Holiday Closures: City Offices and Facilities Closed Tuesday, Dec. 24-Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024 & Wednesday Jan. 1, 2025
As always, The Takoma Park Police Department is open 24/7 for emergency services. For a full breakdown of Holiday Closures and changes to the Holiday Collection Schedule, click "More Information".
Learn about Maryland’s plan for fighting the Zika virus should it appear in Maryland on Thursday, May 26 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM at the Dennis Avenune Health Center in Silver Spring, MD.Learn about Maryland’s plan for fighting the Zika virus should it appear in Maryland on Thursday, May 26 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM at the Dennis Avenune Health Center in Silver Spring, MD.
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue
Artist Shanthi Chandrasekar finds fascinating both science and spirituality, especially the ancient Indian philosophy of Tantra which seeks to infuse the divine with the human. Her new exhibit at the Takoma Park Community Center explores the space where the two areas overlap, and there she discovers the magic and mystery for Spandha: Cosmic Vibrations.
Acrylic paintings and multi-media sculptures with handmade paper, wood, clay and stone explore the vibrations in our universe. Ms. Chandrasekar explains, “It is within these vibrations that forms manifest themselves as sound, light, matter, thoughts, and syllables.”
Chandrasekar has had many exhibitions in the in the Washington, DC, metro area and won the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in both 2013 and 2016 for Works on Paper. The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, awarded her Individual Artist grants in 2009, 2013, and 2016.
Ms. Chandrasekar plays two roles in this exhibition. She is not only the featured artist but also the Atrium Gallery Coordinator at the Takoma Park Community Center. “I thoroughly enjoy this position,” she says. “It is exciting to select artists for the five wonderful gallery spaces in the building and have the art all work well together. The shows address the diverse Takoma Park community, and I try to find local artists from various parts of the world. It is all about bringing the art to the community.”
Spandha: Cosmic Vibrations is free and open to the public through June 30, 2016. Visitor hours are Monday to Friday 8:30 am – 9:30 am, Saturday 10 am – 6 pm, and Sunday 12 pm – 5 pm.
Visit Gallery Exhibits to learn more about the Galleries at Takoma Park.
Photo of vibrantly-colored acrylic painting titled “Grantham-2” by Shanthi Chandrasekar
Shanthi Chandrasekar draws inspiration from mystery and majesty of the world around her. Her muse lives where the scientific overlaps the spiritual. According to the Indian philosophy Tantra and recent science concepts, the universe is created from, and composed of, vibrations. These vibrations manifest themselves as sound, light, matter, thoughts and syllables. From sculptures to paintings, Chandrasekar’s works in “Spandha: Cosmic Vibrations” explore manifestations inspired by language, dreams, and the cosmos. The free exhibition opening is May 5 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.
About the Artist
Award-winning Maryland artist Shanthi Chandrasekar has had many exhibitions in the Washington, DC, metro area. She won the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in both 2013 and 2016 for Works on Paper. The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, MD, awarded her Individual Artist grants in 2009, 2013, and 2016.
Visit the Gallery Exhibits page to learn more about the Galleries at Takoma Park.
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Thursday, April 7, 7:30 PM
Evan Berry, Associate Professor at American University, discusses the development of the American environmental movement, raising questions about how values, science, and religious ideas have been combined throughout the movement’s history.
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Saturday, April 9, 4:00 PM
Local author Anthony Hynes will read passages from his self-published memoir, which chronicles his childhood as a black boy adopted by two white mothers in D.C. in the ‘90s. When cancer afflicted one of Hynes’ mothers, and the courts threatened his legal guardianship, Hynes had to decide what his identity and his definition of family looked like. Copies of “The Son with Two Moms” are available at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, Busboys and Poets, Politics and Prose, and on Amazon. A Q&A with the author will follow the reading.
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Thursday, April 14, 7:30 PM
Docs In Progress presents the story of Juan Gomez, one of thousands of undocumented young people who, despite living in this country since infancy, has no permanent right to stay in the U.S. Juan speaks flawless English, is academically gifted, and believes in the American Dream. Despite a future at Georgetown University and a promising career on Wall Street, the polarized political climate around immigration reform presents him, and so many others, with road blocks. Director Aldo Bello, a 2013 Docs in Progress Fellow, will hold a Q&A after the screening.
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Saturday, April 16, 4:00 PM
In this spellbinding and participatory performance, storyteller Candace Wolf spins tales from the ancient storytelling traditions of world cultures. The stories in “We Share the Planet with the Animals” celebrate the relationship people have shared with animals since the beginning of human memory. This performance is recommended for families with children over 6 years old.
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Thursday, May 5, 7:30 PM
Jeanne Drewes, Chief of BCCD at the Library of Congress, discusses Cuban art and culture through Ediciones Vigia, a book collective in Matanzas, Cuba. Drewes will examine this independent publishing house, founded in 1985 and will offer some of her personal book collection for viewing and discussion.
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Saturday, May 7, 7:30 PM
The Immigration Film Festival will pre-screen one of its fall 2016 films, 120 Days, with Takoma Park. 120 Days documents a life-altering crisis in the lives of a family of undocumented immigrants. After living and work in the United States for twelve years, father and husband, Miguel Cortes faces deportaition as a result of his immigration status. He is given four months to get his affairs in order before leaving his wife and two daughters in the U.S. to continue their educaiton. Miguel has 120 days to work hard and weigh his options about returning to Mexico alone or disappearing into another U.S. city illegally with his family.
The Takoma Park Community Center 7500 Maple Avenue Thursday, May 12, 7:30 PM
Based on the creation process of MacArthur Genius Award-winning choreographer Liz Lerman’s theatrical dance piece Healing Wars, “Parables of War” uses dance, documentary, and drama to pose the question: how can civilization bind the wounds of war?
Learn more about We Are Takoma events on the Arts & Humanities page!
