Colin S. Johnson Photography | Sagittarius Dolly

As if I didn’t already exhaust myself from my time at Artomatic two days ago (where I served a volunteer shift, checked out part of the 2nd floor and attended a stencil making workshop), the next morning I headed to Artomatic again. Boarding the Metro was pretty insane because this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts and, as part of the festivities, there was this massive Girl Scouts Rock the Mall event so I had to compete with hordes of Girl Scouts and their adult supervisors for a spot on a Metro train going both to and from Artomatic. (As a former Girl Scout myself, I might’ve checked out the event on the Mall had I not already committed to attending Artomatic.) On top of that, Metro was doing its usual weekend track work so the trains didn’t arrive as frequently as usual, which made the situation worse.

Once I finally arrived at Artomatic, I went up to the Renwick Room on the 11th floor where I attended a lunchtime workshop on a career in the arts. It was led by Mary Jennings, the same person who did the “Active Sketchbook” workshop that I attended recently. (And, yes, she recognized me.) This workshop was an more informal talk on the positive and negative sides of proclaiming yourself as a professional artist and everyone was encouraged to participate by sharing their own experiences with trying to earn a living at creating art. The workshop only lasted an hour but it could’ve easily gone on for another hour since the artists present had so much to tell about their own lives and experiences.

Afterwards I ate the salad that I brought with me for lunch then I headed back to the 2nd floor in order to finish viewing the art that I started to view last night but had to interrupt because of both my own fatigue and the upcoming stencil making workshop that I wanted to attend. By the time I finally checked out all the exhibits on the 2nd floor, I went back up to the Renwick Room on the 11th floor where there was a panel that was sponsored by the Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington. It was pretty interesting viewing the slideshow of the art from the panelists while they were talking about their work. The group also provided a tour of the members of the organization who had exhibits in Artomatic this year but I couldn’t make it because I had to leave in order to attend an evening event involving a friend of mine.

As I went to the first floor, I decided to check out the Art To Go Marketplace for the first time. Art To Go is a weekly event that’s currently being held each Saturday afternoon during Artomatic. Each week different artists are there selling their work. As a participating Artomatic artist, I could’ve taken part in one of the Art To Go Marketplaces one Saturday (each artist only gets one Saturday to sell his/her wares) for an additional $20. It was a great bargain but, unfortunately, I got overwhelmed by my current personal problems and by the time I tried to register, all the slots for all the Saturdays were taken.

I wasn’t able to visit the Marketplace during the first three Saturdays because of scheduling conflicts but I was finally able to visit yesterday. During my time there I didn’t see much foot traffic but I came in the late afternoon and I didn’t stay long because I had to get to the Metro so I could change clothes and reach my friend’s benefit concert in time.

On my way out, I encountered these sidewalk chalk drawings outside the Artomatic building. It was part of an afternoon all-ages event that was sponsored by Chalk 4 Peace.

By Sunday morning I was totally exhausted after spending two full days at Artomatic. Ironically there were still more events this weekend at Artomatic that I wanted to attend but I couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. Saturday night there was this Zombie Prom that I would’ve attended had it not conflicted with this benefit concert that was being held on behalf of a friend of mine, David Chapman, who is battling cancer. (Even though he has health insurance, he still has to deal with high co-pays that his insurance refuses to cover. Unforunately his predicament is relatively common in the United States, even with the passage of the controversial Obamacare. Even though the concert was last night, the website is still accepting donations and a CD is currently being made from that performance with the proceeds going towards David’s medical bills.) I attended a previous Zombie Prom at the 2009 Artomatic and this video I shot should provide a general idea as to what it’s like.

This afternoon there was the Artomatic 500 Cardboard Card Race that I also would’ve loved to have checked out but I was invited to a family get-together to celebrate the recent college graduation of one of my cousins and it gave me a chance to visit my mother in person. I shot a video of the previous Artomatic 500 Race that was held at the 2008 Artomatic that should give you a general idea as to what such a race is like.

I don’t really regret missing either the Zombie Prom or the Artomatic 500 Cardboard Card Race. Given the current chaotic mess of my personal life, I really value my family and friends over Artomatic. Besides, I can always do a YouTube search for this year’s events in the hopes that someone else filmed it.

I’ll end this entry by listing some of the artists on the second floor whose work caught my eye.

Bernardo Santos-Lachenal

Beth Hess: blog, Etsy

Bhaval Shah Bell

Brittany Sims

Colin S. Johnson Photography