This article was written for the American University Eagle, but was never published.
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
Contributing Eagle Writer
The first ever comparison of two artists with a shared appreciation for the American southwest is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibit “Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities” is a comparison between the artists works and shared subject matter on display through January 4.
The comparison pairs these artists and pin points their mutual desire to feature the American southwest in their works, either paintings or photographs. The exhibit features 42 paintings, and 54 photographs that share the same subject matter, but with differing perspectives. O’Keefe is more famous for her paintings as abstractions of flowers, where as Adams is more famous for his black and white photographs that depict the landscapes with intricate attention to details. Given their backgrounds the notion of a comparison between these two artists was intriguing.
The similarity in subjects for the two artists was also surprising. Adams spent the majority of his time photographing the Yosemite National Park and certain landscapes in Hawaii. At a glance, O’Keeffe’s more famous work was unrecognized as being related to a geographical area because the works are abstractions of flowers, shells, rocks, or other commodities found in nature.
In the 1980’s Adams noted why the American southwest was so attractive to him when he said, “Despite its seeming intrinsic ruggedness the land is unusually fragile.”
The two artists practiced the art of the extremes. On the one hand, both artists focused on grand landscapes from great distances, and then went to the opposite end of the spectrum and viewed a pine needle or a clam shell at a surprisingly close angle.
When discussing the tendency to focus on objects at a smaller scale with a closer emphasis in 1976, O’Keeffe stated, “I often painted fragments of thinks because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.”
One surprising aspect of O’Keeffe’s work was her tendency to paint trees, in addition to her more popular abstractions of flowers. The first half of the exhibit featured her more popular works, but the second half of the exhibit has more depth of her landscapes and note for the Taos church and other famous scenes featured in New Mexico. The subjects were strikingly more similar than expected and her use of color infused a sense of a new perspective, and a fresh look at the same scene against Adams’ photographs. Adams’ pieces take the extra step with detail. Where color lacks, detail takes advantage. In his photographs, there are multiple planes, and visual stimulus found in the detail.
In 1922, O’Keeffe noted this lack of detail in her work as a purposeful act. O’Keeffe said, “Nothing is less real than realism—details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we get the real meaning of things”
This notion of abstraction is not lost on Adams. Adams uses the scene as inspiration. A quote featured in the exhibit from 1972 said, “In the east there is emphasis on the social aspects of the medium; out here there is a fine balance between the social emphasis on the natural scene and on the abstract and experimental.”
The biggest disappointment about the exhibit was the fact that it was not a straight comparison. This four room exhibit was split in half in most cases, Adams’ works on one side, and O’Keefe’s on the other. While the resemblance between the subjects of the work and similar perspectives was striking, the viewer was forced to make that comparison from across the room, instead of being presented the two pieces on the same wall.
In many cases, without a similar photograph across the room, O’Keeffe’s paintings and their comparison for subject matter are lost in the abstraction. Without Adams’ straight depiction, O’Keeffe’s abstractions would be unnoticeable.
A high point of the exhibit lies across from a description of the exhibit and at a side entrance where one of O’Keeffe’s painting lies immediately next to one of Adams’ paintings. The most interesting aspect of that corner was that the comparison is made immediately, and without the works close proximity, the comparison would otherwise be missed.
One comparison was flooring. O’Keeffe’s piece Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico/Out Back of Marie’s II painted in 1930 was placed immediately next to Adams’ Winter Sunrise, the Sierra Nevada from Lone Pine, California printed in 1944. The two works were of the same scene from the same perspective and shared the same depth and detail that would usually be lost in the difference of medium. The only difference seemed to be the title of the works. That kind of comparison was left desired throughout the rest of the exhibit.
The exhibit is on display from now through January 4 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on 8th and F street and is definitely worth a visit if O’Keeffe or Adam’s works are intriguing. The closest metro stop is Gallery Place/Chinatown.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
ANC Meeting
This was an article written for a Reporting class assignment. We were assigned to attend a community meeting and cover it.
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, DC -- All seven candidates for at-large member of the City Council found themselves crowded around a table at the Cleveland Park Public Library on Saturday facing a crowd of concerned residents and fielding questions regarding the commercial future of Connecticut Avenue.
The pre-election candidate’s forum, hosted by the Cleveland Park Citizens Association and the Woodley Park Community Association, allowed for discussion of an issue called “commercial overlay” which restricts retail use on the Connecticut Avenue commercial district between Macomb and Porter Streets.
Sally MacDonald, a resident and current secretary of the Federation of Citizens Association, said that the issue was brought to light a few years ago the definition of a restaurant was changed to somewhere that serves food.
“But food can be peanuts,” MacDonald said. “It would be easier not to have a chef, not to buy food, not to have waiters, and not to have clean tables. If you can just put a bowl of peanuts on the bar… but have a restaurant license, an easier one to get, with just peanuts on the bar and maybe a pole dancer, that would be fine.”
MacDonald said that once all of the communities were alerted “they reacted like mad to stop it.”
“No two neighborhoods are alike and we are a city of neighborhoods,” said George Idelson, president of the Woodley Park Community Association, praising the “vibrant restaurant community” the population shares. “The idea of the overlay is that it will give us a healthy balance, a healthy fix of retail.”
“You look up and down and see all the restaurants and maybe we have too many restaurants, that’s another discussion, but at least they’re serving food on tablecloths, and they’re not restaurants with a bowl of peanuts on the bar and a pole dancer,” MacDonald said.
Dee Hunter, an independent candidate for at-large member of the city Council and AU Alumni said that as a representative in ward one, he will have the opportunity to vote on this issue.
“We will uphold the elimination of our overlay,” Hunter said. “I have lived in that neighborhood for 25 years. I’ve seen the impact this has on development in the community.”
According to Idelson, the zoning code allows up to 25 % of space between Macomb and Porter streets to be devoted to restaurants and bars. The struggle between maintaining a neighborhood identity with mom and pop stores and allow for commercial flow remains an issue.
Nancy MacWood, a candidate for the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in ward three said, “One of the reasons that neighborhoods like overlays is because it allows them to impose their interests and needs in the underlying zoning without imposing any changes on some other neighborhoods.”
The opinions on the overlay lie at the extremes.
“Absolutely I would support overlays,” Candidate Michael Brown, a third generation Washingtonian running as an independent said. “It gives the community a chance to participate in decisions that are made.”
MacDonald said that there are four areas struggling with overlay; Connecticut Avenue West of Cleveland park, Connecticut Avenue East of Cleveland Park, Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park and on 8th Street on Capitol Hill.
Idelson said, “We do want an honest, transparent, forcible and enforced overlay and while the concept is very simple the execution isn’t always very simple.”
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, DC -- All seven candidates for at-large member of the City Council found themselves crowded around a table at the Cleveland Park Public Library on Saturday facing a crowd of concerned residents and fielding questions regarding the commercial future of Connecticut Avenue.
The pre-election candidate’s forum, hosted by the Cleveland Park Citizens Association and the Woodley Park Community Association, allowed for discussion of an issue called “commercial overlay” which restricts retail use on the Connecticut Avenue commercial district between Macomb and Porter Streets.
Sally MacDonald, a resident and current secretary of the Federation of Citizens Association, said that the issue was brought to light a few years ago the definition of a restaurant was changed to somewhere that serves food.
“But food can be peanuts,” MacDonald said. “It would be easier not to have a chef, not to buy food, not to have waiters, and not to have clean tables. If you can just put a bowl of peanuts on the bar… but have a restaurant license, an easier one to get, with just peanuts on the bar and maybe a pole dancer, that would be fine.”
MacDonald said that once all of the communities were alerted “they reacted like mad to stop it.”
“No two neighborhoods are alike and we are a city of neighborhoods,” said George Idelson, president of the Woodley Park Community Association, praising the “vibrant restaurant community” the population shares. “The idea of the overlay is that it will give us a healthy balance, a healthy fix of retail.”
“You look up and down and see all the restaurants and maybe we have too many restaurants, that’s another discussion, but at least they’re serving food on tablecloths, and they’re not restaurants with a bowl of peanuts on the bar and a pole dancer,” MacDonald said.
Dee Hunter, an independent candidate for at-large member of the city Council and AU Alumni said that as a representative in ward one, he will have the opportunity to vote on this issue.
“We will uphold the elimination of our overlay,” Hunter said. “I have lived in that neighborhood for 25 years. I’ve seen the impact this has on development in the community.”
According to Idelson, the zoning code allows up to 25 % of space between Macomb and Porter streets to be devoted to restaurants and bars. The struggle between maintaining a neighborhood identity with mom and pop stores and allow for commercial flow remains an issue.
Nancy MacWood, a candidate for the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in ward three said, “One of the reasons that neighborhoods like overlays is because it allows them to impose their interests and needs in the underlying zoning without imposing any changes on some other neighborhoods.”
The opinions on the overlay lie at the extremes.
“Absolutely I would support overlays,” Candidate Michael Brown, a third generation Washingtonian running as an independent said. “It gives the community a chance to participate in decisions that are made.”
MacDonald said that there are four areas struggling with overlay; Connecticut Avenue West of Cleveland park, Connecticut Avenue East of Cleveland Park, Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park and on 8th Street on Capitol Hill.
Idelson said, “We do want an honest, transparent, forcible and enforced overlay and while the concept is very simple the execution isn’t always very simple.”
Thursday, October 2, 2008
'Girls' Kiss, Tell Tales of Culture Shock
This article was published in the American University Eagle on October 2, 2008.
It can also be found at www.theeagleonline.com
'Girls' Kiss, Tell Tales of Culture Shock
Alvarez novel takes stage at Round House
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
One set and four suitcases are all that a seven-person cast needs at Round House Theater in Bethesda to perform "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," a show that Round House bills as "a sexy, sensual and wildly theatrical adaptation."
At first glance, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" is a humorous and uplifting story about four sisters abruptly moved from their home in the Dominican Republic to the United States. The girls' dark and almost scarring backgrounds, though, give the humor in the play an almost inappropriate stance and dampens the wildness of the theatricality.
From the very beginning of the play, the girl's father has one single request for his birthday celebration: "NO MEN!" This seems fitting for the rest of the play, as each of the girls has an issue with men. Men play pivotal roles in the drama and darkness of each Garcia sister's past. This does not stem from their relationship with their father but with the uncomfortable relationships that spawn from odd interactions with other men in their lives.
The play opens with Yolanda, the writer or "poeta" of the Garcia girls. The story of her three sisters is told from her point of view. Once the other cast members join Yolanda - also called Joe - played by Gabriela Fernandez-Coffley, the size of the cast becomes apparent. Five women and two men make up the total seven members of the cast. Bryant Mason, the extra, took on more than nine roles throughout the two-hour performance, filling out the narrative of the Garcia Girls' story. Mason was astonishingly versatile, and completely unrepresentative of a character he played less than ten minutes before.
Mason is sometimes forced to take on some unpopular roles, including '60s stud Rudy Elmhurst, Joe's ex-husband, Fifi's island love and a sexual harasser. Mason's characters are the cause for the scarring pasts that alter the lives of the Garcia sisters. This drama was surprising; the other half of the play was so comical. The fact that these fictional characters are still standing at the end of the performance is impressive and touching, but almost unbelievable.
The play is organized in a unique manner. In a note featured in the program from the Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison, she writes about the reverse chronology. "We travel backwards in time from 1990 to 1959 ... characters and events come into sharper focus bit by bit," Robison wrote. As the play continues, the four girls "grow younger" and their accents display this trait. At the beginning their accents are muted but the last scene is done entirely in Spanish.
The staff claims that you are sure to understand the last scene - the word "poeta" means "poet" in English. Although to fully grasp the complexity of the scene and to understand the nonverbal actions, knowledge of minimal Spanish wouldn't hurt.
The humor in the show is supplied by the awkwardness of their adaptation to the new culture they are immersed in. When the four girls, differing in age by approximately five years, reach adolescence, their mother complains that they have been eating in their rooms again. When Mr. Garcia asked what they were eating, one of the sisters claims "oregano," which is of course not oregano at all. They encounter the same mishaps with drugs as normal adolescents, but the interaction between the troublemaking sisters and their parents spawns humor throughout the play. This is also apparent when the Garcia sisters think they are being hit with a nuclear bomb when in actuality, they are seeing snow for the first time.
The world premiere of the play by Karen Zacarías, based off the novel by Julia Alvarez, was performed at the Round House Theater in Bethesda. Tickets range from $25 to $60, and can be bought at www.roundhousetheater.org. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" will be performed until October 12.
It can also be found at www.theeagleonline.com
'Girls' Kiss, Tell Tales of Culture Shock
Alvarez novel takes stage at Round House
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
One set and four suitcases are all that a seven-person cast needs at Round House Theater in Bethesda to perform "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," a show that Round House bills as "a sexy, sensual and wildly theatrical adaptation."
At first glance, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" is a humorous and uplifting story about four sisters abruptly moved from their home in the Dominican Republic to the United States. The girls' dark and almost scarring backgrounds, though, give the humor in the play an almost inappropriate stance and dampens the wildness of the theatricality.
From the very beginning of the play, the girl's father has one single request for his birthday celebration: "NO MEN!" This seems fitting for the rest of the play, as each of the girls has an issue with men. Men play pivotal roles in the drama and darkness of each Garcia sister's past. This does not stem from their relationship with their father but with the uncomfortable relationships that spawn from odd interactions with other men in their lives.
The play opens with Yolanda, the writer or "poeta" of the Garcia girls. The story of her three sisters is told from her point of view. Once the other cast members join Yolanda - also called Joe - played by Gabriela Fernandez-Coffley, the size of the cast becomes apparent. Five women and two men make up the total seven members of the cast. Bryant Mason, the extra, took on more than nine roles throughout the two-hour performance, filling out the narrative of the Garcia Girls' story. Mason was astonishingly versatile, and completely unrepresentative of a character he played less than ten minutes before.
Mason is sometimes forced to take on some unpopular roles, including '60s stud Rudy Elmhurst, Joe's ex-husband, Fifi's island love and a sexual harasser. Mason's characters are the cause for the scarring pasts that alter the lives of the Garcia sisters. This drama was surprising; the other half of the play was so comical. The fact that these fictional characters are still standing at the end of the performance is impressive and touching, but almost unbelievable.
The play is organized in a unique manner. In a note featured in the program from the Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison, she writes about the reverse chronology. "We travel backwards in time from 1990 to 1959 ... characters and events come into sharper focus bit by bit," Robison wrote. As the play continues, the four girls "grow younger" and their accents display this trait. At the beginning their accents are muted but the last scene is done entirely in Spanish.
The staff claims that you are sure to understand the last scene - the word "poeta" means "poet" in English. Although to fully grasp the complexity of the scene and to understand the nonverbal actions, knowledge of minimal Spanish wouldn't hurt.
The humor in the show is supplied by the awkwardness of their adaptation to the new culture they are immersed in. When the four girls, differing in age by approximately five years, reach adolescence, their mother complains that they have been eating in their rooms again. When Mr. Garcia asked what they were eating, one of the sisters claims "oregano," which is of course not oregano at all. They encounter the same mishaps with drugs as normal adolescents, but the interaction between the troublemaking sisters and their parents spawns humor throughout the play. This is also apparent when the Garcia sisters think they are being hit with a nuclear bomb when in actuality, they are seeing snow for the first time.
The world premiere of the play by Karen Zacarías, based off the novel by Julia Alvarez, was performed at the Round House Theater in Bethesda. Tickets range from $25 to $60, and can be bought at www.roundhousetheater.org. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" will be performed until October 12.
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