The Day I Stopped Believing by Billy Colbert With an entrance so unassuming its easy to walk right past, the Healing Arts Gallery, once you find it, is a new and welcome addition to the D.C. art scene. The venue is part of the Smith Farm Center on U Street NW, a nonprofit dedicated to using creative methods for the health and education of people suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses. For the......

There is a strong correlation between math and art that is often forgotten. The golden ratio has been studied for centuries and has helped with aesthetics and composition in all aspects of art. Its use was widely adopted during the Renaissance period for those purposes and was also discovered in nature. Conspiracy theorists even ponder the layout of our fair city is due to one of the many formulas and geometric shapes that are......

Elena del Rivero's [Swi:t] Home: A Chant, 2001–2006, installation of found papers mended, burnt, embroidered, and stitched to five rolls of muslin. Courtesy of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the artist. (c) Elena del Rivero. If the scant number of press releases in our inbox is any indication, we have officially reached the start of summer in the art scene. Take some time to battle the tourists and see what's hanging......

Teacup by Kyoko Hamada, courtesy Randall Scott Gallery Friday marked the opening of 8 Photographers at Randall Scott, with previews of all eight artists’ work hung. Over the course of the next eight weeks, two photographers at a time will adorn the walls for two week spans, after which the walls will be refilled with the next pair of picture-takers. Gallery owner Scott did not pick these artists with a curatorial mission in mind,......

As illegal graffiti continues to appear on D.C.'s streets, the D.C. Council sought a way to do more than paint over it and send the taggers to jail, only to repeat the process again and again. Council member Jim Graham's office contacted The Midnight Forum, a non-profit with a mission to empower youth through hip-hop, through both the entertainment side as well as teaching business and life skills. These two groups, together with Columbia Heights/Shaw......

Starting in April of this year, artists Kristina Bilonick, Michael Matason, Jillian Pichocki, and Bryan Whitson, came together twice a week to discuss and develop new work as part of Transformer's The Exercises for Emerging Artists program. As a continuation of the program, Transformer has opened up the process to the public for comment and feedback in E5: Rangefinder. Launched in March 2004, The Exercises for Emerging Artists was created to support artists at......

With so many museums in D.C., it's easy to overlook the wealth of fun and interesting events that are happening at them. Here's a round-up of some of the notable events and exhibits going on in July, including a look at baseball in D.C., a hip-hop happy hour and a chance to finally see what's living in your refrigerator. >> As we noted last week, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is running through July 6; this......

With all the love our readers show for the annual DCist Exposed Photography Show, we figured this was right up your alley. FotoWeek DC is a new photography festival with the backing of just about every single photography related person and organization in the metro area. Founded by National Geographic and local fave photo shop Chrome Imaging, the week-long event will feature exhibits in nearly every gallery and museum throughout the city, countless lectures and......

Martin Puryear's C.F.A.O., 2006-2007, painted and unpainted pine and found wheelbarrow. Courtesy the artist and Donald Young Gallery, Chicago. © 2008 Martin Puryear. Photo Richard P. Goodbody When Martin Puryear visited the National Gallery of Art last week for the press opening of his retrospective show, he spoke about how he grew up in Washington, and as a child would often visit the gallery. He didn’t imagine that one day the museum would host......

Home to guerrilla art exhibits as well as the city's most famous art guerrilla, the Bobby Fisher Memorial Building at 1644 North Capitol Street NW is coming to a close, after tenants and landlord failed to renegotiate a lease. The dozen-member collective known as the Borf Brigade that runs the DIY community arts center, as well as their regent, John Tsombikos (aka Borf), have been unable to negotiate a lease renewal with Joe Scheve, the......

The Harlem Renaissance comes alive in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s newest show, Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist. The exhibit consists of eighty works including paintings, murals, prints and book illustrations that are a testament to Douglas’s range of talent and his contributions to modern American art. Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1899 and taught and studied in Kansas and Nebraska before moving to New York in 1925. His arrival in New York......

Just in time for D.C.'s hot, humid weather, Randall Scott Gallery presents photographs by Sarah Wilmer, who's work offers a cool, dewy refuge from the heat and humidity found on the city's streets. Wilmer's work consists of ethereal photographs of mystical characters that transport you to another time and place. To say they are fantastical storybook settings would be stating the obvious, but they are clearly enchanted. Her photographs consist of vivid greens and......

Upon seeing the work of the Art Enables’ artists at Artomatic both last year and this year, our curiosity was piqued. The nonprofit art space labels their work “outsider art inside the beltway,” and they insist that they are not a school for disabled artists, but part outsider art studio and part employment program. The 27 artists work full days at the studio one to four times per week—honing their skills, experimenting with new ideas,......

If you want to get away from the warm weather this weekend, this week’s Arts Agenda is full of art happenings all over town for your indoor enjoyment. >> This Friday is the monthly Dupont Circle First Friday, with gallery openings across the neighborhood from 5 to 8 p.m. Washington Printmakers opens at 5 p.m. to present recent monotype and printed relief constructions by Bill Harris. A Bachelors and Masters graduate of Howard and instructor......

For 25 years, the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium has been holding its annual Museum Walk Weekend to celebrate the two neighborhoods' abundance of cultural centers. This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., they celebrate the event's 25th anniversary by providing free entrance to eight museums, as well as live music, food, demonstrations, walking tours, and other activities to encourage us all to indulge in our city's excellent......

We're continuing to bring you a monthly round-up of the most interesting events and exhibits at area museums, and this month, there's something to please photography fans, animation addicts, ocean lovers and more. At the Natural History Museum, check out Ocean Views, where a collection of photographers have captured their vision of the sea (June 11). Forget Q and Basil: Check out what the real life spies of the CIA have come up with in......

Yesterday we showed you how someone had added a spoof image on a Metro rail car suggesting that "Rapture" is a behavior that's banned on the transit system. Today, WMATA's director of public relations, Lisa Farbstein, sent us the agency's response to the mystery culprit. "We may be a big agency, but we have a sense of humor too!" Farbstein wrote in an email. Tragically, the sign above won't be added to any rail......

Photo by Jeffrey Lewis from ArmsControlWonk, snapped on the Red line this morning around 9:30 a.m. while traveling between the Woodley Park and Dupont Circle stations. Used by permission. National security and nuclear arms control blogger Jeffrey Lewis of ArmsControlWonk was on the Red line this morning when he noticed a rather odd new sign prohibiting certain behavior on Metro. Next to the usual diagrams picturing how you must not block, crowd around or......

>> At Randall Scott, see the new photographic exhibit by Sarah Wilmer. The young Brooklyn artist was named as one of the 30 under 30 to watch by PDN Magazine last year; in the accompanying profile she describes her work as "dark and weird." Wilmer creates worlds -- often faiery, dream-like worlds, populated with pale, beautiful people doing mysterious tasks (pictured right). See them at the reception on Saturday, 7 to 9 p.m. >> Transformer......

It would be impossible to review Artomatic’s ten floors of art in its entirety. The show is scatterbrained, and intentionally. First come, first serve is no jury; Artomatic treats all artists and crafters the same, and puts them all smack next to each other. In an art setting where it can be difficult to determine if a participant is old or young, joking or serious, novice, student, or seasoned, some work stood out to the......

Crafty Bastards participants may have a higher calling now. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has just announced the creation of a Curator of Craft position, after an $800,000 donation was made by Lloyd Herman, founder of the Renwick Gallery. Other patrons inspired by the gift have ponied up more funds to support the new role, amounting to $1.2 million so far. Herman encouraged, "Whatever their means, I hope that artists, collectors and all others......

Yesterday you read that the city shut down the "Here & Now" exhibition without giving artists the opportunity to retrieve their work before the doors were locked. One person out there was angry enough to pick up the phone—not to call the city or the gallery or the developer, but to alert the Humane Society to the fact that goldfish were trapped inside. The caller pleaded for intervention on behalf of the fish, which were......

James Marshall, or Dalek, has been a fixture in the urban art scene for ten years. Best known for his "Space Monkey" characters, Marshall brings this influence to Irvine Contemporary in his solo show, Overweight. Seen as a combination of street art, cartoon, Japanese pop and punk, Marshall's paintings are very precise and highly complex compositions. Using bright neon colors he creates dizzying kaleidoscopic displays. The shapes that he employs are simple and minimal......

An automotive showroom for the R.L. Taylor Motor Company, a restaurant supplies retailer under Adams-Burch, and a Pentecostal chapel with the Church of the Rapture—the building that occupies the southwest corner of 14th and T Streets NW has served many people in many ways. Its most recent and perhaps improbable career turn—as a guerrilla art space hidden in the heart of one of D.C.'s fastest-rising commercial corridors—came to a close on Saturday. Citing improper permits......

This Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., plan a stroll around the Logan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods to check out the art studios of the Mid City Artists. Be sure to print out their map before you head out, wear comfy shoes, and take note of the specific times listed—the studios span nine square blocks and the opening and closing times vary. This week, DCist spoke with several of the participating artists,......

Last week, when DCist met with Michael Janis at the Washington Glass School, the studio was abuzz with artists working. Janis’ colleagues Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers were there working on their own projects, and the team was preparing for several upcoming events: this Saturday’s Gateway Arts District Open Studios, the many glass events at Artomatic, and the June 4 grand opening of their public art project at Ballston Liberty Plaza, as well as their......

>> Artomatic continues this week. Join them tonight for an art collecting discussion sponsored by Pink Line at 7 p.m., or on Friday for Meet the Artists Night, from 7 to 10 p.m., or perhaps feel more at home during Blogger's Night in the 12th floor lounge on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. Read through the other hundred or so events going on this weekend on Artomatic's calendar. And don't forget to check out......

The death of the irrepressibly innovative artist Robert Rauschenberg on Monday marks a loss for the entire world of art. Tyler Green rounds up a list of obituaries and more for accounts on the man. In D.C., the loss is acutely felt, owing to his many fine works in the national collections this city hosts, but that should also serve as a warm reminder about his life and works. District viewers were very recently graced......

Swiss lighting artist Gerry Hofstetter brought his work to Washington National Cathedral over the weekend, as part of a celebration of the Cathedral’s centennial. Hofstetter projected his incredible artwork across the Cathedral for a piece titled Lighting to Unite. There were so many amazing captures of this event in our Flickr pool this morning, we just had to share them with you. Did you make it up to the Cathedral to see it for yourself?......

Graphic designers: Back away from the computer and head to the Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. In the sixty displayed postered portraits, one can see an evolution of graphic design and advertising, with each era screaming its identity through fonts, colors and graphic techniques, as well as the obvious context of the featured face. Keeping true to the NPG’s mission, all 60 posters are about Americans or American films, however......