Tag Archives: art

The Daily Feed
By

The Magic of the Single-Shot Photographer

Photo courtesy of
‘Personal Vision’
courtesy of ‘1Sock’

I read an article in Express yesterday that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. It was about color photographer William Eggleston, whose work is displayed at the Corcoran right now. The part that was amazing to me is his technique: he doesn’t take multiple frames of his subject and pick the best one, like most photographers. He takes one shot. Just one. And they’re not just good, they’re defining-art-photography amazing. This, I have to see. The exhibition, William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, will be open through September 20.

The Features, We Love Arts
By

Artomatic 2009 Opens!

Photo courtesy of
‘Twirling Fire at Artomatic’
courtesy of ‘starbuck77’

The building at 55 M St SE, right above the Nationals Park entrance of Navy Yard Metro still hasn’t become much. With area development on hold due to the economy, the completed, but unoccupied, monolith along the Capitol Riverfront is a perfect host for this year’s Artomatic. This the tenth anniversary of the roving art show that takes place in the District’s most ad-hoc gallery. This year, it covers 8 floors of the building, with several performance artist spaces, as well as the traditional art-mounted-on-plywood.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

The Art of Stampeding

artomatic by Tracy Lee

In case you’ve been in a coma, haven’t checked your e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or RSS feeds for the past few months, let me be the first to tell you that there’s this little thing called Artomatic opening tonight.  This year they’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of one of DC’s biggest art events, a place where professional artists and wannabe professional artists or otherwise creative people hang their work on painted plywood, set it on the floor, or perform it for you on stage.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Music, Special Events, The District, We Love Arts, WMATA
By

We Love Arts: Cherry Blast

I think we can all agree that one of the reasons “we love DC” is the arrival of spring each year when our city is transformed from a bleak, gray land of zombies into a cheery land of fresh-faced partiers.  The harsh winter weather is behind us, the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom, girls swap their jeans for skirts, and it’s time to start planning how you’ll enjoy every waking minute before the sweltering heat invades our city.

What better way to celebrate the disappearance of winter than checking out the National Cherry Blossom Festival?  While it officially started on March 28th, it runs until April 12th and is packed full of fun things to do, ranging from blossom tours to photo safaris to wicked awesome Japanese-themed art fashion anime parties.  Say what?  That’s right, on Friday the Pink Line Project kicks into gear again to throw a party that is sure to be the highlight of this year’s festival.  Enter stage left: Cherry Blast.

Continue reading →

We Love Arts
By

Workbook at Flashpoint

179_small

Flashpoint is having an amazing year so far in terms of the exhibits they’ve chosen.  First there was Cory Oberndorfer’s Flavor of the Month show featuring his deliciously fun paintings of Roller Derby girls (not to mention the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and gummy bears – also delicious).  Next was DCist Exposed, a photography show focused on highlighting some of DC’s best up and coming photographers.  Now, in what is sure to be some beautifully creative eye fodder is Workbook, a collaboration by Kate McGraw and Ann Tarantino.

From Flashpoint’s website:

Workbook is a video that documents the ten days artists Kate McGraw and Ann Tarantino will spend creating a mammoth work stretching across the walls of the Gallery at Flashpoint. The installation will be on view beginning March 19, 2009 and the film will be projected at the exhibition entrance beginning March 28, 2009.

Financial support for the production of the video will be provided by the sale of prints hand-marked by the artists. Each 7½” x 7½” print will be hand-marked and embellished by Kate and Ann and hand-stamped with a signature seal created by the artists. Each unique piece will be printed on 300 gsm, 100% cotton Crane Museo Portfolio Rag paper.

This strikes me as an amazing idea, selling individual pieces outside of the exhibit to fund a video that captures the creation of the exhibit itself?  How very “out of the box” this is as well as a great opportunity to support the local art community and add to your collection.  All patrons who purchase the $50 prints (supported by The Pink Line Project) by March 24, 2009 will be listed in the video.  To get your own custom print, visit the Workbook site and click on the “Buy a Print” link.  I can’t wait to see how mine turns out!

Kate McGraw & Ann Tarantino: Workbook
March 19 – April 17, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, March 19, 6 – 8 p.m.

The Daily Feed
By

Mama Ayesha’s Presidential Mural


Mama Ayesha’s Presidential Mural
Originally uploaded by carlweaver

I was walking with my lovely wife to get some Ethiopian food in Adams Morgan yesterday when I saw this mural on the side of Mama Ayesha’s restaurant at 1967 Calvert Street, NW. There’s Mama Ayesha posing in front of the White House with all the presidents from Ike to Obama. And notice the motif of Ike being in front of an autumn scene, symbolizing death, and Obama near a sunrise, possibly symbolizing the dawning of the age of Aquarius. It gives me hope, I guess, or maybe some other single-syllable word relating to my wishes for the future.

Mostly what this mural does for me is make me wonder why Rich Little stood in for George H.W. Bush. Also, why is Johnson holding a book like that? To hide his presidential woody, perhaps? Go check it out and if someone asks why you are staring at it so long, just say that you are trying to figure out why LBJ is smiling like that.