Art for fun

Art Hop:
Excuse for artists and friends to roam around town for two days and look at each other’s work.
Opportunity to participate in no-pressure pop-ins, to see art you don’t have to buy (but can), then move on.
Showcase for Takoma Park’s artsy fartsy-ness, saturating everything from the hardware store to the toy shop.
All of the above.

And, this year, there’s an infusion of new talent. I’ll  not only get to rub elbows with the uber hipsters (and friends) who have anchored this town’s art scene for decades, I get to hang with some younger talent as well. Like Martin Swift.

He is seriously talented.

Full disclosure: he calls me Mom (as in, he visits my own kids enough to feel like a part of the family), so yeah, I would say he’s talented. But also, it’s true. This is not your average, just-out-of-college kid dipping his toes in the water and showing his “art” at non-juried, come-one-come-all shows. This is serious stuff, and this is a bold guy, unafraid of putting his (very distinctive) work out there on its own merit – not because it fits a particular genre or market, but because it’s who he is and what he has to say. Plus, it’s selling.

You’ll just have to see it for yourself, at Trohv, during Art Hop.

Which, even without Martin, is one awesome event. I mean really, what other city of 17,000 has the collection of talent we have? Sure, some of it is whimsical and crafty, but I would dare to say (since I’m not an art critic, but cleave to the old trope, “I know what I like”) much of it is high-end whimsical. You will not find plastic beads strung on earring wires. But there will be handmade beads, glass-fired beads, and an enthusiastic explanation of how they were made from an artist standing yes, right there, hoping you might dish out $30 for a pair of earrings. And even if you can’t really afford to, you probably will. Plus, there are other artists who have not quit their day jobs; their price tags are lower. And. You don’t have to buy anything. You can just come and enjoy the art, right where it is, and feel enriched because you live in this place where artists thrive.

The vibe here is open and unpretentious, the artists mostly have fun visiting with friends and each other, and if there are art patrons, you wouldn’t be able to tell them from the rest of the crowd. It’s basically a party, that happens to have art as a running theme.

The official Art Hop spiel goes like this: more than 60 emerging and established artists, variety of media (painting, textiles, photography, collage, hand-crafted jewelry), in shops, galleries and restaurants all around town. So, you’ll see collage at the hair studio and sculpture at the florist.  Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plus, there’s a kick-off tonight, Friday the 12^th from 6 to 8 at Trohv. Martin will be there.

And so will I.

The photo: Artist Bobbi Kittner, who helped found Art Hop, Bulent Ceylon who runs the shop, Covered Market, and John McQuillan, who runs Salon Jam hair studio. Photo by Sam Kittner

Warmth of community

Yesterday, one of the first warm days of spring, there were signs of the season everywhere in Sligo Creek Park. Brilliant yellow flowers carpeting the banks of the creek. Mallards paired up in the water. And my favorite, a pair of socks had been left behind, spread out on a rock where a boy must have liberated his toes and switched to barefoot for the summer.

On these gloriously warm days, people come out again. It is as if we are sparkling water, bottled up all winter long, until we unscrew our caps and the effervescence of our lives explodes.  There are more runners. More bikers. More gardeners and dog walkers and grillers.

And we talk more. We want to catch up with our neighbors.

I’ve found the perfect spot for this: at the new gelato store, kitty korner from the town clock. At about 5:00, the commuters begin walking home from Metro, and the young mamas are still out with their strollers. The merchants are around, too. Everyone is out, eating gelato, or drinking coffee, or popping into the hardware store, greeting one another, lightened by the warm weather and each other.

Yesterday I caught up with Dave, who I haven’t seen in six years. And Jane, who lives just down the street but with whom I haven’t shared a conversation in months. We sat in the sun and greeted people going by and chatted about our kids and our work and the new businesses in town.

Even strangers greet one another. Back in the park, one of the dog-walking regulars – an older guy with white stubble and two labs, one black and one white – leaned over the fence at the playground and called out, “How’s the new slide?” The young mama answered over her baby’s wailing, “We’re about to find out!” and looked up to find her toddler negotiating the top of the slide.

I have an old card posted on my refrigerator: “How to Build Community.” It’s a vintage sentiment but it still rings true. It is the unwritten code of Takoma Park.

Leave your house. Know your neighbors. Greet people. Sit on your stoop. Plant flowers. Share what you have. Help a lost dog. Take children to the park. Have potlucks.

 I am going to a potluck now. At my neighbor’s house. I will probably visit with another neighbor on the way.

And it’s not just because it’s spring – but that helps.

 

The photo is Marcello Minna, the very friendly Italian who runs our new gelato shop, Dolci Gelati. Building community.