Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tomorrow: ARTventures on H Street

ARTventuresWebBIG
ARTventures On H Street Features 12 Art Walk Stops and 17 Restaurants, Cafes, and Bars – February 24, 2011 on the H Street, NE Corridor

WASHINGTON, DC, February 23, 2011 – On Feb 24, CHAMPS - Capitol Hill’s Chamber of Commerce and H Street Main Street present ARTventures on H. From 5:30-8pm 12 different galleries and art spaces along the H Street , NE Corridor will open their doors for a special art walk. Participants will be given an ARTventures “passport,” to be punched at each stop on the art walk. For every punch received, attendees receive an extra 2% discount that evening from 7-9:30pm at any of 17 participating restaurants, cafes, and bars on H Street, NE. Passports will be available at each of the art walk stops; attendees choose their own starting points.


The Art Walk: 5:30-8pm

Art walk stops and their associated exhibits are as follows (listed from West to East):

Senate Square: 225 I Street, NE (entrance on 3rd Street, NE between H and I)
Exhibit: Nature
Exhibit II: Guatemalan Light & Color
Additional Information: For Martha Huizenga, photography started in 2004 when she made a conscious choice to leave corporate America and her 15-year career in telecommunications. She joined her husband as a partner in their own cottage industry, operating an ISP out of their row house on Capitol Hill. She added regular yoga to her passion for running and began volunteering in many community initiatives. She also took a photography class to further “expand her horizons.” Since then Huizenga sees the world somewhat differently—figuratively by having added new dimensions to her lifestyle and literally through the lens of her father’s old Pentax. Having lived in urban environments, Huizenga finds herself drawn to the imagery found in nature. The textures, patterns and contrasts found in places near and far fascinate Marilyn Christiano, whose photographs often capture the magical interplay of light and shadow in sunrise and fog or the often-unobserved details in old buildings, landscapes and people as they go about their lives. When a photograph reveals the sense of a place, evokes a decisive moment, or elicits a “what is this?” response—these all add up to what Christiano considers a successful piece of work.

Metro Mutts: 508 H Street, NE
Exhibit: Pet Life
Artists: Bev Hollis, Jenna Isaacson
Additional Information:
Bev Hollis is a contemporary, fine art pet photographer who specializes in dog and pet photography and animal portraits in northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC area. Jenna Isaacson is a photojournalist, stylist, crafter, camping enthusiast and proud Midwesterner. After working in the newspaper business for 10 years in Utah, Missouri and Florida, Isaacson moved to D.C. in 2009 and is a proud member of Capitol Hill-based Pitchfork Studio.

Exhibit: Where Art Meets Function
Artists: Various artists
Additional Information: Adobe Design Center & Showroom offers a unique collection of art, furniture, accessories, and unusual pieces, collected by owner Edith Buffalo, from all over the world. When asked about the combination of fine art and home furnishings in a recent DC Ladies interview, Buffalo responded “The marriage of art and furniture has been a very happy union. People get a chance to see how chair looks with art to the left or right of it or how a mirror or lamp looks in a particular setting. The greatest discovery is that the mat does not have to match the fabric.” 

City Gallery: 804 H Street, NE
Exhibit:
Color and Shape
Additional Information: From East City Art: “Color and Shape showcases Nancy Donnelly’s elegant glass art and Jill Finsen’s whimsically primitive paintings executed in oil paint.  Fascination with texture as a component of color and shape is apparent in the work of both these artists. Allusive of the natural world, they are direct and accessible. Yet surface abstraction is paramount to the success of these art pieces—the texture of the glass complements layered textures in the paintings. These works complement each other and pull the exhibit in new and exciting visual directions. Both artists find negative space crucial to this effect, moments of rest that energize each work and in this sense make each more complete.” East City Art

Jorge Velazquez: 1015 H Street, NE – 2nd Floor
Exhibit: My Vision of Art
Additional Information: Born in Mexico, Jorge Velazquez is a self-taught artist whose inspiration is inner peace and pushing his own boundries.  He was always told that he could do whatever he set his mind to. My Vision of Art features a selection of past and present works by Velazquez.

Artists: Amy Keys, Michael DuBois, Michael Galkovsky, Maria Helena Carey, Patrick Yuen, Tonianne DeMaria Barry, Angela Kleis, Brian Mosley, Karon Flage, Brett Davis, Kevin Harber
Additional Information: Part of the INTERSECTIONS Festival, this photography exhibit aims to tie together the diversity and dynamism of the performers on stage with the vibrancy of the neighborhood outside the Atlas. The featured photographers are the winners of Ten Miles Square’s contest that challenging entrants to take on the ten square miles surrounding the Atlas neighborhood -- capturing connections, innovation, intersection of cultures, ages, races. Ten Miles Square is a venture to promote local photographers through independent, art supporting businesses, while also nurturing a new generation of collectors by offering real art at affordable prices. 

SOVA Espresso & Wine: 1359 H Street, NE
Exhibit: Untitled Photography Exhibit
Artists: Students enrolled in the Critical Exposure program.
Additional Information: Critical Exposure is a nonprofit that teaches youth to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change. Critical Exposure partners with community organizing and advocacy groups, youth organizations, and public schools around the country to teach our workshops on documentary photography and social advocacy and support campaigns for change.

Gallery OonH: 1354 H Street, NE
Exhibit: Facing H Street
Artists: Various artists from the collection of Dolly Vehlow and Steve Hessler
Additional Information: Facing H Street features portraits of the known and the unknown, interpreted through the lens of various outsider artists from the collection of Dolly Vehlow and Steve Hessler. In addition to the exhibition, GalleryOonH will debut the "H-Street-Piano" project and will be featuring an on-site caricaturist so you can leave with your own portrait.

Evolve Urban Arts Project: 1375 Maryland Avenue, NE
Artists: Iwan Bagus, Peter Karp, Micheline Klagsbrun, Trix Kuijper, Joyce McCarten, Langley Spurlock
Additional Information: Flights of Fancy: Elements of Surrealism features six talented artists from the Studio Gallery in Dupont Circle all of whom create works which embody or employ key elements of Surrealism.

G Fine Art Gallery:  1350 Florida Avenue, NE
Artist: Linn Meyers
Additional Information: Linn Meyers’ drawings create a sense of unpredictable logic.  Her lines whirl around into seemingly complicated compositions, the marks slip and shiver, turning into intricate waves that subsequently settle into shimmering eddies.  At close proximity the marks vibrate against each other with a magnetic tension; with greater distance the drawings fold into a unified world, making references but never landing – hovering between place, time, object and experience. Meyers’ site-specific wall drawings soar up over tall walls, cling to corners, and fill rooms. They demand on the spot improvisation and a blast of focused, sustained energy.  And yet, despite this intense exertion, the works are generally temporary, lasting only a few weeks before being painted over.  These works explore and embrace our complicated relationship with time and ephemerality.

Conner Contemporary Art: 1358 Florida Avenue, NE
Exhibit I: Windowboxing
Artist: Cordy Ryman
Artist: Brandon Morse
Additional Information:
In Cordy Ryman’s first solo exhibition with Conner Contemporary Art gallery, he presents a new series of playful works created with paint, wood, metal, Velcro and scraps recycled from his studio floor. Ryman, whose New York solo show was identified this fall as “one of the sleepers of the season” by Roberta Smith, is known for continuous experimentation in constructing, altering, and reconstructing painted geometric forms. In High Pressure System, his third solo exhibition with Conner Contemporary Art gallery, Brandon Morse presents a series of new real-time generative digital videos examining large scale naturally occurring phenomena. The chaos and complexity of climatic and geological events continually inspire Morse to apply sets of variables to create imagery-producing systems which he considers as analogues to human sociological conditions.
Industry Gallery: 1358 Florida Avenue, NESuite 200
Exhibit:
Fossilized
Artist: Jens Praet

Additional Information: Jens Praet is among the new generation of designers creatively addressing sustainability.  His design vocabulary is streamlined, though rooted in classicism, and his work in Fossilized and the Shredded Collection toys with the availability and accessibility of information.  For example, a table made of shredded magazines - a form of communication -renders the magazines unusable as a source of information, but otherwise utile, perhaps as a magazine table.  Similarly, a console made from classified documents - information not meant for general consumption - can be safely used in public because the data on the documents has been shredded and rendered unreadable.  Praet also plays with the notion of boutique versus industrial design by re-purposing materials created for mass consumption into limited edition works.

The Dine Around: 7-9:30pm

There are currently 17 restaurants and bars participating in the Dine Around portion of ARTventures on H, with more to be added in the coming week. So far participants include (from West to East):
Ethiopic: 401 H Street, NE
Sidamo Coffee and Tea: 417 H Street, NE
Toyland
: 421 H Street, NE
Liberty Tree
: 1016 H Street, NE
Taylor Gourmet
: 1116 H Street, NE
Twelve Restaurant & Lounge
: 1123 H Street, NE
Souk: 1208 H Street, NE
Sticky Rice
: 1224 H Street, NE
The Pug
: 1234 H Street, NE
Fruit Bat
: 1236 H Street, NE
Dr. Granville Moore’s
: 1238 H Street, NE
Smith Commons
: 1245 H Street, NE
H Street Country Club
: 1335 H Street, NE
Dangerous Delicious Pies : 1339 H Street, NE
Star and Shamrock : 1341 H Street, NE
The Argonaut : 1433 H Street, NE
Capital City Diner: 1050 Bladensburg Road, NE

Over 1000 people attended the inaugural ARTventures on H in June of 2010. “It is so exciting to be part of such a collaborative group of businesses,” said Julia Christian, CHAMPS Executive Director. “The H Street business community truly sees the benefit of working together and ARTventures on H is the perfect example of that. We are thrilled to produce the event again—this time with the support of H Street Main Street—and I can’t wait to see all of the great exhibits--right here in our neighborhood.”

ARTventures on H is free and open to the public. For up-to-date information about ARTventures on H (including participants, maps, and dining discounts), visit www.capitolhill.org or CHAMPS’ new website www.whatthehill.org. ARTventures is on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ARTventuresOnH and Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARTventuresOnH

CHAMPS (Capitol Hill’s Chamber of Commerce) promotes, educates and advocates for Capitol Hill businesses and connects Hill businesses with the greater community. Learn more about CHAMPS at www.capitolhill.org or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/capitolhilldc. H Street Main Street was created in 2002 as a part of the DC Main Streets program, to support the establishment and implementation of lasting, comprehensive revitalization in one of DC’s most historic neighborhoods – the H Street, NE corridor – by investing in and expanding existing businesses while also attracting new businesses. Learn more at www.hstreet.org

5 comments:

Kenny G said...

Sounds like sour grapes tubbs. Your posts should ALL be removed by the administrator. Please go find another blog to infect. I will take silence over your juvenile blather any day.

Roxanneismyalterego said...

Tubbs, I'm all the way in Rwanda and not in NE anymore, but I can tell from over here that you give yourself far too much credit. Peering into the local gossip and scandals from time to time is more than hilarious from this far out.

Derek said...

I think the Art Walk is a great idea and I hope it becomes a regular thing. The Dupont Art Walk has been rather lame for some time.
I am not trying to take any credit at all, but I had mentioned the idea to several people over the past few years. I am glad it is happening.

emonster said...

2% discount? Big wow

sleepy said...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it is 2% for every stamp you get on your "passport" So if you happen to go to all 12 places from 5:30 to 8 then you can get 24% off the bill from 7 to 9:30.

Is that right?