MoCA Arlington opens summer 2025 exhibitions
New shows include a three-person group exhibition, three solo projects taking place as part of SOLOS 2025, and a solo exhibition by one of MoCA Arlington’s resident artists.
ARLINGTON, VA., May 27, 2025 – Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is proud to announce the opening of its summer 2025 exhibitions. Across six exhibitions, MoCA Arlington highlights its commitment to exhibiting contemporary art created by artists from across the region and around the world. The new exhibitions run from June 13 to September 7, 2025. The opening celebration, Art After Hours, will take place on June 13, 6pm-9pm, with exhibiting artists in attendance, open studios with MoCA Arlington’s resident artists, and a cash bar.
Portals is a group exhibition organized by guest curator Donna Honarpisheh. Kelli Williams: Kids in America, Christina Lorena Weisner: Sea Marks: From the High Arctic to the Atlantic, and Kei Ito: Embodied Spectrum take place as part of SOLOS 2025, the museum’s long-running series dedicated to solo opportunities for artists based in the Mid-Atlantic. Olivia Tripp Morrow: (Un)tethered is the artist’s second solo exhibition taking place as part of her residency at MoCA Arlington. Between You and Me features artwork by artists participating in this year’s Arlington Visual Arts Studio Tour.
Portals features work by Aiza Ahmed, Shyama Golden, and Aryana Minai. Their paintings, sculpture, and installations explore the portal as a physical passage, a doorway, a gate, or point of entry, while also referring to mystical and psychic passages via spiritual experience and the dream world. Against a backdrop of diaspora and exile, the portals in this exhibition evoke experiences of loss and survival, mythology and the uncanny, as well as borders and boundaries.
Kelli Williams: Kids in America, Christina Lorena Weisner: Sea Marks: From the High Arctic to the Atlantic, and Kei Ito: Embodied Spectrum take place as part of SOLOS 2025. Launched in 1988, SOLOS features solo exhibitions by artists based in the Mid-Atlantic region who are working at the forefront of contemporary art.
In Embodied Spectrum, Kei Ito “visualizes invisible forces” by bringing together language and image in an immersive installation centered on the first photographic image ever taken of the sun, flanked by poetic texts written by the artist. Ito’s work draws on his relationship to his grandfather, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Embodied Spectrum considers the weight of history on our most intimate relationships and the need to grapple with the human capacity for both creation and destruction
In Sea Marks, Christina Lorena Weisner presents sculpture, video, and mixed media works that capture the interconnectedness of the earth’s oceans. Focusing on the ocean currents and weather patterns that tie the planet together, her work points to the irreversible impact humans have on the health of the planet and all of its interlocking systems.
In Kids in American, Kelli Williams combines stop-motion animation, photography, and augmented reality to explore coming of age both as an actual experience and as a media representation. Installed on the wall as still photographs, Williams’ work is brought to life through augmented reality, which enlivens the images with stop-motion animation.
In (Un)tethered, Olivia Tripp Morrow draws upon her personal experience of caring for her mother during a short battle with cancer and the void that remained after her death. The exhibition is Morrow’s meditation on the fragmentary nature of memory, and the enduring connections that bind us to loved ones who have passed on. Through embroidery, fiber-based installations, and sculptural works, Morrow creates an environment in which vibrant colors, soft forms, and airy, lightweight materials abound, evoking a sense of peacefulness and serenity. Images of flowers, windows, and bodies at rest are prominently featured throughout the exhibition, at once recalling the celebration of life, marking absence, and mourning the dead.
In the Jenkins Community Gallery, Between You and Me features artwork by artists from across Arlington County and is presented through a partnership between MoCA Arlington and Arlington Visual Arts Studio Tour. The free annual tour, which takes place this year on September 27 and 28, allows visitors to discover artists who are also their neighbors. Featuring painting, photography, mixed media, and small sculptures, Between You and Me features artwork that reflects the creative quest to reveal yourself to others and includes work by over 40 artists who are participating in this year’s tour.
PROGRAMS
Art After Hours
Friday, June 13, 6pm-9pm
Join MoCA Arlington to celebrate the opening of our new exhibitions! Inside the museum, view the new exhibitions, visit resident artist studios, and enjoy refreshments from the cash bar.
Additional public programs to be announced soon.
EXHIBITIONS
Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington Winter/ Spring 2025 Exhibitions
June 13 – September 7, 2025
Portals
Featured artists: Aiza Ahmed, Shyama Golden, and Aryana Minai
Organized by guest curator Donna Honarpisheh
Meyer and Chairmen’s Galleries, Main Level
Christina Lorena Weisner: Sea Marks: From the High Arctic to the Atlantic
Chairmen’s Gallery, Main Level
Kelli Williams: Kids in America
Experimental Gallery, Lower Level
Kei Ito: Embodied Spectrum
Truland Gallery, Lower Level
Olivia Tripp Morrow: (Un)tethered
Curated by Amanda Jirón-Murphy
Wyatt Resident Artists Gallery, Upper Level
Between You and Me: Works by Arlington Visual Art Studio Tour Artists
Jenkins Community Gallery, Lower Level
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
Reclining Liberty
Through September 28, 2025
Front Lawn
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About Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington
The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that enriches community life by connecting the public with contemporary art and artists through exhibitions, education programs, and an artists-in-residence program. Located at 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA, the museum is open Wed.-Sun. 12-5pm. The museum has free on-site parking, is easy to reach by metro and bus, and is accessible. There is no admission fee to visit. For more information about our exhibitions and programming, visit mocaarlington.org. Follow us @mocaarlington.
