This needs to happen!!!
via D.C. officials mull over Anacostia Circulator – Washington Business Journal:.
around my way: Good art for a good cause
More good art for a good cause here in the Anacostia Arts District! read below:
Stories and Migrations: Concurrent Exhibitions Raise Awareness and Funds Photography by Antoine Sanfuentes and Ann Curry of NBC and Deborah Terry of International Lifeline Fund.
Friday January 22nd at 7pm marks the opening at Honfleur Gallery of
Stories, an exhibit of photographic stories created by three artists to
help raise awareness and funds for relief efforts in African nations.
Stories features documentary photography created by Antoine Sanfuentes in
a 2008 visit to East Goma with NBC’s Ann Curry covering topics such as
children soldiers of Africa, education and rape. Works by Ann Curry will
be presented from the same trip, alongside Deborah Terry’s images of
Sudanese and Ugandan refugees and conflict victims as well as multimedia
presentations of the grassroots work done by International Lifeline Fund.
Proceeds from this exhibition and the opening night fundraiser will go to
support International Lifeline Fund.
Concurrently, Terry will be exhibiting at The Gallery at Vivid Solutions,
also in Historic Anacostia, with a solo exhibition entitled Migrations,
illuminating the lives of two disparate groups at odds in the Darfur
conflict; nomadic herders known as Janjaweed, and the refugees displaced
by them.
About the Artists:
Antoine Sanfuentes is an Emmy award wining producer and the Deputy Bureau Chief for NBC news in Washington, DC. He has traveled extensively with Today show’s Ann Curry in Africa, several times to Darfur. In February
2008, Sanfuentes and Curry traveled to war-torn Eastern Congo to report on
the situation there. Over the course of a week in and around Goma, Congo
the team covered the atrocities and the perpetrators of a conflict that
has claimed more lives than in World War II. Sanfuentes’ pictures
document that journey including a visit to a so called “rape hospital”
where entire wards are dedicated to survivors of brutal rapes. An
interview with Rebel commander General Nkunda who now sits in a jail cell
in Rwanda for crimes his forces committed against the Congolese and
finally, the youngest casualties of this conflict, the children. The team
visited UNICEF’s secluded child soldier rehabilitation center.
Deborah Terry is the Vice President and Creative Director of International
Lifeline Fund, based in Washington DC. In 2005, she helped found ILF with
her partner Daniel Wolf in memory of his father, the late Professor George
Wolff. Rising from humble beginnings in Washington DC, Terry started
shooting photography in the late 1980’s. She moved to New York to pursue a
career in fashion photography. From fashion, she expanded her creative
ability to music photography, working for various records labels in NYC.
More recently she has turned to a more personally fulfilling undertaking,
focusing on the challenge of uncovering the desperate plight of refugees
and other impoverished peoples while capturing the simplicity and grace of
their everyday life. Her development work dovetails with her photography
as she sheds light on some of the least known issues and challenges of
these conflict zones.
The International Lifeline Fund is a not for profit international relief
and development organization dedicated to water & sanitation issues,
microenterprise and fuel efficient technologies. “The International
Lifeline Fund seeks to reduce human misery and environmental destruction
in the lesser developed world through programs and activities that
generate the greatest possible impact at the lowest possible cost.”
Honfleur Gallery is a contemporary art space located in the Historic
Anacostia. Opened in 2007, it maintains a rigorous schedule of exhibitions
and programming that focuses on cutting edge contemporary exhibitions by
living artists from the USA and abroad.
The Gallery at Vivid Solutions is a photography and digital arts
exhibition space that is dedicated to showcasing and supporting
established contemporary artists as well as aspiring local Washington,
D.C. talents.
ARCH Development Corporation
Both galleries are projects of the ARCH Development Corporation whose
mission is to act as a catalyst for cultural revitalization, primarily in
the historic Anacostia neighborhood by creating a home for arts & artists,
cultural organizations, and compatible businesses as a means to fulfill
its objectives of community-based economic development and sustainable
living neighborhoods.
For further inquiries, please contact Briony Evans Hynson, Creative
Director at 202-536-8994 or arts@archdc.org
Honfleur Gallery
1227 Good Hope Road SE
Washington DC 20020
www.honfleurgallery.com
The Gallery at Vivid Solutions
2208 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE
Washington DC 20020
www.vividsolutionsdc.com
around my way: new construction
DC Metrocentric reports that Howeler + Yoon has not only broken ground but started moving the dirt at 2345 Martin Luther King Ave SE….I am not sure what is going to be there, but it is always nice to see new development in Anacostia and in Greater River East communities.
around my way:Anacostia Foto Week Events: Nov 7- 14!!!
Click either the image or the link for more info
Tickets Still Available! Silent Auction + Reception hosted by Senator Al and Franni Franken to celebrate the kick-off of DCFotoWeek in Anacostia and the opening of Owen Franken : A Photography Retrospective. The Senator will be drawing his famous free-hand map of the US to be auctioned off during the event. Tickets are $25 – email bferraro@archdc.org or call 202-365-8392.
A preview of Owen Franken’s, “A Photography Retrospective” at The Gallery at Vivid Solutions is free and will open at 6:30 pm.
Saturday, November 7 – Saturday, November 14: (all openings at 7PM on the 7th)
Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Road SE
Women Photojournalists of Washington: Including works by Astrid Riecken, Allison Shelley, Abby Greenawalt, Ashely Twiggs, Algerina Perna, Amanda Lucidon, Andrea Bruce, Carol Guzy, Gabriela Bulisova, Jamie Rose, Katie Falkenberg, Laura Pohl, Melina Mara, Sarah L. Voisin, and Yanina Manolova.
Alternative Art Space, 2200 MLK Ave SE
BK Adams’ and Steven M. Cummings’ I AM ART: Presenting an experimental installation with interactive components.
Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 MLK Ave SE
Owen Franken, A Photography Retrospective: Owen has traveled to over 100 countries and covered everything from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the culture of food and wine in his home city of Paris.
This is a great excuse to check out Anacostia for the first or the hundredth time. Come on over!
(text courtesy of And Now, Anacostia)
around my way: more RIVER. EAST. ART
Updated 9/08.09 — F. Lennox Campello (http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/) blogged about yet another feather in the cap of RIVER. EAST. ART that i forgot to mention. Vivid Solutions, specializes in the new digital printing technique, Digigraphie and is the first Digigraphie certified lab in the United States!
Click here to find out more about Vivid Solutions.
around my way: Big Chair Coffee sighting
photo courtesy of http://twitpic.com/g4dvh
Almost a year ago now my parents and I were thinking about opening a coffeeshop franchise (GreenBerry’s) in River East preferably in downtown Anacostia, we have not given up on the idea but the timing just was not right for that type of venture for us.
Shortly after we shelved the idea i was happy to hear that another enterprising business person is moving forward with plans to open Big Chair Coffee (pictured above) at 2122 MLK Ave. Despite not being the first to the River East market with a coffeeshop/cafe, i am super excited about this and provided that the service and offerings are up to par, i will be supporting it regularly in fact it may become my office away from the office.
around my way: RIVER. EAST. ART
I try to keep up with all the interesting neighborhood bloggers around town, renewshaw is one that I read regularly.
When i checked it out today there was an interesting article up there about the financial woes of both the building owner and the gallerist at the well known art complex at 1515 14th Street NW.
in his/her post shaw rez suggested that the galleries should relocate to Shaw, because of lower rents (for now) and centralized buildings with architectural character. While I cannot disagree with him/her, I can think at least two other solid locations with just as much potential if not more than the 9th Street Corridor.
Firstly, the H Street Corridor, with help of the Great Streets Initiative and the efforts of a lot of good organizations and individuals H Street is quickly becoming a desired destination by those in the know and those willing to venture East of 11th and U Sts NW, not mention North Capitol Street.
Secondly, Downtown Anacostia, I know as some of you are reading this you are already scoffing at the idea but what many of you may not know is that there are already three Fine Art galleries there that have been adding to the art scene of this city for almost 4 years, Honfleur Gallery, Vivid Solutions and American Poetry Museum’s Gallery, have been showing work by locally, regionally, nationally and internationally known artists since opening their doors. Additionally they have been participating in ongoing cultural exchanges programs with artists and galleries in France (Dorothy’s Galerie), Wales, Belfast (Belfast Exposed), Cuba (Lazaro Baptisa), these collaborations have sent Washington DC and River East based youth and adult artists around the world showing their art…..
So i started thinking to myself although Shaw would be a good place move for the 14th Street galleries, i think it would be a wiser move to have those galleries plug themselves into a community that has created an international arts community without the help of all the critical attention, foot traffic, and the brut force of an economic development engine that continues to support the neighborhood. Additionally in considering Downtown Anacostia would probably give these gallerist the opportunity to buy their own space and not have to immediately worry about their taxes increasing at an alarming rate (500% in the case of another Shaw artspace, The Warehouse).
I am hopeful that someday soon business like these soon-to-be displaced galleries will come to communities further East and perhaps even as far as River East. I think they will be pleasantly surprised to find a community spawned unofficial arts district already hard at work in the heart of Downtown Anacostia.
around my way: a cool interview with David Garber of “And Now, Anacostia”
image courtesy of ReadySetDC
“things that make you go hmmmm…”
I was going through my normal Google Reader morning routine and the title of an entry from my boyJomo’s blog caught my attention. The title was The Whole Foods Conundrum, in the post, he was pondering the question whether he would continue to shop at Whole Foods because of the logical implications of the opinions of John Mackey’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Mackey is the CEO of Whole Foods.
In a nutshell, basically Mackey, using an interpretation of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, opines that “a careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter.”..WHOA!!
I am not a law student like my man Jomo, but something in Mackey’s analysis does not sit well with me.
Perhaps I am a little naive and ignorant of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, but “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” , establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, promoting “the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” , sound pretty comprehensive to me, surely health care, food or shelter fall in there somewhere, but again I am not serious student of the Constitutional Law so I could be wrong.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the question that Jomo raise on this blog poemusing, he quests
Based on the “historical background” surrounding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, would Mackey support repeal of every amendment that granted “new” rights… to Blacks? to women? etc.?
In addition to my feelings about health care as a right, the line of questioning that Jomo poses is making me consider going down the same rabbit hole…I, too, would be interested in hearing more of Mackey’s opinons about the rights of African Americans, Women, etc as a function his “careful reading” that seeks to “to codify a pre-existing right, rather than to fashion a new one.”
Besides I already have a bone to pick to with Mackey for not putting a Whole Foods somewhere in DC east of the 14th Street NW or better yet east of North Capitol Street..;-)
Check out Jomo’s poemusing and then check out Mackey’s op-ed in the WSJ