Results tagged “katzenartscenter”

Provisions Library, D.C.’s learning laboratory for the arts and social change, which opened its doors in September of 2001, launched a new initiative this past summer, BrushFire. By staging socially-minded public art events nationally, BrushFire aims to promote discourse about democracy, including key political and social issues such as the war in Iraq, immigration, the environment, the economy and health care. The highest concentration of BrushFire events is in the D.C. area, with over a dozen arts organizations holding events in the months leading to the November elections, and several of these exhibitions open this weekend. We touched on a few of them in yesterday’s Arts Agenda, but get out your calendars, because here’s the full run-down.

In an audacious presentation of political and protest art, the Katzen Arts Center’s Art of CONFRONTation showcases three separate exhibitions that share a confident outspokenness. Whether it’s the poignant reenactments of torture of Abu Ghraib by Fernando Botero, or the surreal depictions of the city-dominated human condition by Irving Norman in Dark Metropolis, or the multifaceted collection of some of the 1970s most important feminist art in Claiming Space, these works are united by a...

>> 9:30 Club has Editors, Ra Ra Riot, and Biffy Clyro. $15 tickets still available, and don't miss our full preview of Ra Ra Riot by clicking here.

As a practical matter, any art museum or gallery needs to carve out a niche for itself in order to remain relevant. To that end, Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, chose local art and political art as two areas of emphasis. Two exhibitions reflecting this institutional philosophy opened this past weekend. Bush Leaguers: Cartoonists Take on the White House is a collection of 99 editorial cartoons that were assembled in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC). The show is a stinging criticism of the Bush administration that showcases some of the finest political cartoonists in the country. True Dutterer: The Work of William S. Dutterer is a warm tribute to the late artist whose career began in D.C. The collection spans his entire career but the most moving works are recent ones inspired by the post-9/11 world and Dutterer's love of Afghan culture.

I recently meandered over from the School of Communications, where I teach at American University (disclaimer 1), to the art department, from where I graduated a couple years ago, back when it was still largely a painting program (disclaimer 2) to check it out the MFA Thesis Exhibitions. I'd heard a few accounts already; the word "postmodern" lumped in a few times. But it's easy to be a bit skeptical of a dismissive comment that casually uses "postmodern."

>>Does This Mean Spring Will Be Here Soon? Please?: If you find yourself in Virginia instead of Maryland, begin your weekend with an opening reception for Equinox at the Arlington Arts Center. This "juried all media exhibition" will feature twenty-two regional artists who work in, well, all media. The pieces fit into three categories: manipulated materials, abstraction and the figure. Stop by tomorrow between 6 and 9 p.m. for the reception.

MONDAY Kenneth Brannagh’s Hamlet. Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet. Bob and Doug MacKenzie’s Strange Brew. All fine examples of Shakespeare on film. Got questions? Well, pepper Simon Crowl, author of Shakespeare and Film: A Norton Guide, with them. Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE., at 7:30 p.m. $12. TUESDAY According to the Wikipedia, Ralph Nader’s father “owned a bakery and restaurant where he engaged customers in discussions of political issues.” That bakery? The "Ugh…I Mean,...

MONDAY Audrey Niffenegger follows up her best-selling The Time Traveler’s Wife with another Edward Goreyian flight of fancy, The Adventuress. We bet she has one of the prettiest signatures of any author on this page. National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave. NW., at 7 p.m. $10. Reservations: (202) 783-7370. TUESDAY Of course, Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi's flair for visual artistry and imaginative text is on abundant display in Chicken With...

>> Andrew Wodzianski wins bonus cool points for combining visuals inspired by Mexican luchadores and an interactive blog, the use of cell phones and a podcast (or Wodcast) in his new show Lucha Libre! at the Fraser Gallery. His "Lucha Libre! 2" is pictured here.

>> Tomorrow the Fraser Gallery in Georgetown closes the exhibit of winners from the 9th Annual Georgetown International Fine Arts Competition - this year selected by Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator of the American University's Katzen Arts Center's Galleries. (You can see the list of winners on their Web site.) Then, on Thursday, a new exhibit of work by tape-obsessed Mark Jenkins opens. DCist can't wait to see the full-sized cast of a 1995 Honda Civic made from clear packing tape that the gallery is promising. Stop by the opening reception on Thursday from 6-9 p.m. to see it and photos of the artist's other installations in D.C., Baltimore, New York and Rio de Janeiro. His amusing "Call Waiting" is shown at right. (We reported on his tape babies back in May.)

Back in the days when this DCist was a lowly art history grad student at American University, we were relegated to a few rooms in a dank basement with a couple of antiquated slide projectors. But now there is a fabulous, 130,000-square-foot facility that sits atop Ward Circle. Art history can come out from underground.