Cool video of Honfleur during Fotoweek

I happened across this video on twitter, and its a stylized but good view of what art shows are typically like at Honfleur Gallery.



video courtesy of TreeHouse Concepts

FOTOWEEK at Honfleur // Poetry at Blank Space Tonight

FOTOWEEK is back, and Historic Anacostia's Honfleur Gallery is hosting a show called "Likeness" at their space at 1241 Good Hope Road.

The exhibition includes twenty artists (ten photographers + ten visual/street artists) with an end result of ten original portraits + ten interpretations of that portrait.

Come out tonight from 6-8PM for the opening reception.

While you're in the neighborhood, stop by the new Blank Space for the Intersections Poetry Series reading by Rachel Eliza Griffiths at 7PM at 1922 MLK Ave, just around the corner.

FOTOWEEK is November 6- 13. Honfleur Gallery and The Gallery at Vivid Solutions have extended hours all week! Hours: Thursday November 11 12-9PM, Friday November 12 12-8PM and Saturday Nov 13 11-5PM.

Big K Site Visioning Meeting Tonight

The Big K Site (you know, the giant block with four very horrible looking buildings on it - two of which have amazing restoration potential) on MLK Avenue between Maple View Place and Morris Street, was recently purchased by the DC Department of Housing and Community Development. They want your help envisioning the future of the site:

Click to Enlarge


My priority for the site is that the two large estate homes closer to the corner of MLK and Maple View are fully restored and repurposed as either office space, restaurant use, or some cultural use. This block is the southwestern gateway to the Anacostia Historic District, so we need to make sure it makes a statement that respects what is there now and also inspires better-looking development elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Anacostia on Bones

Last night, the FOX television show "Bones" aired an episode, part of which was about a detective wanting to pursue a lead in Anacostia. The opening dialogue of the episode shows a very typical outsider understanding of the Anacostia neighborhood. Clearly, there is still much to do to challenge and change assumptions.



Hannah: What do you know about Anacostia?

Booth: It's a neighborhood about a mile and a half from here: seedy, prostitution, lots of gangs, bad activity ... why?

Sweets: Anacostia? That’s a really tough part of town.

Booth: Not compared to downtown Kabul, it’s not.

Brennan: Or the surface of Venus, which is covered by clouds of sulfuric acid and hundreds of active mega-volcanoes. What?! We are talking about tough neighborhoods!

What do you think? What will it take to get the local and national media to stop scaring people? I think the neighborhood is on the right track, and am confident in its transformation ... but I represent a very small percentage of people out there.

It's gonna be a step by step process combining community building, new buildings, good role models, and investment of all kinds to get Anacostia off the "bad neighborhood name-drop" list. Have hope.

image courtesy of Real is Just a Matter of Perception