WASHINGTON -- While the Walter E. Washington Convention Center has been the scene of plenty of protests since it opened in 2003, nobody should be picketing Wednesday night's "Shaw Art Walk" which starts at the massive 2.3 million square foot complex.
The night starts with an hour-long guided tour of the convention center's extensive art collection, including painting, sculpture and more. The collection of more than 120 pieces is described in convention center marketing materials as the "largest public art collection in a U.S. convention center."
More than half the collection is made up of works by local artists.
From there, the tour will move on to six neighborhood galleries.
Among the highlights: At Civilian Art Projects is "6 Painters," a small show of D.C. and Baltimore artists.
At Contemporary WIng is "Next Generation: Selections by Artists from the 30 Americans Collection," a show comprised of works by contemporary African-American artists who were picked to be in the show by the artists in the Corcoran Gallery of Art's "30 Artists" exhibition. (That show closes Feb. 12.)
The convention center tour starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Mount Vernon Square entrance (801 Mount Vernon Place, between 7th and 9th streets NW).
The six participating galleries are Civilian Art Projects (1019 7th St. NW), Contemporary Wing (1250 9th St. NW), Lamont Bishop Gallery (1314 9th St. NW), Long View Gallery (1234 9th St. NW), Maruka Gallery and Boutique (1300 9th St. NW) and Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave. NW).
RELATED VIDEO: WETA's segment on "30 Americans" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.