic style is distinguished by its originality, prominently featuring The Tifinagh script and Amazigh 'Berber' motifs in various mediums, including written, painted, carved, and woven materials. The common thread throughout his work is the emphasis on intricacy and texture, reflecting the interconnectedness and interdependency of the world while remaining rooted in his Afro-Berber cultural heritage. Identity, memory, and daily encounters are the core themes of his art. A recipient of several awards, Kachmar's work is part of major private collections. Earlier in Morocco, late 90's Kachmar presented his work permanently at Othello Art Space in Essaouira. His works were featured internationally at “Salon International de l’Art Contemporain” (Antibes Nice, France), Uruena Gallery (Leon, Spain) and was invited to participate in the International Mural Art Festival at (Beaufort, France) 1998. Upon relocating DC in 2000, Kachmar presented lectures at international conferences and panel discussions around identity and expressive cultures.
Papisco Kudzi
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My paintings depict on unconcealed artistic brutality, fortitude complication, and a dense world with different levels of understanding and interpretation. First nothing is polished, polite or conventional. I work with passion and always throw myself into a profound mystery of daily life. These paintings are expression of silence thoughts, they exploit times, they influence, depict topics, and display cultures. My work has often been debated upon arousing the mind of the audience with graphic quality.
Judy Ann McKenzie
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She started her Art career back in High School and has continued to paint off and on at her leisure. Most recently, she has decided to pick up painting again and completed original works of art that were started after high school but unfinished. Passionate about all things art (music, painting, sculpture, quilting, etc.), she enjoys all forms of art in different forms or mediums. However, Judy-Ann draws/paints in a few mediums, acrylic, watercolor and pastels. Her favorite medium is acrylic as it is long lasting and doesn’t require additional steps to preserve the art. She enjoys painting sceneries, flowers, butterflies, birds, objects, sunsets, and special water/Caribbean scenes. She can draw portraits, but this is not her favorite form of drawing/painting. She uses vibrant colors that illustrates the objects, sceneries, and brings nature to life on the canvas. Recently, she was commissioned to paint ‘Daisies in a Garden” and “A Few Sunflowers in Bloom.” She also painted butterflies on Echinacea flowers with the Monarch Butterfly in a garden as a tribute to a young woman’s journey dying of Lupus.
Nancy Lucas-Miller
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Nancy discovered her artistic abilities when she fell in love with clay as a high school ceramics teacher. She began developing her own style when working on her Masters in Fine Arts Education with a concentration in ceramics. Nancy was influenced by the works of African art, the cubism of Picasso, the abstract paintings of Thomas C Pedro and ceramicist Kimmy Cantrell abstract decorative masks. Nancy enjoys developing high relief, abstract ceramic masks. Incorporating shapes, textures with Raku firings, which creates a metallic surface using blues, red copper, green and gold surfaces. Nancy also creates a collection of free form shapes with textures and mixed media by weaving metal wire into the ceramic pots. These pots are also Raku fired leaving a metallic surface. Discover the magic of Ceramic Alchemy and It's unique ceramic creations. Each piece is crafted with passion and precision, turning everyday spaces into extraordinary experiences.
Mykayla Simone
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Mykayla Simone is a visual artist and MFA candidate at Howard University whose work explores the relationship between materials, memory, and belonging. Through family, community, the use of materials, and depicted memories, I relive these very moments and navigate the world as a female artist coming from the south. In my art practice, I explore everyday objects and elements from my environment, organizing ideas and materials to create something new. I collect found materials and integrate printmaking, assembly, and collage techniques. This process embraces uncertainty, leaving space for both error and discovery. While illustrating a sense of social belonging, my assembled pieces reflect that same theme. This emerges a sense of identity and gives me permission as an artist to explore and investigate the essence of belonging through a Black lens.
Joel Ulmer
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In every painting I create, my focus is the Black experience. I am piecing together narratives, exploring historical moments, or sharing personal stories that help fill gaps in my own understanding. By orchestrating these pieces I hope to connect with others who may share similar questions or those who seek a deeper connection to these histories. At other times, my work is driven by a desire to ensure that the unique and rich perspectives of my community are not just shared, but truly seen and understood by a wider audience. For me, art possesses the power to tell these profound stories in a way that words simply cannot. My works are a blend of factual and imagined scenes, crafted together using multiple references. These scenes are rooted in my personal perspective and lived experience, as well as the enduring legacy of my ancestors who came before me, whose histories and resilience continue to inspire my creative process.
R. Waldo Wilson
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Waldo Gallery was founded in 1992 by R. Waldo Wilson. After completing his undergraduate education at Howard University, and his graduate education at Southeastern University, he was encouraged by the former curator and director of the Barnett-Aden Collection, the late Adolphus Ealey, to continue his studies and consider producing works of art. Since then, he has had great success in the art field and featured in art exhibitions across the Washington DC area. Waldo has exhibited throughout the Wash. Metro Area and has been recognized in the Washington Post newspaper as a featured artist in the Art of Interpretation exhibition sponsored by his alma mater Howard University and Lexus of Bethesda Maryland, exhibited at Washington Gas Corporation, Pepco Holdings Corporation and on the set of the TV network BET Her. After 40 plus years of attending lectures, exhibitions, studying the history of art and advising collectors, Waldo has become well versed in the fine arts field. A virtuoso in creativity that aims to lift the viewer to a higher dimension and to help facilitate the world's creative, emotional and social growth. He strongly believes that without art, life has no soul.
A LOOK BACK
TAOI 2019:
Powerful Voices: Africa and the Americas
African-American and Caribbean art made an increasingly vital contribution to the art. Decorative arts such as ceramics, furniture, and quilts are fine art - sculpture, painting, and photography. This captive art produced cultural diversity and synthesis of cultures that mirrors American society as a whole. Join The Art Of Interpretation under the umbrella of Howard University Club of Washington, DC, at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery February 7 - 28 to celebrate the rich history of arts in African Diaspora.
