Oct. 11, 2008

Mary Ott's work

some of Chuck's new faces

Mary's delicate monoprints of grasses have been refined to their essence; they are beautiful, simple, shimmering. The best of Charles's monoprints and paintings of faces have, by contrast, become darker, more emotional, more dense, more powerful.

another Ott

Oct 3, 2008

Pat Goslee's

John Adams's

Lynn Putney's

The gallery is open Tuesday and Saturday afternoons and it's more than worth putting on your schedule to see new work from some of this town's most consistent performers.

Oct 2, 2008 

The Big One

Barbara being interviewed by Chase Rynd

Oct 2, 2008

Last weekend, the Black Artists of DC held open studios as a benefit for Barack Obama. Twenty percent of the proceeds from all sales were donated to the Obama campaign. With a deal like that, I didn't even try to resist.

Michael Platt's work

Daniel Brooking

Aziza

Sondra gazing at Aziza's work

Oct 1, 2008

Maurine Littleton in Georgetown is showing the best of DC glass art this month with the work of Time Tate, Michael Janis and Allegra Marquardt. These three work out of the Washington Glass School which is strategically located across the driveway from my studio in Mt. Ranier and I have known Tim and Michael forever. I have watched with the greatest admiration as they built a vibrant and exciting center of glass art in our area from scratch, developed new techniques, moved glass from the decorative and functional to another level, and inspired dozens of students.

Michael Janis

Tim continues to develop his narrative and conceptual themes, working with video screens captured inside jars that tell stories of sweet and heartbreaking innocence (the dyptich of a young girl pretending to fly like a bird) and optimistic ambition (the series around an aspiring writer). It seems to me that his themes have broadened from the intensely personal imagery that told of his coming to terms with being gay and HIV-positive to more universal stories of growth, ambition and, sometimes, disappointment.

Allegra Marquardt comes from the world of print-making, which she teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art and her glass work is truly one-of-a-kind. She uses fairy tales, fables and children’s rhymes, often translating them quite literally into crystalline, graphic glass pieces. The pieces are made more visually compelling by the play of underlayers of soft color against the sharp-cut dark shapes on top.

Sept. 28, 2008

  I saw a whole lotta art today, about which more to follow in the fullness of time. However, I didn't want to wait too long before calling out the show at Howard University's beautifully refurbished  Childers Hall Art Gallery of the forty years of life and work at Howard of Starmanda Bullock.  Bullock earned her undergraduate, masters and PhD degrees at Howard begining in 1965 and she has since served on the faculty, as Chairman of the Art Department and on the Board of Trustees. She has helped to shape the careers of a couple of generations of students and, judging by the work here, managed to turn out a body of first class art work along the way.

Starmanda Bullock self-portrait

It is no secret that the art world in this town is too divided racially and generationally. Dont miss this chance to get over to Howard and see what's been going on there for a very long time. 

Sept. 24, 2008

I just got back from a trip to Capitol Hill to attend the book launch party for a friend who has written a very interesting book on US-Europe relations in the wake of 9/11. (Sarwar Kashmeri, "America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: the Great Divide.") It's a place I haven't visited for several years. In fact, I haven't been in the deep bowels of official DC for a long time and this was a heck of a day to pick, given that Treasury Secretary Paulsen and Fed Chairman Bernanke were about 50 yards down the hall trying to convince all of us to pay for the gluttony of the pigs on Wall Street.  That would be NOW and don't read the fine print. So there was a huge crowd of people trying to get into the hearing room where they were performing while Kash was having his book event just down the hall.

Having been away, I was struck by certain things that the inmates and frequent visitors don't even see anymore. First among these: the world can be divided into two kinds of people - the ones who wear badges and can skip around the lines for photo id and metal detector, and the rest of us.  These are the Badge People. Badge people are always going somewhere, they know exactly where they are going, and they are late. Badge People on Capitol Hill tend to be wearing suits -this is not necessarily true of badge people in the further outposts of government - but not Italian-tailored suits. Italian tailoring is for lobbyists. Badge People wear Ann Taylor and Hickey Freeman. Badge People don't make eye contact with the rest of us because we might be an angry constituent or a tourist asking for directions to Room 2345. Hint: it's not on the second floor. Badge People are resolute and focussed and in a hurry. Makes the rest of us tired.

Sept. 24, 2008,

Lillian Burwell's shaped canvas - wow

Nevin and Groover studying Pat Goslee's piece

Kristina Bilonik, Bridget Sue Lambert displaying amazement, and friend

Twelve Linear Feet of art by Ellyn Weiss