Editor's note: This companion piece to our national spotlight on public art is only a jumping-off point. Tell us in the comments, or email us at [email protected], about your favorite piece in the city, and we may include it in a future roundup.

The District has been populated with a wealth of public art from sculptures to murals that have not only drawn the attention of community residents, but some the District's most artsy locals. Elevation DC checked in with a few of these art connoisseurs to share their favorite pieces of public art in the city and what makes them stand out amongst the crowd. 

Kriston Capps
Senior editor of Architect magazine, and a freelance writer
It might have to be the Big Chair in Anacostia. Because the District is home to the Capital City, we have a bounty of amazing public art. Something for every season, even: The handsome Mark di Suvero at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a stout piece of summer art, while the Roxy Paine mirrored tree at the National Gallery of Art's sculpture garden is my favorite winter artwork. And on and on. But the Big Chair is something else, a weathered piece of community art that suits the neighborhood all year round.

Over time, in D.C.'s history, great public art has come and gone. The great McMillan Fountain was moved from its perch in McMillan Park (now the sand filtration site) to Crispus Attucks Park (in Bloomingdale) and back again (not quite restored to its original prestige). These works change over time. Places change. The Big Chair has changed, too: The original mahogany chair was swapped out for an aluminum chair back during Mayor Williams's administration. Yet its significance hasn't shifted a bit even as so much has changed in the District since it was originally dedicated. To be sure, the Big Chair is not something I feel any ownership over—I'm a Ward 6 resident living in Northeast. But I admire a work that symbolizes its neighborhood and galvanizes its neighbors. Nothing in the District does it better.

Leigh Conner
Director, ConnerSmith gallery
I love Claes Oldenburg's work. When you look at the everyday objects he 'elevated' to art in the 1960's,  none are more amusing to me than the everyday objects of the home—a phone with a handset and dial, a light switch, a typewriter eraser. The typewriter eraser was the delete button of that era—and creating a formal, monumental statue to the leading edge of technology of its time is genius. Go daily and enjoy overheard comments from onlookers. 

Phil Hutinet
Editor, East City Art
One of my favorite public art pieces is Gaia's mural "Overfishing" on Capitol Hill's Barracks Row.  I love both the aesthetic component of the piece—a vibrantly painted school of tunas dwarfing fishing vessels on the sea's surface, but also the commentary—a reminder of the perils of overfishing.
Here is the twist—the the mural resides on the side of sushi restaurant Nooshi. Restaurant owner Vanessa Lim commissioned the piece, without any public funding, and, to her credit, has an extraordinary sense of humor or irony depending on how you see it!  The sheer beauty of the piece enlivens the block and brings joy to the faces of onlookers.  I would like to see more business owners follow Lim's lead by giving back to the community in the form of an investment in public art commissions.