Downtown, Education, Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts

National Geographic Live: April 2011

Hidden Alaska, ©Michael Melford; used with permission by National Geographic

April brings another full month of programs at NatGeo for their popular National Geographic Live! series. If you’re looking for something to do in the evenings, we highly suggest you check out some of their offerings this season. And to provide further incentive, we are providing two lucky readers with a pair of tickets to an event of their choice this coming month!

To enter the drawing, simply comment below using your first name and a legit email address, listing the two events from the following program list you’d like to attend. (Note that there is one event not eligible and we’ve noted it for you.) Sometime after noon on Friday (April 1) we’ll randomly select two winners to receive a pair of tickets (each) to one of their selections. You’ve got until 11 am on Friday to enter!

(For ticket information, visit online or call the box office at (800) 647-5463.)

Hidden Alaska ($18)
April 5, 7:30 pm
Michael Melford, veteran National Geographic photographer, has documented some of the world’s most pristine places. For a magazine story and new National Geographic book Hidden Alaska, he traveled to Bristol Bay, Alaska—both an important salmon breeding ground and location of enormous copper and gold deposits—where residents are being forced to choose between incompatible futures.
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The Daily Feed, We Love Arts

Have a Say in SAAM’s 2012 Art of Video Game Exhibition

Photo courtesy of
‘BrySi | Bryan Simon’
courtesy of ‘Joriel “Joz” Jimenez’

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is inviting the public to help select the video games that will be included in its upcoming exhibition “The Art of Video Games,” which opens in Washington, DC on March 16, 2012. Voting is taking place online beginning today and running through April 7. A valid e-mail address is the only requirement to vote.

The exhibition is the first to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixels and collector of video games and gaming systems, is the curator of the exhibition.

The website offers participants a chance to vote for 80 games from a pool of 240 proposed choices in various categories, divided by era, game type, and platform; winning games will be displayed in the exhibition as screen shots and short video clips. The website includes an online forum where gaming enthusiasts can campaign for particular games and voice their opinions about the selections. The games on the voting site were selected for their graphic excellence, artistic intent, and innovative game design. Results will be available online in May. Continue reading

The Daily Feed

All Female Art Exhibition

Photo courtesy of
‘Rothko Colour’
courtesy of ‘Edward Hoover’

Would you like to support local artists and a local charity all in one night?  Sounds pretty awesome to me.

The Art Registry is hosting an art exhibition and fundraiser to benefit Dress for Success on Thursday evening.  The event will feature seven female artists (six are local) whose work will be up for sale at the event.  Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20, and the cost include hours d’ oeuvres, wine, and of course, the opportunity to help a great cause.

The artists to be featured are: Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Leah Matthews, Karen Smul, Sandy Wexler, Catherine White, and Shawn Yancy (Fox 5 News Anchor).

The event will be on Thursday from 6-9 PM at the the Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar in Dupont.  For more information call 703-798-8717.

Downtown, Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts

He Loves DC: Dan Treado

Dan Treado

For the next four weeks, the Addison/Ripley Fine Art gallery is showing the work of local artist Dan Treado. Though Requesting Quiet is his first public showing in a few years, his art retains his signature imagery with layers of color and airy associations on top of a depth that pulls the viewer into the piece. “In some of the paintings, appropriated samples from selected illustrations and texts provide tense contrast. In others, a crazy quilt of disparate organic images is woven together by this talented painter,” states the gallery’s exhibition description.  “At once cryptic and mesmerizing, the paintings demonstrate a rich complexity and accomplished maturity.  They may ‘request quiet’ but they shout and crackle with energy.”

When I got the invitation to Dan’s show, I was intrigued by the description of his work, not to mention the interesting titles on some of his pieces such as “Shoulda Traveled More,” “In the Key of Shut Your Mouth,” and “Ow, My Leg.” I’ve known Dan more for his incredible exhibition work at the Spy Museum; the opportunity to see a different side of his creative mind was too good to pass up. So this past weekend, I attended the show’s opening night and was quietly amazed at the sheer emotional tapestry on display.

Dan was gracious enough to sit down with WeLoveDC for an interview on his work and his love for the city.  Continue reading

The Features, We Love Arts

We Love Arts: Georgia O’Keeffe Abstraction

Black Door with Red, 1954.

Black Door with Red, 1954.  Oil on Canvas, 48 x 48 in. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia.  Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.63 (CR1271). Copyright, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense.” – Georgia O’Keeffe, 1976

When discussing abstract art of the 20th-century, the likes of Kandinsky and Matisse are often the works that most easily come to mind.  However, the newest exhibition at The Phillips CollectionGeorgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction – suggests the need for a potential addition among the abstract ‘authority’.

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