Passengers & Pilgrams

Passengers & Pilgrams by Jack Burbridge brings together landscape paintings from an El Camino pilgrimage in 2023, drawings made on the Metro roughly from 2013 to 2018, recent paintings based on views from the Metro, and a couple of recent larger portraits. The artist describes his recent journey starting with paintings after a pilgrimage in Northern Spain with his wife Nancy, where he felt the landscape was full of light and natural beauty, and he wanted to recreate that sense of mystery and grace in slow, inviting paintings. The Metro drawings emerged from daily commutes into DC after the deaths of his parents, transforming his passive commute into a way to connect with people in a transitory, anonymous space, resulting in brief meditations he calls visual poems. Additionally, photographs taken from the train around Rhode Island Avenue station and the descent toward NoMa inspired recent paintings capturing the city’s expansiveness, color, and light. The exhibition’s title reflects a contrast between a pilgrim’s purposeful journey and a passenger’s passive transport, with the artist aspiring to be a third type of traveler who sees the journey itself as destination and awareness within any moment as arrival.

When: Sunday, May 31 through Saturday, June 27, 2026.
Reception: Friday, June 5, 2026, 6:00–8:00 PM.
Artist: Jack Burbridge.
Venue: Waverly Street Gallery.
Description: The exhibition includes oil paintings from the El Camino pilgrimage, black-and-white drawings made on Metro trains, recent paintings based on Metro-commute photographs, and a couple of large portraits.
Note: A Q&A with Jack Burbridge by Bobbi Kittner is also available (details not provided).
Price: Price not available. Contact gallery for pricing and ticket information.
Accessibility: Not specified; check with venue.
Age: Not specified.