Weekly Arts Round Up, April 8, 2021
By • April 8, 2021 0 1209
Five commissioned works of light art will make their Georgetown debut tomorrow, when “Glow” opens to the public. Glen Echo Park’s Dentzel Carousel is 100, and the virtual celebration has begun. Each of the headings below is linked to the sponsoring organization’s website.
Phillips Collection: Online Conversation
On April 8 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., the Phillips Collection will host a free online conversation between D.C.-based installation artist Martha Jackson Jarvis and Director of Community Engagement Nehemiah Dixon III. Known for her mixed-media works — inspired by aspects of African, African American and Native American spirituality and ecological concerns — Jackson Jarvis employs a variety of natural materials including terracotta, sand, copper, recycled stone, glass, wood and coal.
Asian Art Museum: Online Art and Music
The National Museum of Asian Art’s free Look & Listen online series continues on April 8 at 7 p.m. with “Nature in Japanese Art and Music.” As they view paintings, with commentary by Assistant Curator of Japanese Art Frank Feltens, participants will travel to misty mountain valleys and foggy beaches through the eyes of great Japanese artists. Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) virtuoso Kurahashi Yodo II will provide accompaniment from Tokyo, performing Zen Buddhist pieces known as honkyoku and other works.
Georgetown BID: Light Art Installations
The seventh edition of Georgetown “Glow,” the outdoor exhibition of site-specific light art sponsored by the Georgetown Business Improvement District, will run from April 9 to June 27, setting five commissioned artworks — “The Wishes Within,” “The Weight of a Rainbow,” “Madness Method,” “Light Pavilion” and “The Beginning of Everything” — against the historic backdrop of D.C.’s oldest neighborhood. The locations allow for social distancing; masks are required. The artists will be stationed at their works on select weekend nights from 7 to 9 p.m. Walking tours ($79) will take place on Saturdays in April and May starting April 10 from 7:15 to 9:15 p.m. In addition, “Glow” will have a part two this year, with new works sited in public alleys from July 2 to Sept. 26.
National Building Museum: Reopening
The National Building Museum, housed in the mammoth former Pension Building at 401 F St. NW (enter on 5th Street or G Street), will reopen on April 9. Hours are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to the Great Hall, the Gun Violence Memorial Project and the shop is free. Admission to exhibitions — including “Alan Karchmer: The Architects’ Photographer” and “Animals, Collected” — is by date-and-time-specific ticket purchased online in advance or onsite the day of the visit. Time slots for visiting are 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 ($7 for seniors, students and ages 3 to 17).
Boating in DC, which oversees Thompson Boat Center, Key Bridge Boathouse, Fletcher’s Boathouse and other locations, has begun to reopen. The Wharf Boathouse is open, Fletcher’s is offering rowboat rentals only at this time and other sites, including Thompson and National Harbor, are open for rentals starting April 9 or 10. As the month wears on and the water temperature rises, all Boating in DC facilities are expected to resume full operations.
Tudor Place: Online Presentation
On April 13 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Tudor Place will present online a free Landmark Lecture, “The Past and Future of the C&O Canal in Georgetown.” Jeff Nichols and Kelly Schindler, Georgetown Heritage’s executive director and director of education and partnerships, will highlight the history of the canal, explore its connections to Tudor Place and the surrounding neighborhood and share details on the Georgetown Canal Plan, which seeks to restore, reimagine and revitalize the one-mile Georgetown stretch of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Beginning April 10, Tudor Place, 1644 31st St. NW, will reopen on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. with free admission by timed-entry ticket. Social distancing will be in effect, with masks required for visitors aged 3 and over.
Civil War Medicine Museum: Virtual Tour
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine will offer a free virtual tour of historic medical sites in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, on Facebook Live on April 14 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Education Coordinator John Lustrea and National Park Service Ranger Jeff Bowers will highlight locations in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park from field hospitals to “contraband” camps (refugee camps for the formerly enslaved). Viewers, who can send questions in advance via Facebook or email to john.lustrea@civilwarmed.org, will have the chance to see inside buildings normally closed to the public. The museum, located at 48 East Patrick St. in Frederick, Maryland, is open at reduced capacity on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9.50, $8.50 for seniors and military, $7 for students and free for age 9 and under.
American History Museum: Online Conversation
On April 14 from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Marilyn Hamilton, co-inventor of the Quickie Wheelchair, will converse online with Katherine Ott, science and medicine curator at the National Museum of American History, about her life as an athlete and an inventor. Following a hang-gliding accident in 1978, Hamilton worked with two friends to adapt hang-glider materials to invent a lightweight, easy-to-maneuver wheelchair, which she then used to play championship wheelchair tennis. She co-founded Motion Designs to manufacture the wheelchairs, now sold under the brand name Quickie. Admission is free.
Glen Echo Park: Online Lecture
Museum consultant Barbara Fahs Charles will give the second of four lectures marking the 100th anniversary of the Dentzel Carousel at Glen Echo Park in Maryland on April 14 at 7:30 p.m. In “Glen Echo’s Two Great Carousels: Coney Island versus Philadelphia Style,” Charles will compare the styles of Philadelphia’s W. H. Dentzel and Coney Island’s W. F. Mangels, who supplied an earlier carousel with horses and chariots by M. C. Illions. Admission is free.
On April 14 at 7:30 p.m., Strathmore Artist in Residence Aaron Freeman, a recent graduate of Howard University, will give a virtual concert. Although many know him by his stage name, “ijustplaybass,” Freeman is also an arranger who makes music along a spectrum of genres, performing on bass, guitar, brass and keyboards. Admission is pay-what-you-can.
Natural History Museum: Online Talk
Though dogs were the first animals to be domesticated, the where, when, how and why continue to be debated. As part of the National Museum of Natural History’s free HOT (Human Origins Today) series, on April 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., paleogeneticist Audrey Lin, a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the museum, will share her research on the genetics of dog domestication. Moderating this online program will be paleoanthropologist and NMNH educator Briana Pobiner.
Arena Stage: Online Conversation
On April 15 from 7 to 7:30 p.m., as part of Molly’s Salon, Arena Stage’s free series of online conversations, Artistic Director Molly Smith will “sit down” with Rona Siddiqui, composer of “A More Perfect Union,” and Juliette Carrillo, who directed August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” produced at Arena in 2018. To stream “A More Perfect Union,” part of the free Arena Riffs music series, on April 14 at 7 p.m., click HERE.
