Category: visual art

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around my way: Good art for a good cause

More good art for a good cause here in the Anacostia Arts District! read below:

Stories and Migrations: Concurrent Exhibitions Raise Awareness and Funds Photography by  Antoine Sanfuentes and Ann Curry of NBC and Deborah Terry of International Lifeline Fund.

Friday January 22nd at 7pm marks the opening at Honfleur Gallery of
Stories, an exhibit of photographic stories created by three artists to
help raise awareness and funds for relief efforts in  African nations.
Stories features documentary photography created by Antoine Sanfuentes in
a 2008 visit to East Goma with NBC’s Ann Curry covering topics such as
children soldiers of Africa, education and rape.  Works by Ann Curry will
be presented from the same trip, alongside Deborah Terry’s images of
Sudanese and Ugandan refugees and conflict victims as well as multimedia
presentations of the grassroots work done by International Lifeline Fund.
Proceeds from this exhibition and the opening night fundraiser will go to
support International Lifeline Fund.

Concurrently, Terry will be exhibiting at The Gallery at Vivid Solutions,
also in Historic Anacostia, with a solo exhibition entitled Migrations,
illuminating the lives of two disparate groups at odds in the Darfur
conflict;  nomadic herders known as Janjaweed, and the refugees displaced
by them.

About the Artists:
Antoine Sanfuentes is an Emmy award wining producer and the Deputy Bureau Chief for NBC news in Washington, DC.  He has traveled extensively with Today show’s Ann Curry in Africa, several times to Darfur.  In February
2008, Sanfuentes and Curry traveled to war-torn Eastern Congo to report on
the situation there. Over the course of a week in and around Goma, Congo
the team covered the atrocities and the perpetrators of a conflict that
has claimed more lives than in World War II.  Sanfuentes’ pictures
document that journey including a visit to a so called “rape hospital”
where entire wards are dedicated to survivors of brutal rapes. An
interview with Rebel commander General Nkunda who now sits in a jail cell
in Rwanda for crimes his forces committed against the Congolese and
finally, the youngest casualties of this conflict, the children. The team
visited UNICEF’s secluded child soldier rehabilitation center.

Deborah Terry is the Vice President and Creative Director of International
Lifeline Fund, based in Washington DC. In 2005, she helped found ILF with
her partner Daniel Wolf in memory of his father, the late Professor George
Wolff.  Rising from humble beginnings in Washington DC, Terry started
shooting photography in the late 1980’s. She moved to New York to pursue a
career in fashion photography. From fashion, she expanded her creative
ability to music photography, working for various records labels in NYC.
More recently she has turned to a more personally fulfilling undertaking,
focusing on the challenge of uncovering the desperate plight of refugees
and other impoverished peoples while capturing the simplicity and grace of
their everyday life.  Her development work dovetails with her photography
as she sheds light on some of the least known issues and challenges of
these conflict zones.

The International Lifeline Fund is a not for profit international relief
and development organization dedicated to water & sanitation issues,
microenterprise and fuel efficient technologies.  “The International
Lifeline Fund seeks to reduce human misery and environmental destruction
in the lesser developed world through programs and activities that
generate the greatest possible impact at the lowest possible cost.”

Honfleur Gallery is a contemporary art space located in the Historic
Anacostia. Opened in 2007, it maintains a rigorous schedule of exhibitions
and programming that focuses on cutting edge contemporary exhibitions by
living artists from the USA and abroad.

The Gallery at Vivid Solutions is a photography and digital arts
exhibition space that is dedicated to showcasing and supporting
established contemporary artists as well as aspiring local Washington,
D.C. talents.

ARCH Development Corporation
Both galleries are projects of the ARCH Development Corporation whose
mission is to act as a catalyst for cultural revitalization, primarily in
the historic Anacostia neighborhood by creating a home for arts & artists,
cultural organizations, and compatible businesses as a means to fulfill
its objectives of community-based economic development and sustainable
living neighborhoods.

For further inquiries, please contact Briony Evans Hynson, Creative
Director at 202-536-8994 or arts@archdc.org

Honfleur Gallery
1227 Good Hope Road SE
Washington DC 20020
www.honfleurgallery.com

The Gallery at Vivid Solutions
2208 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE
Washington DC 20020
www.vividsolutionsdc.com

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around my way:Anacostia Foto Week Events: Nov 7- 14!!!

Fotoweek Anacostia: November 7th - November 14th
Fotoweek Anacostia: November 7th - November 14th

Honfleur Fotoweek Poster 2009

Click either the image or the link for more info

Tickets Still Available! Silent Auction + Reception hosted by Senator Al and Franni Franken to celebrate the kick-off of DCFotoWeek in Anacostia and the opening of Owen Franken : A Photography Retrospective. The Senator will be drawing his famous free-hand map of the US to be auctioned off during the event. Tickets are $25 – email bferraro@archdc.org or call 202-365-8392.

A preview of Owen Franken’s, “A Photography Retrospective” at The Gallery at Vivid Solutions is free and will open at 6:30 pm.

Saturday, November 7 – Saturday, November 14: (all openings at 7PM on the 7th)

Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Road SE

Women Photojournalists of Washington: Including works by Astrid Riecken, Allison Shelley, Abby Greenawalt, Ashely Twiggs, Algerina Perna, Amanda Lucidon, Andrea Bruce, Carol Guzy, Gabriela Bulisova, Jamie Rose, Katie Falkenberg, Laura Pohl, Melina Mara, Sarah L. Voisin, and Yanina Manolova.

Alternative Art Space, 2200 MLK Ave SE

BK Adams’ and Steven M. Cummings’ I AM ART: Presenting an experimental installation with interactive components.

Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 MLK Ave SE

Owen Franken, A Photography Retrospective: Owen has traveled to over 100 countries and covered everything from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the culture of food and wine in his home city of Paris.

This is a great excuse to check out Anacostia for the first or the hundredth time. Come on over!

(text courtesy of And Now, Anacostia)

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around my way: RIVER. EAST. ART

I try to keep up with all the interesting neighborhood bloggers around town, renewshaw is one that I read regularly.

When i checked it out today there was an interesting article up there about the financial woes of both the building owner and the gallerist at the well known art complex at 1515 14th Street NW.

in his/her post shaw rez suggested that the galleries should relocate to Shaw, because of lower rents (for now) and centralized buildings with architectural character. While I cannot disagree with him/her, I can think at least two other solid locations with just as much potential if not more than the 9th Street Corridor.

Firstly, the H Street Corridor, with help of the Great Streets Initiative and the efforts of a lot of good organizations and individuals H Street is quickly becoming a desired destination by those in the know and those willing to venture East of 11th and U Sts NW, not mention North Capitol Street.

Secondly, Downtown Anacostia, I know as some of you are reading this you are already scoffing at the idea but what many of you may not know is that there are already three Fine Art galleries there that have been adding to the art scene of this city for almost 4 years, Honfleur Gallery, Vivid Solutions and American Poetry Museum’s Gallery, have been showing work by locally, regionally, nationally and internationally known artists since opening their doors. Additionally they have been participating in ongoing cultural exchanges programs with artists and galleries in France (Dorothy’s Galerie), Wales, Belfast (Belfast Exposed), Cuba (Lazaro Baptisa), these collaborations have sent Washington DC and River East based youth and adult artists around the world showing their art…..

So i started thinking to myself although Shaw would be a good place move for the 14th Street galleries, i think it would be a wiser move to have those galleries plug themselves into a community that has created an international arts community without the help of all the critical attention, foot traffic, and the brut force of an economic development engine that continues to support the neighborhood. Additionally in considering Downtown Anacostia would probably give these gallerist the opportunity to buy their own space and not have to immediately worry about their taxes increasing at an alarming rate (500% in the case of another Shaw artspace, The Warehouse).

I am hopeful that someday soon business like these soon-to-be displaced galleries will come to communities further East and perhaps even as far as River East. I think they will be pleasantly surprised to find a community spawned unofficial arts district already hard at work in the heart of Downtown Anacostia.

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around my way: Summer Jamboree: Live Music and Art in Anacostia

Summer Jamboree: Live Music and Art in Anacostia

Vivid Solutions DC and Honfleur Gallery will host concurrent arts events this Friday night at 7pm. The closing receptions kick off at 7pm for Chandi Kelley’s solo exhibition Timelines and for Reincorporation Jamboree, a group show featuring emerging artists looking at societal rites of passage. Vivid Solutions DC and Honfleur Gallery are located in the historic district of Anacostia, just a four block walk from each other.

Reincorporation Jamboree at Honfleur Gallery: 7-9pm

Artists Seeking a Secular Coming of Age

Artists like Joseph Beuys have built catalogs of work looking at rites of passage. Reincorpartion Jamboree draws

from the work of five young artists who have emerged from what could be considered contemporary American rites of passage like: middle school dances, under employment, financing higher education and urban survival. Curator and DC artist Steven Frost examines this emergence with a group of young artists from several regions of the US. The work of Kristina Bilonick (Washington, DC), Ben Fino-Radin (Providence, RI), Hatnim Lee (Brooklyn, NY), Sean M. Johnson (Boston, MA), and Theo Knox (San Francisco, CA) premiers at Honfleur Gallery in this incisive body of contemporary study of reincorporation. www.honfleurgallery.com

Timelines at Vivid Solutions DC: 7-9pm

Solo Exhibition of works by Chandi Kelley

Exhibition dates: June 22nd – September 8th

Timelines, a collection of photographs inspired by the theme of memory and mystery, are constructed images of bookends, antique books and wallpaper. Methodically photographed, the spines of the books function as a timeline reading from left to right. The text and image combine in a striking, evocative collection. Ms. Kelley was awarded the Young Artist Program Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for this body of work, and Timelines is the artist’s first solo show. www.vividsolutionsdc.com

The Bellevederes at Honfleur Gallery: 9pm-?

Baltimore-based soul music collective breathes “fresh air into vintage tracks.” Self described as “Baltimore boogaloo”, the 9-piece band is dedicated to the old-school soul and funk, and to playing it right. Drawing members from other popular regional bands (Caleb Stine and the Brakemen, The Red Vines etc), the Bellevederes have a fun, fresh sound not to be missed. Honfleur’s 2009 Concert Series is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts & The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. www.thebellevederes.com.

Vivid Solutions and Honfleur Gallery are projects of ARCH Development Corporation, a community based not for profit in Historic Anacostia. ARCH has been a member of the Anacostia Community for over 20 years and believes that arts and culture play an important role in community revitalization & development.

Honfleur Gallery is a contemporary art space in Historic Anacostia, located at 1241 Good Hope Road SE.

Vivid Solutions is a fine art digital print lab and exhibition space, is located at 2208 MLK Jr. Ave SE.

Their close proximity to 395, Capitol Hill and to the Anacostia Green Line Metro make them easily accessible from downtown DC. For further inquiries, please contact Amy Cavanaugh, Honfleur Gallery Director, at 202-580-5972. The Summer Jamboree events are free and open to the public. High-resolution images available upon request.

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Gerard Caliste Opening in Saturday, Santa Monica April 4th

gcaliste_front
If you happen to be in Southern Cal this weekend an artist whose work i came across is going to be showing at the Lois Lambert Gallery (http://www.loislambertgallery.com/) in Santa Monica April 4th – May10th. His name is Gerard Caliste and his website is http://www.gerardcalisteart.com. check it out!

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around my way: Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival

Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival Press Release
Come be a part of Anacostia’s premiere spring event, the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival to be held on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm. The festival draws residents and tourists from throughout the city. It will be a day packed with activities, including an Opening Ceremony & Tree Dedication, an Arts Walk, live Music and more. The majority of the days’ activities will take place along Good Hope Road S.E. toward the Anacostia Park Entrance and on up the 1900-2000 Block ofMartin Luther King Jr. Avenue~ The Historic Anacostia Corridor.

The Main Street Anacostia Promotions Committee strives to create a thriving and robust business district for its residents, while encouraging folks from other neighborhoods and towns to come experience what we have to offer. We are thrilled to have the support of some great sponsors including DC Lottery, Environmental Design and Construction, Four Points Properties, ARCH Development Corp, 1918-1922 Partnership LLP, Venable and Anacostia River Realty.

The day kicks off at 10 am in the Anacostia Park with a cherry blossom tree planting and dedication as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Neighborhood Tree Planting Program, presented by The Home Depot and supported by the DC Lottery and the DC Chamber of Commerce. Tree dedications will be awarded to Phil Pannell, Marion Barry and Butch Hopkins by the Anacostia Garden Club. The festival continues with live jazz music by The Young Lions at Honfleur Gallery at 1241 Good Hope Road at 1 pm. More music can be heard throughout the day from 11am – 11pm at Eric Whitehead’s JazzNSoul Café, located at 2020 Shannon Place S.E. Musicians include SamO & JFC, Earl Carter, Glenn Arnett, Jamie Jones, Paul Chew, Nonya Whitley, DJ JAMMER and many more!

The Art Walk begins just a short distance from the Anacostia Metro with the grand opening of Vivid Solutions, a new photographic gallery located at 1227 Good Hope Road S.E. Sakura: Awakened by Spring is a group show of photography all submitted with the Spring theme in mind. It is full of color, nature and some unexpected visions. Outside in the open lot next to the gallery is the Art + Craft Market, open all day with local artists ready to sell their work. Please stop by and see the assortment of jewelry, paintings, books and other crafts. At the market, Curbside Café offers their homemade burritos, and pick up an Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival t-shirt as well. Other food is available along the Art Walk; check out the Jamaican cafe or renowned Soul Food restaurant on MLK Jr. Ave.

Continue on the Art Walk to the storefront at 2204 MLK Jr. Ave SE where you will find a Pink Line Project exhibit in collaboration with Critical Exposure, with curatorial assistance from Chanel Compton. Don’t forget to also check out the Cherry Blast event the night before the festival on Friday April 10th from 9pm-2am, also hosted by The Pink Line Project. Cherry Blast highlights fine art, live music, dance, a DJ, fashion, anime, and origami, presented in association with the National Cherry Blossom Festival and through funding from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.

Alison Spain will paint “live” in a raw studio space on the next stop on the Art Walk at 2200 MLK Jr. Ave S.E. She is offering a charcoal drawing workshop for area youth from 2pm – 4pm; all are welcomed to join. Spain’s colorful abstract paintings are larger than life in both size and dynamism. Upstairs is a showcase of eight selected artists invited to use the space to display their work in any way possible. Don’t miss all this creative energy!

Stop into the American Poetry Museum at 1922 MLK Jr Ave, to hear some live readings by local poets. The current exhibit, Beats to the Rhyme: Visual Representations of Hip-Hop Poetry features works by Franc Rosario, Sami Miranda, Fred Joiner, Howard Fleming, Kenneth Robinson, and Nia Smith. The next space on the Art Walk is at 1231 Good Hope Road S.E. at Arch Training Center, showing local student photography in Spring Visions and Inspirations. Just a few doors down at Honfleur Gallery, take in Darren Smith’s solo exhibition Cross & Ladder. This DC-Based artist pushes the boundaries of photography with handmade photo mosaics and a few large installation pieces.

Stay tuned for updates, directions and more info. Save the date: Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival, April 11, 2009 from 10am to 4pm! For more information on the Anacostia Cherry Blossom Festival and Art Walk, go to www.archdevelopment.org/events.html. For more information on the Cherry Blast event, see www.pinklineproject.com.