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Morning Notes

Published May 18, 2012 at 8:50AM

Artomatic Starts Tonight — Artomatic, described as “the D.C. area’s biggest unjuried arts extravaganza,” will kick off in Crystal City tonight. The five-week event is being held in a former Department of Defense office building at 1851 S. Bell Street, and will feature 10 floors of work by local artists. Artomatic was last held in the District in 2009. [Express]

Affordable Housing Push — A coalition of Arlington affordable housing advocates are preparing a public relations push to make the case for more affordable housing in Arlington. Supporters will be attending community events over the next six month to educate residents about the loss of affordable housing in the county. Currently, affordable housing initiatives are about 5 percent of Arlington County’s $1 billion budget. [Sun Gazette]

News

Former ACPD Officer Featured in Rockwell Painting Dies

By Katie Pyzyk

Published May 10, 2012 at 11:15AM | Updated May 12, 2012 at 3:12PM

Richard Clemens was born in New York City and spent much of his career as a Massachusetts state trooper. Rockwell, who was Clemens’ neighbor, asked the trooper to pose for the 1958 painting with an 8-year-old boy. It shows an officer counseling a young boy who wants to leave home, and was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It’s a well known painting in the law enforcement community, and can often be found in police stations across the country.

Before moving to Massachusetts, Clemens was a police officer in Arlington from July 1952 through August 1953. Records show his address as having been in the Long Branch Creek neighborhood.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published May 8, 2012 at 9:00AM | Updated May 8, 2012 at 10:08AM

Arlington Mill Student Gets Scholarship — Arlington Mill High School Continuation Program student Marleny Giron has been awarded a $10,000 “Founders Scholarship” from Comcast. The scholarship is intended to recognize students for their leadership, academic achievement and community service. It was created in honor of Comcast founder Ralph Roberts.

New Art on the ART Bus — A new “Art on the ART Bus” exhibit is up. The exhibit, by local artist Jenny Sidhu Mullins, explores the idea of national identity. [Facebook]

Events

New Location for Artomatic 2012

By Katie Pyzyk

Published March 16, 2012 at 3:55PM | Updated March 18, 2012 at 11:37AM

Instead of taking place at 2511 S. Clark St, the event will be held at 1851 S. Bell St. Crystal City Business Improvement District President Angela Fox explained that while the agreement to use the Clark Street location was being finalized, Vornado announced plans to replace the Bell Street venue with a new building. Vornado then put forth an offer to hold Artomatic at the old building before it’s torn down.

“This presented an amazing opportunity to showcase the transformation of Crystal City,” Fox said in a press release.

Events

Artomatic Coming to Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Published January 18, 2012 at 1:15PM

The popular, periodic arts event will take over the Transwestern Presidential Tower at 2511 S. Clark Street from May 18 to June 24. More than 76,000 visitors attended the last Artomatic, in 2009. The event featured more than 2,500 artists and performers. While the 2009 Artomatic was held in D.C., Crystal City hosted the event in 2007.

Described as an “open-entry creative arts showcase of visual art, music, film, performance, poetry and fashion,” Artomatic promises to transform the Transwestern tower into a “vibrant arts communit[y] that celebrate[s] creativity.”

Around Town

Art Exhibit to Explore Women and Sports

By ARLnow.com

Published January 12, 2012 at 1:45PM

“She Got Game,” as the exhibit is being called, will hold its opening reception tomorrow night (Jan. 13) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. It will feature “painted murals, larger-than-life-sized photos, videos, and installations depict[ing] women in professional tennis, bodybuilding, cheerleading, and even competitive eating.”

Among the male, female and transgendered artists whose works will be displayed are Holly Bass, Tara Mateik, Kristina Bilonick, Dewey Nicks, Sarada Conaway, Cory Oberndorfer, Jenny Drumgoole, Martin Schoeller, Nancy Floyd, Moira Lovell.

Events

Plenty of Holiday Events in Arlington This Weekend

By ARLnow.com

Published December 9, 2011 at 10:52AM | Updated December 9, 2011 at 10:03PM

There’s going to be plenty of Christmas cheer to go around in Arlington this weekend. A sleigh-ful of holiday events are planned around the county. Among them:

News

New Programming Director Named at Artisphere

By Katie Pyzyk

Published October 26, 2011 at 9:10AM

This announcement comes the same week the Arlington Commission for the Arts released its final version of a long-term plan, called “Arlington Arts 2030.” The report specifically mentioned Artisphere and the challenges it faced when opening a year ago. But the report also called Artisphere a successful first step in implementing the county’s arts vision.

Low revenue, low attendance, a lack of a restaurant for seven months and staffing issues plagued Artisphere from the start. But it revamped its business plan earlier this year and appears to be on a better track. Earlier this month, the venue hosted a birthday party to celebrate one year in existence.

News

Final Version of Arlington Arts Report Released

By Katie Pyzyk

Published October 25, 2011 at 1:46PM

The year-long process of devising the report has involved several revisions based on comments gathered at public meetings and through emails. Committee members had noted during the public meetings that although it’s difficult to predict exactly what the county’s needs will be in 20 years, Arlington has experienced a steady push toward urbanization. The report assumes such a push will continue, and therefore arts programs should expand accordingly.

The report suggests that although desire for arts has increased in the community, avenues for acquiring funding have decreased. As a result, among the more than two dozen recommended actions listed is the idea of restructuring grant programs. Other suggestions include raising funds for an arts facility renovation, revising policies for renting facilites and marketing the arts to promote audience growth.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published September 15, 2011 at 8:48AM

BRAC Not Too Bad, After All — Today is the deadline for the transfer of military offices affected by the Base Realignment and Closure Act. By today, 17,000 jobs were supposed to have moved out of Arlington County (mostly Crystal City) and into secure military installations like Ft. Belvoir. But in the end, the feared deadline is coming and going “with little fanfare.” The Associated Press reports that 10,000 of the 17,000 BRACed jobs are still here and expected to remain through as late as 2014, thanks to extensions granted by the Department of Defense. [Washington Post]

Pumpkins Arrive in Clarendon — The first pumpkins of the season showed up yesterday at the Clarendon Farmers Market. [Clarendon Culture]

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published August 15, 2011 at 9:10AM

Sun Sets on Arlington County Fair — The rides, food stands, and carnival games that made up the Arlington County Fair are all packing up and heading out. Last night was the fair’s last night. In case you missed it, Patch has published 21 separate articles on the fair since Thursday.

Arlington’s ‘Karaoke Cab’ Featured on NPR — Arlington’s ‘Karaoke Cab‘ was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered over the weekend. [NPR]

Around Town

For Sale: 18-Foot Tall Topless Wooden Mermaid

By ARLnow.com

Published July 20, 2011 at 9:30AM

File photo

The 18-foot tall mermaid has graced the front yard of Leeway Overlee resident Paul Jackson since 2004, when Paul and wife Nancy had the bright idea to carve something out of their dying 100+ year old white ash tree. Nancy, in a moment of benevolence, suggested a mermaid, to satisfy Paul’s dual loves of fish and women. The final product, carved by Frederick, Md. artist Scott Dustin, featured what the Washington Post’s Laura Sessions Stepp described as “a shapely derriere and bare breasts that must be at least size DD.”

The busty mermaid, named “Damaged Goods” or D.G. for short, has attracted neighborhood and media attention ever since her controversial creation. She received the aforementioned Washington Post write-up shortly after Labor Day 2004 — in an article entitled “Majestic or Monstrous?” — and, more recently, she was the focus of a Connection Newspapers piece entitled “From Controversy to Landmark.” She’s also listed on RoadsideAmerica.com, an “online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.”