Arlington Arts Center opens new exhibit

R.L. Croft, Guardian, 2005/Patricia Leslie

Filled black plastic balloons or garbage bags float in the air or on the floor at the Arlington Arts Center, part of a creation by Allison Bianco, one of 26 artists in a new show, Interwoven: Art.Craft. Design. which has plenty to stimulate your mind if it is lying in winter.

Allison Bianco, Five Feet in Front of the Horizon, 2010/Arlington Arts Center

Absolutely delightful in its variety and array of art works, the show includes media ranging from a tree remnant, metal, hair, wool, wood, leaves, plastic, paper, bicycles, crutches, video, baseball bats, in addition to more customary materials like paint.

Jessica Smith, Les Vues d'Georgia du Pooler, 2012/Arlington Arts Center

The exhibition was juried by Kathryn Wat, chief curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Melissa Messina, senior curator, the Savannah College of Art and Design, who said the judges looked "for work that was not only fine art or craft or design, but had elements of all three" plus demonstrated quality, according to an interview in the newsletter of the Washington Project for the Arts.

Lily Kuonen, Two Gather, 2012/Patricia Leslie

The something-for-all artists represented in the show include Jehanne Arslan, Gertude Berg, Ryan Brennan, Caroline Chandler, Nikki Farrand, Samantha Fields, Joe Fish, Maggie Gourlay, Clarissa Gregory, Melanie Kehoss, Heidi Leitzke, Shawne Major, Susannah Mira, Rebecca Mushtare, Marc Robarge, Katie Shaw, Kristin Skees, Jessica Smith, Erwin Timmers, Olivia Valentine, Saya Woolfalk, and Martine Workman. 

One leaves the exhibition with an even deeper appreciation for the creators and the skills they weave into their gems.

Matthew de Leon, Suicide Rainbow, 2011/patricia leslie

What: Interwoven: Art. Craft. Design.

When: Now through March 24, 2013 every Wednesday through Friday, 1 - 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 5 p.m.

Where: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201

Metro station: Virginia Square (Orange Line) with a Capital Bikeshare station nearby

How much: No charge

Parking: Onsite and free

For more information: 703-248-6800

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Free 'Alleluias' concert Wednesday at St. John's, Lafayette Square

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Choir members from St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, will sing a recital of “Alleluias” at the church at the corner of H Street, NW and 16^th on February 6 beginning at 12:10 p.m.
 

The presentation is part of the church's “First Wednesday” series and is an excellent respite from workday rush on “hump day.”

Featured in the approximately 35 minutes concert will be Annette Anfinrud, Barbara van Woerkom, Noah Mlotek, and Christopher Jones who will sing works by the Manhattan Transfer, Beethoven, Bach, Copland, and Rorem.

St. John's, Lafayette Square/patricia leslie

 

Other upcoming noontime concerts in the 2013 series are:

Mar. 6: Bianca Garcia, flute, assisted by Michael Lodico, St. Johns' associate choirmaster and organist, featuring the world premiere of a work by Stephen Cabell

Apr. 3: Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's, performing "Organ Treasure Old and New"

May 1: Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with James Madison, president from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

Who:  Choir soloists from St. John's

When: 12:10 p.m., February 6, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square or Farragut West

For more information: 202-347-8766

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Goethe-Institut opens 'Facing Democracy'

At the opening of Facing Democracy at the Goethe-Institut, Washington/patricia leslie

A new photo and video exhibit Facing Democracy by three artists with global reach has opened at the Goethe-Institut in Chinatown.

 

Featured in the show are works by a Pulitzer Prize winner twice, Lucian Perkins, who worked at the Washington Post 27 years and whose pictures document wars around the world; Danny Wilcox Frazier, who has photographed economic effects on the poor worldwide with a recent focus on his home state, Iowa; and Baltimorean Jenny Graf Sheppard, the creator of the video, Site Specific and Everywhere, about the Occupy movement.

At the opening of Facing Democracy at the Goethe-Institut, Washington/patricia leslie

The unframed photos on the wall of discontent and upheaval are mostly the “in your face” variety, dramatic and powerful. Looking at them, a viewer’s hearing sense is triggered, and the imagined sounds of the times become quite real. The pictures are reminders of the sacrifices the participants made to be there and their contributions to the movement to awaken the world to the needs of the 99 percent and the consequences, if ignored. They made me nostalgic for the lost opportunity to join Occupy activists.

At the opening reception, Goethe-Institut Director Wilfried Eckstein welcomed guests and asked “Where is democracy going?”

 

Wilfried Eckstein, right, director of the Goethe-Institut, Washington, welcomed Lucian Perkins, one of the featured artists in Facing Democracy/patricia leslie

 

The Occupy movement was “the largest protest I’ve covered in 27 years," said Mr. Perkins, "especially with Mitt Romney’s 70 percent comment.” Occupy “did play a role in the election, and we’ll have to see what happens,” he said.

After the reception, the Institut hosted the screening of a series of 12 short films entitled Why Democracy, made by filmmakers from around the world.

 

The photo show and the films are part of several events which explore the future of democracy and will culminate in a panel discussion, Mapping Democracy:  Utopia and Renewal with Athens and Munich representatives on February 24 from 2 - 4 p.m. at the Goethe-Institut. 

 

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Click here for the film schedule in the Mapping Democracy series. The Goethe-Institut "organizes and supports cultural events that present German culture abroad and that further intercultural exchange," according to its website.

 

What: Facing Democracy  

When: Now through February 24, 2013 on Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

 

Where: FotoGalerie, Goethe-Institute, 812 Seventh Street, Washington, D.C. 20001

How much: No charge

Metro stations: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk from Metro Center (10 minutes)

For more information: 202-289-1200

 

 

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National Symphony Orchestra tickets on sale for $11

Frederic Chopin playing the piano in Prince Radziwill's Salon, 1887/Henryk Siemiradzki and Wikimedia Commons.  At the end of the piano seated beside the standing woman is, perhaps, Prince Radziwill, looking at the viewer and bearing a strong resemblance to Congressman James Moran (D-VA). What do you think? Emanuel Ax and the National Symphony Orchestra will play Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, April 4 and April 5, 2013. 

You must purchase a minimum of three tickets at $11 each for National Symphony Orchestra performances to take advantage of this outstanding sale. No handling fee.

Deadline to purchase is February 22, 2013.

Music lovers:  How can you beat this? 

Offered are concerts on Thursday and Friday nights (no Saturdays or pops) at the Kennedy Center.

You may call the subscription office at 202-416-8500, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and talk with a human or log on, according to the card in the mail, to nationalsymphony.org/TriplePlay and order, however, just like last year, I am still (after triple plays) unable to log on.  Or find that site.  Whatever.  It's a deal which I bought last year ordering from a person.

Here are a quick calendar and programs for the remainder of the 2013 season.   Click here for more description.

Feb. 21 and Feb. 22:  Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto

Feb. 28 and Mar. 1: Nordic Classic Cool (Sibelius)

Mar. 7 and Mar. 8: Mozart's Requiem

Mar. 28 and Mar. 29: Beethoven's Violin Concerto

Apr. 4 and Apr. 5: Emanuel Ax plays Chopin

Apr. 25: Beethoven and Tchaikovsky

Apr. 26: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and more

May 2: Elgar's Cello Concerto

May 3: Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5

May 30 and May 31: Respighi and Ravel

June 6 and June 7: Dvorak's Violin Concerto

June 13 and June 14: Ravel and Vaughan Williams

June 20: Thibaudet plays MacMillan

June 21: Thibaudet plays Saint-Saens

$33 (total) will get you three seats on Tier 2, however, $66 buys three better seats on the orchestra level, or $99 will get even better seats on orchestra. 

  
Hurry since the offer may be withdrawn at any time (i.e., when NSO reaches target sales).



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'Shock' art at the National Gallery of Art exits Sunday

Kim Rugg, No More Dry-Runs, 2008, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., gift of the Collectors Committee, 2009

 

This is one of those outstanding exhibitions that you want to remain permanent, so you can go by the National Gallery and study the pictures again and again, and uncover more intrigue upon every visit.

So much art and not enough time.  Folks, just one more day.

Shock of the News at the National Gallery of Art is absolutely must viewing for anyone remotely associated with news or art or history which pretty well includes everyone in Washington, D.C, or why are you here?

The power of art.

This show begins in 1909 with a front page story in Le Figaro by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet and playwright. "Le Futurisme" is about the birth of futurism, a column so audacious and inflammatory, it launched the movement, "shock of the news."

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Le Futurisme in Le Figaro, February 20, 1909, newspaper, collection Ohnesorge Martin-Malburet

About four years later, Pablo Picasso embedded a piece of newspaper in his collage, Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass, which, according to the event catalog, "was widely considered the first self-consciously modern work of art to incorporate real newsprint."

 

Pablo Picasso, Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass,1912, Collection of the McNay Art Museum, bequest of Marion Koogler McNay

Subsequently, a new art forum was born which spread rapidly throughout Europe and to the U.S. It pierced cubism, Dadaism, and futurism, embracing artists like Man Ray, Georges Braque and Juan Gris.

The exhibition includes 65 paintings, sculpture, prints and other media, arranged chronologically and tracing the development over 100 years. (Interestingly, in the first gallery on the right wall, half of the pieces feature the word “glass” in their titles.)

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Said National Gallery Director Earl A. Powell III at the opening, the show shapes “our understanding of modern artists’ responses to the newspaper,” calling the presentation the first to offer an “examination of the newspaper as both a material and subject.”

The show is not newspaper design work, but artists' creations employing newspapers. (Overheard on steps to the Mezzanine: “What’s Shock of the News about?” Answer: “Oh, I saw it in Chicago. It’s comic strips.” Not!)

Many of the pieces make political statements, especially renderings made after World War II: Stalingrad, the German occupation of France, the Black Panthers, Sino-American relations, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin, Palestine, Patrice Lumumba and Moise Tshombe, and oh! Salvatore Dali. He devoted a newspaper to himself. Shocking. Who would have thought?

Salvadore Dali, Dali News, November 20, 1945, The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL

In the third and last gallery is a work by Sarah Charlesworth reminiscent of the National Gallery's neighbor across Pennsylvania Avenue, the Newseum which features daily window displays of newspaper front pages. Ms. Charlesworth's Modern History: April 21, 1978 shows a portion of the front pages of 45 newspapers and treatment by their editors of a photograph of kidnapped former Italian prime minister, Aldo Moro, who was killed on May 9, 1978 by members of the paramilitary organization, the Red Brigades.

Sarah Charlesworth, Modern History, April 21, 1978, Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Justin Smith Purchase Fund, 2003

Kim Rugg in “No More Dry Ruins," (2008) cut out every letter from the August 8, 2008 edition of the Financial Times and rearranged them in alphabetical order (illustration at top).

Robert Gober redesigned a wedding page from a 1960 New York Times to include a small story about his own death by drowning at age 6. The article claims his mother was held for questioning.
Perhaps Gober's mother ignored child rearing to concentrate on her wedding business (if she had one) since another Gober piece (Newspaper, 1992) focuses on a photo of a bridal gown advertisement and Gober is the bride in wedding attire! Running on the same page is the story of a beating death of a youth by his mother.

Robert Gober, Newspaper, 1992, the artist and Matthews Marks Gallery

Still another article on Gober's Newspaper, 1992 page describes the Vatican's stance against gay rights which, according to the catalog, annoyed the Catholic Church when the work went up in 2000 at a San Francisco show.

Just before the exhibition's entrance, do not overlook, on the right, Mario Merz’s To Mallarme (2003) which is stacks of 2003 Italian and Arabic newspapers laid out over almost 24 feet with the words, in blue neon, translated from the French, “a throw of the dice never will abolish chance.”

This title comes from Stephane Mallarme’s 1897 poem, "Un coup de des jamais n'abolira le hasard." The newpapers' publication dates coincide with George Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Some of the other artists represented in the exhibition are Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Jorge Macchi, Paul Sietsema,Paul Klee, Max Weber, the Guerilla Girls, Hannah Hoch, Joseph Beuys , Andy Warhol, Laurie Anderson, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenberg, Semen Fridliand, and Paul Thek.

The catalog of 200+ pages has many color illustrations and provides rich background about the artists and their works. It was written by Judith Brodie, the National Gallery's curator and head of the department of modern prints and drawings, who spent five years developing the exhibition.

Hurry, before they disappear.

The exhibition was made possible by the Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Foundation. The Corinne H. Buck Charitable Lead Trust helped with the publication of the catalog.

What: Shock of the News

When: Open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Saturday, and 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday.

Where: East Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Fourth Streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W.

How much: No charge

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Metro stations: Judiciary Square, Navy Memorial-Archives, or the Smithsonian

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Baltimore Symphony Orchestra rocks with Rachmaninoff

Sergei Romaninoff, age 12/Wikimedia Commons

To hear guest pianist Garrick Ohlsson play Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto is to enjoy a sensual experience which is not plentiful enough in anyone’s life. 

At Strathmore last weekend, music lovers sat like statues without moving while Ohlsson and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played what is considered one of the most, if not the most, difficult of all piano concertos,  which was also the composer's (1873-1943) favorite piano concerto.

Garrick Ohlsson/instantencore.com

Some audience members draped over railings, others leaned forward with elbows on knees, chins resting on palms, hypnotized and afraid they might miss one of the many notes.  Equally as spellbound as their parents and grandparents were the young people who attended.

The hands of the pianist, who was the first American to win the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition (1970), raced up and down the keyboard all night, crossing each other and moving almost as quickly as a hummingbird's wings.  

Ohlsson said later that memorization plays no role in his performance for he’s played Rach 3 “thousands of times,” and it has become part of his persona. His brain and fingers know what to do.

Maestro Marin Alsop and the orchestra complemented the pianist splendidly, and it was no surprise at the end when audience members, who filled the house, leaped up, applauding madly and shouting "Bravo" to four encores.

Conductor Marin Alsop/Opus 3 Artists

In a 30-minute conversation with audience members afterwards, Conductor Alsop said enthusiasm for the production helps her determine future programming, and the crowd cheered. 

Ohlsson began studies at Julliard when he was 13, and heard "Rach 3" the next year.   His teacher ordered him to play it at age 15 to avoid intimidation, he said.

Alsop and Ohlsson answered questions from the audience, bantering back and forth, quite at ease with themselves and each other. Approximately half the Strathmore house stayed late to listen.

Oh!  Crusted tilapia, couscous, and salad for $19.95 at the Strathmore restaurant. Great price and delicious, but the meal's pleasure is diluted by having to eat it on your lap because of insufficient tables and chairs.  Please, Strathmore.

Free parking at the Metro parking garage next door!

BSO concerts coming up at Strathmore:

Jan. 24:  Hairspray in Concert, 8 p.m.

Feb. 2:  Pictures at an Exhibition, 8 p.m. (Hindemith, Mozart, Mussorgsky by Ravel)

Feb. 7:  Stephen Hough plays Liszt

And on March 4 Ohlsson joins the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center to play Grieg's Piano Concerto No. 1.


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Inauguration Diary

patricia leslie

Dear Diary,

Enough people are writing about the speech and apparel and all, I thought I would bring you some flavor from the people.

In four years I hope I am not as dumb as I was this year to buy a parade ticket.  With my ticket in hand today, what did it matter?  Police at F and 14th, my assigned entry, would not let me in.  $44, that's all.  It's not like I am a member of the one percent.

Tickets didn't mean much to the police at 14th and F/patricia leslie

Mr. President, you say "the people this" and "the people that."  Well, what about letting "the people" see your parade?  Is there a place we can see it without paying a fee? Is there a place we can see it paying a fee?

Up 14th "the people" stood behind a fence and caught glimpses of the parade, about a half football field away/patricia leslie

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But to begin the day.  Not all was a loss, by any stretch. Metro was almost empty.  Amazing. And everyone's raving about the president's speech.

I lucked out and got a red ticket for the swearing-in which was terrific.

This line behind the congressional house office buildings required about an hour's wait before ticket holders reached "security check-in."/patricia leslie

After the security check, the lines at the porta-potties required another 20 to 30 minutes wait.  I don't suppose anyone thought ahead to order more porta-potties to satisfy the needs of several thousand people.  And early in the morning, already no t.p. (But I know those porta-potty party planners have never used porta-potties in all their party lives, and I came equipped.)

Knock!  Knock!  Who's there?  Well, it ain't Congress on the throne/patricia leslie

And then there was the man in the tree.

You can see him holding a large white saucer near the top of the tree/patricia leslie

 
Actually, he looked to be an elderly gentleman who climbed a tree on the Capitol grounds and screamed the whole time about killing babies.  At first, I was hoping his voice would give out, but no.  He kept at it.

In my section, we sighed and blessed the United States of America which permits freedom of speech, even if we were a bit annoyed. 

Question:  How was he able to get this sign past security?  Maybe it was an earlier plant.

A  man in a tree at the Inauguration/patricia leslie

A woman on the Metro who stood in the green section with her family told me later that police erected two ladders to go up and get the man, but he climbed higher, just like a kitty cat or a monkey, and they let him alone and surrounded the base of the tree.  I wonder if he's still up there.   He might be frozen by now.  As a matter of fact, his mouth might be wired shut.

Part of the crowd on the Capitol grounds with Ulysses S. Grant on the horse in the distance and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art beyond/patricia leslie

This woman wore heels on grass (!), but was not totally brain dead since, look!  She brought another pair of shoes/patricia leslie

You wanted to ride Metro, huh?  Before nightfall? This was at Federal Center South/patricia leslie

While walking towards the Washington Monument after the ceremony ended so I could get to my refused entry at 14th and F (2.5 hours), I met up at 2:50 p.m. on 18th with three ladies from Columbia, S.C. (Yes, we had to go that far west to cross Pennsylvania and get to the other side of the road like herded chickens, since Pennsylvania was blocked, of course, for miles. And years before the parade even started.)

The visitors said they needed to be at RFK Stadium at 3 p.m. to board their chartered bus back home.  They said a policeman had sent them up 18th. To RFK? Well, what a surprise. A policeman on Independence told me I could cross Pennsylvania at 15th.  They must have been those police imports from Georgia since they knew nothing about D.C. streets.

I said "Ladies, I hate to give you bad news, but you ain't going to make RFK in 10 minutes." They assured me their bus would not leave them.

About that time we came to this unusual sculpture of Starbux cups.

A Starbux sculpture on 18th/patricia leslie

And up the street I met this nice fellow from New York who told me he'd been in Washington selling Obama condoms for three days.  He didn't know if it was a profitable venture or not, but he said he had a wad of cash in his pocket.

The different kinds of condoms available were Hope is Not a Form of Protection, the White House Stimulus Package, and Use with Good Judgement (sic!)/patricia leslie

I walked on…and on…and on until I came to said entry point at F and 14th, and the police said, "Nope, not you sister."  Gee, thanks a lot.  Live and learn. End of day. But I sure 'nuf got in my exercise on Inauguration Day. 

P.S. I don't think we are one nation and one people.  I think we are many nations and many people. What's wrong with that?

Everyone is acclaiming the president's speech on Monday, however, I haven't listened to Fox/patricia leslie

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