All posts by Brendan Smith

Arts & Humanities, News

METROPOLIS ART EXHIBITION EXPLORES GRIT AND BEAUTY OF CITY LIFE

         The Ladder by Erin Antognoli

 METROPOLIS Opening Reception:   

Thursday, Sept. 13 from 7 pm–8:30 pm

Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park

METROPOLIS EXHIBITION EXPLORES GRIT AND BEAUTY OF CITY LIFE

TAKOMA PARK – As the population in rural areas continues to decline, cities across the United States are booming. Construction cranes tower over the landscape as city dwellers confront both the benefits and challenges of living closely together.

Four artists convey those trends in METROPOLIS, a new group exhibition with a free opening reception on Sept. 13 from 7 pm-8:30 pm in the galleries of the Takoma Park Community Center. Sponsored by the City of Takoma Park, the exhibition will be on view until Nov. 4.

Armed with her Holga camera, Erin Antognoli explores city streets and takes multiple images of different scenes on a single frame of film, crafting reimagined streetscapes that seem to convey a swirling world of unconscious thoughts or dreams.

Sara Anne Daines photographs murals and street scenes from across the world, including the United States, Iceland, Portugal, and Morocco. She captures slices of city life that others walk past, preserving a record of the unbridled creativity of many street artists.

Influenced by his love for graffiti and video games, Benjamin Ross uses paint markers, pens, and acrylic paint in large paintings with brash strokes and chaotic scenes inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Ross has shown his work in local exhibitions and at Art Basel Miami Beach.

Kanika Sircar fashions clay sculptures that convey a sense of timelessness, as if these cryptic vessels could be relics from a distant past or portend some unknown future. Her work has been influenced by swooping lines of graffiti, crumbling walls, and the melancholy of urban decay.

For more information, go to www.takomaparkmd.gov/arts or contact Arts Coordinator Brendan Smith at brendans@takomaparkmd.gov or (301) 891-7266.

 

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Film Screening this Thursday Highlights Power of Public Protest in Burkina Faso

How can a seemingly powerless public triumph over tyranny? The people of Burkina Faso showed how it’s done when they rose up in massive street protests in 2014 to overthrow a dictator who ruled the West African country for 27 years. The City of Takoma Park’s We Are Takoma cultural series will highlight that neglected story in a free screening of Burkinabè Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso, a new documentary from Cultures of Resistance Films. The screening will be held at 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 3, at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue.

Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists and engaged citizens who showed how political change can be achieved when people come together. Dance, music, visual arts, and citizen journalists are highlighted in this compelling film.

After the screening, there will be a panel discussion with Barthelemy Bazemo, a policy analyst with the Africa Faith & Justice Network who grew up in Burkina Faso, and Paul Sankara, the brother of former Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara who was assassinated in a 1987 coup. Kerry Danner of Georgetown University will facilitate the discussion and a Q&A with the audience.

Donations will be collected to benefit an orphanage in Burkina Faso that is featured in the film. You can check out our Facebook event  and watch the trailer. We hope you’ll join us Thursday night.

Arts & Humanities

Third Thursday Poetry Reading Features Glen Echo Poets

The Glen Echo Poets will read their original work at the next Third Thursday Poetry Reading, including Nancy Arbuthnot, Saundra Maley, Anne Sheldon, and Matt Westbrook. Stay for the reception and learn more about the 30-year history of the group and the collaborative process they use to write their poetry.

Takoma Park Poet Laureate Merrill Leffler also will read some poems about civil rights as part of the City of Takoma Park’s month-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. This free event will be held at 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 19, in the Takoma Park Community Center Auditorium at 7500 Maple Avenue.

To learn more about other upcoming We Are Takoma arts and culture events, go to www.takomaparkmd.gov/arts or sign up for our weekly e-newsletter here.