ABOUT GEORGE & COLBY

George Hemphill  

A 32 year resident, Mr. Hemphill came to Washington DC in 1979 after teaching at the Atlanta College of Art. In 1984 he established the fine art photography department at Middendorf  Gallery,  later  becoming  director  of  the  gallery.  In  the  fall  of  1991  he established Hemphill Fine Arts (HEMPHILL), offering art advisory services to corporate and private collectors. The initial client base was built upon contacts and experiences gained in academia, in private galleries, and with architectural and design firms. From those  beginnings,  HEMPHILL’s counsel has  expanded  to  include  companies  and individuals  worldwide.  In  1993,  HEMPHILL  opened  a  gallery  in Georgetown.  In  the gallery exhibition space the work of emerging artists, contemporary artists, and modern masters are presented. HEMPHILL offers its audience a broad range of aesthetic experiences. It also offers collectors and art lovers the opportunity to be directly involved in the artists’ community as well as the creative process.   Mr. Hemphill has helped to build  many  of  the  most  significant  corporate and  private  collections  inthe  area.  In November  2004,  HEMPHILL  relocated  from Georgetown to Washington’s  14th Street Arts Corridor.

Along with his work as an art dealer and curator, Mr. Hemphill is a founding member of the board of directors for the District of Columbia Arts Center, an organization that champions local artists. He is also a founder and past board member of FotoWeek DC, an  annual  photography  festival  in  the  District,  and  a  former  board  member  of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers. For both 1992 and 1993 he served as co-chairman of the Washington Project for the Arts Auctions.

Frequently  invited  to  lecture,  Mr.  Hemphill  has  spoken  for  the  Smithsonian,  the  ArtLeague  of Washington,  and the Institute  of Art,  Chicago,  among others.  In 1992 Mr. Hemphill conducted a series of artist’s studio tours for the Phillips Collection/Phillips Contemporaries.  Since  1998,  HEMPHILL  has  hosted  a  series  of  lectures called  Art Talks,  which showcase  conversations  with artists,  collectors,  and curators  as well as topics in contemporary art.

Mr. Hemphill has served as an editor and writer for several publications including ManRay:  Paris Portraits  and  the  Washington  Review.  HEMPHILL  is  the  publisher  of a catalogue on the work of Jacob Kainen, Jacob Kainen 1951, 52 & 53 with text by Jeffrey Weiss, NGA , Joseph Mills: Inner City with text by Anne Tucker of Houston Museum of Fine Art, and William Christenberry W/P.  Currently, Mr. Hemphill is the editor of the forthcoming book on the work of Don Donaghy.

Colby Caldwell

After 25 years in the Washington DC area, Colby moved back to Asheville in 2013, where he established REVOLVE, a project space in the River Arts District.  He graduated from the Corcoran School of Art (now College of the Arts and Design at GW) in 1990. From 1997­‐2001, Caldwell taught in both the Fine Art and the Photography departments at the Corcoran. From 2002 – 2012, he was an Associate Professor of Art at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Caldwell has curated several shows including – Practice Makes Perfect, at DCAC, in Washington DC, Made History: Important Soviet WWII Photographs, at Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College, and Give and Take, at AAAC in Asheville, NC. 

His work has been shown both nationally and internationally since 1988. how to survive your own death, Caldwell’s most recent solo show, opened at HEMPHILL in January 2016. His previous two solo shows – gun shy and spent – opened concurrently at HEMPHILL and Civilian Art Projects in Washington, DC in March of 2012, and were reviewed in Art Forum, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and other publications. Most recently, he has collaborated with James Huckenpahler and Matt Sargent on a multi-media interpretation of his work.  Entitled “he who dreams of magic bullets…”, this interactive sound/visual piece was  shown in Klaipeda, Lithuania in the spring of 2014 as part of a cultural exchange program highlighting American art in which he was asked to lecture on his work and the lasting legacy of Robert Frank and the Beat generation.

Caldwell’s work has been represented by HEMPHILL in Washington, DC, for over 25 years.  He is featured in the book, 100 DC Artists, which was published in 2011.  He is the director and co-founder of REVOLVE, an art/think space in Asheville, NC.