Zenith Gallery 48th Anniversary

[00:00:00]The district truly is a great place to be an artist of any kind. In fact, for 48 years, the groundbreaking Zenith Gallery has lifted up painters, sculptors, silver smiths, and creatives of every stripe and is still going strong. To learn more about this enduring mecca of creativity, we sat down with founder Marjorie Goldberg. Her story is every bit as fascinating as the art she champions. Take a look.

[00:00:31]For nearly 50 years, one woman has stood at the center of Washington's arts community. Marjgerie E. Goldberg came to DC as a college student. She would go on to build a dynamic career that would help to shape the city's cultural and political landscape. Goldberg wears many hats, part artist, gallery owner, curator, mentor, and activist. But at the center of it all is Zenith Gallery, the space she founded in 1978 and continues to lead today as it celebrates its 48th anniversary. I came to GW to go to college. I came here in 1968 which was, you know, 4 years of demonstrating and rioting and getting arrested, you know, all about the Vietnam War.

[00:01:17]Couldn't have been more fun. First summer I did silver smithing. I raised sterling silver bowls. I did jewelry.

[00:01:24]Um, but it was little and and so it wasn't for me. And then a summer later I took uh I was in a sculpture class and I ended up in the wood shop. So for the summer and it was all men. It was like 50 guys and me.

[00:01:41]>> Goldberg found success early on selling her wood sculptures and furniture.

[00:01:48]I mean, I did a conference table for my father's office that was 16 feet long, 8 feet wide or 6 feet wide. I mean, it had to be brought in with a crane. It took eight people to turn this thing over.

[00:02:02]So, um I I'm not intimidated by big. Um and you know, my attitude is if I can think it up, I can build it. I was selling my work for more money than my professor was right out of college. And my dad owned a big printing and advertising company. So that's what I grew up in. I grew up in marketing and business and things like that. And I had been I had some very big collectors and they had said we need to open up a gallery somewhere in Washington. Um they bought a huge complex right about a block from their offices which is now the Kazakhstan Embassy on 16th Street.

[00:02:37]It had been the Washington Bible College and then it had been the International School of Law. In 1978, Zenith Gallery and Zenith Square opened at Rhode Island Avenue Northwest near 14th Street. The innovative community included 50 artist studios designed to serve as an affordable haven to live and work. It also served as an incubator and launching pad for many artists and organizations. Among them, the Dance Exchange and Studio Theater.

[00:03:09]>> That's where they started. That's where we all started. and and then once we all opened my landlord said renov if you well I'll renovate the buildings if you rent the rest to artists I represent some of those same artists today and then we were there for 9 years it was absolutely unbelievably fabulous the success of Zenith Gallery helped spark a renaissance in a part of the city that had been hard hit by the riots 10 years earlier after 9 years on Rhode Island Avenue the Zenith Gallery moved to a new home on Seventh Street.

[00:03:43]>> So, the gallery moved to Seventh Street um where it was for 24 years and um and that was, you know, pretty incredible, too.

[00:03:55]>> In 2009, Goldberg decided to move the gallery to her home, tucked away on a quiet street in Northwest Washington.

[00:04:04]>> I have a studio here. When my swimming pool died, I turned that into an ingground sculpture garden. And then in 2000 I founded the Zenith Community Arts Foundation and we've done a lot of different things but uh 5 years ago we built a mobile wood shop and we're training a new generation of carpenters.

[00:04:23]>> The eclectic space densely layered with artwork inside and out reflects Goldberg's deep roots in DC and her expansive appreciation for art in all its forms. The fact that the gallery is also her home provided Goldberg with a new vision for the future. And for my final project in life, what I want to do, and I'm really working on this, I want to build a senior artist community.

[00:04:49]Artists are the one group of people that do not retire. Everybody else retires.

[00:04:54]Many of them become artists. I've got lawyers and doctors and all sorts of people who were artists. um I mean had professions gave that you know when they retired they started being an artist and so um you know so artists want to still be together. We want to you know we want to create our art until we fall over.

[00:05:15]Something tells me if anyone can develop a senior living community for artists in DC it's a Marjgerie Goldberg. Huge thanks to her for letting us take it all in. My head is still spinning but in a very good way. You definitely should experience it for yourself. Visit zenithgallery.com to get inspired and support local artists.