Slipping into Summer

Late afternoon as I dipped my toes in the large fountain at the National Gallery Sculpture Park, I closed my eyes to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, the murmur of people around me and the first notes from the live jazz band drift across the courtyard. This (to me) is Washington in summer. 

There's just something about slipping off your work shoes.

There are a few spots I love to escape to and in the often punishing summer months of our fair city, this is one of them. The cornice of the Archives building in full view, but it's shadow just out of reach. Glimpses of Calder, Paine, Bourgeois appear and fade from view amidst the tightly trimmed boxwood.

Starting a weekend out here seems almost perfect. For as much as I love having the garden almost to myself earlier in the week. Jazz in the Garden brings out melted Washingtonians in droves to perch on blankets and cast aside blazers, to linger over a glass of well queued for wine or sangria. Every piece of grass and pavement is transformed into a private party of friends and new acquaintances.

Taking It All In

Artist Alexa Meade photographs her portrait.

About a month ago, I declared I was selfishly taking the rest of 2012 for me and that if the world wouldn't mind I was just going to enjoy things I wanted to do for awhile and perhaps sit down long enough to enjoy a properly chilled cocktail. (DH very graciously smiled and said, "whatever makes you happy.")

So I've been carving out more time to catch up on the art scene in city and last night I headed over to the National Portrait Gallery to catch their Portraits After 5: Camera-Ready Color organized as a part of their exhibition In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio.

Full color and absence of color.

Local DC Artist Alexa Meade created two live portraits that you could interact with and, well they could interact with you. The very definition of ephemeral, these two-hour paintings, merged portraiture, sculpture and photography without missing a beat. To see the work documented on her site is engaging, to see it live is spellbinding. The whole point was to document yourself with the work. To physically interact with the painting.

 It was great to see so many people out to see the spectacle and even better to see people (usually tourists) just happen upon it and get completely drawn in. Bravo to the curators and educators at the Portrait Gallery for finding a great way to bring portraiture to life in a fun and unexpected way, and promoting a local artist to boot. An art hat trick.

Taking in the crowd and canvases at the Kogod Courtyard.

Mexico City Corn

Since migrating from the Midwest there have been no shortage of jokes about my knowledge and love of corn being a direct result of the fact I grew up near corn fields. Yes, that's right, all heartland expats share a secret society of knowledge about this starchy vegetable. So imagine my surprise when I bit into my first ear of the season at Standard the other week and my mind was blown.

I'm not a purist when it comes to how you prepare corn. (Although I will say, why boil it when you can grill it?) But this was a new spicy, delectable preparation: Mexico City Style Corn on the Cob. Holy blessed street food.

I was hot to trot for a recipe to try and reproduce this new veggie champion. Common ingredients across recipes included chili pepper, cayenne pepper, mayo, lime, cheese (Parmesan vs. Cotija), black pepper.  Beyond that the variations included sour cream or butter, garlic, cilantro. Some are also very specific about leaving the husks on as handles or not. If you do, just soak them in advance so you don't smoke up your grill.

The version I ended up using, I would make a couple tweaks to next time. I would use the cotija instead of the parm. It really is different enough to matter; I would add a  little cheese on top after slathering the corn; and add a little more heat to the mix with an extra shake of cayenne. This version is from Cook's Illustrated.


1/4 cup regular or light mayonnaise

3 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves

1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 teaspoons juice from 1 lime

1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)

4 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt

6 large ears corn, husks and silk removed 

While grill is heating, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, black pepper, cayenne (if using), lime juice, and cheese in large bowl; set aside. In second large bowl, combine oil, salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon chili powder; add corn and toss until coated evenly.

Grill corn, turning occasionally, until lightly charred on all sides, 7 to 12 minutes total. Remove from grill and place in bowl with mayonnaise mixture; toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately.

Art Escape

Baseballs by Lutz Bacher @ The Whitney Biennial.

After reading the New York Times review of the Whitney Biennial I began to plot plan a trip to the city to see the show. This quickly evolved into a "how many galleries can I possibly see in one trip" sort of exercise. It was at that moment DH opted to abstain from the experience or "36 hours of art" as I conceived of it. Stepping off the train with the prospect of nothing but art, dinner and drinks with friends, and whatever else I could fit in for almost two whole days was awesome.

Note: I've waited so long to post this that the Biennial is now closed, but I had such a fun time I'm posting it anyway. Sorry.

Excellent meals with lovely friends and family were had at the Beacon Kitchen Counter and Maze by Gordon Ramsay at the London. Two delicious midtown finds that I can take no credit for tracking down. Thanks SH. Celebrating my delightful cousin's college graduation over dinner and drinks was great fun, made me feel very old, and I am very proud of her.

Great shows were seen at MAD,  including Swept Away. Yes, that is what you think it is and yes, I do think it's art. It had this lovely quiet quality about it and reminded me of a great presentation the conservation department at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art did a few years back about dust vs. dirt on a Deborah Butterfield piece. Fascinating.

The Biennial itself was interesting, but I fear I either missed out on the most life altering of the installation pieces, or I would have benefited from the curator's insight. That being said there were three artists I really enjoyed. Lutz Bacher, Elaine Reichek, and Nick Mauss. Baseballs by Bacher was strangely captivating. Perhaps it was the audio loop that crackled in the background combined with the dusty lighting, but the purposeful abandonment of the installation was intriguing nonetheless.

The multiple works by Reichek exploring Ariadne's thread made my inner mythology geek totally smile and the use of thread to explore a thread, well, I thought it was well done. Mauss's piece Concern, Crush, Desire, 2011 held the most interest for me over his other work. It may have been more about how it manipulated the space and created multiple viewpoints into the exhibition itself, but interesting all the same.

Mark Tansey, The Innocent Eye Test.

Muse in the Ancient Galleries.

Rain kept me from seeing Tom Saraceno's Cloud City installation on the roof at the Met, but I lingered in the Ancient galleries among the marble statutes I have always loved; enjoyed Oceanic galleries for the first time; backtracked out of the mob scene that was the Schiaparelli and Prada show (OMG); wandered through the modern galleries and then slipped out to go see the Neue Gallery.

An old colleague gave me a peak of the Guggenheim (which is closed on such a random day of the week), and the little bit of the John Chamberlain sculpture show I saw (mid deinstallation) was really interesting and reminded me how much broader his body of work is. There are several prints by him in the Kogod collection, so I had a slightly geek-out moment when I saw the same prints for sale as posters in the gift shop.

The last stop was to see the Cindy Sherman show at MoMA. I completely agree with a friend's assessment that I wish there had a been a broader representation of her work, but all in all a very worthwhile show. Because how can you not enjoy a whole installation of her portraits.

I can't wait to go back this Fall, the list has already started. Sorry DH.

Urban Gardening (Sounds Way More Sophisticated Than Reality)

Something something complete. Yes, after finishing potting the window boxes on our balcony, my first though was a Family Guy, Star Wars reference. This is a sure sign a more significant portion of my brain has been corrupted by the company I've been keeping for the past 13+ years than I am generally willing to admit. Looking at you DH.

Since we moved in we've been wanting to turn the balcony into outdoor living space with plants. Having a tiny patch of access to the outdoors was an imperative for us when we moved and while it may be small, we'll be damned if we won't use every inch of it.

The World Market pillows make the herbs happy.

So this past weekend we discovered Gingko Gardens on the Hill (which is awesome) and stocked up on the hardware, plants and soil we would need to have a microscopic size "garden". It had never occurred to me to use different soil for the herbs/veggies that we eat vs. the flowers that we grow. But, the friendly gardener pointed out that if we use Miracle Grow soil to plant our herbs we'd be ingesting fertilizer through the plants. So of course I bought fancy organic soil-- because I am a total yuppie that can be convinced of just about anything I have little knowledge of will kill me or damage the environment-- and also regular MG soil for the petunias.

Of course, now I have enough soil in my garage to plant at least two other balcony gardens, so give a shout if you need some local dirt.

Squint and you can see the petunias.

Now basking in the gentle rain of this week (a sure sign mother nature agrees with our planting efforts) are:

-Herb box of cilantro, rosemary, thyme, basil and mint

-Box of mesclun lettuce (bought on total impulse, not sure why I need to grow my own)

-Two boxes of lantana, petunias and sweet potato vine (which are way over planted and will likely need to be broken into a third at some point)

-One potted hosta

 Not quite the Marigold Festival Gardens of yore, but here's hoping we can keep it alive and at least enjoy a few appetizers and drinks from our labors. So stop by and enjoy the flowers and a drink while lounging on an IKEA bench or vintage chair we've jigsawed into our little outdoor space.

Making Space for Art

Stepping off the metro at L'Enfant Plaza the moving curvature catches your eye before the sound reaches your ears. From two blocks away I was captivated. This was something special.

Late Saturday night (after the Nationals rallied, but still took a beating from the O's) I drug DH to go see Doug Aitken's Song 1 at the Hirshhorn before it closed.  I had seen the work in passing a few times, but I had not yet been able to sit and just watch.

Doug Aitken's Song 1 viewed from Seventh St at the Hirshhorn.

The installation piece envelopes the entire circular exterior of the Smithsonian museum perfectly. The technical is flawless. My inner museum geek simultaneously pondered how hard the installation staff worked on getting the width of the projection just right and the sound levels just so, while taking in the full visual effect of the piece.

This was a happening. Truly. People were casual strewn about the grassy bits and low walls of seventh street. Some in their finest attire, others partaking in full picnics they brought out for the occasion. Seventh Street gave way to slow rolling bicyclists ambling past.

On Jefferson Dr. we perched on the Sculpture Garden wall, dark shadows cloaking the bronze figures several feet below us. The ethereal music of Al Dubin and Harry Warren's "I Only Have Eyes for You" washed over the landscape in a seductive, yet meditative fashion. The layered and shifting loop of sound is by definition repetitive. The same lyrics reworked reached your ears again and again. And yet, the piece never tires.

Fleeting in nature, the installation thrusts both the museum and the Mall into an urgent context that otherwise would pass their evenings quietly and undisturbed by more than ambling tourists trekking between monuments. Yet, the strength of the work is deeper than the novelty of it's limited airing. It literally transforms the concrete 1974 structure from a shrine to modern and contemporary art to a canvas for art. This seems more meaningful than being simply a backdrop for the work. The work and the location become inseparable. Sure you could install it again somewhere else, but it would be a different work, in a different place.

This pushes the boundaries in a way distinct and yet similar to what Quixotic has done in Kansas City with both the Kauffman Center opening and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  Interacting with architecture to make art. But instead of a single performance, there is the opportunity with Song 1 to return again to change your vantage point of the piece.

Creating relevance for the visual arts in a society that is becoming conditioned to consume work quickly and without consideration is an evolving challenge for museums. Developing inspired installations like this are certainly a critical step into bringing new and old audiences to the steps of the museum to be inspired. For people to find out for themselves why art matters.

Walking home from the Mall, I kept turning to catch a glimpse of the piece from across the expanse until it eventually receded and the city noises once again took over.

Stumbling into Running, Again

Wandering through the adjacent fancy-pants neighborhood to ours with the dog is a brilliant way to:

a) be a total voyeur looking in all of the ridiculous embassy houses (where no one actually seems to live)

Iris at one of my favorite new parks.

b) discover some amazing gardens and parks that are tucked in to tiny corners and the roses smell amazing right now

c) scope out future delusional real estate purchases

d) ease from walking back into running

By bringing the dog along, I just seem less creepy (at least I think I do...) doing all of the above and I can blame my super awkward running stride on the dog. He's a total fall guy in this situation.

At any rate, a huge thank you to all my friends near and far who continue to post about their own running exploits, because it continues to inspire me to choose my running shoes over my flip flops and to drag myself out of bed far earlier that I would every normally consider doing (particularly on a Saturday).

So this past weekend when I managed to actually run (let's pretend it's running and not the slow slumped jog it really is) just shy of ten miles, in a row, and didn't die; I realized... why yes, I can be ready to run to the Army 10 Miler this fall and yes, I will be able to have my mile time be fast enough to not get swept. 

Here's hoping I get a bib this week when registration opens up for the rest of us. And now that I've written this I'll try and force myself not to wimp out.