Washington Life’s guide to the capital’s most influential under 40 residents in 2010

Mayor Adrian and Michelle Fenty at The Kennedy Center Honors.

Our annual Young & The Guest List feature is known for containing the names of accomplished, dynamic, and successful Washingtonians, all under 40 and devoted to making the nation’s capital a place that attracts (and keeps) the best and the brightest. This fifth annual compilation is no exception. During the past year, myriad political and economic events have made waves far beyond the Beltway and more than a few of our players have gotten bigger headlines than seasoned veterans. Our president, after all, is only eight years past the eligibility cutoff to have been listed himself. Many of his young staff included here, have quickly become fixtures in the White House and halls of Congress, to say nothing of the social scene. We have numerous “change makers” from the government, along with major players in the arts and sciences, journalism and business as well as the non-profit and philanthropic sectors. In the spirit of the famous Irish proverb, “praise youth and it will prosper,” we share with you 250-plus men and women who dare to dream big and act even bigger.

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Washington is a city about secrets. Everyone has one. Well, we are letting one of them out of the bag – We are the District of Creativity

By Michael Clements

iStrategyLabs' Peter Corbett in Dupont Circle. (Photo by Anchyi Wei)

Washington secrets aren’t just hidden in the delete boxes of Hill staffers. They are right in front of you each day: the artist whose opening you passed while heading to dinner; the interior designer who selected the oh-so- hip light glowing above the table; the cast of the performance you have tickets for tonight; the writer of the review that got you to buy the tickets in the first place; and the event planner who is putting together the party after the show.

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All with an eye for the unusual: introducing a cadre of influential metro area visual artists.

Maggie Michael and husband Dan Steinhilber (Photograph by Joseph Allen)

Maggie Michael (whose work has been described as “sculptural painting”), and her husband Dan Steinhilber (who they say creates “painterly sculpture”) are the current glamdarlings of the Washington art scene. Michael is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and an Artist Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She was a resident artist in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Artist at Work program in 2006-07. During 2008, Michael was awarded an Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian and received the Trawick Prize from the Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Both artists have shown at G Fine Art. Steinhilber’s show there, received excellent reviews.

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G Fine Art presents the works of Jefferson Pinder and José Ruiz in “El Museo del Ghetto”

By Alannah Wells

Opening Night Reception. Jefferson Pinder, Capsule - 2009. Wood from Obama's inauguration platform. salvaged tin.

Wrestling masks teamed with Picassos, a frisky sombrero with a mind of its own, and the remanence of a crumpled aid drop parachute wasn’t exactly what I was expecting when I shook out my umbrella and stepped into G Fine Art’s temporary E Street location on a soggy September evening. However this is just a taster of what was to come at the opening night reception of the “El Museo del Ghetto” exhibition featuring the works of Jefferson Pinder and José Ruiz. Gallery Director Annie Gawlak commented to me that the new space worked wonderfully for this exhibition since it enabled each artist to present video pieces in separate areas. I agree.

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Nontraditional art spaces lend themselves to thought-provoking installations

By Beth Farnstrom

On the third level of "Here and Now," Lisa Kellner's organic, amorphous forms clung delicately to the rafters and walls

If 14^th Street was the new “gallery corridor” in 2007, the former Church of the Rapture (1840 14^th St NW) has to be its main entrance. For starters, the Cultural Development Corporation’s FlashForward benefit (which we were privileged to sponsor) was held in this new it-space, where mere months before the PW Meat Market - a celebration of all things arty, gritty, and nouveau – had also been held. Transformed from bare warehouse walls to subdued glamour with live band and Absolut cocktails, the event was elegant and highly successful, with a laundry list of local luminaries in attendance (one example: Pamela Sorensen, who blogged about it in glowing terms), artists (Maggie Michael, Dana Ellyn, Matt Sesow, Regie Cabic of Sol & Soul), and over $100,000 raised for CUDC’s mission to fund local arts efforts. The spontaneous gestalt of District arts seems to be coalescing - organizers like In Series performing arts guru Carla Hübner and Corcoran COO Sam Sweet are mixing with patrons, painters, and purveyors of the arts.

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