"Hurry up before I rust 12" by Joshua Yospyn

Just one more day until Fixation opens! Be sure to pick up a copy of today's Washington Post and read my interview with Michael O'Sullivan about what to do during the FotoweekDC festival, along with two very nice images from Fixation photogs Amit Mehta and Joshua Yospyn.

Also, ReadysetDC has been interviewing our Fixation photogs all week -- find the whole series here

See the work by all nine of our amazing photogs, along with great music, drinks, and entertainment tomorrow from 6 to 10 p.m. Details in the post below. See you there!!

Image of U.S. Air Guitar contestant by Amit Mehta.

Join Ten Miles Square and the Pink Line Project at Industry Gallery with the work of nine local photographers for the second annual Fixation exhibit, part of the FotoweekDC festival.

These photographers each create a narrative with a short series of images, differentiating the stereotypical image of our Nation's Capital from the people actually living inside it. Their photographs inspect our city's individual subcultures and the people who thrive in them, whether it's the intense rock convulsions of serious air guitar competitors or the eager characters at the local Renaissance festival. Some create their own scenes by simply coming together as bystanders, while others transit separately in search of the same something. What these images all have in common is a fixation on subculture carved out inside the story of this city.

Featured photographers: Nicole Aguirre, Karon Flage, Angela Kleis, Drew McDermott, Amit Mehta, Pat Padua, Jay Westcott, Aziz Yazdani, and Joshua Yospyn.

Performances:
6-9 PM Music by Yoko K!
7:30 PM ayyoko confidential
9:00 PM Suspicious Package (recently mentioned in Spin magazine!)

Portrait photographs:
Have your portrait taken by Ten Miles Square photographer Tracy Clayton in front of a specially commissioned backdrop created by fab artist Cory Oberndorfer.

Celebrate DC's newest art center with:
--The opening of Koen Vanmechelen's Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (DC) at one of DC's top contemporary art galleries, Conner Contemporary.
--G Fine Art's new space on the same block.
--A first look at the home of the new Industry Gallery, a contemporary design exhibition space.

$10 suggested donation

Special Deal:
$2 tall-boy PBR drink special at the Rock & Roll Hotel if you wear our wrist band.

Huge thanks to our beer sponsor PBR and event sponsor Scion for making Fixation possible.

Industry Gallery is located on the second floor of Conner Contemporary, at 1358-60 Florida Avenue NE. When it opens in 2010, Industry will specialize in 21st century design, focusing on international artists who create functional art from industrial materials.

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You can still see the work of Pat Padua and Jennifer Wade in Microsopy at Hounshell, 1506 14th Street NW.

Street Sense, D.C.'s only homeless newspaper, is having their major fundraiser of the year on Thursday night, which is a silent auction featuring tons of great stuff to bid on, including a photograph from Ten Miles Square. Michael Galkovsky's fantastic image (8x10 in a 16x20 frame) of lightning over the city will be up for auction, so come on out and put up a little dough to help Street Sense continue their mission.

Regular tickets to the auction are $30 in advance (which includes food & open bar plus access to the auction), BUT there is a coupon in this week's Street Sense to get two for one tickets, making them $15 each.

It should be a really fun night -- the food is usually yummy, and the vendors often offer up some spoken word at the end of the night that's totally worth the price of admission. Street Sense currently employs about 100 area homeless men and women with the goal of transitioning to more stable employment thanks to their experience with Street Sense.

Thursday, October 8
7 p.m.
WVSA Arts Connection
1100 16th Street NW

Advance tickets can be purchased here. Or buy at the door with the coupon (without the coupon, tickets at the door will be $40).

Thanks to everyone who entered images for this year's Fixation exhibit. As always, it was a tough choice, but we finally decided on the photographers listed below because they had compelling photographs of well-defined subcultures in Washington, D.C.

Aziz Yazdani
Drew McDermott
Angela Kleis
Pat Padua
Karon Flage
Joshua Yospyn
Amit Mehta
Nicole Aguirre
Jay Westcott

We'll have more details about the exhibit soon, so we hope to see you all in November!

Join Ten Miles Square and the work of Pat Padua and Jennifer Wade in Microscopy at Hounshell (1506 14th Street NW) this Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Padua and Wade take a closer look, literally and figuratively, at the minutiae of life. Padua's photographs feature the quirky side of Americana that constantly seesaws between the oddly humorous and vaguely depressing -- images like a shiny, bright red gumball machine encouraging us to enjoy hugs (and not drugs!), left to rot full of decaying, colorless candies, or a wide-shot of a packed bingo hall parking lot on a gorgeous day. Padua takes his microscope to a modern society that seems to have little interest in (or perhaps knowledge of) any world that exists outside the frame. Heavily influenced by Martin Parr, these images also document our strange relationships with consumerism and collectibles -- Jesus and Mary figurines suffocate silently in plastic wrap waiting for the true believer to save them.

Jennifer Wade takes a more literal approach to her Microscopy. A scientist by trade, she uses a scanning electron microscope to turn every day items into the soaring patterns of mountains and sheer cliffs of a cracked ring, swirls of atoms on chunk of coral, or the rushing current of fibers on a cut piece of paper. Much like Padua's photos, they remind the viewer that it's possible to both lean closer and step way back, and encourage the viewers to find their own perspectives.

Hounshell is at 1506 14th Street. Head down Saturday night to also enjoy openings at Irvine Contemporary, Hemphill, Gallery Plan B, the Hamiltonian Gallery. Many thanks to the Pink Line Project for helping make Microscopy possible.

Image of "The Real Mount Dora" by Pat Padua.

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Call for Entries:
Don't forget to submit your entires to Ten Miles Square for our exhibit with the Pink Line Project during the November Fotoweek Festival. Last year our show was featured in the Washington Post both before and after the festival and greeted hundreds and hundreds of people at the opening party, so be sure get your work into heather[at]tenmilessquare.com before September 20 to be a part of the show this year

Visit us at Windows Cafe during the First on 1st Art + Music Walk

Saturday, August 1, 12 to 4 p.m.
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Join Ten Miles Square and the work of four photographers at Windows Cafe this Saturday as part of the First on 1st Art + Music walk, organized by the Pink Line Project and North Capitol Main Street. Grab a map at one of the participating venues all along 1st Street NW between Florida and Rhode Island Avenues to enjoy music, drinks, art and more from noon to 4 p.m.

Ten Miles Square is doing a four square at Windows Cafe -- between nature and street photography, and portrait and action shots. Jo Ann Tooley's serene black and white outdoor images play up the colors of Tracy Clayton's urban scenes, while Katy Ray's playful, feminine models increase the brutality of Brian Knight's adventure race crashes.

Windows Cafe is at 101 Rhode Island Avenue NW. Take the metro to Shaw on the Green line and your art + music walk starts a few blocks away, just keep walking up Rhode Island Ave.

There are all kinds of grants out there for artists. Some are as easy to apply for as filling out a quick form, others require some thoughtful planning for a specific project. Here are some that have been forwarded to me lately -- feel free to send this kind of info my way so I can post it for others, or apply for them for TMS! (heather [at] tenmilessquare.com)

PhotoPhilanthropy: Contest entrants are invited to submit a Photo Essay consisting of 7 – 10 digital images that tell the story of a non-profit organization and its work. Winning photographers will receive prize money and recognition while featured non-profit organizations and their causes will benefit from valuable exposure.

PhotoShelter Grants: For people organizing a photo-related event and need cash, prizes, speakers or other support. We want to help local organizations, events and contests. We can provide up to $500 cash, raffle prizes and discounts, group accounts for events, photo contest judging platforms, speakers and educational content, and promotion on our blog.

DC Commission on Arts and Humanities: Tons of grants in different amounts for both individuals and organizations. DCCAH also provides grant writing assistance.

Last November, Ten Miles Square and the Pink Line Project presented the exhibit Fixation at Fight Club during FotoweekDC. Featuring the work of nine local photographers, live music, food and drink, and of course, the skaters, Fixation drew over 700 people on opening night, not to mention attention from the Washington Post both before and after the show.

We hope to repeat that performance this year, but first we need some artwork to hang in the show. The subject is the same: show us the subcultures of D.C. Here's a little help from our exhibit statement for Fixation.

These nine photographers each create a narrative with a short series of images, building the viewer a bridge between the image of our Nation's Capital and the people actually living inside it. Their photographs inspect our city's subculture and the people who thrive in it, whether it is the pure ecstasy of a public baptism or the discovery of an elusive quiet moment as 18th Street rages nearby. Some create their own scenes, driven by the absurdity or crucial absences in our cityscapes. Others sneak in the backdoor of highly defined alternative lifestyles, finding characters dolled up for primetime, squeezed in the underbelly of the D.C. club scene. What they all have in common is a fixation on the individual in the hands of a much bigger picture.

Send your best series of photos or a link to your set online (at least 8 images, no more than 20) to heather@tenmilessquare.com by midnight on Sunday, September 20. You'll be responsible for printing and framing and delivering them to our venue (TBA) during the first week of November.

We look forward to seeing your work!

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Don't forget, FotoweekDC has officially opened their photography competition. Their early deadline is July 26; head over to the web site for details on the categories and awards available.

The Ten Miles Square & Pink Line Project exhibit will be part of the FotoweekDC festival, November 7-14, 2009.

Follow FotoweekDC on Twitter and Facebook.

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You can also follow Ten Miles Square on Twitter and Facebook.

There's a fantastic write-up of Flaunt in today's Washington Post. Lavanya Ramanathan checked out our show, calling it an exhibit "featuring 20 slick and styled photos exploring fashion's value as costume and cultural force." Read the rest here, and get your tickets soon for our runway show tomorrow night!

Get your tickets to our big runway event at Honfleur Gallery. Project Beltway brings you the work of local designers Dana Greaves, Taimur Baig, Lara Akinsaya, and Will Sharp during the show, and enjoy the photographic work of Joshua Yospyn, John Ulaszek, Steve Goldenberg, and Meaghan Gay on display in the gallery during the reception. Tickets cost just $10, with a limited number of V.I.P. seats available. Doors open at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets will not be sold at the door; advance purchase only. Contact 202-580-5972 or arts@archdc.org

See you there!

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This spring, the Honfleur Gallery will premiere Flaunt: Photography & Fashion Collaboration, a special exhibition showcasing emerging local talent in photography and fashion design. To highlight the synergy between the two mediums, the show will feature two events: an opening launch on Saturday, April 25, 2009, and a runway show on June 6, 2009.

Flaunt, produced in association with Ten Miles Square and Project Beltway, LLC, will feature new fashion portrait work by photographers Joshua Yospyn, John Ulaszek, Meaghan Gay, and Steve Goldenberg. The work is the result of collaborations with local fashion designers Dana Greaves, Taimur Baig, Lara Akinsaya, and Will Sharp, who will showoff their talent as their clothes grace the runway.

An artistic experiment of sorts, Flaunt aims to challenge and explore the notions of what constitutes fashion photography. "This unique visual event revolves around the concept that the beauty of art is its lack of fixed rules and definitions," says Heather Goss, founder of Ten Miles Square. "Each photographer captured the essence of high fashion in their own terms, as did each designer." The show is meant not only to ignite discussion about fashion photography as a genre, but also to remind DC residents and artists of the ongoing need for a strong artistic- and affordable- voice in the community. "Creativity is something we cannot afford to lose in this economy, but unfortunately so many designers are limited by what sells," says Rachel Cothran, founder of Project Beltway, LLC. "This show in many ways is about the artists and their explosive creative vision; visions that should not be hindered by a desire to sell, but rather embraced for their desire to create works that define their style."

The opening exhibition and runway show promise an outstanding soundtrack further promoting local artists including DJ TEN.

The opening is free and open to the public.

About the sponsors:

The Honfleur Gallery is located at 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE within Historic Anacostia, between the 11th Street Bridge and Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., SE. Free and Open to the Public~Don't miss out on this first-time collaboration. The Honfleur Gallery exhibits & represents both fine contemporary arts & artists, while also incorporating non-salable, socially-minded exhibitions & installations. Honfleur aims to provide better access to The Arts for residents "East of the Anacostia River," D.C., Affordable Artist Workspace and a diverse range of Artistic Opportunities for Washington D.C.

Ten Miles Square is a venture to promote local photographers through independent, art supporting businesses, while also nurturing a new generation of collectors by offering real art at affordable prices.

Project Beltway started as a local street-style blog and has evolved into an insider resource for all things fashion in D.C.

Image of Malinda 31 by Joshua Yospyn, courtesy Ten Miles Square.
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Amy Cavanaugh, ARCH & The Honfleur Gallery
1227 Good Hope Rd. SE
Washington DC 20020
p)202.580.5972
f)202.889.5035
http://www.honfleurgallery.com
http://www.archdc.org
http://www.archdevelopment.org