A person who appears to be ambling aimlessly, but is secretly in search of adventure.

11.27.2006

Art helps



A great art auction to support local organizations that contribute so much to our community!

For more info: www.arthelps.org.

The arthelps 6th Annual Silent Art Auction Benefit & Reception

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

5pm–10pm

Offices of JAM Communications

1638 R St., NW Suite 400

Washington, DC 20009

Benefiting:
Food & Friends
District of Columbia Arts Center

11.21.2006

Dirt of the day

Just in from Margaret: “Dirt of the Day” is a sporadic photo journal of dirt and clay. I’m sending it to you because you might be weird enough to like that sort of thing.

Dirt is good


Visited Margaret Boozer's studio over the weekend. Stunning and creative works made of clay that she has dug herself! She possesses complete understanding of the properties of clay and porcelain and the other materials, which she uses to create these gorgeous works. See her website for more images of the many ways in which she uses dirt: www.margaretboozer.com.

Margaret's also created a community of artists in Mt. Rainier called Red Dirt Studio. She provides studio space for graduate level students, and she holds seminars on the practicalities of being in the art business, something that probably isn't taught much in art school and doesn't come naturally to everyone. Most of all, Red Dirt provides a space for interaction between artists, which I think is absolutely necesssary to the creative process.

11.20.2006

Prize Every Time

Daily Maintenance, pigment print, 24" x 36"
I bought this piece from Trish Tillman's show at the Arlington Arts Center, which was called Prize Every Time. I went to hear her speak about the show one evening and felt like she was speaking directly to me! See below for a very good description of what these works represent.
In Prize Every Time, Trish Tillman uses video projection, photographs and object arrangements to explore the games and silent negotiations that occur beneath the surface of human communication. Behind the veneer of Tillman’s overtly saccharine & nostalgic imagery -- carnival games, squirt guns, plastic cartoon animals, colorful “personalized” pencils with engraved text, sugary fruit juice residue left at the bottoms of drinking glasses – are representations of incomplete conversations, labored interactions, and detrimental behavioral patterns. Some of the objects presented become characters engaging in futile power struggles, caught up in mutual misunderstandings and seeking reciprocity where there is none to be found. Others act as indexes of recurring exchanges, cataloguing instances of both harmony and dysfunction. With Prize Every Time, Tillman investigates the uphill struggle to understand and be understood, and the sometimes questionable value of the rewards offered for accomplishing this feat.

See her website for more info: www.trishtillman.com.

11.17.2006

Project 4 Gallery



Project 4 is a fabulous new gallery on the far end of U Street (at 9th Street). It's adding to the diversity of DC's art scene by providing "a room for art and ideas spanning a range of cultural issues." I like the boldness of the four owners (all designers in some fashion), and the director Anne Surak (asurak@project4gallery.com) has an upbeat, friendly attitude that is very approachable and that generates excitement about art collecting.

The gallery is hosting an opening tonight from 6 to 8:30 PM for DC-based artists Kate Hardy and Noelle Tan. For more information, the gallery's website is: www.project4gallery.com.

A little something about the artists:

Kate Hardy’s intimate watercolor paintings are postmodern curiosities. The compositions are based on exploration illustrations of objects from the 18th century, which were usually depicted completely out of context. With no sense of scale or weight, the subjects became specimens. She eplains, “One only has to flip through an art magazine to see that contemporary work tends to lean towards the mundane and sterile or the shocking and grotesque. These new paintings are an examination of what current art seems to be avoiding. The images portrayed are studies of sentimentality, nostalgia, and wonder.”

Noelle Tan's untitled series of black and white silver gelatin photographs consists of highly overexposed images. The series depicts random environments and scenes that Tan encountered while traveling through the deserts of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. "This work is about evoking a psychological space," Tan says. "I'm interested in spaces where civilization and wilderness meet. The white space acts as a stage and the viewer seeks what is out of eyesight. It is this play of the visual and its association to narrative space that ultimately informs the work."

Kate Hardy received a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, her MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and a Certificate of Masters in Museum Studies from George Washington University. She is currently artist-in-residence at the Red Dirt Studio in Mt Rainier, MD.

Noelle Tan earned her BFA from New York University and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Ms. Tan has shown her work throughout the United States and was recently an artist-in-residence at the Center for Photography in Woodstock, New York.

11.13.2006

Easy riders



Charles and I went for a ride on Saturday when it was in the 70s and sunny. He could barely keep up with me! We sat outside for brunch with Mendi and Dave at L'Enfant and savored crepes, Belgian beer, and the last warm day of the year.

11.12.2006

Anne's eye


My friend Anne Pellicciotto won the 2006 Washington Post travel photo contest with this photo of local kids running down a beach dune at Canoa Quebrada in northern Brazil. Anne took some amazing photos during her six months in Brazil and you can see (and buy) them at www.anneseye.com.

Anne went to Brazil during a sabbatical from her career as an organizational change consultant to explore her creative side. In addition to these beautiful photographs, she also wrote poignant and powerful stories about her time there.

11.09.2006

Sculpture exhibit


My very talented friend Chris Tousimis is currently exhibiting his recent sculptures in the atrium of the Lerner Building in Tysons Corner (1800 Tysons Boulevard). Stop and take a look if you're over in that part of town. Or, drop in at a reception he's hosting there on Saturday, November 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. All are invited (and encouraged!) to attend what should prove to be a very lively event! Plus you get to meet a really nice artist who has been making a huge splash on the Washington art scene. His sculptures have been appearing all over town and he's gaining wide recognition. If you can't attend but want to be on his email list for future art events, you can email him at ctousimis@hotmail.com.

11.05.2006

Art For Life


I have been helping with fundraising at Pediatric AIDS-HIV Care, an organization that provides basic services to DC children living with AIDS--either they have it or a parent has it. One of their main forms of therapy is through art, which is how I first got interested in PAHC. Our next big fundraising event is Art For Life, an auction that will feature art donated by several local artists along with art created by the children themselves.

Please come to the event if you can!

Thursday, November 16

6:30 to 9:00 PM

At the law firm of WilmerHale

1899 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

rsvp to Tony Purcell at tpurcell@pediatricaidshivcare.org

Ticket price is a tax-deductible $100

For more information about PAHC, please go to www.pediatric-care.net.