Last chance to vote!

The Define Live-Work contest draws to a close at midnight tonight. So vote now on the ideas that were submitted throughout July on how the Solea live-work space can be used as a home as well as a workplace. The winner gets $500! And one of the ideas will be selected by the developer to be staged in the space by faboo designer Fabian Bernal. You'll get to see Fabian's handiwork at the awards ceremony on August 20.

Oh, and my friend Joe thinks the space should be used as the Pink Line Project headquarters. What a brilliant idea! My awesome interns would really appreciate it too because we're starting to *not* fit around my dining table anymore.

Bloomingdale neighborhood art + music walk tomorrow

We spend so much of our lives fighting traffic so we can sit around in square white boxes in sterile office buildings and communicate with each other via text messages, emails, and Facebook. Wouldn't it be nice to get outside and hang out in a really cool neighborhood with friendly folks, listening to great music, looking at some really nice art, and enjoying a glass of free wine? Here's your chance! Come on down to the Bloomingdale neighborhood tomorrow and have a good ole time doing all those fun things!

Pink Line Project brought in a cross-section of artists from across the city to install sculpture in some residential front yards and other kinds of art inside some of the businesses. Pep Rally For Peace organized the diverse music. Grab a map/program to find the art and music. There will be questions for you to answer on the map. Fill in the answers that can be found along the way, show your correct answers to a Pink Line Project volunteer at either cafe, and receive a free beverage thanks to North Capitol Main Street.

First on 1st
Art + Music Walk

Saturday, August 1
Noon to 4 pm

Along 1st Street, NW
Between Florida Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue

Pick up maps/programs at:
Big Bear Cafe - 1700 1st Street, NW
Windows Cafe - 101 Rhode Island Avenue, NW

More info about whose playing and what artists are showing here.


You also get to play with dirt tomorrow! Clay artist Margaret Boozer is setting up a really cool installation at 1837 1st Street where you get to create art using clay she has dug up from all over the place. You will be absolutely amazed by the natural colors! Here are the first two squares she's done to get you started.

A great arts patron

Peggy Cooper Cafritz is an important and avid art collector and patron who nurtured young artists, like Hank Willis Thomas who first met her as a student at the Duke Ellington School. Her support helped him become a highly lauded and successful artist who produces beautiful, compelling, meaningful work. "My work and success is very much connected to her, and her reinvestment in me," Thomas said in the Washington Post today. I admire her devotion to young artists and think of her as a role model for how to contribute to the art life and the life of creative thinking. An invaluable art collection was lost this week when her house burned down. But I have a feeling she'll rebuild the collection and foster many more artists to come.

Image: "Basketball and Chain" by Hank Willis Thomas.

Surf Montreal

I'm not hardcore enough to get into this kind of surf! But I love that there are people out there, in this case Montreal, who are so passionate about surfing that even a strong current and chilly temperatures won't deter them.

Standing up on a surfboard can be a difficult enough challenge, but this variety of surfing requires tenacity upon first entering the water, keeping with the correct flow of the current in order to position yourself in the heart of the rapids. Beginners can opt for the assistance of a rope, a sure-fire way to keep from missing the surf and ending up a mile downstream.

From Coolhunting. (Thanks Richard for the link.)

Only three more days to vote on Define Live-Work space ideas

Only three more days to vote in the Define Live-Work contest! Some really really great ideas were submitted including the one below (I did not put him up to this!) for how the Solea live-work space could be used. The winning idea gets $500 and will be staged in the space by designer Fabian Bernal. Vote now here!


Oh and if you missed the voting party last night, you missed a chance to hear me spin when DJ Gold was taking a break. Har!

Images: Joe Flood.

Arty stuff this week...

Special Election! The voting begins...

KEG PARTY!!

Presented by Mobfuse (Pink Line Project + Cooltown Studios + Corrigan)

Tuesday, July 28

6 - 8pm

@ Solea Live-Work Space

1405 Florida Ave, NW

"Versus"

Asia Trash! film series

presented by Freer + Sackler Galleries

Thursday, July 30

7 - 9pm

Intended for mature audiences.

Yakuza gangsters, zombies, an escaped convict still shackled to a severed hand:

Ryuhei Kitamura's "nonstop action gorefest"

Japanese with English subtitles

@ Freer + Sackler Galleries

1050 Independence Ave, SW

Food Stamp Line, Mixed Media, 36" x 48"

Waiting With Hope: Images of Our Times

New Mixed Media Paintings by Jennifer Duncan

July 28 - August 30

Artist's Reception

Friday, July 31

5 - 7pm

@ Duality Contemporary

2401 26th Road South, Arlington

Yuji Hiratsuka

Washington Printmakers Gallery presents:

12th Annual National Small Works

July 28 - August 30

Opening Receptions

Friday, July 7

5 - 8pm

@ Washington Printmakers Gallery

1732 Connecticut Ave NW

First On 1st

Art + Music Walk

Presented by The Pink Line Project / North Capitol Main Street

Free beverage to those who complete the walking tour game! Drink specials for everyone!

Saturday, August 1

Noon - 4pm

Along 1st Street NW,

Between Florida Ave and Rhode Island Ave.

New Currency: Shared Resources

A group exhibition organized by Civilian Art Projects for 87FLORIDA

As part of the First on 1st Neighborhood Art + Music Walk

sponsored by the Pink Line Project and North Capitol Main Street

Saturday, August 1

Noon - 4pm

@ 87FLORIDA

87 Florida Ave, NW

Jun Young Kang, CRM Stripes, oil on panel, 20" x 17", 2009

Academy 2009

9th Annual MFA/BFA survey

August 1 - September 4

WPA Workshop and Exhibit Opening

Saturday, August 1

Workshop: 4 - 6pm

Exhibit Opening: 6 - 8pm

PULSE Presents - emerging artist award: 7pm

@ Conner Contemporary Art

1358-60 Florida Ave, NE

Julie Niskanen, Illusionary Reflection, mezzotint

Julie Niskanen

Artist's Talk

Sunday, August 2

2pm

@ Washington Printmakers Gallery

1732 Connecticut Ave NW

Awesome DC street art

Time magazine names their choices for top 10 guerilla artists in the world. Awesome DC artist Mark Jenkins made the cut! See here for more images. (Thanks Richard for giving me the head up on this!)

Margaret Boozer rocks

Awesome artist Margaret Boozer got a nice little review in the Washington Post of her current show at the Katzen. Very cool! You can see more of her art work at the neighborhood art and music walk in Bloomingdale this Saturday, August 1. The Bloomingdale piece will be a much different experience from the Katzen mainly because the work will be outside and altered by the elements over time. It'll be a fun to come back every once in a while to see how it changes. But come on Saturday to see what it looks like when Margaret first installs it.

We need more cool public art!

Outdoor public art has evolved from massive glorifications of heroes and their horses to art that "diverts, amuses and comforts," according to a really great article in the New York Times. It will always be important to honor those who do great things, but it's also important for public art to challenge how we see the world sometimes or to just be fun. Not always easy to convince people to do this!

The big problem for outdoor art is the absence of any consensus of values in our pluralistic, multicultural society. It’s hard to imagine a public sculpture of a hero today that would not be regarded by one faction or another as partisan. As an unscientific sampling of art in the public realm this summer confirms, contemporary outdoor art tends to offer unobjectionable, mildly decorative or entertaining and relatively empty experiences.

Image: Tara Donovan’s plastic construction at Lever House. By Librado Romero/The New York Times

DC collectors give advice on collecting art

Several arty friends were featured in a recent Washington Spaces magazine article giving great advice on collecting art. I especially agree with what James Alefantis had to say about why to collect art:

“It’s not about rarefied objects you put on your wall,” Alefantis says, “it’s a way of engaging in the world.” He describes collecting as a way of exploring and expressing interests, of strengthening the community dialogue about those interests.

Read more here.

Design thinking helps you solve problems

“Design is the most accessible form of visual culture — we touch it. We use it everyday. It’s based on solving a particular problem,” says Jennifer Northrop of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. I could not agree more! That's why I love the Define Live-Work contest. It allows anyone to think about how a live-work space can be designed without having to be a designer. Fabulous designer Fabian Bernal will take care of actually implementing the winning design in the space. (Don't forget to take a look and vote for your favorite design idea!) But more importantly, it stimulates your creative juices to think about how to solve a problem: what's the best use for an unusual live-work space in the heart of Washington, DC?

The above quotation references a series of discussions today all around DC that will educate and expose non-designers to the art of design and its importance to everyday living. To give you an idea of the importance of design, Michelle Obama is hosting a luncheon in conjunction with the program today. More info here.

Image: Courtesy Shop Architects and Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Special Election!

Some of DC's most creative thinkers submitted a ton of great ideas to the Define Live-Work contest over the past three weeks.

Now the real fun begins.

From July 24 through July 31, everyone will be able to rate each idea.

The highest rated idea will win $500!

Plus, one idea will be selected from the highest rated ideas and will actually be staged in the Solea live-work space at 1405 Florida Avenue by a professional designer.

Come back on August 20 to for an awards ceremony and to see the space transformed into a real live-work environment.

Special Election!
Voting Party
Tuesday, July 28
6 to 8 PM
@1405 Florida Avenue, NW

FREE BEER! :)
DJ Gold (The Fridge DC)
Break Dancers!

Last day to submit live-work idea for $500 prize

Today is the last day to submit your idea for how the Solea live-work space can be used. We've gotten some really creative entries! Voting begins tomorrow. The winning idea gets $500 and will be staged in the actual space! Hurry on up people!

More groovy benefits for Pink Line Project fans

Another cool offer for Pink Line Project fans. As reported earlier today, the Freer Sackler will show a series of trashy Asian films each Thursday for the rest of the summer. The first 10 people who RSVP to me here will receive a VIP pass that guarantees a reserved seat and allows you to skip the line. Here's next week's movie:

Versus
Thursday, July 30. 7 PM, Meyer Auditorium*

Intended for mature audiences. Yakuza gangsters, zombies, an escaped convict still shackled to a severed hand: Ryuhei Kitamura's "nonstop action gorefest" (Scott Tobias, Onion AV Club) is a must-see for connoisseurs of good trashy fun. Japan / 2000 / 119 min. / Japanese with English subtitles

Join Facebook Fan Page here.

Or join the email list here:

Email

Bloomingdale neighborhood art + music festivities on August 1

The Pink Line Project and North Capitol Main Street are putting together a really fun art + music walk in the Bloomingdale neighborhood on Saturday, August 1. We're installing cool sculpture in several front yards on 1st Street, NW, and hanging art in several of the businesses along the way. Pep Rally For Peace has arranged for a great line-up of music too! Grab your event programs at either Big Bear Cafe or Windows Cafe and follow the map to find the art. There will be a fun (easy!) game to play that will get you a free drink at Windows if you complete it. There might even be some sno-cones!

First on 1st
Art + Music Walk

Saturday, August 1
Noon to 4pm

Along 1st Street, NW
(Between Florida Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue)

Pick up programs at Big Bear and Windows.

Artists:
Lisa Marie Thalhammer
BK Adams
Margaret Boozer
Peter Wood
Chris Tousimis
DECOY
Patty Firestone
Amber Robles-Gordon
Ten Miles Square
Serinity Knight
Megan Blafas

Music program:
Organized by Pep Rally For Peace
Michael Trotter
Senetra Bridgette
Tek X Millennium and Friends
3rd Generation Band
Joy Dion
Tameka
Kool K and the KL Movement
(We're still adding acts so check back here for updates.)

Art exhibition opening:

"A New Currency: Shared Resources" A group exhibition organized by Civilian Art Projects for 87FLORIDA

Including:
Seth Adelsberger
Nick Carr
Anthony Dihle
Carole Wagner Greenwood
Ryan Hill
Erick Jackson
Amanda Kleinman
Kate MacDonnell
Cara Ober

Trashy asian films are hilarious

The Freer Sackler has been doing some very fun programming lately! Check out this Asia Trash! film series:

Visitors who value the Freer's commitment to presenting the finest examples of Asian art and culture may be surprised by our decision to present a film series called Asia Trash. They may be even more surprised to learn that trash cinema is, to many people, an important art form, with its own pantheon of great artists pondering deep questions, such as: what happens when zombies get hold of machine guns? Could toxic chemicals dumped in the Han River give birth to a giant slimy monster bent on gorging itself on the population of Seoul? Are Thai cowboys as good at singing as they are at gunslinging? Is the force of the blood spurting from a man's severed legs sufficient to propel him around the room like a rapidly deflating balloon? As Oliver Stone once said, "One of the joys of going to the movies was that it was trashy, and we should never lose that." This summer, we're doing our best to make sure that the art of trash cinema continues to thrive.

Hilarious! Go here for more info.

Last chance to enter Define Live-Work contest

We got a bunch of really great live-work space ideas last night for the Define Live-Work contest. I think the sno-cones and carnival games did the trick! You only have a couple more days to submit ideas on what a live-work space could be before voting begins. The winning idea will be awarded $500 and be staged in the space by fabulous designer Fabian Bernal.

July 23: Deadline for submitting ideas at Define Live-Work.
July 24-31: Voting!
July 31: Design idea selected.
August 20: Come back for award ceremony and see the space transformed.

Surfing in North Carolina

Just came across these pictures in the New York Times of surfing in North Carolina taken by surfer pal Chris Bickford. Nice work!

Arty stuff this week...

Pepa Leon

Private Garden

July 21 - October 2009

Opening Reception

Tuesday, July 11

5:30 - 7pm

Opening Remarks at 6pm

@ REYES + DAVIS

505 9th Street, NW

PLAY-LIVE-WORK

Tuesday, July 21

6 - 8pm

Featuring:

DJ Gold (The Fridge DC).

Ring Toss, Krazy Kans, Big Mouth Toss, and Skeeball

Think of ideas on how a cool live-work space can be used as both a home and workplace! If your idea wins, you get $500!

Submit and vote at Define Live-Work

@ Solea condo live-work space

1405 Florida Avenue, NW

Manon Cleary

New Pastels

July 18 - August 22

Opening Reception

Wednesday, July 22

5 - 7pm

@ Addison/Riply Fine Arts

1670 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Sparkplug

Artist Talk

Wednesday, July 22

7 - 9pm

This event is free and open to the public.

RSVP appreciated but not required: 703-248-6800

@ Arlington Arts Center

3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington

The Transformers Invade Silver Spring

presented by Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center and the Silver Spring Regional Center

as part of “Screen on the Lot”

Wednesday, July 22

9 -11pm

@ Pyramid Atlantic Parking Lot

8230 Georgia Avenue, Arlington

   

African Diaspora Film Series 

presented by All Roads Film Project

Thursday, July 23 - Saturday, July 25 

$10 

Tickets available here

@National Geographic Live

1600 M Street, NW 

Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting 

presented by dog & pony dc

Thursday, July 23, 8pm

Friday, July 24, 10:30pm

Saturday, July 25, 10:30

 Sunday, July 26, 6pm

$15 + $5 Fringe Button

@ Source

1835 14th St NW

 

Fluidity

Monotypes by Jenny Walton

July 23 - October 20

@ Visions Exhibition Space

The Public Arts Trust of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery Co.

5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda

Rick Beck

Contemporary cast glass sculpture for those who like color

July 23 - September 12

Thursday, July 23

5 - 7:30pm

@ Habatat Galleries

8020 Towers Crescent Dr.

Tysons Corner, VA

Line Forms Here

works in various media with a linear focus

July 22 - August 23

Opening Reception with the Artists

Thursday, July 23

6 - 8pm

@ Plan B Gallery

1530 Fourteenth Street, NW

M3: MCs, Mics and Metaphors

A contemporary art exhibition that explores the creative power of the lyricism and poetry of hip-hop music through visual imagery

July 23 – August 29

Hosted by Asheru, Guerilla Arts Ink/H.E.L.P.

Curated by Tewodross Melchishua

Thursday, July 23

6 - 8pm

@ Gallery at Flashpoint

916 G Street, NW

Contradiction Dance: In the Flesh

Part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival

Thursday, July 23

6:30 - 7:30pm

$15; free for Phillips members

@ The Phillips Collection

1600 21st Street, NW (21st at Q)

After Party!
Darlington House
1610 20th Street, NW

Pretty Speeches

Artist talk with Ryan Hill

with secret surprises and treats...

Thursday, July 23

6:30 - 8:30pm

@ Civilian Art Projects

406 7th St. NW, Second Floor

Young Concert Artist PREVIEW CONCERT  

presented by IDB Cultural Center 

Preview of Korean Young Concert Artist violinist, Hahn-Bin 

Thursday, July 23

6:30 p.m. 

@ Enrique V. Iglesias Conference Center 

1330 New York Avenue NW 

DOUZ AND MILLE's Dwell2

Cava and Conversation with

Noah Bopp, Founder and Director of The School for Ethics and Global Leadership

Friday, July 24

6 - 8pm

@ DOUZ AND MILLE

923 F Street #303 (one block from Chinatown Metro)

Reincorporation Jamboree

June 22 - July 25

Featuring Kristina Bilonick, Ben Fino-Radin,

Sean Johnson Theodore Knox and Hatnim Lee

Closing Reception

Friday, July 24

7 - 9pm

@ Honfleur Gallery

1241 Good Hope Road SE

Margaret Boozer

Dirt Drawings

June 27 - August 16

Artist's Talk

Saturday, July 25

2pm

Presented by Project4 Gallery

@ American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

4400 Massachusetts Ave NW

Art Whino and Fabric8 Announces:

HEAVY HITTERZ: MARYLAND

July 25 - August 15

Opening Party

Saturday, July 25

6pm - midnight

@ Art Whino Gallery

173 Waterfront St

Oxon Hill, MD

good people, bad behavior

July 25 - August 15

Recent work by MFA candidates,

VCU's Department of Sculpture + Extended Media.

Opening Reception

Saturday, July 25

6:30 - 8:30pm

@ G Fine Art

1515 14th Street NW, Suite 200

Lou Reed

Romanticism

Exhibit Opening and Book Premier

Saturday, July 25

6:30 - 9:30pm

@ Adamson Gallery

1515 14th Street NW

The Observation Box, Elyse Harrison, 24" x 24", acrylic on wood, 2006

Elyse Harrison

ART + MUSIC

Jazz and beat poetry featuring

vocalist Maris Wicker and Mark "Wireman" Coburn

Sunday, July 26

8 - 11pm

@ Gallery Neptune

5001 Wilson Lane

Taffety Punk Presents:

Bootleg Troilus & Cressida

Monday, July 27

7 - 10pm

@ Folger Shakespeare Theatre

201 East Capitol Street, SE