All kinds of art

For her final weekend in DC, Anuenue spent the afternoon on the Mall and then went to a dance performance at the Kennedy Center.

First, she checked out the Hirshhorn art museum. There is an outdoor sculpture garden and a few sculptures scattered around in front of the museum. "Needle Tower" is held together only by wires in tension, and is very tall.

 

If you walk underneath the sculpture and look up, it looks like a pattern of stars!

On the top floor of the museum is a lounge with a great view of the Mall. You can look out and see the American History and Natural History museums to the west....

 ....and Archives, the National Gallery of Art, and the Capitol to the east.

These fun sculptures of plants were made in the 1920s.

This weekend, there was a large exhibit at the Hirshhorn of work by Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist and political activist. This giant sparkly cube was made from crystals on wires.

This sculpture was made from stools. Many works were made from reclaimed objects and materials.

 A giant pile of crabs...

 This huge river of metal rods is made from rebar from schools that collapsed in China during the large earthquake in 2008.

After dinner, Anuenue headed over to the Kennedy Center.

There is a giant and somewhat creepy bust of John F. Kennedy in the main hall....

And lots and lots of chandeliers. Photos are not allowed in the theater, but Anuenue saw a performance of traditional Chinese dance in the Opera House!

On the way out, she walked through the Hall of Flags

Japanese New Year festival

Anuenue went to a Japanese New Year festival in Thomas Circle downtown. There were lots of demonstrations, games, and activities, and food!

People took turns pounding rice to make rice cakes - the mallet was a bit too big for Anuenue!

 There were drummers, singers, and dancers!

And also lots of games - these are water balloon yoyos.

Anuenue walked through part of the Shaw neighborhood on the way to Thomas circle from the metro. There is a mix of historic and new architecture. Here is a tiny house wedged in between a big apartment building and a multi-unit house.

A row of pretty brick buildings...

And some fancy rowhouses with lots of details in the historic area.

National Gallery of Art

Anuenue went downtown to visit the National Gallery of Art!

The NGA is on the Mall, where things were starting to get a bit crazy with the setup for the inauguration. There were hundreds of port-a-johns lined up along the edge of the Mall.

There is a large rotunda with columns in the center of the West wing of the gallery.

The West wing is mostly traditional art, and there are lots and lots of artworks! Anuenue saw lots of paintings by Monet....

Pointillism by Seurat

Naive art by Henri Rousseau...

American painters like Martin Johnson Heade....

There were several versions of St. George and the Dragon, this one by Raphael.

There were other media, like this 3rd century Tunisian mosaic floor.

My favorite are the 15th century northern European paintings. This painting is by the Master of the Death of St. Nicholas of Munster.

The east wing of the gallery is modern art, and much smaller than the west wing. This colorful painting is by Frank Stella.

More squares, this time by Pete Mondrian...

This giant mobile by Calder is one of the best-known pieces in the east wing.

Greenbelt Lake in winter

Anuenue took a walk around Greenbelt lake to see how it had changed since the fall.

 This time the weather has been cold enough that there was a thin layer of ice over much of the lake.

This sign shows some of the animals that live around and in the lake. Today there were mostly just squirrels and some geese and ducks on the lake.

The cattails near the shore have gone to seed.

This mockingbird was very bold.

There are already signs of spring, with small bulbs emerging from the ground. These snowdrops and crocus flowers will start to bloom in February.

When Anuenue finished her walk, she made some Burmese curry with these king oyster mushrooms.

Yum!

Now is the time to start the artichoke seeds indoors. They will be transplanted outside in April or May.

Crafty projects

Having eleven days off for the holidays, Anuenue has been hard at work on lots of different projects.

Making a batch of limoncello for gifts....

Learning how to hem a coat...

Mastering pressing techniques with a clapper....

Sewing gift bags...

Hand quilting...

Taking a break on the sofa with the cats...

Making a felted bag...

Learning how to make sculptural felt...

then riding around on the finished sculpture (a spanish shawl sea slug)

And dyeing wool fibers like a casserole in the oven!