A damaged sign pointing to the Custis Trail along N. George Mason Drive in Bluemont (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
More on House Explosion Suspect — “The Virginia man presumed to have been killed when his house exploded while cops tried to serve a search warrant had posted rambling conspiracy theories — and filed frivolous lawsuits, including one accusing his ‘witch’ ex-wife of committing him ‘against his will’ in New York.” [New York Post]
What’s Left of the House — From ABC 7’s Tom Roussy: “For the first time since Monday night’s house explosion in Arlington, police have opened up North Burlington St. and we are getting a close look at the destruction left behind.” [Twitter]
The concrete spheres and steel poles of Dark Star Park create more than a striking sculpture. Photo by Elman Studios.
Visitors gather each year to witness the annual Dark Star Park Day alignment. Photo by Elman Studios.
Dark Star Park in Rosslyn, designed by artist Nancy Holt, was created to connect art, time and place. Photo by Elman Studios.
Every year, for just a few minutes, one of Arlington’s most iconic works of public art comes to life exactly as its artist intended.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., visitors will gather in Rosslyn to witness the annual shadow alignment at Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979–84). At that precise moment, the shadows cast by the sculpture’s spheres and poles align with permanent shadow forms embedded in the ground—a phenomenon Holt designed to commemorate the anniversary of Rosslyn’s founding.
The alignment lasts only a few moments, but it has become a beloved Arlington tradition, drawing residents, visitors, artists and architecture enthusiasts alike to experience the intersection of art, astronomy, and history. If the weather cooperates, the park transforms into a striking demonstration of how light, time and place can become part of a work of art.
Created between 1979 and 1984, Dark Star Park was Arlington’s first County-commissioned public artwork and remains one of the nation’s earliest examples of integrated public art—where sculpture, landscape architecture and the surrounding environment function as a single work. Rather than placing an object within a park, Holt made the entire park the artwork, incorporating spheres, pools, steel poles, tunnels, earthworks and carefully positioned plantings into an immersive landscape.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) was a pioneering artist whose work spanned poetry, film, photography, land art and large-scale public sculpture. Throughout her career, she explored perception, time and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Dark Star Park remains her most significant urban installation and one of the few major works by the artist that can be experienced in an accessible city setting.
Whether you’ve attended for years or have never visited before, Dark Star Park Day offers a rare opportunity to experience a public artwork that changes with the movement of the sun—and reminds us that some of the most memorable moments in art happen not inside a museum, but out in the world around us.
Dark Star Park Day
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning around 9 a.m.; shadow alignment at approximately 9:32 a.m. Where: Dark Star Park, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Rosslyn
The former Arlington Independent Media site in Clarendon (file photo)
(Updated at 12:20 a.m. on 12/7/23) After a 2-year search for new digs, Arlington Independent Media is on the cusp of moving from its long-time headquarters in Clarendon.
Next week, Arlington’s public access TV channel, community radio station and media training provider intends to sign a lease for space in Courthouse Plaza, says its CEO Whytni Kernodle. The building is owned by JBG Smith and home to Arlington County headquarters.
Former Arlington/Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney Theo Stamos (file photo)
Former Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos is taking a top job in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
Stamos lost her reelection bid in 2019, defeated in the Democratic primary by now-Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti. Once Arlington’s top prosecutor, today Stamos was named the state’s Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice and Public Safety.
A map of Boundary Channel Drive at I-395 interchange improvements (via VDOT)
A nearly $20 million project to make Boundary Channel Drive and the I-395 interchange near Crystal City and the Pentagon safer has resulted in significant traffic pattern changes.
Last week, the Virginia Dept. of Transportation permanently closed two ramps: the southbound I-395 ramp to eastbound Boundary Channel Drive and the eastbound Boundary Channel Drive ramp to southbound I-395.
Weight room at Life Time fitness center in Clarendon (via Life Time)
Arlington ranked as the ‘fittest city’ in the U.S. for the sixth year in a row earlier this year. But the state in which the county is located is no slouch either.
Virginia is the fourth strongest state in the nation, according to a new study.
Chances are you know someone who’s sick right now — if you’re not sick yourself.
We’re in the thick of cold and flu season, and each is on the rise alongside Covid and RSV, though the latter might be peaking. In at least one local drug store, meanwhile, ARLnow noted that Kleenex and Pedialyte seemed to be in short supply.
Building in Crystal City (Flickr pool photo by Emma K. Alexandra)
Flyover Planned Today — From Alert DC: “The US Military will conduct a flyover in the NCR, over Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at approximately 1:40 PM.”
APS ‘Preps Tutoring Blitz’ — “The Arlington school system is planning to use a mix of paid hourly workers and volunteers as it builds up a tutoring corps to address COVID-era learning loss among students. Though running a little behind many other districts, Arlington Public Schools recently submitted its plans to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for participation in the state’s ‘All IN’ efforts to provide extra services in core subjects in third through eighth grades.” [Gazette Leader]
