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It was in the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic that was sweeping the United States along with the rest of the world, right before most schools, libraries, colleges, universities, shopping malls, movie theaters, and many businesses closed down completely. I had scheduled a job interview that was held in Dupont Circle. I decided to go through with it, even though I got word that the Census Bureau wanted to hire me again for the 2020 Census, because I needed something to fall back on once the 2020 Census ends. The job interview was with a gig economy platform and it went pretty well even though I had to wait for some time afterwards for a background check and stuff like that. Now everything has since gone to hell due to the Coronavirus.
After the interview I walked around Dupont Circle since I hadn’t been in the area in a while. One street had signs posted with haikus.
There’s a new coffee shop known as Philz Coffee.
I saw two homeless tents that were pitched on the sidewalk.
I stopped by Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe. I saw that Margaret Atwood, who wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, had written a graphic novel called Warbears. If I hadn’t been so cash-strapped that day, I probably would’ve bought it. Oh well.
I arrived at the Dupont Circle fountain where I saw someone whom I’ll just call Exercise Guy because he decided to exercise right at that fountain. It was a relatively warm spring day when he was doing his workout.
The Lady in Yellow sat on the left of the fountain while Exercise Guy continued his workout.
I even shot a short video of the Exercise Guy in action.
There was an art installation close to the Metro station.
Some spring crocus flowers were blooming in one of the flower boxes in Dupont Circle.
As I went back into the Dupont Circle Metro station I saw these signs in English and Spanish warning people about how they should wash their hands in order to prevent from getting sick with the Coronavirus.
I was going to an evening networking event that was scheduled to be held at Dupont Circle. I decided to save money on Metro fares by arriving in the area before the evening rush hour began (when the fares would’ve cost more). Dupont Circle is among my more favorite areas of Washington, DC so I knew I would have plenty of ways of killing time before the networking event began.
I started my visit with touring The Phillips Collection (which I wrote about in my last post). Afterwards I simply walked around the area where I shot these pictures.
I noticed these scooters from Uber and Lyft that were available for rent. I found that Uber and Lyft do more than just provide peer-to-peer ridesharing in cars.
I walked by Kramerbooks & Afterwords where I saw this sign encouraging shoppers to bring their dogs with them inside of the store.
I briefly looked inside of the store where I saw that it had book copies of the recently-released Mueller Report, where Robert Mueller investigated whether Russia interfered into the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.
Afterwords I walked around by the fountain. Between the warm weather and the increasingly longer days, I saw plenty of people doing things like relaxing and chatting with each other. I even saw one person play his guitar.
After the fountain I walked towards Panera Bread, where I ate dinner. On the way to Panera Bread I decided to check out the Made in DC store.
All of the goods were handmade by DC-area artists. The inventory ranged from clothing to posters to soaps to cards to jewelry. There was even a cafe in the back where you could consume locally-made food and beverages.
Last month I attended my first Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School session of 2018. There have been other Dr. Sketchy’s events in Baltimore and Washington since the New Year but, for a variety of reasons, I wasn’t able to make one until last month.
Even though it was April and the cherry blossom trees in the entire metropolitan area were starting to bloom, winter was still holding on. I remember it was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit so I wore my winter coat while going to downtown DC. When I arrived at the Greenbelt Metro station I saw a group of cosplayers in winter coats who were obviously going to the Tidal Basin (where many of the cherry blossom trees are located and it gets a huge share of the tourists this time of the year).
One of them had this clear backpack that had all kinds of Donald Duck charms, buttons, and pins.
I arrived at Dupont Circle where I noticed that the fountain had been turned on with the water coming in at at a trickle.
A pair of ducks were swimming in the fountain despite the winter-like cold weather.
I saw a group of people near the fountain who took off their coats and started swing dancing in public. I have no idea if they were a flash mob or if they were heavy swing dance enthusiasts. I shot a short video of these people in action.
I shot a few more photos of Dupont Circle.
Like I wrote earlier, many of the cherry blossom trees are further downtown at the Tidal Basin. However, I saw a couple of blooming cherry blossoms planted outside of a building at the intersection of Dupont Circle and New Hampshire Ave., NW so I was able to take a few cherry blossom pictures.
I went to Kramerbooks & Afterwords where I browsed through a few books while noticing all of the Donald Trump-related books that are now available for sale, many of which are less-than-flattering towards The Donald.
As I was walking down P Street, NW, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before on previous trips. There is a restaurant called Tiki Taco, which serves a fusion of Mexican and Polynesian food. (Seriously!) If I wasn’t financially struggling I might have tried eating there. (I had just started a new day job and, at that point, I was only working around 15 hours per week.)
I made a brief stop at Fantom Comics where I took pictures of the various posters and wall murals.
I noticed this Batgirl costume on display, which reminded me of the costume that Batgirl wore in this graphic novel that I checked out of the library last year called Batgirl of Burnside (which I enjoyed, by the way). One of the employees told me that the Batgirl costume was on display because one of the writers of Batgirl of Burnside had stopped by the store the day before signing autographs. There were plenty of signed graphic novels that the person had written that were still available for sale that not only included Batgirl of Burnside but also other books he wrote, such as Black Canary and Gotham Academy. (I also checked out one of the Gotham Academy books out of the public library recently. I hadn’t read Black Canary mainly because it has yet to arrive at the library.) They were all laid out on the table. I felt tempted but if I had purchased one of those signed books, I would not have been able to afford to go to Dr. Sketchy’s, which was the main reason why I even commuted to Dupont Circle on a cold April Sunday afternoon. So I had to just content myself with taking a picture of the Batgirl costume.
I finally arrived at The Bier Baron, where I took a couple of colorful beer signs on display.
Here’s a shot of the stage where the model posed.
The model for this event was Sally Cinch, who is a sideshow performer and dancer. Since she’s not a burlesque performer, all of the drawings in this post are definitely safe to view unless you are someone who gets offended at seeing a bare midriff.
Sally Cinch’s big talent is the ability to squeeze herself into tight spaces. She did a brief performance where she squeezed herself into a couple of hangers, which inspired this contest: Incorporate Joan Crawford into that drawing. I remember when I read that notorious book Mommie Dearest as a teenager and I even saw the movie featuring Fay Dunaway as Joan Crawford.
As it turned out, I was one of only two people who actually took part in the contest. I think it was because the majority of the people who were there were either not born or were too young to remember Mommy Dearest. The two of us were declared the winners and our prize was a drink of our choice from the bar. (I chose a hard cider that I really liked. I’m sorry I didn’t write down the name of what I drank.)
I did another sketch of Sally showing why her last name is Cinch using a belt that was pulled very tight around her waist.
I drew one last sketch of Sally before the event ended.
The event was cut relatively short compared to previous Dr. Sketchy’s events because of some kind of a scheduling snafu with a comedy show that was following Dr. Sketchy’s. I managed to talk briefly with Sally Cinch and the emcee, Reverend Valentine. I found out that Sally Cinch has performed in my neck of the woods. Not only did she once performed at The New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland but she’s also friends with two friends of mine, which was ironic and it goes to show that it’s a small world after all.
I went to Dupont Circle the day after a snowstorm hit the area. While there was some leftover snow in the suburbs, all of the snow was melted in the city. In any case, commuting to the city was no trouble at all. When I arrived at the Greenbelt Metro station I saw this panda bear advertising the Zoolights event that is held at the National Zoo each year.
I arrived at Dupont Circle, which had Christmas decorations displayed all over the area.
The next fountain shows the Dupont Circle fountain. You would never know that a major snowstorm that dumped around two inches of snow came through the area the day before. Although it was incredibly cold that day. (The temperature was in the low 30’s.)
The next photo shows the window of Second Story Books, which specializes in selling vintage used and rare books. Many of the books in that window were the various sequels to The Wizard of Oz that L. Frank Baum wrote. Note the prices of these books.
For those who prefer to celebrate Hanukkah instead, this sign announced the lighting of the National Menorah on the Ellipse.
I eventually made my way to The Bier Baron, where this month’s DC chapter of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School was being held. Here’s a photo of the stage I took before the event began.
The bar was very festive with strings of Christmas lights along the railing.
The event’s emcee, Reverend Valentine, was up in the booth spinning the tunes. The weirdest song she played was this song called Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey. I had never heard of it before although it supposed to be a very popular Christmas song among Italian Americans. (My mother’s side of the family is German/Irish/Czech while my father’s side is English/Scottish/Scotch-Irish/Welsh so that probably explains how I missed that one when I was growing up.)
Here are a couple more shots of the bar.
A burlesque performer named Delilah Dentata was the model for this event so some of the drawings in this post are definitely NSFW.
The event ended right at 6 p.m. and most people left immediately afterwards because they didn’t want to linger too much with the weather being that cold. (The temperature eventually dipped from a high of the low 30’s to the low 20’s.) I walked past The Fireplace where I briefly warmed my hands by pressing them against the glass where the outdoor fire was flaming.
I took some random shots of the Dupont Circle area.
I shot this next photo of a sticker that was on a trashcan. You can get an idea as to how popular President Donald Trump really is in Washington, DC. (LOL!)
I decided to make a stop at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café where I took these photos.
I stopped by Krispy Kreme where I purchased one of the Christmas donuts for sale.
I decided to take the Red Line Metro to Union Station because I wanted to check out the decorations this year. What I never realized before is that the stores and eateries tend to close very early on Sundays. The lower level of Union Station looked very spooky with the majority of stores and fast food places closed. (The one silver lining is that I knew not to go to Union Station on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve since both days fall on a Sunday this year.)
I got a chance to see this year’s Christmas tree, which is usually put up as a joint project with the Norwegian embassy.
Here’s a closeup shot showing the U.S. and Norwegian flags that were strewn throughout the Christmas tree.
There is usually a Norwegian themed toy train layout. The toy trains had stopped running when I was there but I was still able to marvel at the realistic miniature replicas of a small Norwegian village.
I took a few more photos of Union Station before I left. With nearly all of the stores and restaurants closed, it wasn’t worth hanging around Union Station too long.
For all the times I’ve been to Dupont Circle, I’ve never went there during DC Pride Weekend, even though I’ve lived in the Washington, DC area for years. The only reason why I went this year was because Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School was held at the Bier Baron that day. I originally planned on writing one post until I looked through the pictures and realized that I had taken so many that it really warranted writing two separate blog posts about my one day in Dupont Circle during DC Pride Weekend. This post will focus on the photographs I took that day while the Dr. Sketchy’s post will have to wait until the next one.
DC Pride Weekend had a big parade and party that took place in Dupont Circle the previous day. I wasn’t able to make it because of tight finances (the Metro system is not only getting more expensive but yet another fare increase is set to take place by the end of this month) and this heatwave has settled in the area so the temperature reached a high of around 95 degrees F.
The following day it was still very hot and humid with highs reaching 95 once again. At least the Metro trains are air conditioned and I spent as much time in the various air conditioned stores as possible. While Saturday was the big party and parade in Dupont Circle, Sunday was slated as a day of protest on the Mall. I wasn’t able to make it to that protest mainly because I attended church in the morning and Dr. Sketchy’s started at 3 p.m. so there was literally no way I could squeeze going to the National Mall in between (especially given Metro’s flaky weekend schedule where you could wait anywhere from 15 minutes to a half-an-hour or even longer depending on which stop you’re at and if Metro is doing any kind of maintenance work on a certain line at a certain station). I saw this couple who were clearly on their way to the Mall march.
I arrived at the Dupont Circle Metro station, which was definitely decorative for the occasion by having its list of scheduled trains arranged like the rainbow flag.
It was also fitting that the same station had this banner ad for Cher’s upcoming concert at the MGM casino in nearby National Harbor.
I didn’t mind missing the big march on the Mall, especially when I stepped outside and felt the high heat and high humidity smack me in the face. There were people milling around in Dupont Circle but I suspect that there were far more people protesting at the Mall. The first thing I did was head over to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe where I saw these LGBTQ-friendly signs.
There was also this excellent sign that made fun of Donald Trump’s notorious “covfefe” tweet by announcing a new Covfefe cocktail featuring White Russian while providing quotes from former FBI director James Comey’s recent testimony that introduced the phrase “honest loyalty” into the English language.
I browsed among the books at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe while noticing this prominent shelf towards the front of the store featuring LGBTQ books.
I also saw rainbow flags and store patrons who were all decked out in rainbow and/or LGBTQ-themed attire .
After Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe I walked along the streets of Dupont Circle where I noticed rainbow flags everywhere and people dressed in rainbows. I took the bulk of these pictures before and after Dr. Sketchy’s. (Hooray for longer daylight hours!)
I eventually made my way to the Bier Baron, where Dr. Sketchy’s took place. Even that place was decked out in rainbows.
I even got into the rainbow festivities by taking pictures of my colored pencils all lined up in a loose Roy G Biv rainbow pattern (which also included colors one usually don’t see in a rainbow like brown and white) before Dr. Sketchy’s began.
Like I wrote earlier, I’ll devote my next post to what I drew at Dr. Sketchy’s.
While there were rainbow colored palettes everywhere in Dupont Circle, I found this one interesting non-rainbow thing that I photographed. This is a tiny statue (which reaches no higher than my calf) of a baby sleeping on top of a baby elephant. How cute!
I ended my time at the fountain that’s located right in the middle of Dupont Circle. There were a few people chilling out even though it was dinnertime and the temperature was very hot and humid. Strangely the fountain was turned off that day plus the basin had no water in it. (I honestly don’t know what is going on with that fountain.)
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for my next post on attending Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School at the Bier Baron during DC Pride Weekend. 🙂
Even though that weekend featured the much-hyped hottest days of the year, it was still action-packed for me starting with that special double feature movie showing of Heavy Metal Parking Lot and Led Zeppelin Played Here late on Friday night. Then there was the brief visit with my mother and the special Bingo event on Saturday. And there was also that tye-dye event I went to at my church before I arrived in DC for another session of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School.
Between the very hot weather and the fact that I had done a bunch of other activities throughout the weekend, I wasn’t up for doing much exploring of the Dupont Circle area. Instead I ate a leisurely lunch at the Cosi that’s located near the Dupont Circle Metro station while basking in the air conditioning. After lunch I walked over to Kramerbooks & Afterwords where I browsed some books while basking in air conditioning. After a while I decided that I was in the mood for some ice cream so I walked over to the nearest locally-owned ice cream parlor known as Larry’s Homemade Ice Cream. I ordered the Decadent Chocolate ice cream cone and consumed it while basking in the air conditioning. (Boy, was it good!)
I arrived at the Bier Baron a little bit early so I decided to check out this monument that’s located on a median strip directly across the street. It’s dedicated to someone named Taras Shevchenko, who’s known as the Bard of Ukraine. Based on what I read on his Wikipedia page, it looks like Shevchenko is the Ukrainian equivalent of William Shakespeare. It’s a pretty nice looking memorial.
I entered the Bier Baron and went to the women’s restroom where I saw Toilet Trivia posted everywhere in the bathroom like this one.
I took a picture of this voodoo doll that was on display before Dr. Sketchy’s began. I later learned that it belonged to the model for this event.
After I took that last photo, my smartphone abruptly shut itself down because it had ran very low on battery power and I had forgotten to bring a recharger with me. But that was alright because I had to change to colored pencils and paper any way since it’s a life drawing event.
The model for this session was Alex Doll, who’s a consulting event producer for Ripley’s Believe It or Not and she’s currently in the process of putting on sideshows at the various Ripley’s Odditorium throughout the U.S., including its Baltimore and Ocean City location. (Which brought back memories of the last time I went to the Baltimore Odditorium a few hours after I spent the morning in divorce court.) She’s also the Creator/Producer/Director of Atomic Doll Productions, which specializes in sideshows. Some of the drawings in this post are sort of NSFW-ish depending on your personal point of view.
At one point Alex Doll lived up to her name when she posed with this interesting looking ringmaster doll. I focused more on the doll in her lap, which is why she appears headless in this drawing.
I took part in the contest where you had to add a tiki feature to the drawing mainly because Alex Doll had changed costumes to something that looks vaguely Polynesian. I drew this one of a tiki god or idol setting her grass skirt on fire with a tiki torch. That one didn’t make it to the finals.
After that contest I drew a few more pictures of Alex Doll.
I took part in the final contest of the day. Alex Doll had changed into a costume she called “Swamp Thing” so we had to incorporate a Swamp Thing. Two winners would be selected because there were two books to give away. I really went for it with gusto. I envisioned a movie called Godzilla Meets Swamp Thing with a child resulting from that encounter nine months later. (I’ll admit that I was inspired by the early 1980’s miniseries V where a teenage girl actually became pregnant by an alien visitor who was later revealed to be a lizard-like creature disguised as a human male. I remember she gave birth to twins—one was a human baby girl with a long forked tongue and the other was a lizard-like boy.)
For added measure I included a few critic review quotes. One was from Beavis & Butt-head. The second was from Bill Cosby because that morning The Guardian app on my smartphone sent a push notification about a new article further detailing his deposition from 10 years ago where he essentially admitted drugging women so he could do whatever he wanted with them. (As if I didn’t need new evidence convincing me that Cosby is little more than a total creep who only avoided prison because he was rich and famous.) For the third quote I mentioned Phyllis Schlafly because that woman has recently been making obnoxious public pronouncements like this one and that one.
My picture was among three finalists and I was one of the two winners. Here is a photo of the book that I won. It’s called Ragnar’s Kings of the Road and it was published by Baby Tattoo Books. It’s an interesting sketchbook based on real people that the artist Ragnar met while traveling across the United States.
Between what I won at both Dr. Sketchy’s and at Bingo the day before, I had one of the most winning weekends in a very long time. 🙂
Last year I took part in the annual auction that my church holds. Among the items I bid on and won was this chance to attend a slideshow on France that was being held in the private home of another church member. Usually people who are offering services are encouraged to fulfill their obligations within one year.
As for the slideshow, the host had other things going on so he had a difficult time with setting a time when he could do this. Finally he e-mailed all of us who won that bid with this offer: He was scheduled to give the same slideshow at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC on Veterans Day. He invited us to go to this event where we would get a free dinner and a tour. We all accepted so that was how I ended up in Dupont Circle on Veterans Day.
A few weeks after the arrangements were all made, the host contacted us again urging us to get there early, especially if we were traveling via Metro. It turned out that there was going to be this massive free concert on the Mall that was also going to be broadcast on HBO called The Concert For Valor that was dedicated to those currently serving in the armed forces. It included major acts like Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson and there were predictions that it was going to draw as much as 800,000 people.
I decided to heed this advice and get to Dupont Circle a few hours early. I still had memories of four years ago when I decided to go to that massive Mall rally that was co-hosted by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and it was crowded everywhere I went. As I drove towards the Greenbelt Metro station, I saw that the parking lot wasn’t crowded at all and taking the Metro was pretty easy. I still went through will arriving early and I got off at the Dupont Circle station. The next photo shows the escalators to and from the station. Dupont Circle is among the deepest of the stations on the Metro system.
There were a couple of street musicians outside the entrance who serenaded passers-by.
Dupont Circle is among my favorite parts of DC. It’s full of nice visual treats along with lovely restaurants and shops (many of which are still locally owned). It’s among the areas that tourists tend to overlook because too many people tend to think that Washington, DC consists only of Capitol Hill and the Mall. I think that’s too bad because Dupont Circle is an area that’s rich in history, an area for the arts, and is very gay friendly.
I made a brief stop at Krispy Kreme (where I treated myself to a donut) and I walked around the area. I visited my favorite store in Dupont Circle, Kramerbooks & afterwords. It’s an independently-owned bookstore and cafe that has managed to stay opened despite the intense competition from online sites (such as Amazon). I love browsing in bookstores better than just shopping online because there have been times when I found something that I didn’t anticipate buying and I ended up buying it on the spot. It’s sad that the bookstores in this area are more and more going the way of the dodo bird.
Walking west of Dupont Circle on Q Street, N.W., one can find embassies like the Indian Embassy in the next photo.
Located in the median strip across the street from the Indian Embassy is the Gandhi Memorial, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. This memorial is a little park that has a statue, a few trees, a small garden, and benches for people to sit on and contemplate the surroundings.
People leave tributes at the base of the memorial, such as this rose at Gandhi’s feet.
Someone even left a Post-It Note where the writer considers Gandhi to be a bigger hero than the armed troops who were being celebrated with The Concert For Valor at the same time on the Mall just a few miles away.
The trees near the memorial looked very splendid with their fall foliage.
Located near both the Indian Embassy and the Gandhi Memorial is the Cosmos Club, the venue where the slide show and dinner were being held. The outside is very regal looking with all kinds of ornamental reliefs everywhere.
When I first entered I needed to use the restroom. I found this particular one to be incredibly opulent which offered things that one doesn’t usually find in a public restroom like hairspray, free combs (with “Cosmos Club” stamped on the top in gold), and even mouthwash.
Once my friends arrived, we were treated to a tour of the place, which is similar to what is posted at the club’s website. The Cosmos Club is very rich in history and it is loaded with art (some of which are temporary exhibits). Everywhere you look there was something that was worth seeing. If it weren’t for the fact that my smartphone eventually became low on battery power and I forgot to pack my recharger, I probably would’ve been sifting through hundreds of photos.
The next few photos show the club’s massive library. The interiors have rich wood paneling and plenty of books. The library is the kind of place that I would love to be stuck in on days when it’s raining or snowing outdoors because I could pick up a book and sink into one of the many comfortable looking chairs.
The most opulent part of the Cosmos Club is the ballroom. It is decked out in gold leaf and chandeliers. The walls and ceilings have reliefs and paintings. Many of the fanciest events at the Cosmos Club are held in that ballroom.
The slideshow was held in a room that looked pretty nice even if it isn’t as opulent as the ballroom. The Cosmos Club is housed in the Townsend House, which was once the family home of a wealthy industrialist named Richard T. Townsend. The room where the slideshow was held was once the mansion’s carriage house (a fancy term for “stable”), which housed the family’s horses.
Each place setting at the dinner table was so artfully arranged, including even the specially folded napkins.
Each dinner course was also artfully arranged. In a way it was a shame to disturb it but everyone had to do it if they wanted to eat.
Someone asked for olive oil to dab her bread in instead of butter. The server brought this really interesting jar that had two openings. One opening led to the outer part of the jar, which held the olive oil. The inner part of the jar, which resembled a bunch of grapes, held balsamic vinegar. As for the people in the background, the man in the right is Don Gerson, who gave the slideshow and arranged for all of us to be at the Cosmos Club. The woman on the left is Don’s wife, Emma Sue.
For dessert we were given St. Honoré, which was incredibly lovely to look at. The St. Honoré was incredibly delicious.
After dinner Don took to the podium to give his talk on his trip to France with Emma Sue and their grandson. Unfortunately I was sitting at an awkward location so I didn’t get a very clear shot.
The last photo shows the first slide about the Gerson family trip to Paris. The talk was interesting and the photos were lovely to look at. I hope to be able to make my own trip to Paris one day so I can see some of the places that were in that slideshow.
Don was very diligent about ending his slideshow on time because of the crowd attending that concert on the Mall. Actually getting out of DC was just as easy as getting into the city. When I got home I turned on HBO, which was starting the first of what will be its eventual reruns of that concert. I didn’t see the whole thing because this rebroadcast was scheduled to end at 1 a.m. and I didn’t have the stamina to stay up that late. I’ll probably watch the concert on demand sometime this weekend because it had an interesting lineup.
I spent a full afternoon and evening yesterday emerging myself in the arts and crafts thing. First I took the Metro to Dupont Circle where I initially headed to Kramerbooks & Afterwords and purchased two books: Stephen Colbert’s I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) and The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Washington, DC. Thanks to my recent health issues, it had been a long time since I last went to that bookstore. Kramerbooks is an independently-owned bookstore that has withstood the challenge of the rise of the big box bookstores like Barnes & Noble and the now-defunct Borders and it is currently holding its own against online competitors like Amazon.com. Kramerbooks is definitely old-school in terms of allowing potential customers to actually browse through a book before buying it (which is much more difficult when buying the same book online)—a concept that most bricks-and-mortar bookstores allowed, especially in the pre-Internet days. Any book lovers who are planning a trip to the nation’s capital should put Kramerbooks on their itineraries.
After visiting Kramerbooks I walked a few blocks to the DC Craft Mafia’s Second Annual Spring Thing market. I browsed around the market but I only purchased two things there. One was this ring from April Alayne’s booth. The illustration inside the ring reminds me of the illustrations from the 1920’s and I loved that sexy peacock dress the woman in the illustration is wearing.
The other thing I purchased was this tiny trading card-sized collage from Icolithic Studio that depicted a woman being overshadowed by a giant wool felt dinosaur.
There were plenty of other things at other booths that I liked as well but, unfortunately, I don’t have an unlimited cash supply nor do I have unlimited space in my home. I picked up a bunch of business cards at those booths so I can at least give them a shout-out in this blog.
Bette’s Bags: website and Etsy
Design by Night: blog and Etsy
Red & Main Studio: website and Etsy
After the Spring Thing Market, I walked to Cosi where I purchased a sandwich to go for dinner later then hopped back on the Metro to Crystal City. Last night I spent time serving the second of my minimum required three volunteer shifts at Artomatic. I was assigned to work the 4th floor where I helped to watch the donations box (where people put in anywhere from $1 to $20 to help defray the costs of running such a massive six-week art show) and I also spent time walking around on the floor to make sure that no one was smoking (a definite no-no) or trying to steal the art from the walls or anything like that.
Last night was the night after Opening Night and it was pretty quiet and uneventful for the most part. I still have memories of when I participated in my first Artomatic way back in 2007 when, like the current Artomatic, that one was also held in Crystal City and I made the mistake of signing up as a volunteer for Opening Night. It was so crowded and noisy that I had to raise my voice when answering people’s questions and my voice eventually gave out. I also remembered having to stay a bit later past my quitting time because my replacement was late in arriving and I saw that the organizers were so desperate for help in dealing with the crowds that they pulled people at random asking them to volunteer to help. It was pandemonium and I vowed to never work Opening Night again. During my shift last night I heard that Opening Night on the previous night was similarly crowded.
It was a pretty laid-back shift as people trickled on the 4th floor throughout the night. When I wasn’t walking around making sure that people behaved themselves, I sat at a table that was situated near this theater.
It was pretty eerie to see that the 4th floor theater, where aspiring filmmakers show their latest work, was named after Carl Cordell, who sadly passed away last year at age 60. He was one of the original driving forces behind Artomatic and he became a local legend in recent years for his contributions to The Washington Post‘s annual Peeps diorama contest, which all ended up among the finalists. I was fortunate enough to briefly speak with him while filming him and his work at the same time during the Peeps Artist Reception that was held at the 2008 Artomatic in Washington, DC. Here’s the video below. If you don’t have the time to sit through the whole thing, Carl Cordell appears at the 8:12 mark where he wears a crown studded with yellow Peeps and talks about his dioramas.
At the time of the reception, there was an empty space at the table because Carl Cordell was still working on his latest Peeps diorama titled “The Day The Earth Stood Peeped.” For the next few weeks I would periodically come by the Peeps exhibit area only to find the space still empty. As the final days of Artomatic approached, I thought that he wasn’t going to display that new diorama because that space still had that “Coming Soon” sign on it. Well, the day before the last day at Artomatic, I walked by the area and found that the new diorama had finally arrived. I decided to make a new short video focused on the new diorama alongside the previous Cordell dioramas.
Artomatic 2008 was the only time I ever met Carl Cordell in person. He submitted “The Day The Earth Stood Peeped” to The Washington Post‘s Peeps diorama contest the following year and it was among the finalists again. As I looked at the theater that currently bears his name last night, I began to think that somehow the annual Peeps diorama contest will never be quite the same without his contributions.
At one point it was so quiet that I actually slipped away to the Carl Cordell Theater. I had a legitimate reason to do so because the Artomatic Office on the third floor had given me a key to a locked door where all the DVD’s of the films to be shown at Artomatic are kept and I was instructed to assist any filmmakers who needed help. Last night was a screening of an independently made documentary called The Dolls of Lisbon and it was screened in conjunction with the DC Independent Film Festival. It turned out that the filmmakers and other organizers of that screening had everything under control and really didn’t need my help so I just sat in a chair and watched the film. It’s a really interesting documentary about an organized worldwide art movement where individual artists from around the globe customized these handmade dolls that were patterned after the dolls made by the Mexican Zapatista movement and it also featured the lives of some of the artists involved. After the screening ended, the film director, Ethan H. Minsker, took a few questions and he had copies of The Dolls of Lisbon available as part of a bundled sale where for $20 you get the DVD and a book. I liked the movie enough that I paid for the bundle. The book I got was a novel that was written by the film’s director called Barstool Prophets.
I also spent time walking around the 4th floor to make sure people were behaving themselves. Everyone was pretty cool for the most part so I just looked at the art. One exhibit got my attention so much that I made a short video about it. It’s a statue with a waterfall. Here is what it looked like, along with the name and e-mail address of the artist responsible for it, who is known only as grandmastercrafter. (Unfortunately there is no website that I can link to.)
I also looked at the various art exhibits, much of which I liked enough to pick up a business card, postcard, or other promotional material. Here are some of the artists I liked on the fourth floor of the Artomatic building.
The Altered Shop: Etsy, Twitter, blog
Cynthia Abernathy: Etsy, blog, Twitter
emtee: webiste, Etsy, Facebook
Jim Faris: website, Facebook, Twitter
Manuella Lea Palmioli: website, Twitter
Sticky Comics: website, Facebook, Twitter
I had a good time volunteering last night and the entire day was so good for me that I’m still tired. The only sour note in an otherwise perfect day came when I waited for the Metro. For the past several months Metro has been devoting weekends to doing maintenance track work and there are times when whole stations are shut down and there are other times when some parts of the rail system is down to a single track, which causes huge delays. Even though I got off my shift at 10 p.m., I had to wait 15 minutes for one line then wait up to a half-an-hour for my connecting train. On top of that, the last train I took moved very slowly and it stuck at certain stops for far longer than normal. In the meantime the train was crowded with people who were returning from the Baltimore Orioles vs. the Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Stadium.
Thanks to that nightmare train ride, I didn’t arrive home until after midnight. I seriously hope for the benefit of the tourist industry (which is one of the biggest industries in DC besides the Federal Government and seafood) that Metro will stop this weekend work once Memorial Day starts. I can only imagine the ire of visitors who get frustrated with getting to the various tourist spots in DC due to a long Metro delay.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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