Main Level and Lower Level Galleries

Featured artists: Merryn Omotayo Alaka, Wendy Babcox, Andrea Chung, Lily Cox-Richard, Ann Fessler, Steven Frost, Anne Hancock, Walter Kravitz, Jackie Milad, Jefferson Pinder, Michael B. Platt, and Katarina Wong

Curated by Al Miner

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is proud to present Golden: Fifty Years of New Classics, an exhibition celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary.

In 1974 a group of local artists formed the Community Arts Council of Arlington; two years later they moved into a historic school building, transforming the unused classrooms into studios and exhibition spaces. Over fifty years’ time, through decades of change and growth, the organization has launched many careers and sparked critical dialogue by presenting the art of our time.

In Golden: Fifty Years of New Classics, artists who’ve exhibited at MoCA Arlington in each of the five decades of its existence display mostly never-before-exhibited works that represent a range of styles and address an array of pressing topics. The exhibition highlights MoCA Arlington’s legacy of presenting and supporting the work of artists who shaped the regional arts scene. It also foregrounds the organization’s broad influence by including new work by artists whose initial engagement with MoCA Arlington came at pivotal, early moments in their careers. They have since gone on to build influential and enduring artistic careers around the region and across the country, a testament to the organization’s history as a launchpad for new talent.

About The Curator
Al Miner is an award-winning curator, educator, and museum administrator based in Washington, DC. Miner is currently Deputy Director for Museum Experience and Digital Media at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. He recently served as Founding Director & Chief Curator of Georgetown University’s art galleries where he was also Associate Professor of graduate museum studies. Miner previously served as a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. He has authored three books and organized dozens of exhibitions, which have been reviewed widely in publications including The New York Times. Miner has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The American Alliance of Museums, and other organizations.