Goodbye summer :(

Said goodbye yesterday to the last bit of summer during a sunset sail on the Potomac.

The Grate Project

Kelly Towles' Grate Project is great! This one's at One World Fitness across from the Black Cat.

This one's in Blagden Alley.

The Grate Project
A new series of large-scale public paintings by Kelly Towles

Seeking to create large scale paintings that will exist in the public realm, Kelly Towles is creating murals that will completely cover the roll-down security grates at One World Fitness, outside the artist studios at 926 N Street in Blagden Alley, and at the Black Cat nightclub. Re-vitalizing these grates into dynamic contemporary artworks, The Grate Project is intended to further dialogue about the nature of street art and public art work, while enhancing DC's street-scapes.

There will be a public reception to celebrate the creation of all the paintings and all those who helped support The Grate Project October 23 from 8-11pm at The Black Cat BackStage.

PNHoffman continues to exploit Ralphie

I don't mind allowing Ralphie to shill condos, but I wish PNH would use a new picture!

Holly Bass at Transformer

Tonight!

Transformer is excited to present Holly Bass in "Pay Purview," the second installment of Show and Prove:

Thursday, September 27, 6:30 - 8pm

Pay Purview is an ongoing multidisciplinary work combining live performance with original recorded music and video. Pay Purview is an exploration of the role of women in commercial hip hop music and videos.

In the live performance for Transformer, Holly Bass wears a "booty ball" costume piece made of playground balls to create an exaggerated, oversized, Hottentot-style derriere. Presented in Transformer's storefront window space, the audience, participating from the sidewalk outside the gallery, is asked to pay a dime for each viewing. A curtain opens for a short time and the performer dances to a selection of songs ranging from Rodgers & Hart's "Ten Cents a Dance" to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." The dance scenes range from mock burlesque to video-ho-booty-shaking to ethnographic display depending on the selected tune and the performer's impulse.

Show and Prove is Holly Bass' ongoing series of work presented in galleries and spaces traditionally dedicated to the visual arts. "Show and Prove," an old-school hip hop expression, means to demonstrate. In this case, there is the visual documentation ("show"), such as video or physical performance remnants as well as the live performance, often accompanied by an artist talk ("prove"). The first installment of Show and Prove titled "In Sect/Communication" was presented at Dissident Display Gallery in April 2007.

This work is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Bootie Ball image by McKenzie Johnson.

Dingledodies

. . . but then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a common place thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the starts in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everyone goes "awww!"

Jack Kerouac, 1957

Artcade party at Options

Please support Artcade Magazine this Thursday by attending a happy hour at the Options show. You'll get to see great art from the area's best emerging artists who've been selected for this biennial show AND you'll get to meet many other young artists who are helping to build DC's art scene into something really amazing.

Edison Place Gallery
702 8th Street, NW
Thursday, September 27
6 - 9 PM

WaPo magazine

In case you haven't seen the Washington Post Sunday Magazine today...

In this article, Deborah Dietsch says that I am an art blogger. I think that is WAY overstating my aspirations for this blog! Basically, I just write pithy posts about myself and my friends, many of whom happen to be very creative and cool people. Guess I'll have to start focusing on the more substantive, hard-hitting issues confronting the local contemporary art world. In the meantime, please don't get on my case when I post cute things like this:

The District Line reopens in Georgetown

Mendi and I ogled a Bentley outside the very fun re-opening party for The District Line, a mod British men's clothing store that recently moved from Adams Morgan to Georgetown. Owner Marshall Thompson did a nice job with the store design, which features a couple great wall paintings by the brilliant graffiti artist Kelly Towles. My friends Norissa and Alishia have also done a fantastic job promoting District Line through their marketing company Coqui. They got some press coverage, including Washingtonian.com, which had this to say about the guests: "Among the more notable Washingtonians in attendance were DC United’s Ben Olson and Brian Carroll, Philippa Hughes of the Pink Line Project and congressional daughter Jackie Kucinich." Very amusing! If I'd known I was going to be a notable guest, I would have worn something more notable.

The creature returns!

Odie says just a couple more months of this torture and my hair should be back to normal.

Avenue To at The Space on Saturday

Listen to their loungey, funky, electronica sound! This is Lucan Klyne's and Tom Pipken's new musical venture. Very cool.

Mary Noble Ours photographs Gidget

Mary Noble Ours is a great photographer! She's also a neighbor who's become a friend. When we first moved here three years ago, I assumed that condo living would not be conducive to neighborliness and making new friends. I was wrong. Mary Noble is wonderful and so are many other loft dwellers on our block.

She and I had fun taking these action shots of Gidget and me on Q Street and in the alley. I like the way Mary Noble sets many of her portraits in natural surroundings, which makes a beautiful and unobtrusive frame.

Luster

Save the date!
Luster

(Note change of date!!)

Saturday, October 13
7 p.m.

@ Lee Jensens Brake Service
1333 14th Street, NW

With a Cherry On Top

Veronica went on an art buying binge this weekend! Fortunately, she left us this work by Cory Oberndorfer called With a Cherry on Top. These paintings depict "badass" roller derby women as eye candy with alter-egos like "Betty Rage" and "Peppermint Splatty." These "depictions attest to the fantasy and escapism that motivates these women (many of whom trudge through corporate hallways all week) to release the fermenting stress of the everyday in a furor of camaraderie."

UPDATE!
Veronica has weakened! She's going to let us buy Lollipops and Ass Whoopings from her. I think they make a very nice pair. Yay!

Dumb photo of feet

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to be. I thought maybe I wanted to be a writer... but I hate what I write, and I tried taking pictures, but John's so good at that, and mine are so mediocre... and every girl goes through a photography phase, like horses, you know dumb pictures of your feet..."
--Charlotte, Lost In Translation

Lisa Marie and I were trying to figure out why the flash on my camera wasn't working and ended up with this picture of our cool shoes (my skirt is supposed to hang that way!). This photo was taken toward the beginning of a 4 AM bender that began with an unsuccessful attempt at hitting every art opening on the 14th Street corridor Saturday night - I think we made it to five. Saw some great art that really makes me believe that DC's art scene is completely underrated. After the openings wrapped up, we headed to Viridian and closed the bar, then closed Solly's where we annoyed all the jocks in the joint by playing tunes like Dancing Queen and Michael Jackson's Beat It on the jukebox, then hit Ben's Chili Bowl for some chili cheese fries and half-smokes.

Olga Viso leaving Hirshhorn

I just got back from NYC this morning so am a couple days behind on this sad news, but Olga Viso is leaving the Hirshhorn for the Walker Art center in Minneapolis. This is a HUGE loss for the DC art scene and for the Hirshhorn. Much of the reason for my involvement with the Hirshhorn has been because I liked her so much (along with the other brilliant young curators who I hope will continue to work there!). Olga has great artistic vision and is an inspiring and soothing presence. Rats!

Read more about it in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

* I just noticed that my buddy Ken Cedeno should be credited with taking this photograph of Olga that I took off the NY Times website.

Another busy art weekend!

Friday night:

National Museum of African Art
950 Independence Avenue

7 to 11 PM

Dissident Display Gallery
416 H street NE

WILDSTYLE
THE EXHIBITION

7pm - 12midnight

Saturday night:

Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th Street

Susan Jamison: Trust in Me
&
Courney Jordan, Restructuring

6-8PM

Curator's Office
1515 14th Street

Jiha Moon
Line Tripping

6-8 PM

G Fine Art
1515 14th Street

ian whitmore
honi soit qui mal y pense

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Project 4
903 U Street

CEDRIC DELSAUX
Landscapes / Star Wars on Earth

6:00 - 8:30pm

Randall Scott Gallery
1326 14th Street

Nathan Baker
Rupture (part one)

6pm-9pm

Transformer Gallery 1404 P Street SASS 7-9pm Featuring work in a variety of disciplines including photo-collage, video, performance, painting, drawing, and mixed media installation, SASS offers a small survey of contemporary artwork by a new generation of women artists. Holly Bass (WDC), Amanda Douglas (Lexington,KY), Natalia Fabia (LA, CA), Danniel Swatosh (NYC), and Lisa Marie Thalhammer (WDC) each explore concepts of femininity, identity, and pop culture perceptions of women through their diverse artistic endeavors.

1515 14th Street

Reneé Stout
Journal: Book One

6:30 - 8:30pm

Adamson Gallery
1515 14th Street

Chuck Close: New Works

Arts on Foot 2007
Penn Quarter

11:00am – 5:00pm

Rock Opera

My super talented friend Amelia Winger-Bearskin has created a rock opera that will premier this month in Austin, where she is finishing her MFA in performance art. Think David Bowie and Pink Floyd except that this rock opera was written by an artist who also happens to be an excellent musician (Amelia was trained as an opera singer at Eastman!), rather than by rockstars who are excellent musicians. In addition to writing the music, Amelia also sewed the costumes and painted the sets!

Look here for more about Amelia's work. She's becoming an internationally-known video and performance artist.

Cory Oberndorfer in Options show. Yay!

I'm really excited that Cory Oberndorfer will be featured in this show! He's super talented and an all-around nice guy. I love his paintings of roller derby girls.

Pepco's Edison Place Gallery
702 Eighth Street NW

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 13, 6:30-8:30 pm
CURATOR TALK: Sunday, October 7, 2:00 pm
ARTIST TALK: Friday, October 26, 6:30-8:30 pm

Curated by PAUL BREWER

Originally developed in 1981 by the WPA board of directors, the first WPA OPTIONS biennial was curated by legendary artist Gene Davis and Washington Review editor Mary Swift. Continuing with this historic and eagerly anticipated exhibition, OPTIONS 2007 curator Paul Brewer, Director of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, has selected 10 emerging artists who represent the creative diversity of the region. 2007 marks the 12th year of OPTIONS and the ongoing dedication of the WPA\C to support, promote and encourage new and emerging talent, as well as to stimulate dialogue between established and emerging artists, and the regional community.

2007 OPTIONS ARTISTS:

TAYLOR BALDWIN
ANNE CHAN
NEIL FEATHER
ELI KESSLER
CORY OBERNDORFER
PAT O'MALLEY
SIOBHAN RIGG
KATHLEEN SHAFER
SAYAKA SUZUKI
RENE TREVINO

We're in college again!

Last week in the Outerbanks, it felt like we were in college again. We played drinking games! We watched horror movies! We played Guitar Hero! The babies slept through most of it.

Adams Morgan Day Festival

And don't forget about the Adams Morgan Day Festival on Sunday from 12 to 7 PM! With Arts on Belmont starting at 10 AM. My friend Kristina Bilonick will be showing her new line of duct tape wallets - in pink!

Kerry tests organic jeans

An artist I love, Kerry Skarbakka, often sports jeans (or nothing at all!) while performing daredevil stunts for his photographs. So who better than Kerry to test-drive a pair of organic, vegetable-dyed Loomstate jeans. Read all about it on Psychopedia.

Gone fishin'

Got up at 4:00 AM this morning to go fishing with Cap'n Ralph on the Jamesy Boy. It's a beautiful time of day if you can get yourself up.

Here I am reeling in the big one. It ended up being a 20+ pound albacore.


The spoils: four albacore, five mackerels, and a little sea bass. And, of course, the huge one that got away. . .

Weekend arts

The 2007 fall art season kicks off this weekend with lots of great shows. Following is an incomplete (and slightly long) sampling of what's on the docket this weekend.

FORGOT ONE!
At the Warehouse . . .
Art Romp 20 + Art Romp 20 + Art Romp 20 + Art Romp 20
Friday Sept 7 from 6 - 11pm

*art *performance *projection inside and out *picnic in the parking lot

See the work of artists from all the years of Art Romps
See art in all the Warehouse spaces buzzing with the echoes of the past
Be part of the past and future of Warehouse. AND as usual Food - Drink - Fun

(Our final ART ROMP, but not our final art show - more shows scheduled for Oct., Nov., and Dec.)

Over 100 Art Romp Artists!

blk w/bear * Monocle Collective 4 * Adrienne Moumin * Nooni Reitig * Alexandra Silverthorne * Peter Romero * Angela White * Manon Cleary * Anne Marchand * Piero Passacantando * Beth Baldwin * Randall Stoltzfus * Beth Cartland * Rania Hassan * Bridget Sue Lambert * Jane Jerardi * Carolina Mayorga * Richard Wellons * Cameron Ayres * Joele Michaud * Dana Ellyn * Rosetta McPherson * Dara Friel * Peter Wood * Elizabeth Morrisette * Ruth Trevarow * Ellen Weiss * Frederick Nunley * Erwin Timmers * Tim Martin * Gregory Ferrand * Ryan Hackett * Gabriela Bulisova * Tim Tate * Gail Peck * Michael Janis * Ian Jehle * Karen Schnitz * Heather Schmaedeke * Stephanie Dinkins * Heather Levy * Matt Sesow * Ira Tattelman * Sheila Crider * Isabel Manalo * Sondra Arkin * James Coleman * Sonia Linebaugh * Jared Davis * Steven Strichter * Jason Gottlieb * Dan Murray * J S Adams * Terence Nicholson * Joroko * Tom Drymon * Jose Ruiz * Rick Delany * Karen Joan Topping * Verta Reyes * Karey Kessler * Travis Childers * Kevin Cowl * Douglas Kingsbury * Kerri Sheehan * Anita Walsh * Kristin Holder * Christina Ruppert * Richard Kightlingler * Scott Brooks * Kim Burke * Jo Anne Carr * Kristina Bilonick * Pat Goslee * Keith Stanley * Randall Stoltzfus * Laura Elkins * Jim Dadey * Linda Hesh *Emily Tellez * Mark Planisek * Richard Chartier * Margaret Dowell * Claudia Vess * Michele delamenardiere * Gatien Cezeget * TM Lowery * Andrew Wodzianski * Pat Dunning * Jenufa Kent * Lucy Clark * Sherill Gross * George Koch * Eric Hammesfahr * Edward Purcell * Seth Kaplan

Warehouse Arts
1021 7th Street NW
202 783 3933

Heineman Myers Contemporary Art
Recent paintings of gallery artist Gerardo Bravo Garcia
Opening reception on Saturday, September 8th from 6 to 9pm.

Bravo’s message to viewers is that we should “live every day with the awareness that this moment is all we’ve got.”


Ice Stories: Digital Prints by Lisa Sheirer

September 7, 2007 - October 25, 2007
Opening Reception: 6 - 8pm on September 7, 2007
@ Hillyer Art Space
9 Hillyer Court, NW

To create her Ice Stories, artist Lisa Sheirer takes photographs of natural landscapes through ice coated windows, then manipulates them to create abstracted compositions. Minimalist in shape, but complex in their detail, Sheirer sculpts the images digitally in order to accentuate the symmetry and repetition found in the pattern of the ice crystals.

The Ice Stories radiate the natural color of the landscape and appear illuminated from within. No longer resembling a traditional landscape, Sheirer’s abstract forms instead exude the inner energy of the landscape. Their meditative quality conveys universal concepts about time, memory and dreams.


DIVIDED WE FALL: AMERICANS IN THE AFTERMATH

A film by Sharat Raju & Valarie Kaur
2006 | 110 min | Color | U.S.A.

Driven to action by the murder of a turbaned man in her community, a college student drives across America in the aftermath of 9/11 to discover stories that did not make the evening news. From the still-shocked streets of Ground Zero to the desert towns of the American West, Valarie Kaur's inspiring journey uncovers remarkable stories of hate violence, fear, and unspeakable loss – until she finds the heart of America halfway around the world. Five years in the making, Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath deftly explores race, religion, and what it means to be American in times of national crisis.
____________________________________________________________________________________

EVENT DETAILS

Location:
Kyle Poole's Home
3716 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington DC 20016

When: Friday, September 7th, from 7 to 10PM

Phone: 202-262-2181

Reception: 7 to 10PM
International food, music, and dance in honor of the 3rd annual 9/11 Unity Walk which will take place on Sunday Septemer 9, 2007. The Walk celebrates religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue. It starts at Washington's largest synagogue, stops at numerous places of worship (including the Islamic Center), and concludes at the Gandhi Memorial in Dupont Circle. For more information see here.

Screening of the Film: 8pm

SEPTEMBER 7 - GALLERY WALK

Botanica
September 7 - November 16, 2007

Opening Reception
September 7
6:00 - 9:00PM

Carroll Square Art Gallery
975 F Street, NW
Washington DC 20004
______________________________________________________

Noelle Tan: From Here to the Salton Sea
Erick Jackson: Vlad's Crib
September 7 - October 20, 2007

Opening Reception
September 7
7:00 - 9:00PM

Civilian Art Projects
406 7th Street, NW
3rd Floor
Washington DC 20004
_______________________________________________________

Brady Robinson: Shift
Curated by Chan Chao
September 7 - October 6, 2007

Opening Reception
September 7
6:00 - 9:00PM

Flashpoint
916 G Street, NW
Washington DC 20001

__________________________

MICHAEL PLATT In Transit

International Visions Gallery
2629 Connecticut Avenue, NW
September 1 - October 6, 2oo7

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 8
6:3o-9pm
________________________________

For last three decades Platt’s work has evolved trough thought provoking observations of the world with the human body. His current work involves tension between setting and subject, history and identity, and conventional representation with non-conventional representation. Through out his career, Platt has tried to create a new order and direction to explain his personal truth. In his new work his techniques engages us in several layers of artistic involvement, including painting directly on a model, photographing the model in the studio, and digitally collagen multiples images to compose the final work.

THE ONE WORD PROJECT

Curated by J.T. Kirkland
August 28 - September 29, 2007
Opening Reception Friday, September 7
6:30 to 9 PM

Arts Club of Washington
2017 I St., NW, Washington, DC 20006

202-331-7282

Tuesday - Friday, 10am - 5pm
Saturday, 10am - 2pm

The exhibition features work by James W. Bailey (VA), Rachael Baldanza (NY), Joseph Barbaccia (VA), Gregg Chadwick (CA), J. Coleman (DC), Anna Conti (CA), Warren Craghead III (VA), Rosetta DeBerardinis (MD), Greg Ferrand (DC), D. Keith Furon (CA), Matt Hollis (DC), Candace Keegan (MD), Angela Kleis (DC), Tara Krause (CA), Andrew Krieger (DC), Prescott Moore Lassman (DC), James Leonard (NY), Nathan Manuel (DC), Jennifer McMackon (Ontario, Canada), Jennifer Miller (DC), A.B. Miner (DC), Charles Neenan (VA), Peter Reginato (NY), Jose Ruiz (NY), Wayne Schoenfeld (CA), Kathleen Shafer (DC), Alexandra Silverthorne (DC), Marsha Stein (MD), Trish Tillman (NY), Kelly Towles (DC), Bryan Whitson (DC), and Jamie Wimberly (DC).

You can learn more about the project and the show at the curators website, Thinking About Art.



Nevin Kelly Gallery:
Saturday, September 8th, 6-9 pm
"Peer Pressure", guest curated by local artist Thom Flynn and
featuring the work of Sue Huang, Carrie Mallory, Baby Martinez, and Pascual Sisto

Local artist and guest curator Thom Flynn has assembled a group of his peers to size-up contemporary trends in art at Nevin Kelly Gallery, 1517 U Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Flynn chose the title "Peer Pressure" to demonstrate thepositive potential of a concept that is generally perceived as negative.