Arts Agenda

Yellow Fever, detail. Courtesy Flashpoint Gallery

Next Monday, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will present the Mayor's Arts Awards at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. This annual award bestows recognition to individual artists, organizations and patrons of the arts from the District's arts community. Past recipients of the Mayor's Arts Awards include Tim Tate, Artomatic, The 48 Hour Film Project and Arena Stage, just to name a few. The ceremony will kick off at 6 p.m. and will include performances by Raheem DeVaughn, The Washington Ballet, Coral Cantigas and DC’s own Mambo Sauce. We'll have a full report for you next week but that shouldn't stop you from attending and cheering on your favorite finalists. This event is free and open to the public.

>> Tonight head over to Flashpoint and watch artists Kate McGraw and Ann Tarantino collaborate on planned and improvised drawings created directly on the walls of the gallery. Workbook will feature the artists' own signature styles as well as their response to one another's mark-making. McGraw and Tarantino will collaborate for ten days and document the process through video and in a twist to the typical "buy the painting on the wall," they'll instead make small 7x7" paper prints, each handmade, unique and available for $50. The video will be incorporated into the project and on view on March 28. Opening reception tonight from 6 to 9 p.m.

>> For a hands-on experience, Transformer Gallery opens Fabrication of Blindness/Fabricating Rain by Julia Mandle. This installation seeks to "mend the wounds" from America's human right's abuses at Guantanamo Bay. Participants are encouraged to embroider detainee-written narratives and poetry onto hoods made of U.S. military issue sandbags. You can join in scheduled embroidery circles on Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 6 p.m. or drop by during regular gallery hours to contribute to the project. Meet Mandle at the opening this Saturday at 2 p.m.

>> In February of 2008, a fire destroyed the famous Parisian taxidermy shop Deyrolle, which had been founded more than one hundred and fifty years ago. A cabinet of natural curiosities, the shop had been home to many priceless specimens from butterflies to polar bears. As the shop's friends and neighbors worked to raise money, photographer Martin d'Orgeval documented this unique moment in the shop's history. See d'Orgeval's photographs of this experience in Touched by Fire at Adamson Gallery. Opening Saturday from 6:30 - 8:30 pm

>> On Tuesday, March 24, Mel Chin will talk about his creative art project - FUNDRED/PAYDIRT at the Arlington Arts Center. When Chin learned that it would cost upwards of $3 Million to fix the lead problem in New Orleans, he went about having school kids literally make the money. Learn more about this innovative art project and how Chin plans on working with students in and around Arlington. 7 to 8:30 p.m. Free, but may sell out, so RSVP is requested 703-248-6800

>> For another great talk, mark your calendars for next Thursday to see Breaking Through: Women Leading Museum. This panel discussion will feature women museum directors exploring the role of women in our nation’s cultural life. The panel will be moderated by Susan Stamberg, of NPR fame, and include Camille Giraud Akeju, Director of the Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Leslie Buhler, Executive Director of the Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, Dorothy Kosinski, Director of The Phillips Collection and Susan Fisher Sterling, Director of the National Museum of Women in the Art. The panelists will share their professional journeys, offer advice to emerging professionals, and communicate their vision for leading museums today and beyond. Thursday, March 26, 2009, 6:30 p.m at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. $20 ArtTable Members; $25 non ArtTable members; $10 students (with ID) To RSVP visit ArtTable.

>> Saturday, Hamiltonian Gallery opens its fifth show with three visual artists with differing visual aesthetics but similar underlying themes. View work by Lisa Brotman, Tom Block and Michael Enn and explore the connection for yourself at the opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Upstairs view work by artist Calla Thompson in Hero and Baddie at Project4. Thompson uses stark, wry humor to explore the potential for both good and evil. Opening reception Saturday from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.