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It's Certainly Something to Talk About
If you're looking for a good conversation this weekend -- one about passion, art, faith, visions from God, brilliance and maybe a little madness -- see "The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It's an elaborate altar made in...
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Star-Spangled Reopening Set for Nov. 21
The National Museum of American History, closed for extensive renovations for almost two years, will reopen Nov. 21, officials announced yesterday.
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In a 300-Square-Foot Apartment, Put Away the Zoom Lens
A freelance photo assistant for nine years, Thomas Holton began to feel that "10-day photo shoots for Pottery Barn weren't my thing." So in 2002, Holton, now 38, enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York to get a master's degree in photography. His thesis, "The Lams of Ludlow Street," doc...
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An Artist Who Struck Oil (That Can Strike Back)
These are good times to be in oil. Even Target Gallery artist-in-residence Julie Camarata has petroleum on the brain. The 27-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., native spent the last two weeks installing "Slick" at the gallery in Alexandria.
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(Pictures of) Water, Water, Everywhere
Still haven't been able to get away to the beach this summer? Not one, but two exhibitions with a saltwater tang ought to be just the thing for landlocked art lovers. Don't expect a complete vacation from some of the troubling themes of contemporary art, though. A sobering undertow lies just belo...
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Highs -- and Lows -- in the 20s
A trio of area 20-somethings showing at Hillyer Art Space betrays the advantages and pitfalls of youth.
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In 'Loose Strands,' The Ties That Bind
BALTIMORE -- There's hair all over the Walters Art Museum -- wreaths, necklaces and bracelets of it. Blame Sonya Clark. The D.C. native and Richmond resident used her own hair (plus some donated locks from her mother and friends) to create most of the works in a show titled "Sonya Clark: Loose St...
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Here, the Seat Grabs You
Your average work of cutting-edge contemporary art gets seen by maybe a few hundred, a few thousand people. So far, thanks to footage that has gone viral on YouTube, a motorized sculpture called "Robotic Chair" has been seen by almost a million people.
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A Piercing Look at the World
For Torkwase Dyson, the material is the message -- or at least half of it. The 35-year-old artist patches together images using stuff culled from wholesalers and recycling centers -- velvet and plastic cards that earrings are sold on, rhinestone belt buckles, plastic thingamajigs. Yet the picture...
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Museums
AFRICAN ART "Treasures 2008," through Aug. 17; "El Anatsui: Gawu," through Sept. 2; "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection," a collection of five centuries of African art, through Sept. 7; "TxtStyles: Fashioning Identity," African culture is explained through textiles,...
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Rooms With a View Of Addiction's Toll
Photographer Jessica Dimmock only recently turned 30, but she's already done work for magazines such as Fortune, Time and Newsweek, as well as for the New York Times. Four years ago, when she began studying photojournalism at the International Center of Photography in New York, a drug dealer app...
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A Collector's Eye for Artifacts -- and Adventure
Giraud Foster has bounded from one unlikely situation to another in his 80 years, as if a lost character in search of a picaresque novel, a mere figment of the imagination. As a 10-year-old boy, he rafted down the Mississippi with a friend named Jim, just as Huck had. He worked in a Peruvian copp...
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Museums
"PING PONG DIPLOMACY," an "Intelligence Brief" noting remarks made by to the U.S. table tennis team on their visit to China in 1971, through Aug. 28 at the National Archives, Constitution Avenue NW, entrance near Seventh Street. 202-357-5000.
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Bill Would End FOIA Shield for Smithsonian
A longtime critic of the Smithsonian Institution introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate this week that would wipe out the national museum complex's exemption from the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act.
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In Town
FACES OF ANCIENT ARABIA is a comprehensive look at the people of southern Arabia, the area currently known as Yemen. The arresting pieces of art span from the 6th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., along with modern works from Yemeni artists. The exhibit opens Sunday and runs through Sept. 7,...
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Museums
AFRICAN ART "Treasures 2008," through Aug. 17; "El Anatsui: Gawu," through Sept. 2; "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection," through Sept. 7; "TxtStyles: Fashioning Identity," through Dec. 8. Open daily 10 to 5:30. 950 Independence Ave. SW. 202-633-1000 (TDD: 202-633-5285).
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Art That Seduces as It Shocks
Not every art exhibition has a color scheme, but "Noche Crist: A Romanian Revelation" does.
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Slapsticon: It's a Fall Classic in Midsummer
Starting today, more than 100 experts in slapstick comedy will descend upon Arlington for Slapsticon, a four-day festival of rare silent and sound films. The big draw for the sixth-annual event is tonight's "Three Stooges Rarities Show," which includes TV clips, commercials and home movies of the...
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Designs' Praises Are Sung at White House
First lady Laura Bush's annual reception for winners of the National Design Awards always brings out a stylish crowd and challenges White House pastry chef Bill Yosses to create a dessert with sizzle. At yesterday's brunch, while waiters popped the Chandon corks for the nine 2008 honorees who...
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Riding High, Harley-Davidson Kick-Starts Museum in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE -- In 1984, a banker held Harley-Davidson's fate in his hands. He could agree to refinance the $90 million loan that executives took out a few years before to buy back the beloved motorcycle company from American Machine and Foundry Co., or make it declare bankruptcy.
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Emphasizing Inc. as an Artistic Medium
BALTIMORE -- If the New York art world can be likened to a corporation -- a coffee company, perhaps -- then the artists in the Contemporary Museum's "Cottage Industry" are the kids hawking espresso on a cart down the street. Their celebration of the down-market and the down-scaled is their business.
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A Graffitist's Off-the-Wall Moment
Museum-goers know that painters prepare little detailed studies before they embark on a full-blown canvas. Graffiti-taggers do the same, but they take the process a step further, drawing their studies in one another's "piece books" (slang for "masterpiece"). Cey Adams, 46, became creative directo...
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Designer Sought for African American Museum
The National Museum of African American History and Culture began the formal process of designing a building yesterday, one that will include a slave cabin and a Jim Crow railroad car.
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Museums
"ELENA DEL RIVERO: HOME SUITE," art inhabiting the space between domestic space and public activity, Saturday through Nov. 16 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW. 202-639-1700.
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Where Are We From? How Did We Get Here?
Story is at the heart of Jacob Lawrence's "Migration" series. Not one story, but many.
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The Legend Of the Crystal No-Brainer
It arrived at the Smithsonian 16 years ago, a heavy package with no return address.
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In Chicago, Art That's Yearning to Breathe Free
CHICAGO -- A window washer dressed as Spider-Man scales a building. A nanny clad as Catwoman attends to children. A pizza delivery man wearing Superman garb rides a bike with pies in the basket.
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Proles vs. Pros: An Experiment In Curating
Abunch of self-described know-nothings, aficionados and anonymous experts curated a new photography exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. The museum's goal was not to debate the merits of Walker Evans vs. Edward Weston or haggle over such details as lighting and wall placement. It was to decide if a...
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A Site for Thinking Outside the Box
What would happen if you created a big international art show according to the following rules?
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Digging Kung Fu's Spiritual Roots
The Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and classical kung fu, rises over Henan province, China, as a great, symbolic lure, the 1,500-year-old fantasy that really, truly exists.
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