Studio PAUSE is a multicultural space that encourages everyday people to make time to explore creativity and celebrate community. During the opening year of Studio PAUSE’s Columbia Pike location in 2023, we applied for and were awarded two Arlington County grants. Through these grant projects we explored the theme of “Me, Here,” and how we tell stories of people and place.

Artists, poets, weavers, photographers, and others in the Studio PAUSE community were invited to share their stories at the inaugural community art exhibit. The Columbia Pike Documentary Project photos and interviews were also exhibited. We worked with residents of Barcroft Apartments, where our new Studio was located, inviting them to to experience the exhibits and encouraging them to express their own stories through their creations. We displayed their work in our third exhibit in the summer of 2024. Eight residents also shared oral histories through video.

Mixing stories is a big part of our work. Since those exhibits, we have taken many of the artworks out of the Studio and into the community. In October, we curated the exhibit “Me, Here” Stories of People & Place as told at Studio PAUSE, Columbia Pike, taking the work shared by our Latino community to the Festival Latinoamericano held at the Arlington Mill Community Center on Columbia Pike. In November, through our book Abundance is Bright: Celebrating Goddess Lakshmi & Diwali, we took stories of our Asian community to the National Museum of Asian Art, in Washington, D.C. For this exhibit we wanted to share the creations of residents or former residents of the Pike whose work we haven’t taken to the community as yet. We know that as we learn about each other, we become a more understanding and accepting Arlington. We are honored to be able to share this slice of Columbia Pike with you.

Stay tuned for more…!