Industry Gallery Presents 'Meltdown' by Tom Price beginning Sat., Sept. 10, 6 pm

presents

MELTDOWN

new work by

Tom Price

SEPTEMBER 10 - OCTOBER 22, 2011 Please join us and meet Tom Price at the opening night reception September 10th, 6-8 pm This exhibition includes the premiere of a series of sweeping sculptures constructed out of plastic tubing referencing the shapes of the iconic DC cherry trees and their blossoms, inspired by Price’s last visit. They combine to create a unique immersive and site-specific installation, taking over an entire room of the gallery.

INDUSTRY 21st Century Design Gallery 1358 Florida Avenue, NE Suite 200 Washington, DC

Conner Contemporary opening reception for 'Is Realism Relevant?' w/ 3 artists in house Sat,. Sept. 10, 6-8 pm

IS REALISM RELEVANT?> opening 3 solo exhibitions with new figurative paintings by:

Erik Thor Sandberg: Reparatory Gestures
Nathaniel Rogers: When Disaster Strikes
Katie Miller : The Fancy of Babes
& with *gogo emerging art projects:
Lauren Adams: Plunder

opening: Saturday, September 10th: 6-8pm
to preview: CLICK HERE + AND HERE

September 10 - October 22, 2011

CONNER CONTEMPORARY ART
1358 Florida Avenue, NE

G Fine Art kicks off 10th season Sat. 9/10, 6 pm w/ Maggie Michael's There is No Rising or Setting Sun

G FINE ART BEGINS 10^TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON with MAGGIE MICHAEL - "THERE is NO RISING or SETTING SUN"

Michael’s 4^th solo exhibition features The Danube Series – drawings created in Romania Summer 2011 and New Studio Paintings

G Fine Art begins its 10^th anniversary season with There is No Rising or Setting Sun, new paintings and works on paper by Maggie Michael. An opening reception will be held Saturday, September 10, 6-8PM, and the exhibition will run through October 15, 2011. Michael’s fourth solo exhibition features a group of works on paper – the Danube Series – executed this summer in Cetate, Romania, following the artist’s recent completion of a large scale mural for the US Embassy in Bucharest, a commission from the US ART in Embassies Program. Paintings executed at the artist’s studio in Washington, DC will also be featured.

The new work sees a further evolution in Michael’s oeuvre following the introduction of text-based works in her exhibition All at Once (2008). In There is No Rising or Setting Sun, text is both obscured and evident: “I incorporate the negative and positive shapes of letters in areas of paintings for an abstract recognition and texture, no pun intended. Sometimes, these areas are not saying anything; however, the letter shapes/negative spaces are familiar and exist not to be decoded, but there.” The work and spirit of Samuel Beckett are predominant, whether in appropriated text such as: “no symbols where none intended” and “The tears of the world are a constant quality …The same is true of the laugh,” or in a text-less painting referencing the curiosity of Beckett’s character Watt (from the novel of the same name), who tries to understand an abstract image. “Like abstract painting,” says the artist, “Beckett’s works are experienced, heard, and understood on instinct, pressingly (depressingly) open; the viewer fills in the spaces.”

Speaking of the exhibition’s title, Michael said, “The sun reference is a way of noticing that perhaps the most inspirational phenomenon – day break or sunset – is not as it seems. The sun does not rise or fall; it is in a relatively fixed position. On the other hand, the sun will appear to always be rising or setting somewhere, according to multiple points and perspectives.”

All of the works in the Danube Series are on paper with ink and spray paint mixed with water from this storied, 1,770 mile-long river that courses through nine countries, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. The use of the river water was both poetic and necessary – Michael had no running water in her studio, so she and a friend carried a heavy jug from the Danube. The artist used antiquated musical reproduction devices – vinyl records of works by Verdi, Diana Ross and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and piano rolls of Wagner – as stencils. “The piano rolls,” says Michael, “simply represent sound – a decodable analog, caught between mechanical and digital translations. Visually, for me, they represent the rhythmic vertical flow of rain, waterfalls, or windows lit at night in a skyscraper. Or horizontally, the piano roll stencil is a river current or an urban flow of pedestrians. Diagonally, a stronger momentum is implied, a celestial light or wind.”

Local band Fear of Virginia playing at Rock n Roll Hotel this Sat, Sept. 10

Fear of Virginia (http://www.fearofvirginia.com/) a band made of DC residents whose drummer Sam Kussin-Shoptaw is a resident of the H Street corridor (8th & K) will be playing at the Rock n Roll Hotel (1353 H St) on Saturday, September 10.  They're from all over the District have been playing the DC Metro area for a few months now.  They'd like to have a solid showing from folks in the neighborhood.  Tickets are only $10 and Rock n Roll Hotel wouldn't have booked them if they weren't talented, so go check them out.  More from the band after the jump

H Street Chalk Walk line up for Saturday

The first ever H Street Chalk Walk and Brunch Around is this Saturday, September 10th starting at 10am. From 10am until 3pm H Street businesses and their artistic teams will be working on their creations in front of their businesses during the brunch hours.  From 3pm until 6:30pm, the chalk art will be displayed outside of their businesses for all to see.  At 6:30, the party starts at Little Miss Whiskey's Golden Dollar (1104 H Street NE) & the winners will be announced by the panel of judges (including CM Tommy Wells).  The art will be drawn on canvas (to protect the beautiful new sidewalks), so the art can be displayed again the following weekend at the H Street Festival!  If the event is rained out, it will be rescheduled for October 9.

The confirmed participants include:

Link roundup

Metro Mutts (508 H St) announced that they are opening second outpost on Barrack's Row having acquired Pawticulars.  Congratulations to one of H Street's best retail shops owned by a few local residents!

The K Street Triangle blog went live & is soliciting input on what to do with the corner pocket park at 8th & K NE.  We made a few recommendations to them.  Have you?  Will you help beautify the space with public art, trees, bushes, flowers, or other donations & volunteer work?

Mike Neibauer noted the new DCRA vacant & blighted property lists are out.  The lists are bigger and include some additional H Street properties.  Others are still missing despite having been reported.  If you would like to report a vacant property, contact DCRA at 442-4332.  DCRA can order certain improvements on vacant properties & can subject them to higher property tax rates to encourage occupancy and/or renovations.

The City Paper & others noted that Taylor (1116 H St) has dropped their ban on mustard & mayo.  I can't think of a hoagie they make that needs either, but welcome the news nonetheless.  They're also offering whole wheat rolls and will be doing hoagie of the month specials.  Good stuff!

Young & Hungry picks up on Crunk Cakes.  They're around here a fair amount, including at the H Street Bakes gatherings.  Booze filled cupcakes & they're popular.  Look for them at H Street Bakes on Saturday at the Pug (1234 H St) during the H Street Chalk Walk. 

The H Street Chalk Walk is this Saturday.  East City Art has some background.  We'll post more soon, but the idea is brunch between 10 and 3.  Checking out street chalk art thereafter.  Drinks & awards for the best art in the evening.  Should be fun & lots of H Street businesses & local artists are participating.

Prince of Petworth notices the for lease sign at 1118 H St.  This is the old Birdland building.  It was previously thought to be leased to the guy who has the lease for a pizza spot at 1387 H.  It's one of several good properties listed for lease.  We've also notice 906 H St (double wide), 914 H St (needs lots of work, but has liquor license), 1000 H St and a few others with for lease signs popping up recently. 

Housing Complex's Lydia DePillis picks up on the sale of the Murry's site (610 H St).  We understand it's under contract with closing in November.  It will go from a taxi mangate (whose also the guy who owns the blighted property at 1400 Maryland Ave & a proposed Walmart site) to developers who want to put a big residential building over ground level retail.  In other words, this is very good news.  The site is quite large and extends from the corner of 6th & H all the way up to the H Street Storage building.  It also appears to include lots back along 6th St to I St.  We have more this that we'll share in a separate post soon.

East City Art also has news of a cool charity event this Friday, September 9, at SOVA (1359 H St).  It's a wine tasting & silent auction to benefit Empowered Women International & Peace X Peace. 

Granville Moore's (1238 H St) is doing another cool beer dinner on September 27.  This time with Flying Dog Brewery.  They've got great folks in the kitchen there and they love quality beer, so this is sure to be fun.  Plus you can reserve a spot so you wont have ot wait in line to get in.  Those guys really can't expand soon enough as far as we're concerned. 

Liberty Tree (1016 H St) is now open daily at 5 pm, weekends at 11 for brunch (ie, no more weekday lunch service, but opening earlier for weekend brunch).  We're sorry lunch is off for now, but there are a number of good lunch options on H Street these days and Liberty remains a strong dinnner and weekend brunch option.  Don't forget about their new patio & some specials they are rolling out like half priced burgers on Wednesday nights.

Is something happening at Murry's? New development coming to 600 blk H Street?

A reader asks about the 600 block of H Street property that currently houses a Murry's Food Store and if/when something will happen there. 

Here's what we know.  In July, the property owners (who own the large lot beginning at the NE corner of 6th & H that runs east up until the H Street Storage building) obtained permits to drill five soil borings to confirm soil strength down to a maximum of 80 feet or until auger refusal.  We've not spoken with the owners, but they obtained ownership of the near city block long property a year and a half ago for $3.4 million.  The property's current assessed value is $6.3 million.  We're uncertain of the terms of the Murry's lease, but it seems increasingly likely that the owners will seek to redevelop the property in the near future.   It is zoned C-2-B, which allows matter of right medium density development at up to 3.5 FAR for residential use, with height of up to 65 feet. 

The property across the street is already slated for redevelopment with a residential building with ground floor retail planned to fill the space between the two office buildings.  Perhaps in a few years both sides of that block will have new residential buildings replacing parking lots?