Artomatic is here!

I'm sadly behind in the blogging department thanks to a blitz of DIY projects that I'll post later (I've got enough fodder for the next year already). However, I did take time to play last weekend. The Boy Scout and I hit an annual DC-based exhibition/performance space called Artomatic.

We went a couple times last year when it was a few blocks from my job and we had a great time. For about a month, a soon-to-be-interiorly-decorated office building is kitted out with a bar(s), dance floor, multiple performance spaces, and a diverse selection of craft and art. Last year was about 7 floors and this years is 9, I think. We started at the top and worked our way through 3 of them and will be attending at least once more before it's over on July 5.

Some highlights from last year and what we've seen this year so far:

• kid-friendly events and spaces -- cinema-themed Peep dioramas, anyone? Last year's Pulp Fiction recreation cracked me up, and I got a delayed reaction kick out of this year's Octomom delivery room drama (appropriately titled, "What the *#&$!? There's an 'H' in there!" for the moment they discovered the surprise #8 baby).
  
• legitimate art in the form of last-year's non-wearable dresses painstakingly constructed of wire mesh, intricate stained glass windows, and abstracts made from patterns of aerial photos. That last one is really hard to explain but is happily back again this year, along with a few other favorites. We noticed several entrants were part of a local glass school, and at the artist market (Sunday afternoons), we bought postcard versions of works by a Norwegian transplant who descibed herself as a digital painter and had many gorgeous shots of her homeland. We also now think we need to visit Norway. Oh -- and you gotta check out the girl who paints sci-fi/fairy tale "ads" for a planet called Zondor. She's slyly funny and has a great style. If she's not a comic or childrens book illustrator, she totally should be.
  
• a tattoo parlour. Seriously. The owners dressed and tricked out their space like a mashup of Clockwork Orange and repressed Victoriana. Not sure if they're back this year, but they sure lent a strange air of class to the place.
  
• really HORRIBLE amateur art -- a partially-burned stuffed armchair that was left out in the rain was particularly fragrant and disgusting. The Boy Scout doesn't remember this at all, but we haven't seen anything quite as bad this year -- so far.
  

So, all in all, it's kind of like shopping at Marshalls or Gabriel Brothers; there's more crap than stuff you'd actually want to buy, but the stuff you want to buy will often surprise and delight you.

This year it's right above the West entrance of the Navy Yard Metro. Amazing views of the baseball stadium (there was a game on last Sunday), the Capitol, and the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. GO!