May 20, 2009

Celebrate DCAC ’s 20th Anniversary


On May 29th join me as I Celebrate DCAC ’s 20th Anniversary with an evening of dance, poetry, performance art, video art, sound installation and live music. Artomatic is opening the same night but believe me... skip that cattle call until after opening night and come to this important event.

May 29, 2009
6:30-10:30 pm
3400 Prospect St NW
Washington, DC

Performers and artists for the evening include:
Kathryn Cornelius, video installation
Quique Aviles, performance
David London, performance
Silvana Straw, poetry
Buck Downs, poetry
Ilana Silverstein, dance
Alberto Gaitán, sound installation
Gretchen Schemmerhorn, installation
and video projections by José Ruiz, Jeffrey Cudlin and Meg Mitchell,
Jefferson Pinder, David Hartwell............and more

Buy your tickets now by going here. At the door they will be $125!

May 18, 2009

Reincorporation @ Honfleur (Preview #1)





Next month I'm curating a show I've decided to call: Reincorporation Jamboree at Honfleur Gallery in Southeast D.C. For the show I've selected five artist's who have emerged from rites of passage with very unique visions of their families.

The first artist I'm previewing for this show is photographer, Hatnim Lee. Hatnim graduated from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 2006 and since then has built an impressive body of both fashion and fine art photography. Lee's work can be divided into street photography, portraits, and fashion work. I have followed her blog almost daily since 2007 and was always impressed how she moves from shooting for Teen Vogue in L.A. to taking pictures in her parent's Pentworth Liqueur store without loosing a beat. The subject of both are treated with an intense serious nature.

Portraits of her family both biological and urban are the subject of the photo's I'll included in this show. Hatnim Lee's work as a freelancer has taken her to cities all over the world but she still remains an every important presence in her Alrington, VA family. Lee's portraits are not ones you might find on any Facebook page but instead draw more from the tradition of photographers like Nan Goldin, Ryan McGinley, and William Eggleston. Behind the camera Lee directs her subjects creating a space where her subjects are aware of the camera and free to speak to it, whether they are in her parent's Arlington, VA home or three pints from blindness at a pub in Brooklyn, NY.

You can find out more about Hatnim Lee on her website HatnimLee.com or for the real insite and almost daily photos go to her blog. Please join me next month at Honfleur Gallery for Reincorporation Jamboree.

May 12, 2009

Back to School: MFA @SAIC



After many flights, nights sleeping on a hardwood floor, self-guided tours, group interviews, AdvilPMs, and several amazing conversations with Sean and Liz, I have decided to pursue a MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in Fiber and Material Studies.
I look forward to working with dynamic faculty like: Darrel Morris, Candida Alvarez, Amy Honchell, Anne Wilson, Kathryn Hixson, and many others. The program has about 10 students in each graduating MFA class and studios on South Wabash Avenue. I hope to run a mini-visiting artist program out of my studio next fall and do tons of research in their amazing libraries and museum. The new AIC Contemporary Wing opens this Friday (5/15). I can't wait to check it out.

Attending SAIC also means leaving DC and moving to Chicago, which is both and exciting and crushing. I love DC and the art community here has become part of my family but I can't wait to explore Chicago. I'm not leaving until late June so there should be plenty of opportunities to enjoy DC before the move.

Photo courtesy of Kristina Bilonick