Chevy Chase's Art Walk Starts in the Connecticut Avenue Windows

Since early September, the storefronts along Connecticut Avenue have been showing original artwork. Ch/Art, the Chevy Chase community arts nonprofit, has placed work by 20 member artists in the windows of Core 72, Artsy Beast, Park Story, Child's Play and June B Sweet. Work is also on view in the empty storefront next to Artsy Beast that used to be Happy Go Bicycles. The exhibition is called Ch/Art on the Avenue, and it runs through October 20. That's two days after the main event it was built to lead into.

The main event is the 7th Annual Ch/Art Art Walk, on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18, from noon to 5 p.m. each day. It's free and goes ahead rain or shine. This year 86 artists will show work in 35 homes and studios across Chevy Chase, on both the DC and Maryland sides. Most of the artists in the Connecticut Avenue windows will be at those homes. Use the windows as a free preview to decide which stops to visit.

Twelve of the Window Artists, and Where They'll Be

Of the 20 artists named for Ch/Art on the Avenue, 12 also appear by the same name in the 2026 Art Walk brochure. Each one has a studio or host home on a specific street. If a window piece catches your eye this week, here is where to find that artist on walk weekend.

Livingston Street NW stands out. Four of the window artists show there, split between two host homes that hold eight artists in total. One home has Kamael Mishra, Erin Joshi and the jeweler Hoda Khouri. The other is one of this year's five-artist stops, with Kimoy Lallement, JB Lallement, Bruce Abrams, Heather O'Donovan and beaded-jewelry artist Carol Samour. If you liked several paintings in the Connecticut Avenue windows, this one street covers a good share of them.

Nevada Avenue NW works the same way at a smaller scale. Merrilee Harrigan's jewelry and glass and Mark Leatherman's photography share a home there with Karen LeBan's pottery. Ch/Art's interactive map numbers all 35 locations, and the downloadable brochure lists each artist's profile and stop. Use those official tools for exact locations.

Where the Walk Groups Artists Together

The window preview tells you whom to look for. The brochure shows where the weekend gives you the most artists for the least walking. Three homes have five artists each:

• Thornapple St: Alice Joseph's contemporary jewelry, Allen Hirsh's generative art, Nancy Malan's hardwood birdhouses, Amy Rice's mixed media and Jennifer Howard's painting.
• Livingston St NW: the Lallement, Abrams, O'Donovan and Samour stop described above.
• Chevy Chase Pkwy NW: Leslie Harris's painting and prints, Jenny Wilson's painting and collage, Rachael Rice's jewelry and paintings, Anne Turner's ceramics and Laura Summer's jewelry.

Four more homes have four artists each. On Georgia St, Kirsty Little's wire sculpture shares space with Veronique Legot's assemblage, Jack Hornady's painting and Sandra Zacharia's jewelry. On Bradley Lane, Suzanne Wright, Erica Weiss, Becky McFall and Susan Fattig cover restorative media, ceramics, mixed media and collage. Stuyvesant Pl NW has four painters, Kathleen Zeifang, Anne Shields, Federica Giove and Sonita Singh, with Shields working in pastel. On 31st St NW, Scott Wiskoski, Susan Dankoff and Karim Bouabdelli show paintings, and Joan Danoff shows jewelry.

Several stops host a single artist, which makes them easy to target on the map. These include Doris Ross's fused glass on Oliver St, Kendra Morrison's black-and-white photography on Barnaby St NW, Margaret Rose Hahn's colored pencil work on Broad Branch Rd NW and Carol Newmyer's sculpture on Northampton St NW. A few shared homes also feature unusual work. On 31st Pl NW, Carrie Baroody's steel sculpture, Carl Johnson's woven sculpture and Danielle Feuillan's stained glass are under one roof. On Morrison St NW, Diane Thompson's quilts share a home with Cara Jablon's jewelry and Patricia Choquette's painting.

On the Maryland side of North Park Avenue, Cityline Studios hosts Wendy Smith, Heather Paul and Deborah Coffey. It's the stop on the list that's a working studio rather than a private home.

The Passport Rewards Seven Stops

The Art Walk Passport takes the window-to-route idea a step further. The brochure says you can pick one up at any participating house, collect a sticker at each location, and visit at least seven. Then print your details in the white boxes and leave the completed Passport at any Art Walk house. Winners will be notified by email by 6 p.m. on October 18. Because the deadline falls on Sunday evening, the walk's last afternoon is also the last chance to enter.

Seven stops is roughly a fifth of the 35 locations. If you plan around the homes with several artists, seven stops can cover a much larger share of the 86 artists. The prizes all come from local businesses and institutions:

1. A $200 Rodman's gift card
2. Two $150 La Ferme Restaurant gift cards
3. A voucher for four at Hillwood Estate
4. Three $25 Pete's Pizza gift cards

Ch/Art invites visitors to walk, bike or drive the route. Its visitor page doesn't give parking or transit guidance, so the map is the main planning tool. Ch/Art said printed brochures would be available at local Chevy Chase businesses starting in mid-September. That makes the same Connecticut Avenue blocks that host the window show a likely place to pick one up.

How a Spring Sign-Up Sheet Became 86 Artists

In October 2018, Beth Cartland presented to ANC 3/4G on Ch/Art's behalf. The meeting minutes record that the group had 71 members, held its first show in April 2018, and had 25 artists signed up for a planned spring 2019 Art Walk. The same minutes say the group started in January 2017, while Ch/Art's own materials give 2018 as its founding year. The 2026 brochure says it was founded by "3 spirited women artists." Leslie Harris, who hosts on Chevy Chase Pkwy NW this year, describes herself as a founder and board member.

Ch/Art now has more than 150 member artists, and the walk has moved to fall. Recent editions have changed in ways that affect how a weekend plays out on foot:

The 2026 walk has the same number of artists as last year in two fewer locations. That works out to about two and a half artists per stop, up from about 2.3 in 2025, so this year's route gives you a little more art per front door.

When the Windows Come Down

Ch/Art on the Avenue closes on October 20, but Ch/Art's calendar keeps going. The Barista Art Wall at the Arcade, 5520 Connecticut Ave NW, rotates every six to eight weeks, and its artwork is for sale. The juried "Best of Ch/Art" show opens November 23 at Friendship Heights Village Center and runs through January 23, 2027, with a reception on December 10. Ch/Art's October newsletter also announces a Politics & Prose Holiday Show of two-dimensional work in December.

For more on Connecticut Avenue itself, see our look at the summer the strip finally connected and our profile of the Avalon's continuing upgrades. The Avenue windows are on view through October 20, and the walk is October 17 and 18, from noon to 5 p.m. both days.

At Jill Schwartz Group, we keep close track of the Chevy Chase calendar, from the Avenue windows to the streets that open their doors on walk weekend. If seeing these homes raises questions about your own, we invite you to request a private, confidential consultation.