One Stroke at a Time
One Stroke at a Time is a new collaborative project organized by DC-based artists Lorenzo Piero Holder III and Dr. Vicenzio Holder-Perkins. Nephew (Holder) and uncle (Dr. Perkins)–an artist and a psychiatrist–have formed a collaboration that operates across age, ability, and life experience to build a shared language rooted in mutual care. This is the first public presentation of their work as a collaborative duo.
Holder and Dr. Perkins’ collaboration began through art therapy, following a stroke experienced by Dr. Perkins in 2018. During his recovery, Dr. Perkins started sketching, while Lorenzo responded through color, mark-making, and composition. This exchange became a practice of mutual care and creative experimentation. What started in the quiet of a living room grew into a shared exploration of impermanence, vulnerability, and interdependence.
As uncle and nephew who both experienced estrangement from their fathers, Holder and Dr. Perkins’ collaboration explores what it means to move and make in sync across generations shaped by trauma, resilience, and queerness. They complete each other’s drawings, sometimes in sequence and sometimes simultaneously. Their work challenges fixed roles between patient and practitioner and expands how artist-organizer relationships can function within spaces of disability, kinship, and transformation.
One Stroke at a Time will transform WPA’s Project Space into a living studio, installation, and participatory environment shaped by movement, memory, and unfinished lines. Visitors will be welcomed into a quiet and intimate space that reflects the artists’ focus on adaptation and embodied care. Collaboratively made paintings, drawings, and sculptures will be displayed alongside projected loops of performances and archive footage that offer a glimpse into Holder and Dr. Perkins’ process of shared mark-making and mirrored motion.
Opening Reception: March 28, 2026 from 3–5pm
Exhibition dates: March 28–June 20, 2026
Gallery hours: Wednesday–Friday, 12–6pm, and Saturday, 1–5pm
Extended hours: First Friday of each month, 1–8pm, in conjunction with Dupont Circle Art Walk
Public Programs
Public programming will include: a collaborative painting workshop; a panel on collaboration through art therapy; and a gallery performance by Holder and Dr. Perkins with dates and venues to be announced soon.
Presented as part of “Lineages: Generations of Creative Resilience in the District”
One Stroke at a Time is presented as part of “Lineages: Generations of Creative Resilience in the District,” a year-long exhibition and project residency series. Projects in the “Lineages” series were selected by a panel that included art historian and curator Martina Dodd, transdisciplinary artist and filmmaker Mojdeh Rezaeipour, and critic and scholar Tavia Nyong’o. Conceived in concert with WPA’s 50th Anniversary and the recent launch of its digital archive, the “Lineages” series reflects on the potential of intergenerational community-building among artists in the District as a way to carry forward vulnerable histories and imagine resilient futures.
Accessibility
The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is a nonprofit arts organization in Washington, DC dedicated to supporting artist-driven, experimental, and collaborative contemporary art projects and facilitating dialogue and exchange within the local arts community.
Physical Access
We strive to welcome visitors of all abilities and are committed to transparency about the physical access conditions at the gallery:
- Ramp Access: The ramp leading into the exhibition space does not meet current ADA slope standards and may be difficult or unsafe to navigate independently for visitors using wheelchairs, mobility devices, or those who need gentler gradients.
- Door Access: The main entrance door is not automatic and must be opened manually. Staff and volunteers are available to assist with entry during public hours.
- Inside the Space: Once inside, the exhibition area is on a single level with space to move through at your own pace. Seating is available for rest. Visitors are encouraged to engage with the space in whatever way feels comfortable.
Communication Access
Accessibility: All wall texts are designed in large font.
Programming: Programs occurring offsite will take place in ADA compliant spaces.
