go see Trager at the NBM
December 5th, 2009
2009-12-05 NBM Column North, originally uploaded by m hoek.
Today I checked out the Philip Trager exhibit: “Form and Movement.” This show was curated by Reed Haslach Humphery and Laura Burd Schiavo. Trager has made a career of focusing intensely on individual subjects. These subjects include vernacular New England homes, modern dancers, Parisian cityscapes, and Italian villas. Humphery and Schiavo juxtaposed and grouped these seeming subjects into a cohesive and robust exhibit. One of the many examples of this is the masterful pairing of the image of statuary from Jardin Tuileries (1995) with the 1989 photograph of the Second Hand Dance Company. These subjects, one frozen in time and the other frozen in the moment, capture the same spirit and motion.
Trager’s photos exhibit his delicate control of light, reflection, and texture. From the soft look of a charcoal drawing in the sky over Birmingham, to the playful reflection of light on a solemn facade in Hartford his works take on a life of their own. The dynamic perspective of West 34th St in NYC hints at the motion that the city is so well known for. The versatility of Trager is clearly demonstrated in this exhibit.
One particularly strong component of the exhibit is a series of photos taken in a head-on, straight-forward manner. In this group, traditional Connecticut americana, Paladian villas, and posed dancer exhibit the same architectural gravity. Taken decades apart, these images were the perfect complement to one another.
In addition to showing the images, Form and Motion includes an educational component. Trager’s photograph of Palladio’s Villa Barbaro is exhibited as a Gelatin Silver, Platinum/Palladium, and Digital Ink Jet print. Each image is accompanied with a description of the process and benefits associated with each printing techniques. Further, the exhibit demonstrates Trager’s proofing and darkroom manipulations. One of Trager’s architectural shots from New Haven is shown as a marked-up test print and as a final image. The control of light and shadow demonstrated between the two versions is impressive.
I highly recommend visiting the NBM and seeing Trager’s exhibit.
Festival of the Building Arts
October 9th, 2009
Tomorrow, Matt and I are volunteering at the National Museum for the Festival of the Building Arts (FOBA). It runs from 10am to 4:30pm and, from their website , involves the A,B,C’s, and D’s of the built environment: Artisans and Architects, Builders, Craftsmen, Contractors, and Construction Workers, Designers and Decorators. There will be tons of demonstrations, hands-on, and activities for kids. Come check it out if you’re free tomorrow! (red line, Judiciary Square metro)
LumenHaus
September 16th, 2009
I took this photo of Virginia Tech’s solar decathlon house, LumenHaus, this past weekend as it was being constructed on the 5th St lawn outside the National Building Museum. It will be there until Sept 27th, when it will then move to the National Mall for October 9-13 and 15-18. The house features the sliding glass doors (seen in the picture) on the north and south facades, which are all about allowing in the *light*. But more importantly, there’s an app for that — the heating, cooling, lighting, insulation, and sunshades can be controlled by using a computer or iPhone. Now we’re talking! Good luck to the team as they participate in Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid next summer! US represent.
NBM triptych
June 30th, 2009
Taken in the main hall of the National Building Museum (our fave!) with an Olympus Pen EE-S camera.
MOB!
April 4th, 2009
We have stated before that the National Building Museum is one of our favorite places in DC not only for its ever so interesting exhibits and award winning gift shop but for its stunning grand hall. Today the NBM hosted the race packet pickup for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run. This was the first year that they held the pickup at the NBM and it was a pleasant change having to trek over to a hotel in Crystal City (and subsequently getting lost in the underground tunnels). The hall was very busy, and t-shirt hander outers were working at a frenetic pace but I was able to get in and grab my packet (and Lori’s and Mark’s and Annabelle’s) relatively quickly. I came back by about an hour later and there was a line literally wrapping the entire block so I dodged a bullet. Hopefully the organizers will be happy with how the NBM worked to host the event and keep it in DC instead of sending it back over the river.
Just wrapped up our carbo-loading dinner and am ready to go!
plaster model of the TWA Terminal in New York
July 1st, 2008
Here’s a photo I snapped of the
TWA Terminal model that is currently on exhibit at the Saarinen exhibit at the
National Building Museum… before I was told no photos are allowed. whoopsies.
