mb palaver

ShoppingPalaver: Baltimore Craft Show This Weekend

I'm a bit tardy with this post, but given my semi-ambulatory state I automatically chucked the postcards for the annual Baltimore craft show and forgot all about it.  But it's not too late for you to head to Baltimore to see the wares of more than 700 American craft artists.  This show is big.  Ridiculously big.  Either go early and plan to spend all day (or two), or review the catalog and come up with a plan, such as checking out the New Wave Craft artists:

The Council invited 300 artists of the national New Wave Craft community to apply to a special section of the show: out of 100 applications, 15 have been juried in. Their handmade items are varied and include: lampshades made out of cocktail umbrellas; colorful adult and children’s clothing made out of vintage and reclaimed fabrics such as sheets, drapes, table linens, and lace; and jewelry incorporating Barbie parts; among others.

And while you're there, please pick me up a nice bowl. I once imposed a craft show bowl moratorium on myself, but I recently had a mishap involving the long fronds of a palm tree I wanted to carry to the kitchen to water and a tall vase holding some holly branches arranged in a devil-may-care fashion and placed next to some stacked ceramic and glass bowls, proving once again that I am more Ann Marie than Martha Stewart.  I live in fear that there are still glass shards around my home waiting to get my one walking foot.  I would also accept a lampshade made out of cocktail umbrellas.

WHERE
Baltimore Convention Center
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

WHEN
Friday, February 22 (10 am - 9 pm)
Saturday, February 23 (10 am - 6 pm)
Sunday, February 24 (10 am - 5 pm)

HOW MUCH
$14 per person
$20 for a two-day pass
$25 introductory new membership at the Show only
Children 12 and under free
American Craft Council members admitted free.
JOIN NOW

Show Information: (800) 836-3470

WeekendPalaver: Hands on DC/Learn-a-Palooza

Still looking for something to do in DC tomorrow?  Here are two possibilities:  one to help your neighbors and one to get to know them (and learn something at the same time).

It's not too late to volunteer at Hands on DC, which is holding its annual citywide work-a-thon tomorrow, April 28, to fix up DC public schools and raise money for local college scholarship programs.  Although the organization generally works through teams, according to their website you can show up teamless tomorrow morning:

If you're interested in volunteering but not on a team, we'll send you to a school that needs a few extra hands. Registration begins at 9am, at the "Walk-In Volunteers" table at Jefferson Junior High School (801 7th Street, SW, 20024; L'Enfant Plaza metro). Please e-mail volunteer@handsondc.org with any questions.

Or learn how to play pool, create an online video, speak Portuguese, or take any of more than 60 other lessons available all day at local businesses and people's homes through Learn-a-Palooza.  The list of free classes includes location addresses and maps; the events take place around town, though with a concentration in Adams Morgan.

Or kill two birds with one stone and head to Bedrock Billiards after 6 pm for a Learn-a-Palooza after-party and benefit for Hands on DC.

ArtPalaver: Sackler Exhibit on Early Biblical Texts Closes January 7

This Sunday one of the most popular exhibits ever shown at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC closes.  "In the Beginning:  Bibles Before the Year 1000" has drawn record crowds since it opened in October.  In fact, I haven't been because when I stopped by mid-afternoon on a weekday there was an hour wait.  An hour wait at the Sackler!

Pasted below is an excerpt of the museum's description of the exhibit.  As for the lines, a woman at the information desk said the time to get there is right when it opens (at 10), because, she said, people don't like to get an early start in the morning.  She could read me like a book.

The exhibition will present over 70 of the earliest biblical artifacts in existence, including pages and fragments written in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian and Coptic—many on display for the first time in the United States. The Sackler Gallery will be the only venue for the exhibition.

Highlights of the exhibition include:

• Leaves from three of the six oldest surviving Hebrew codices.
• The oldest known manuscripts of the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.
• One of the earliest known manuscripts of the Gospels written in Latin.
• The oldest dated parchment biblical codex in the world.
• A page from the earliest Bible with full-page illustration.

The Sackler gallery, which (along with the Freer Gallery of Art next door) specializes in Asian art, is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is located on the National Mall, at 1050 Independence Ave., behind the castle.  Tomorrow promises to be a beautiful day for a trip to the Mall (with a predicted high of 69 degrees -- on January 6!?)

ShoppingPalaver: Washington Craft Show

Looking for something to do this weekend?  The Washington Craft Show starts today.  With 190 exhibitors, this show is less selective than the Smithsonian craft show, but nowhere near as exhaustingly large as the Baltimore one (which showcased the work of more than 700 artists last February).  It's open today until 8, tomorrow 10 to 6, and Sunday 11-5, at the Washington Convention Center (located between 7th and 9th Streets NW and Mt. Vernon Pl. and N St. NW, just north of Massachusetts Ave.).  Admission is $14, cash only.   Though they always have a food court at the show, the convention center is located near lots of good restaurants.  Acadiana is one of the closest at 901 New York Avenue, and it is open during special hours during the run of the nearby Cirque du Soleil.  My choice would be Matchbox, a few blocks south of the convention center at 713 H Street, N.W.  Only on Saturday, though -- it's closed on Sundays.