Dates: June 4, 2013 6:30pm
Location: Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 I (eye) St. SW, Washington, DC 20024
Admission: Free

Meet the people fueling the explosion of small, independent print magazines and zines in DC! From literary mags to small food zines, from journalism in the form of comics to tongue in cheek humor, print is alive and well in DC. Featuring  the writers, editors, and creators behind Barrelhouse Mag, The Cartoon Picayune, DC Zine Fest/ OCD Throws Bows, The Intentional, Popular Demand, The Runcible Spoon, and Worn Magazine, the event will include a brief introduction to each publication and a chance to purchase issues of each magazine and zine.

About Hothouse Happy Hour
Hothouse is a new series of installations, performances, discussions, and events organized by WPA in the Capitol Skyline Hotel Lounge! WPA is launching the program with the Hothouse Happy Hour series, twice monthly happy hour events bringing together members of DC’s various creative communities to share projects and ideas. Check back soon for information about future happy hours and other Hothouse events.

Animals & Fire visiting artist Benoit Izard performs Facing.

WPA:  Thanks for talking with us. So, why do you think DC has become a space friendly to performance art?

Animals and Fire: DC has an active, engaged art community. With more recent institutional support of more established performance artists, it has maybe put the practice on more people’s radar.

WPA: What is the structure of Animals and Fire? Do you have visiting artists?

A&F: We are starting with week-long program where a visiting artist introduces themselves with a performance. This is followed by a workshop which culminates in a group performance by the participants. We have BIZARD from Paris as our inaugural artist in residence.  We will have artists from DC and around the world invited to do a residency here.

WPA: Why did you start the platform?

A&F: We were looking for opportunities for continued artistic growth though education, workshop and critique and when we found none that suited our needs, we built it.  We feel that they’re more of us out there and that a selfish undertaking could benefit the community as well.

WPA: What resources do you offer to performance artists right now?

A&F: We’re working on workshops and critiques.

WPA: Very cool. How can people get involved?

A&F: Visit us on Facebook.com/AnimalsAndFire!

WPA: What do you hope to get out of this project personally, how is it enriching you?

A&F: We started the project because this kind of accessible infrastructure didn’t exist and we wanted it ourselves.  Our work as artists will strengthen as will DC’s ability to support performance art, and this will help solidify DC being a place where great art comes to and comes from.

WPA: What do you hope to bring to the community of performance artists with Animals and Fire? Why is it important to serve performance artists?

A&F: Besides what we listed above, in a broader sense, we want to create culturally enriched space to produce and share work.  It’s important to serve these artists because they’re hungry for opportunities to grow and show their work.

WPA: What is performance art, exactly? For your purposes, or generally?

A&F: We don’t know and don’t think there’s a straight answer.  There’s a historical context, of course, but we imagine that A&F will bring more questions than answers and we’re comfortable with the conversation about performance being an inquisitive one.

WPA: How and why is performance art relevant now, in today’s art world?

A&F: We think the most exciting thing about performance art now is the integration of artists from other mediums organically arriving at performance. Also, we’re part of a new generation of artists with different influences and concerns than our bona fide art grandparents.

WPA: How can people educate themselves on the medium? Are DC folks (the audience here) particularly literate in performance art?

A&F: Audiences can educate themselves by seeking out exposure to as many different kinds of performance art as possible.

One of our main goals is to increase performance art literacy for artists and audience alike. DC has always supported performance art and is well-versed in the medium. By increasing the number of conversations that are had around the medium, and helping the artists create in this medium, we hope to foster a performance art dialect that’s uniquely DC.

WPA: Do you have any criticisms of the DC performance art scene that you hope to address or buttress with this project? Where can we improve?

A&F: We could use a dedicated performance space in DC.  We hope to buttress programs such as Soapbox and the (e)merge art fair, both of which we have participated in and are tremendous assets we will continue to work with.  A&F will regulate the pulse of performance art in DC, with a steadier stream of opportunities for artist and audience.

For more information on Animals & Fire click here.  Their first visiting artist performance is this Sunday, May 19. Get Details here.

 

From OPTIONS 2013: Carolyn Case, Red Drug, 2011, Oil on panel, 22″ x 24″

Dates: May 18, 2013, 4pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201
Admission: Free

Related Event: The CIA, UFO’s, and Abstract Expressionism, Saturday, May 18, 3pm

Curator: Gerald Ross, Director of Exhibitions and Faculty, MFA in Curatorial Practice, Maryland Institute College of Art

Participating artists: Selin Balci (Annapolis, MD), Christina Billotte (Baltimore, MD), Michael Borek (Bethesda, MD), Julia Brown (Washington, DC), Carolyn Case (Cockeysville, MD), Bonnie Crawford Kotula (Baltimore, MD), Evan Hume (Washington, DC), Lisa Marie Jakab (Washington, DC), Magnolia Laurie (Baltimore, MD), Aaron McIntosh (Baltimore, MD), Mark Parascandola (Washington, DC), Wendy Rodgers (Takoma Park, MD), Kathryn Sowinski (Baltimore, MD), Colette Veasey-Cullors (Baltimore, MD), William Whitaker (Washington, DC), and Millicent Young (Ruckersville, VA).

Curator Gerald Ross leads a discussion and tour of the exhibition OPTIONS 2013. The talk begins at 4pm, but guests are encouraged to arrive early for artist Even Humes’ performance, The CIA, UFOs, and Abstract Expressionism at 3pm.

OPTIONS 2013 is the fifteenth iteration of WPA’s biennial exhibition of works by emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Begun in 1981 under the direction of WPA Executive Director Al Nodal, the OPTIONS biennial has, for over three decades, showcased vibrant, challenging, and innovative work by artists from the mid-Atlantic region.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Gerald Ross is the Director of Exhibitions at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and on the faculty of MICA’s MFA in Curatorial Practice Program. He was born in Laramie, WY in 1965. He received a degree in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989 where he was also a Yale scholar. In the 1990s, he collaborated on six public mural projects, receiving numerous awards. Ross continues to pursue studio art and shows regularly throughout the region. He has also served as a juror for many fine arts awards, including the Trawick Prize and the National Sculpture Residency Prize at Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, MD. As Director of the Exhibitions Department at MICA, Ross manages a diverse, energetic, and vital program – presenting over 100 exhibitions per year, campus-wide. Since 2003, he has curated, established public programming, and worked with the community to bring a large variety of local, national, and international groups and artists to MICA.

Artist Eric van Straaten produces eerie sculptures made with 3D printing technologies.

This week, WPA spoke with artist Jonathan Monaghan and writer Gareth Branwyn on 3D printing technologies and their implications for artists.

WPA: Thanks for talking with us. Let’s start off with the basics: what is 3D printing?

Gareth Branwyn: 3D printing is a process for rendering a three-dimension digital object into a three-dimensional physical one. The most popular consumer-grade form of 3D printing involves the use of a printer not unlike a conventional desktop computer printer, but instead of the print head going back and forth and depositing ink onto paper, the head goes side to side and front to back, and the print bed moves up and down. This way, the print head (called an extruder) can deposit molten plastic onto the print bed, and based on the instructions from the computer, build a three-dimensional object. Most of today’s extrusion printers are basically glorified, computer-controlled glue guns. But the resolution, while not high, is good enough to create some fairly sophisticated, intricate objects.

Jonathan Monaghan: Yes, 3D printing is a process where physical forms are built layer-by-layer from computer designs. I see Rapid-Protoyping as almost the same thing, although that word is not usually associated with the consumer-level.

Branwyn: 3D printing is a form of rapid prototyping (or the ability to quickly create scale models or test parts of desired designs), but it is not the only form (nor is 3D printing only for prototyping). It is probably the most common form, but there are other rapid prototyping techniques, including CNC (Computer Numerically-Controlled) routers, laser cutters, and various forms of mold-making and vacuum forming. Other emerging so-called “maker technologies,” such as the microcontroller Arduino and the computer on a chip, Raspberry Pi, can also be considered rapid prototyping tools because they allow one to quickly create and test physical computing applications (which allow interactions and feedback between digital and physical worlds). What’s especially exciting is that all of these technologies are starting to become accessible to small groups and individuals who don’t have lots of money. 3D printing allows you to iterate your ideas very quickly and it allows you to create custom-made objects for a wide range of applications.

WPA: When did this technology start to cross over into becoming more mainstream? Who has helped this happen?

Monaghan: A couple years ago this technology was adopted by hackers, hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers who would try to build basic 3D printers by sourcing off the shelf parts. It was very exciting as all of a sudden very expensive processes were becoming cheaper than a laptop. Software has followed suit and it has become easier to make things virtually.

Branwyn: The idea was to create an affordable desktop 3D printer and to make the development of the project “open source,” with all design and program files available to all and the group sharing of any design innovations. A global community of “hardware hackers” embraced the project and began building printers and sharing the results online. The next big leap came in 2009, when former MAKE magazine contributor Bre Pettis (along with Zach Smith and Adam Mayer) released the MakerBot Cupcake CNC. The idea was to combine developments in RepRap printing, CNC milling (for the printer’s case), and the Arduino (for the control computer) and to build an open source community around the MakerBot to accelerate its development. Both RepRap and MakerBot printers were enthusiastically adopted by the growing “maker movement” and the global hardware hacking community. This has led to a profusion of small 3D printer companies. As the Editorial Directory of MAKE magazine, I spearheaded the research and publishing of the “Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing” in 2012. We were amazed at how many printers that are that are now available. We quickly filled up a test lab with 15 of them, and there were many others we didn’t test.
WPA: What applications does the technology currently have? Where is it currently being used?
Monaghan: On the higher-end level it has been used in a wide variety of industries, scales and applications. On the consumer level, people have been using it simply as a tool to help them make things that are important and interesting to them.
Branwyn: While this technology has come a long way since 2005, it’s still very much for tinkerer-pioneers and early adopters. The consumer-targeted printers are still fairly “low-res,” with the resulting prints having visible layers and a somewhat rough texture. And, altho great strides have been made in the last few years at making these devices as usable ”out of the box”  as possible, they are still largely temperamental and require a certain level of technical aptitude. During MAKE’s testing, we found that documentation and software are still rather poor and lag behind the hardware. Applications for this tech are still mainly in the realms of rapid prototyping, scale modeling (e.g. for architecture), and novelty (toys for the kids, holiday ornaments, “monitor pets” for your desk, fun because-we-can chotskies). The website Thingiverse is a growing user-submitted library of 3D-printable design files. Browsing there will give you a good idea of what people are currently designing and printing.
WPA: Why is democratizing this medium a valuable thing? Why are people working so hard to bring it to a wider group of people?

Branwyn: The future implications of this technology are profound. Imagine a world were you don’t have to buy physical things and have them shipped across the country (or across the globe). You simple download a file (whether you bought it, created it yourself, or got it from a free online library) and print out toys for your kids, replacement parts for things around the house, and even complete products. There are people currently experimenting with printing out working engines, 3D-printed electronics, even 3D-printed houses, boats, and cars. And then, of course, there are the amazing things being done in the medical field with 3D-printed organs. While a lot of this may be far off in the future, we are headed to that future much faster, thanks to amateurs and weekend hardware hackers who are helping to accelerate the development of these technologies through the open source ethos, online sharing, and through face-to-face meetups are places like Maker Faires and local hackerspaces.

Monaghan: It allows you to make something only you the creator would be interested in using. Design since the Bauhaus was all about how can you make whatever it is you need to make, a chair lets say, universal, make something that works for as many people as possible and that can be mass produced efficiently and can be shipped anywhere in the world easily and quickly. Perhaps traditional criteria for good design, such as universality, can become irrelevant.

WPA: How might (or has) this technology be applied to fine art? Why should artists be interested?

Branwyn: A growing number of artists are starting to use 3D printing in their work, especially as the technology becomes easier and more accessible. Artists like Markus Kayser, with his Solar Sinter Project, have raised the public’s awareness of 3D printing. Kayser set up a solar-powered 3D printer in the Sahara desert and used the sand as the print media to 3D-print glass objects. The project was designed to raise questions about the future of manufacturing (many are calling 3D printing the next industrial revolution) and the production potential of this new technology. Digital artist Greg Petchkovsky has taken to the streets with his 3D graffiti where he amends the physical world with digitally-design, 3D-printed objects that make broken stone steps look like they’ve been repaired with LEGOs and brick walls look like they’re melting. UK artist Rachel Harding, whose work explores the intersection of “technological possibility and societal ruin,” has taken to using 3D printing to extrude lace into rather ominous castle-like structures, while Eric Van Straaten has turned exclusively to 3D printing as the medium for his hyper-surreal figurative sculptures.

WPA: As an artist, Jonathan, what have some of your experiences been with the medium? How have you used it?

Monaghan: I wouldn’t call it a medium, it is more like a tool. I have used it to make sculpture with it, I have used it as a way to prototype large stone sculpture for other artists, I have used it to make portraits, I have used it to communicate, I have used it to make coasters, I have used to re-interpret museum collections.

What are some of the best Local, Washington area resources for artists interested in learning more or making projects with the technology?

Mongahan: HacDC  is a hacker space with members who work with 3d printing. Also check out Fab Lab DC.  I am organizing a symposium on 3D printing technologies and education at Prince George’s Community College on June 5th, which will be a fantastic resource!

Branwyn: NovaLabs, Baltimore Hackerspace, and Baltimore Node are our “BalWash” hackerspaces. They all have 3D printers and are happy to help people learn about this technology and to help overcome any technical issues you might encounter as a newbie. Connect with the one closest to you and see what classes they have available, opportunities for using their printers, and other ways of getting involved. These groups are welcoming, but make sure you try and give back as you take. They can also teach you Arduino, Raspberry Pi, CNC, and other maker technologies that can be used in high-tech art, interactive installations, and other innovative artwork. Fab Lab DC is a great local resource. Part of MIT’s Fab Labs network, Fab Lab DC offers workshops and events on 3D printing, personal fabrication, digital design, and more. And don’t think that just because you don’t have a 3D printer that you can’t incorporate this technology into your work. Commercial services like shapeways.com allow you to upload your 3D design files, choose the media you want to use (besides plastic, you can get prints in metal and glass), and the resulting prints are mailed to you. They even have a store where you can sell the objects you design to others. Finally, if you’re interested in getting up to speed quickly, I selfishly recommend the “Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing”. It has tested reviews of 15 top printers as well as articles on how to get started in 3D design and printing.

WPA: Thanks for talking with us and sharing such great information!

Gareth Branwyn is a DC-area writer who covers technology, art, and culture. He was a contributing editor at Wired for 12 years and worked at MAKE magazine for the past eight years. He just stepped down from his role as MAKE’s Editorial Director to work on a collection of his writing, Borg Like Me (& Other Tales of Art, Eros, and Embedded Systems), to be published later  this year. Gareth has been involved in the DC art scene since the early 90s when he started selling his art and technology zine, Going Gaga, in WPA’s Bookworks store.
Jonathan Monaghan is an artist based in Washington, DC currently represented by Curator’s Office.

For more information on 3D printing and resources available to WPA members, contact WPA Membership Manager Christopher Cunetto at 202.234.7103 x 2 or at ccunetto@wpadc.org.

Dates: May 18, 2013 at 3pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201

Related Event: OPTIONS 2013 Curator and Artist Talk

 
clockwise, l to r: Lawley Paisley-Jones, OPTIONS 1987; Jason Peters, OPTIONS 1999; Katherine Mann, OPTIONS 2011; René Treviño, OPTIONS 2007

Dates: May 22, 2013 6:30pm
Location: Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201
Admission: Free

Moderated by: Angela Adams, Public Art Administrator, Arlington Economic Development and Don Russell, Executive Director, Provisions Library (co-curators, OPTIONS 1993)

Participating artists: Cynthia Connolly (OPTIONS 1997), Katherine Mann (OPTIONS 2011), Jeff Spaulding (OPTIONS 1981), and other OPTIONS alumni.

WPA celebrates 32 years of its OPTIONS biennial with a panel discussion and community forum featuring artists and curators involved in the exhibition throughout its history. A consistent feature of DC’s local arts landscape since 1981, OPTIONS highlights work by emerging and unrepresented artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  The list of artists and curators who have been involved with OPTIONS over the years reads like a who’s who of the DC arts scene, reflecting the important role the exhibition has played in the development of the local arts community over the last four decades.

Professional Practices Technical Workshop: 3D Printing 

Location: ABC Imaging, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

To Attend: The workshop is free for WPA members, with a $5.00 reservation fee for non-members. To RSVP, contact Membership Manager Christopher Cunetto by e-mail at ccunetto@wpadc.org or by phone at 202.234.7103 x 2. Attendance is limited!

Join Washington Project for the Arts and ABC Imaging for a technical workshop covering the basics of current 3D printing technologies and techniques, discussion on the different models and types of materials used in the process, as well as a tour of the 3D printing facilities at ABC imaging.

This workshop is presented in

collaboration ABC Imaging.

]]> http://wpadc.org/3dprinting/feed/ 0 http://wpadc.org/wpas-housewarming-events-at-the-capitol-skyline-hotel/ http://wpadc.org/wpas-housewarming-events-at-the-capitol-skyline-hotel/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:41:47 +0000 WPAdc http://wpadc.org/?p=4353

Giselle Ruzany and Nate Bond of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. The company will perform Pillow Talk at Sleepout on April 20.

WPA’s recent move to the Capitol Skyline Hotel marks a significant milestone in its history. For the first time since splitting from the Corcoran Gallery in 2008, WPA finds itself in a location with facilities that extend beyond a traditional office space. The home of Washington’s annual (e)merge Art Fair, the Skyline prides itself on being a space welcoming to and encouraging the growth of Washington’s creative community.

WPA has organized two celebrations events taking place April 20 to welcome members and the community at large into its new home in the hotel. Like any good housewarming, the evening promises to be memorable. The 2013 – 2014 WPA Artist Directory Launch starts off the evening, and celebrates the release of WPA’s sixth edition of its guide to its member artists throughout the region. Artists and party-goers will convene over refreshments and drinks in the lounge of the hotel and Directory participants will have the opportunity to pick up their copies of the book.

As the evening progresses, the Artist Directory launch will flow into Sleepout, an all-night poolside sleepover. The even features performances and activities throughout the night. Blair Murphy, WPA’s Program Director shares here thoughts on the event: “As we started discussing a housewarming party, we really wanted to do something that invited people to get comfortable in the space. A hotel is definitely an unconventional location for an arts non-profit and the sleepover theme plays that up, while highlighting the great possibilities that our partnership with the hotel opens up. I’m excited that we’re welcoming everyone into the space for our first major event here and I’m really happy that we’re able to present some fantastic performances and installations as part of the event.” Artist Calder Brannock brings Cuddle Collaboration to the event, an interactive performance art piece where the artist interviews and cuddles with participants. Kathryn Cornelius and Maida Withers bring more performances to the event along with several other installations and experiences from other artists taking place throughout the night. And don’t forget raffle tickets for prizes (including pajamas and cigars) to complete the evening! With the Artist Directory Launch and Sleepout, WPA hopes to provide a memorable celebration for members, artists and the community and looks forward to many more events in their exciting new space.

The 2013 – 2014 Artist Directory Launch is from 6-9pm in the Capitol Skyline Hotel lounge and is free to attend. Sleepout is a ticketed event, and runs from 9pm on April 20 until April 21 at 9am. Click here for more information and to buy tickets to the event.

From OPTIONS 2013: Carolyn Case, Red Drug,
2011, Oil on panel, 22″ x 24″

The Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennale, the Biennale de Paris – these every-other-year exhibitions offer the pulse of the international art world. In the Washington area, WPA offers a biennial of its own: OPTIONS. Smaller in scale than the international variety, OPTIONS shares the spirit of any biennial exhibition worth its salt, offering a snapshot of art trends and current thinking in the area.

For artists in the area, OPTIONS is a chance to contribute to a larger discussion, and a chance to see what art is being made in the region. Victoria Reis, co-founder of Transformer and curator of two OPTIONS exhibitions, underscores the importance of providing a place for current dialogue in art. “When I curated the 1999 and the 2002 OPTIONS exhibitions, there were no other forums of its kind in DC to highlight the work of emerging visual artists from the region to contemporary art audiences.  In fact, Transformer’s founding mission to provide a consistent platform to connect and promote emerging visual artists and their work is in large part a direct outcome of my experience curating OPTIONS.”

Inclusion in the show is a meaningful experience in an artists career. John James Anderson, who exhibited in OPTIONS 2011, recounts his experience with the exhibition: “My inclusion meant a number of things to me. For one, it felt like I had been doing something right: something meaningful enough that someone, in this case Stefanie Fedor, took notice and included my work. Beyond that, it was that opportunity that helped me along in other ways. My work in that exhibit caught the attention of Meaghan Kent, founder of Site95, in Brooklyn. She saw the installation, made contact, and asked me to contribute to her journal. Later she included me in an exhibit at Locust Projects in Miami.

Stephanie Fedor, Executive Director of Arlington Arts Center and curator of OPTIONS 2011, describes her experience looking at all of the artist submissions. “From a curatorial perspective it was a great opportunity to look at a large concentration of recent work from artists working in all media and with a range of concerns and interests. Often curators are approaching exhibitions thematically (either with formal or topical concerns), which measurably reduces the circle of artists that can be considered. Through hundreds of submissions, personal investigation and studio visits, OPTIONS allowed me to take a pulse on who the artists are in our region, the materials they are using, and the range of styles and investigations. This is something I rarely get to do in a concise time frame. I was introduced to a lot of artists who I continue to follow and work with – it was very exciting.”

WPA is pleased to continue this exhibition with the opening of OPTIONS 2013, as it continues to serve as a vital component of the regional art scene. Fedor continues, “OPTIONS presents the public the best examples of unrepresented artists working in our region right now. This exhibition is an opportunity for the public to hopefully be introduced to new art by new artists working in their same communities. The proximity part is very important to me – this exhibition, and the WPA, consistently underlines the extraordinary work that artist are doing in our immediate vicinity, which is a great service to local artist and audiences because it creates access and opportunity for an immediate exchange of ideas and understanding.”

OPTIONS 2013 opens on April 13, 2013 at Arlington Arts Center with an opening reception from 6-9pm. For more information on the exhibition, click here or contact WPA Program Director Blair Murphy at 202.234.7103 x 1 or at bmurphy@wpadc.org.