Soon after graduating last year I began to fully immerse myself in arts scene here in DMV area and one of the places I was fortunate enough to come across early on was Civilian Art Projects, located in Chinatown-406 7th Street NW. When I first attended it was on the top 3rd floor of a small and admittedly unoticeable building on that block in bustling streets of Chinatown. In that same building you can find Touchstone Gallery on second floor, right below Civilian. At the time, the space was a bit different in that the flow of the room was interrupted by this huge 8ft wide column, which at times served to be a great space for large pieces to be displayed on but for most part seemed to take up alot of room. Nonetheless, I loved the space and I loved the high cielings, ultra bright white walls and perfect lighting and of course free endless glasses of wine doesnt hurt either.
I have attended several events held there from Seth Adelsberger- Semi Final Frontiers: 
Christopher Sims-Guantanamo Bay: Photographs:
Last winter’s Media.Mix:21st Century Collage:
And last week’s Ryan Hill: Everything Must Go:
All of have been different on so many levels from the different topics covered, different mediums used, different forms of display and background stories of each artist. And as of late one major aspect had changed as well: Civilian had moved
Not far.Actually only to the 2nd floor of same building. The space is bigger and no large column breaking up flow of the room. And also one less flight of stairs to go up (if you have ever been there, then you know its not a joke trying to hike up those stairs).
Scene is still same too. As much as I despise the word, it is essentially the “Hipster” crowd of folks, but don’t worry everyone seems quite laxed and really there to hang out with friends, make some new ones and check out some fresh art while enjoying bottomless glasses of wine.
Can’t really complain too much. Definitely the makings of a great night especially for those of us on the come-up struggling to make ends meet and still trying to soak up everything the DMV arts world has to offer.
So definitely make sure to check out their site and keep a lookout for future posts I’ll probably do on the gallery and the artists featured there every month.
-Selamawit
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