Highlighting Art and Green Urbanism at Chispadc

Last Thursday, February 17th, I presented on the topic Eco-art East of the River: Green Urbanism, Business and Art in Ward 7 in the winter edition of Chispa DC, a part of this year’s Intersections Art Festival, held February 17, 2011 at The Atlas Performing Arts Center, in Washington, DC. My presentation was correlated to my role as the art curator of The Center for Green Urbanism, located also in Washington, DC.

Chispa is a quarterly curated media mash-up for artists, organizers and change agents in the DC area to share what they’re thinking, dreaming and doing. The event features 8 – 10 people “who have the freedom to present anything they’re passionate about.” Chispa is an opportunity for cultural creatives to connect with each other and share what they love both in and outside of their own circles – theater, organization development, community organizing, etc.

Chispa is inspired by a presentation format that emerged in Japan as a way for architects to share their work: each speaker is limited to 20 images which automatically advance after 20 seconds. Variations of this format, called Pecha Kucha, have sprung up around the world.

I joined five other exciting presenters to address one of the overall themes of this edition of Chispa by answering “How does your work/dream/idea explore an artistic or cultural intersection?”

Chispa is a collaboration between Potomac Group, LLC and Spark Creativity, small organization development practitioners with deep roots in social justice and cultural creation. For more information about Chispa visit the website at http://chispadc.wordpress.com/.

Special thanks to the Chispa organizers for an inspiring evening featuring the “intersections” of art, culture and creativity in the DMV!

Check out the presentation below, filmed by Zandra Chestnut, co-Founder of The Center for Green Urbanism.

Check out a slide show of the speakers below, courtesy of Chispadc.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Art, Wine & Conversation Tomorrow at The Center for Green Urbanism

The Center for Green Urbanism and Authentic Contemporary Art will host Art, Wine and Conversation this Friday, November 5, 2010, beginning at 6 pm until 8 pm. Artists from the current “ReCREATE” exhibition will be discussing their use of recyclable materials as a part of their artwork. This is a wonderful opportunity to view the show and to learn more about the Center for Green Urbanism, DC’s new art-infused green business incubator. The center is located at 3938 Benning Road NE, Washington, DC, a block away from the Minnesota Avenue Metro Stop (Orange Line).

The in-house Tubman-Mahan Art Gallery and Authentic Contemporary Art, are exhibiting original artwork created from recyclable and “eco-friendly” material from 20 local and nationally-known artists. Join us for what will be a fun, relaxed and informative evening of conversation regarding the fusion of eco-creativity in art!

The following artists will are scheduled to be present to discuss their work:

Sandra Davis
Jim Duckworth
Rania Hassan
Sean Hennessey
Roxanne Jarrett
Ja’Ski Watkins
Sherry Ways

About the Center for Green Urbanism

The mission of the Center for Green Urbanism is to create a business-friendly environment that provides startups with affordable office space and business services in a sustainable and energy-efficient green demonstration facility. We are located in downtown Ward 7, Washington, DC. Meeting spaces are available and Wi-Fi is accessible throughout the facility. The Center is a design model for a “living green business” in an urban setting, by decreasing carbon footprint – promoting home gardening, using energy efficient lighting and appliances, solar shade window treatments, a purified drinking water system, water saving devices and the recycling of trash and waste. Learn more at http://www.centerforgreenurbanism.org.