World-class museum celebrates art created by its own staffers

For scores of artistically inclined staffers who work at the Phillips Collection, the job comes with a special perk: the chance to showcase their own artwork in the same museum that features the likes of Van Gogh, Cézanne and Picasso.

The modern art museum at 1600 21st St. NW in Dupont Circle has hosted its James McLaughlin Memorial Staff Show since 1984. This year’s exhibition, running for the full month of September, displays the work of nearly 50 Phillips staffers who are also active artists, either casually or professionally.

The exhibit — also known as This Is My Day Job — covers a breadth of styles and mediums, including photography, interactive installations, collage, drawing, embroidery — and even rainbow-painted Slim Jims. Located in the Sant Building on Lower Level 2, the annual event is “as important” for the Phillips as its special exhibitions are, says Emily Bray, the museum’s manager of visitor and family engagement.

This year especially, the museum has sought to boost attendance by promoting the staff show during Phillips After 5, a generally sold-out monthly event with art, live music, food and beverages. The Phillips also hosted a reception for This Is My Day Job on Sept. 20 that gave visitors a chance to mingle with the artists and hear them discuss their work.

For Phillips Collection employees, the show offers a chance to see new sides of their colleagues outside of their normal work culture. Take, for example, Mika Rautianinen — an IT support specialist who is showcasing a colorful acrylic on canvas at this year’s exhibit.

At their daily jobs, these artists “rarely get to talk about art,” museum assistant Gregory Logan Dunn said at Thursday’s reception.

Many staffers who exhibit are professional artists outside of the Phillips. The September show gives them an opportunity to price and sell their work — one piece this year is on sale for $2,777 — with proceeds going directly back to the artists. The exhibit also helps with exposure, getting the participants’ names and contact information out to a wide range of museum visitors.

But for Nancy Libson, an accomplished documentary photographer who works at the Phillips as a gallery educator, the staff exhibit is more about celebrating the artwork of her colleagues and sharing with them her own artistry. She said she sees it as a natural extension of her role as an educator, since working daily at the art museum helps inspire her creativity.

The Phillips makes an adamant point not to censor its staff submissions, according to Bray. In last year’s exhibition, artist Joel Vincii said, he was able to display a controversial piece that had previously “caused a ruckus” at a different staff show at the National Gallery of Art and was pulled down there after only two days. That same artwork caused no complaints when it went up for the Phillips show, said Vincii, who has worked as an assistant at both of the DC museums.

At the Phillips, the staff is teeming with “lots of great artists,” said Vincii, who has been working at the Dupont museum for the past four years, displaying his artwork in the staff exhibit every fall.

Vincii’s piece this year, “Upper,” is a portrait of two kids jumping on a bed in joy, inspired by his own two young sons. In his painting, he imagines the kids had just “heard good news … like they’re going on a vacation to Disneyland,” he said.

The annual This Is My Day Job exhibit commemorates James McLaughlin, a talented still-life painter who studied at the Phillips Gallery Art School and was on staff at the museum for 50 years, including as a gallery preparator and curator.