Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Renoir Returns at The Phillips Collection

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's masterpiece Luncheon of the Boating Party and other treasured paintings from a four-year international tour
Hands-on art projects for me to create my own boating hat
Gallery tours of the masterworks exhibition
Chalk artists and street performers created a Parisian boulevard atmosphere outside the museum
Roving performers portraying colorful characters from Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party

Spring flowers in downtown DC

Nearly 100 varieties of tulips can be seen in the "tulip library" near the north side of the Tidal Basin between the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. Since it was established in 1969, the tulip library has become a popular place to make comparisons of color and shape between different types of tulips planted in individually numbered beds.
Titanic Women's Memorial Washington, D.C. (Water Street, SW, near Washington Channel Park)
Within two weeks of the Titanic disaster, the women of America organized to create a lasting tribute to the men of the Titanic that gave their lives so others could live.
Washington DC Fish Market, Maine Avenue SE
A bustling seafood and fish market on Washington's waterfront. Crabs, lobsters and fish are sold from floating barges.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

National Cherry Blossom Festival






Kenwood community in Bethesda. Each 1st-time visitor I took there told me that they never saw so much cherry blossom in their life, which was even better than the Basin's.


Smithsonian Kite Festival
Founded by aviation pioneer Paul E. Garber (1899-1992), the Smithsonian Kite Festival is one of the kite world's premier events and is traditionally connected to the Cherry Blossom Festival. There were competition and demonstrations by kite-flying masters.


Tthe Freer presented a day-long festival of four animated films, all presented in glorious 35mm to celebrate the work of anime masters Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo. Patrick Drazen, author of "Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation", introduced the films and sign books, and the DC Anime Club put on a costume show.


I watched three movies: My Neighbor Totoro, Steamboy, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Tidal Basin Stage Cultural Performances
Performances featuring music, dance, song and martial arts demonstrations.
Kenny Endo: Edo Festival and Theater
Mr. Endo explained the percussive sounds that resonated throughout Japan during the lively Edo period, and demonstrated rhythms of festival music and the extremely popular kabuki theater, as well as his own contemporary works with an ensemble of musicians on koto, shakuhachi, vibraphone, and taiko.


The Cherry Blossom Festival continued with fireworks over the Southwest Waterfront.