Electric cherry blossoms light D.C.

All hail the power of flowers!  Lift your hands and watch flowers move in the design made by Akiko Yamishita with Sachiko Yamashita & Mikitype, Hana Fubuki, 2019 at Artechouse/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A little girl atop a man's shoulders is mesmerized by the power she weaves at Artechouse.  Digitized art reflects a pond of colors /Photo by Patricia Leslie

And you just thought they were gone.

At Artechouse, you can still see them, an inside, electric visualization with womanmade flowers which fill walls from floor to ceiling in a dream-like world.

And the floor reflects them.  

It's like skating on a frozen pond of glass, with colors and shapes to cover the floor and take you to fantasy land in a psychedelic swirl.

Flowers, flowers everywhere at Artechouse /Photo by Patricia Leslie

He raises his arms and like swim strokes making waves, he moves flowers at Artechouse /Photo by Patricia Leslie

Bend this way and that at the Artechouse and command the universe/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Artechouse is not only for adults; children are welcome and encouraged to visit this "new age" experiment in "augmented reality," a different expression of art, digitized with music to deepen the experience.
 
Here visitors weave magic with a sweep of their hands or arms. Watch synchronized flowers move with human motion. See them sway with the "wind."  Or, dance a jig and observe the power of humans to make blossoms respond.

 

Not mannikins but figures enveloped by surround sights and sounds in a starry night at Artechouse/Photo by Patricia Leslie

By Lisa Park, Blooming, 2018. This is a hi-tech cherry blossom tree with changing colors in its very own gallery at Artechouse/Photo by Patricia Leslie

If we point that way, the flowers follow our movements. At Artechouse /Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
And if we point both ways, they match us in floral movements. At Artechouse/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Touch a plant and turn on a light.

Enchanted Garden is found in another section of the gallery, created by "augmented reality" using natural and recycled materials to tell the story of a Japanese folk tale, the Rabbit in the Moon. 

Paige, an Artechouse employee, turns on a light by touching the plant. Must see to believe! /Photo by Patricia Leslie

The designs are creations of two Japanese sisters who were inspired by their grandfather, a poet and nature lover whose adoration of the outdoors was passed to his progeny.

Come on in and take a peek. Or a sweep, and experience art in a new way.
 
A bar is onsite.

What: In Peak Bloom

When:  Now through May 27, 2019. Sunday - Thursday, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. After Hours, 7 - 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. After Hours, 5:30 - 11:30 p.m.

Where: Artechouse, 1238 Maryland Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20024. A few steps from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Admission: Adults, $16 (online), $20 (onsite); students, seniors, and military, $13 or $15; children (2-14) $8 or $10 plus tax and processing fee.

Metro station:  Smithsonian, exit 12th and Independence Avenue; walk 10 minutes (.3 mile).

The bar: Opens at 11 a.m.
   
Footcovers:  Mandatory and available. (No charge.)

For more information:  No telephone number found. Email: tickets@artechouse.com.

patricialesli@gmail.com