Photos from “Palace to Pulaski 3: Straight Outta DC” (Go Skateboarding Day 2010).

It’s a power deal.
Sometimes they have to kill us.
They have to kill us!!!
Because they can’t break our spirit!!!! (more…)

“Soccer in the Circle” (#SITCDC) is a World Cup viewing party in Dupont Circle Park.  The photos below were taken on June 12, 2010 during the three 1st round matches.

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52 O Street Studios has become one of Washington’s oldest dedicated artists studios since being opened in 1979 by local artist Eric Rudd.

For the past 25 years, a group of artists have met every Tuesday night to focus on “drawing, painting, sculpting and discovering the meaning of life.”

This weekend the artists of 52 O St NW will be opening their doors and inviting the public in for a rare glimpse of their working studios on Saturday and Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 5 PM.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see how more than 20 of these talented artists work and will get to meet them in a relaxed setting.

52 O Street Studios is located a short walk from the New York Avenue station on Metro’s Red Line. The building is now home to artists of all genres and mediums who continue to contribute to and promote the founding principle of the studio: create affordable working space for artists in Washington, DC. Incorporating all styles and mediums, the studio features a wide array of paintings, graphic designs, photography, sculptures, jewelry collections, hand crafted woodwork and mixed-media created by the resident artists.

I had the opportunity to stop by yesterday an meet with a few of the artists to get a preview of the Open Studios event this weekend.

Photos by Matt

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Common Good City Farm is located in the LeDroit Park neighborhood in Northwest, Washington DC at 3rd and V Streets.  They can be reached at 202-330-5945 or at info@commongoodcityfarm.org.  Common Good is having a Public Opening Day celebration and offering the class, “Good Design, Bad Design”, this Saturday, April 10th, from 10am – 1pm. Register for class or to volunteer online and stop by and get to know more about what Common Good City Farm is doing to help grow the urban agriculture movement in Washington, DC.

In 2007, when Common Good City Farm started in the Shaw neighborhood, their goal was simple: help provide locally-grown food to low-income DC residents while simultaneously teaching them the art of urban agriculture.  Since then Common Good has grown significantly and has moved to the LeDroit Park neighborhood, but their core missions of food and education for the communities’ most needy residents has not changed.  The benefits of Common Good extend beyond the immediate nourishment offered by the locally-grown food  – the farm is a source of pride in the community and has developed into a special place where all members of the neighborhood can gather, get to know each other, and celebrate their community bonds.

When Common Good began it was known as the 7th Street Garden and was located in Shaw.  As their available use of the space ran out in 2008, they were actively recruited by the LeDroit Park Civic Association to be part of a redevelopment effort of the shuttered Gage-Eckington school campus at the corner of 3rd and V Streets NW.  It is a testament to the sincerity of Common Good’s dedicated community oriented focus that they were hand selected by a near-by neighborhood and welcomed into the community with open arms.  When they moved to their current site – a city owned 1/2 acre plot that was formerly a baseball diamond – in the fall of 2008 the organization changed their name to “Common Good City Farm.”  Liz Falk, one of the co-founders and the Director of the organization, explains the name selection “the word ‘farm’ evokes food more than gardening.  We consider ourselves a community farm or communal farm.  We haven’t quite found the proper term for us yet!”. (more…)

Who doesn’t love a good map?  I mean really, what is better than a map to help you understand where you are, how you got there, and where you are headed?  Below are five maps that have been incorporated into public outdoor spaces around the District.  Do you know where they all are (there are a couple gimmes)?  Leave it in the comments.

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“Bike here” is the message that Oliver Delacour delivered with his Dupont Circle bike rack, installed in 2009. Delacour, a local architect, was the winner of the Golden Triangle BID’s first Creative Bike Rack Design Competition. His winning entry, both clever and functional, adds a bit of whimsy and color to the highly-trafficked Dupont south Metro entrance.

Building on their success with the “bike here” rack, and the popularity of the artistic racks that DDOT/DC Arts and Humanities installed around the city, the Golden Triangle BID has announced their second Creative Bike Rack Design competition. Click here for the BID’s Call for Entries. Designs are due on March 4th at 5pm and selections will be made in April, with installation slated for this summer. The winner of the competition will receive a $1,500 Honorarium and a complementary Saturday night stay for two at the historic Hay Adams Hotel (not to mention the pride of seeing their design fabricated and installed in the District). (more…)

Help raise money for Haiti AND get some art work from local photographers, what could be better? Erin Lassahn Photography has organized an online auction to raise money for the relief effort.

The bidding starts really, really low at just $10 and the auction closes this Friday at 5pm. Please take a minute to look over the prints and, more importantly, bid on a piece or two!

Here is the link, place your bids in the comments. (more…)