Jeffrey Brady
Jeffrey Brady always knew art mattered. During his first Japanese print-making class at age 10, he slipped, slicing his hand open with a sharp knife. He said absolutely nothing. Fearing he would be forced to stop, he silently wrapped up his wound and kept working. His tenacity paid off. It won him an International Rotary Club art competition at age 14 for a work depicting people promenading on a Mississippi levee. The artist later studied printmaking under a Living Cultural Master instructor while teaching English in Japan on the JET Program.
Recently, he was a featured artist at ARTOMATIC 2023 with fellow Arts Club artist Karen La Du. He collaborated with poet Doritt Carroll and La Du on a short film combining poetry, audio, minimalist music, and handmade book art. Brady worked with NASA education specialists and burlesque dancers for a short experimental film celebrating Yuri’s Night, 2022.
For more than a decade, he has been the artist-in-residence for Story District, DC’s premier storytelling organization. Since 2010, he’s created analog stop-motion animation, digital motion graphics, and traditional 2D art for storytellers, audiences and other stakeholders. In 2009, he was commissioned by the North American Pedestrian Safety Association to create a stop-motion animation film celebrating pedestrian safety advocates. His art resides in personal collections around the DMV.
The artist emphasizes social justice and the power of storytelling in his library practice and artwork. He currently works at the Institute for Cyber Executive Education and serves on the Arts Club’s Spilsbury Gallery committee.
Website/Portfolio: Jblend Imagery
Instagram: @jeffreyblender
About the Artwork
Here is the tea: Symbols matter. On Valentine's Day, 2025, the U.S. administration obliterated symbols of love. Though not as violent as another Valentine's Day massacre, it was no less tectonic. Symbolic violence sets the stage for actual brutality. This series celebrates and uplifts the Trans, Bi, Lesbian, Gay and Queer activists who stood against police violence. The Stonewall Uprising was a pivotal moment in the American Civil Rights Movement, demanding basic civil rights for LGBTQ+ people. Then and now, Trans and other queer activists fought hate with love and pride. Their fight continues. When the current regime deleted their stories from our official national history, it committed an act of "historical erasure:" when governments delete a person’s contributions after death. Historically, it almost always precedes physical genocide, as described in Niemöller’s chilling Holocaust poem, “First they came.” It asks the question, Who is next? This protest art honors Generation Fabulous, whose activism paved the way for expanded civil rights and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people. Emphasis on "T." Now take a sip of tea and meet Generation Fabulous.
Tryst
Tryst is known for having huge lounging sofas, eclectic art on the walls, with no corporate coffee and no matching silverware. You can stop by for a quick cup on your way to work, or you can lounge all day with a great book. Their specialty coffees and menus are favorites for regulars and tourists, and they’re famous for always serving two animal crackers with each drink. Tryst builds meaningful connections, one animal cracker at a time.