We’re Big in Qatar

From the Gulf Times newspaper, Tuesday, October 23, 2012.

Preparator Alec MacKaye got a funny e-mail from a friend who, teaching Irish literature at Georgetown University’s Doha campus in Qatar, was quite amused to not only see a photo from home in his local Gulf Times newspaper, but also to find that it featured his friend Alec at work. Icing on the cake that Alec was walking a giant wrapped bear sculpture down the sidewalk. You know, just a normal day for a museum preparator

Ink, Sand, and Ektacolor: Conversations in Christenberry

(clockwise from upper left) Contemporary photographs from The Phillips Collection, including William Christenberry's "Gourd Tree, near Akron, Alabama" (1981); William Christenberry, "Southern Monument XI", 1983. Mixed media, wood, metal, signage, roofing materials and paint, 19 in x 28 1/2 in x 19 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Gift of Philip M. Smith, 2004; two ink paintings by William Christenberry, "Tree" (2006) and "Night Landscape" (2004), both German ink on sandpaper; 11 x 9 inches. Gift of Sandra and William Christenberry, 2010. Photos: Joshua Navarro

(clockwise from upper left) Contemporary photographs from The Phillips Collection, including William Christenberry’s “Gourd Tree, near Akron, Alabama” (1981); William Christenberry, “Southern Monument XI”, 1983. Mixed media, wood, metal, signage, roofing materials and paint, 19 in x 28 1/2 in x 19 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Gift of Philip M. Smith, 2004; two ink paintings by William Christenberry, “Tree” (2006) and “Night Landscape” (2004), both German ink on sandpaper; 11 x 9 inches. Gift of Sandra and William Christenberry, 2010. Photos: Joshua Navarro

We posted earlier this week about a group of contemporary photographs now on view outside the Rothko Room. The presentation includes nine artists, including William Christenberry who is based in D.C. and has a show up through Oct. 27 at Hemphill Fine Arts. While the installation is focused on photography, Curator Elsa Smithgall saw an opportunity to set up dialogues between photography, painting, and sculpture and chose to include examples of Christenberry’s work in all three media.  In addition to his soulful photographic landscapes of the South, you will discover exquisite ink paintings on sandpaper and a bold Southern Monument sculpture.

Fall is for Photos

Preparator Tom Bunnell puts the finishing touches on the photo installation on the second floor. Photo: Sarah Osborne Bender

Preparator Tom Bunnell puts the finishing touches on the photo installation on the second floor. Photo: Sarah Osborne Bender

Beginning today, Curator Elsa Smithgall debuts a selection of recently acquired photographs outside the Rothko Room, in anticipation of citywide festival FotoWeekDC (Nov. 9-18). The works are by living artists and take viewers from the cool desert landscapes of John Divola to the magical library conjured by Lori Nix to the mysterious nocturnal landscape with red shoes by Astrid Kruse Jensen. These works accompany another group of photos in a gallery just around the corner, Picturing the Sublime: Photographs from the Joseph and Charlotte Lichtenberg Collection.