Washington DC, Part 1

 

We go from New York City to Washington DC every spring to see the Smithsonian Craft Show, an absolute 5-star show. Loads of great images of artwork on the website. 

 

Here I'm showing you just a few of the 90+ artists who are juried in to exhibit there.  The piece above is a purse made of polymer clay by Kathleen Dustin, below is a sculptural piece. No, I didn't realize polymer clay could look that good. There is an interesting video of her working here.

 



I don't know anything about weaving but the designs in the tapestries by Wence and Sandra Martinez were really eye-catching. 

 

 

Jackie Abrams wove baskets using scraps of fabric. We talked about how she would take clothing that people gave her, old childrens' dresses, wedding clothes, their favorite shirts, and use that to make the basket. I told her I thought a lot of military veterans (including me) kept the last uniform they wore so that might be another source of fabric for her. The piece below didn't have old clothes in it but instead had stones woven into it.

 

 

Gerard Justin Ferrari made some really cool ceramic pieces and was a fascinating person to talk to, very thoughtful about what he made and why he did the series he did.

 

 

Every time we ride Amtrak from New York City to Washington DC we are stunned at the devastation and ruins we see from the train as we go through Baltimore and Philadelphia. If you ever want to know what our country will look like once the Apocalypse comes, just take that train ride and look out the windows to the west. Thoroughly depressing. To top it off, we get off the train and ride the Metro to our very nice hotel, where we are completely isolated from any hint of deprivation. I'd like to claim cognitive dissonance but I really don't have that excuse, I just try to pay my taxes and not wonder why our government can't get anything done but yell at each other.  OK, off the soapbox.