Founded in 1976 by 30 artists, Touchstone Gallery opened its doors on P Street, NW, in Washington DC's DuPont Circle area. Over the years circumstances lead the Gallery to relocate to 7th St. NW Penn Quarter neighborhood and finally to the DC City Center. Touchstone celebrated the opening of its newest custom built space at 901 New York Avenue in 2010. Located between the Washington Convention Center and the National Women’s Museum, this street level venue is both easily accessible and is the most elegant space in its history.
Artist-owned Touchstone Gallery has maintained a reputation for exhibiting contemporary work of high quality, vision and innovation. Its dedicated membership has demonstrated the gallery’s steadfast commitment to this standard. Since the beginning, Touchstone’s mission remains unaltered: to enrich the lives of the community through exhibits of diverse contemporary collections of visual art; to promote a rich variety of artistic talent in the DC region; to connect collectors with its 45 member artists; and to foster continuing artistic and career growth of participating artist through encouragement and support. As a member owned and managed gallery, Touchstone artists enjoy the right to guide gallery policies and control their solo exhibitions. The support and camaraderie of the membership is an important benefit. Touchstone welcomes new artist applications at any time.
From the start, Touchstone has been involved with the DC community and with philanthropic outreach in and beyond DC. The Gallery participates at local, national and international levels, balancing its members’ shows with ongoing art outreach to its neighbors. The Gallery has taken part in various art auctions, benefits, and charitable activities throughout the years. In 2012 Touchstone formed the nonprofit Touchstone Foundation for the Arts to continue a long standing commitment to community involvement.
Website & source
FIC123.BE THE CULTURAL PORTAL.
