The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia. Workhouse Arts Center

Workhouse Arts Center

Arts/Cultural Organization Gallery Museum

The Workhouse Arts Center is a vibrant 55-acre arts campus housed in a former historic prison. We offer art classes, exhibitions, and artist studio spaces for 70+ working artists, as well as professional theater and music performances, historic tours, and seasonal family-friendly experiences. We strive to harness the power of the arts to engage, heal, and inspire communities through creativity, cultural enrichment, historic preservation, and positive social impact.

2026 commemorates the 25th anniversary of the closure of the Washington DC Corrections Office’s Lorton Correctional Complex (1910-2001). The Workhouse Arts Center is located on 55 acres of the former 3,500-acre prison and is home to the Lorton Prison Museum, dedicated to sharing the 91-years of this former Washington DC prison’s history, including events of the women’s suffrage movement.

Medium: 
Clay, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Mixed Media, Other, Paper, Wood
Workhouse Arts Center
9518 Workhouse Wy 
Lorton, 
VA 
22079
https://www.workhousearts.org
A captivating glassblowing demonstration at the 2nd Saturday Art Walk is pictured. Workhouse is home to the Annual Glass International Exhibit now in its 12th year, and 13 glass artist studios. Classes include vessels, flamework, fusing, boro, stained glass, & more. A permanent Hot Shop opens 2027. Workhouse Arts CenterBuilding W16 houses three fine arts galleries, hosting a diverse range of media in 30 exhibitions per year. Local, regional, national, and international artists at all levels of their careers have proudly shown here. Pictured: fiber art by Holly Cole, part of "Life's a Stitch x4", 2024. Workhouse Arts CenterA calm moment before open studio in the Clayhouse, also home to four resident artists, many professional instructors, and a state-of-the-art kiln yard. Ceramics is the most popular among the100s of year-round courses. Workhouse is home of the Annual Clay International exhibit, now in its 16th year. Workhouse Arts CenterThe DC Government wanted this site for a prison because the land provided a resource-rich environment that could become a brickyard. The prison opened in 1910 and by 1911 there were two beehive kilns operational with plans to build 10 more kilns and create an estimated 40,000 bricks per day. Loading the Brick Kiln, Orsinger Prison Farm Footage. Lorton Prison Museum Collection.

Explore Participating Organizations

Student Bre '28 with the handmade Squiggle Broom. Bre, like so many students was randomly assigned a Labor Position within the Broom shop as a first year student. Now a sophomore Bre has become an integral part of the studio. Sean Hall '25 and Evy Medley '25

Berea College Student Craft

Berea,
KY
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Smithsonian Craft Show 2025 at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC. Oxford St. Photography

Smithsonian Women’s Committee (Smithsonian Craft Show)

Washington,
DC
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Exterior view of Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Photo by Michelle Feileacan

Sebastopol Center for the Arts

Sebastopol,
CA
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The Tennessee Craft Fair in the warm glow of the sunset At Centennial Park in Nashville, TN. Todd Herzberg

Tennessee Craft

Nashville,
TN