Call Box Art in DC

Before you could call 911 for an emergency, DC had emergency call boxes all over town. The call system was removed, but the boxes have remained.

Rather than spend a fortune trying to remove the call boxes, Cultural Tourism DC has undertaken a project to turn them into art.

Some of the boxes are reproductions of historic paintings. Some are designed by local artists. Many of them have little historic tidbits about the neighborhood on the back.

This particular box depicting George Washington on his horse is in Dupont close to my house. You can find out more about the Art on Call boxes on the Cultural Tourism DC website.

Art Truck at Glen Echo Park

This crazy car was parked outside of Glen Echo Park for the folk festival. It also had musical accompaniment from outside.

The other side of the car had some kind of scripture. If you are going to go all publicly jesus crazy, this is the way to do it.

I don't believe there was a single person arriving that didn't stop to check this thing out. I saw some people even peering inside, but somehow that seemed awkward. I had the sneaking suspicion someone was in there sleeping.

Washington Folk Festival at Glen Echo Park

The Washington Folk Festival at Glen Echo Park was this past weekend. They had every kind of music from bluegrass to gospel. That'd be the gospel group in the pic.

Weather was idyllic. Crowds were thick, but not impossibly so. There were a lot of kids around, which didn't make the boyfriend too happy. The small people eventually pushed us off.

Aside from music, the park was highlighting arts and crafts, many of which were made on premises. Glen Echo has classes in ceramics, painting, glass blowing, writing, and just about every other creative thing you can think of.

There is also a historic merry-go-round, a dance hall (where they teach dance), and a cafe. It's pretty much a crafty person's dream. The highlight for me was watching the glass blowing. I really need to learn how to do that. Look how happy he is!

Mid City Artists Open Studios Tour

Mid City Artists Open Studios was this weekend. Chris and I managed to hit a few placed on Sunday afternoon.

The cool thing about open studios is, not only do you get to see cool artwork, you also get to see inside the old brownstones in Dupont and Logan Circle.

Also, it's a great opportunity to meet the cool neighbors. We spoke with the artists, checked out their studio/homes, and looked at some beautiful pieces.

Because we got started late, we only had time to visit Lucinda Murphy, Mark Parascandola, Peter Alexander Romero, and Regina Miele. Mark's photography was the highlight for me. Chris loved his photos of an old graffiti covered prison in Spain. I loved the shot up stop sign in Alaska.

If you missed Mark at Open Studios, you can catch him at Artomatic.

Goethe-Institute Human Rights Films

The Goethe-Institute is a German cultural center with locations all over the world, including in DC. They have exhibit space, a theater, events spaces, and classrooms where you can learn German.

This past weekend they were showing films from a human rights film festival based out of the Czech Republic. Chris and I saw two of them.

The Reckoning was about the International Criminal Court (ICC). It gave an overview of international justice, starting with an interview of the attorney who prosecuted the Nazis at Nuremberg. Then is followed the ICC through its formation and its first few cases - Uganda, Sudan, Colombia. It was sad and fascinating and made me want to punch John Bolton in the face.

The second film we watched was called Life After the Fall. A documentary filmmaker who had been living in London and working for the BBC for decades returned to his home country of Iraq after the fall of Saddam. The film follows his family for four years, watching them grow increasingly frustrated, disillusioned, and dejected. It's a long film, Lord of the Rings long, but it's worth it.

Best of all, most of the events at Goethe are free.

Fritz Scholder Exhibit at the NMAI

There is a phenomenal exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian through August 16th. The artist is Fritz Scholder.

Scholder was a controversial Native American artist who really pushed the boundaries of what was considered Native American art. You won't find the same old stylized representations that you're used to seeing - except maybe to make fun of them.

His work is vibrant in color, but often dark in content. It is violent and playful. Wild and free, yet contained. Much of it is purposefully incongruous. One of Chris's favorite pieces was a buffalo dancer holding an ice cream cone.

Photos don't do it justice, but if you can't make it to Washington, DC or New York (where a sister exhibit is showing at the American Indian museum), check it out online.