Walls and masks and things

The DC Arts Center is having a real art show! During a pandemic!

WALLMOUNTABLES is back -- the unjuried, all-are-welcome display of Anything That Fits In A Two-Foot Square. It's like a tiny Artomatic, all in one big pretty room, and you don't have to meet the artists. Er, I mean, you don't GET to meet the artists...

https://www.facebook.com/dcartscenter/photos/?ref=page_internal

I was perhaps overeager for this one In-Person Thing!!! in a summer of sheltering in place. I lugged my oddments and tools in four large tote bags (Thank you, family members, for the giant indestructible furniture-store tote that carried my sharp and rusty chunks of boxspring) -- ten blocks is not a long walk for me, but it was 96 degrees that afternoon. I'm sure my face was bright red when I arrived, and my tank top was drenched.

The fabulous DCAC office manager greeted me (through her mask and face shield) and let me know that no-one was scheduled to install right after me, so I took a luxurious hour and a half to cool off, unpack, and arrange my oddities on four 2' x 2' squares of blank white wall.

Opening day [was] August 8 (this Saturday, i.e. tomorrow as I am writing this) and closing day is October 18th, but you have to make an appointment. This guarantees you a gloriously vacant gallery for safer perusal! Go to the DCAC website and choose "Plan Your Visit" (link here: https://dcartscenter.org/about-us/plan-your-visit/ ) then scroll down to the calendar. I think it's still Wed-Sun 2-7, as usual. Except there will not be any plays or improv troupes in the theater at the back. And you won't run into any other art fans, unless you bring them with you. (Appointments are for max. 5 people, masks required, and they will take your temperature & your contact tracing details.)

Guys, it is SO WORTH IT. Just being alone in the gallery space with my hammer and rusty nails, and the art already hanging on the walls around me -- real, tangible, unmediated contemplation of THINGS that people had made and touched and hung on the walls -- made me feel immensely more centered and hopeful and fed.

I plan to tune in for the Virtual Reception on September 3rd (7 p.m., platform to be determined). Check out the DCAC facebk page for updates, or hit me up in the comments. I'll also be around for most of the duration, so ping me if you'd like your own virtual tour. I can take my phone camera through the show and we can pretend to hang out.