Tag Archives: dc

Phil Nesmith in the WaPo: "From Baghdad, Pictures of Peace"

Nothing has exploded and no one is wounded in Phil Nesmith’s photographs of Iraq. And that might be the most extraordinary thing about his show, opening Saturday at Irvine Contemporary.

“My Baghdad” chronicles Nesmith’s two trips to the war zone in ambrotypes– hazy, antique-looking images created on glass plates.

The surprisingly placid images were shot in 2003-04 and during a brief stint in 2006, and they include barren Iraqi landscapes, birds on a wire and sunsets marred only by a passing helicopter. They have the patina of old Civil War photographs, but were shot digitally — because things move too quickly in Iraq to pull out a large camera and wait for a long exposure. “It’s too dangerous for that,” Nesmith says.

[read the whole article]

Phil’s blog is here and this is his [tag]Ferrotype[/tag] site.

The opening reception for Phil Nesmith: My Baghdad is at Irvine Contemporary from 6-8 on Saturday. You should check out his work. And encourage him to sell me the picture I want to buy that isn’t for sale, if you just happen to have him cornered.

Sally Smith

Yesterday the Washington Post had a pair of articles about a longtime colleague who passed away over the weekend.

Ellen Edwards, writing for the Washington Post Style section, summed up a first (second, third and fourth) encounter with Sally Smith perfectly:

“At first glance you might have thought you had come upon some improbable tropical bird, full of color and feathers, dressed in layers of patterns on patterns, a pile of rolling blond curls on her head.”

[read the whole piece]

The obituary in the Metro section had a more serious in tone:

Sally L. Smith, 78, founder of the Lab School in Washington, a school widely known for its innovative curriculum and its uncommon success in unlocking the mysteries of learning for those who learn differently from others, died Dec. 1 of complications of myeloma at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

[read the entire obituary]

Sadly, I was highly sensitive to Sally’s perfume and so most of our interactions were by phone, so I missed many of her more spectacular ensembles. I certainly experienced her boundless energy and enthusiasm, though.

sharks in government buildings, sounds redundant

Poor Husband thought I’d finally gone completely mad when I, in the course of random conversation in the car, mentioned the daily shark and alligator feedings at the aquarium downtown.

“We don’t have an aquarium downtown!”

He was laughing at me.

“Sure we do,” I replied. “It’s in the Treasury Building.”

Now, as soon as the words came out of my mouth even I realized it was one of the most ridiculous thing I’d ever said. As Husband is a native Washingtonian, if he didn’t know about this secret aquarium, it must not exist. But I was sure I’d been there. I could see the location vividly in my mind. Had I imagined it? Was that possible?

As it turns out, I had my building names confused, but not the physical location. I want that on the record, please. There is so a National Aquarium in Washington, DC and it’s every bit as loony as it sounds.

And they do have public shark and alligator feedings. Piranhas, too, if you’re so inclined.