Murals at Park View Rec Center Progressing

While still in the very early stages, I wanted to show that the murals at the Park View Rec Center are under way. The murals are being created by Park View youth in partnership with the Latin American Youth Center. You can read more about the murals from my earlier post.

New Mural Coming to Park View Rec Center

While I don’t have any images yet, I wanted to share what I know about the new mural coming to the Park View Rec Center.

Based on the preliminary plans I saw last Friday, the new mural will be located on two walls — the south wall of the pool house and the north, opposite, wall of the main structure. None of the murals along Otis Street will be impacted at this time.

The two murals will be largely composed of abstract landscapes that have words breaking forth from the soil. The words will be in English and Spanish and are meant to convey a spirit of unity.

The walls chosen have already be painted with a base coat so that the designs can be transferred. I suspect painting could start as early as today, but will definitely start this week.

Park View’s Everyday People Mural Project

Last night I attended a meeting at the Park View Recreation Center for the Everyday People Mural Project. If you are familiar with the building, you’ll also be familiar with the murals that are already there on Otis Street (I’m including images of them here).

The artist chose is part of the Latin American Youth Center’s Art & Media House, which is the same group responsible for the new mural on the north side of Harriet Tubman. The general impression I left the meeting with was that the new mural will likely be in the pool area, and it needs to include graffiti as part of the theme to comply with the grant.

The murals that are currently on the building are in horrible condition, but there are most likely bong to be left alone at this time. It was mostly a brain storming session, so I’ll report more as things progress.

This Date in History

July 12, 1953: The Washington Post reported that The Arts Club was currently holding its annual summer show in which each member exhibits a painting of his choice. The present group was considered an improvement over the previous year’s selection, with interesting works by Garnet Jex, Ruth Osgood, Minor Jameson, William Walter, Harry Zichterman, Harold Hoover and Theodora Kane.

Meet Your Printmaker at Washington Printmakers Gallery

Reposted from the Meet Your Printmaker Blog:

Meet Your Printmaker at Washington Printmakers Gallery

June 29, 2009 – July 26, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, July 3 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm

For over a year Meet Your Printmaker has been compiling a directory of independent print/printmaking studios around the world through its blog. Meet Your Printmaker shifts the emphasis away from the artist/printmaker and presents the printers/printmakers as a unique workforce … the groups and individuals who uphold and evolve new and traditional printing/printmaking techniques, whether in the form of commercial work, artist editions or retail products and who share their skills and educate their respective communities.

The work in this exhibition presents a selection of printed matter from 40 print/printmaking studios around the world.

Participating studios in no particular order (apologies if we left your studio name out): DWRI Letterpress, Dirty Hands Serigraphie, Bleu Acier, The Little Friends of Printmaking, Sycamore Street Press, Dieu Donné, Deep Wood Press, Standard Deluxe, Patent Pending, Outlaw Print Co., Erika Ebert Press, Cannonball Press, Atlanta Printmakers Studio, Common Press, Stumptown Printers, Slugfest Printmaking Workshop, Extrapool, Squid Ink Kollective, Tugboat Printshop, Lunalux, Purgatory Pie Press, The Firecracker Press, Thomas-Printers, Aesthetic Apparatus, The Lower East Side Printshop, Iskra Print Collective, Halo Halo Screen Printing, AS220 Community Printshop, Proyecto´ace, Elshopo, Low Rider Tee Shirt, Starshaped Press, Pinball Publishing, Uhrgalo, Sonnenzimmer, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, Polluted Eyeball, Spudnik Press, Bob Eight Pop.

Washington Printmakers Gallery
1732 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington DC 20009
www.washingtonprintmakers.com

Call for Artists: Art on Call

The following call for artists was brought to my attention by a reader and was originally posted by Frozen Tropics by inked on 6/8/09:

The Trinidad Neighborhood Association is currently seeking artists interested in gaining exposure, and creating beauty that will be seen by residents of, and visitors to, the Trinidad neighborhood. Artists would, with input from the community, develop and execute concepts that celebrate the history, and spirit of the Trinidad neighborhood. The art would be on display permanently in the area’s police and fire callboxes that stand on street corners throughout the neighborhood. The Art on Call project, which is administered by Cultural Tourism DC, would cover the cost of materials. Artists who live or work in, or near, the Trinidad community are especially encouraged to apply (but we are seeking applications from any interested individuals or groups). Amateurs, as well as professionals (and youth groups) are encouraged to apply. Please send emails to TrinidadNeighborhood@gmail.com, or call 202-631-8254 if you are interested. You can also attend tomorrow night’s Neighborhood Association meeting:

Tuesday June 9th
7-8:30pm
Trinidad Recreation Center
1310 Childress NE

Shepard Fairey: Duality of Humanity 2

I found this larger than life size version of Duality of Humanity 2 off of the 14th Street corridor over a week ago.

Police Call Boxes as Art

I thought this police call box was a little more artistic than most. Its located on the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Ave. and 7th Street, SE.

The street side has a painting of Adolph Cluss, architect of Eastern Market. The other side has a sculptural representation of the Wallach School.

All in all, I thought it was executed well, and especially liked that the representations/imagery were relevant to the location of the box. I’ve noticed that the boxes in the Golden Triangle are nice, but relatively generic.

Artomatic Opens Today

Artomatic opens today and is locatedat 55 M Street, SE. This now annual exhibit runs the gamut of artistic expression, and usually offers something for everyone.  For more information including dates and times, go here>>

If you enjoy the arts, and especially relish the occasionally offbeat of unique, you will enjoy this show.

The Press Release contains the following information:

Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic is the Washington, D.C., area’s one-of-a-kind multimedia event, involving hundreds of regional artists, performers and volunteers. The free event is an arts extravaganza, featuring paintings, sculpture, photography, music, theater, poetry, dance and workshops.

(Images from the Artomatic Flickr Pool. 1st image: Nancy Drew Book Bag Awesomeness; 2nd image: Isosceles pair detail)