Adams Morgan PorchFest. Photograph by Albert Ting.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Take a moment to delight in the beautiful weekend weather at a PorchFest concert performance, or view a cultural parade and sample tasty bites at the Fiesta Asia Street Fair.

Best Things to Do This Weekend

1. Adams Morgan PorchFest. Don’t miss the first-ever spring edition of the Adams Morgan PorchFest. The neighborhood-wide concert lineup will host more than 70 local bands across 17 porches, patios, and stoops showing off DC’s diverse musical talent. Concertgoers can expect to jam to classic rock, funk, go-go, rap, reggae, bluegrass, classical, pop, and more during this day of nonstop music (Sat, free, Adams Morgan).
2. Fiesta Asia Street Fair. Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a cultural parade, street dancing, Pan-Asian cuisine, live music, martial arts demonstrations, and kid-friendly activities at the Fiesta Asia Street Fair representing more than 20 cultures. The event will take place on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 6th streets, Northwest (Sat, free, Capitol Hill).
3. Old Town Festival of Speed and Style. Dozens of rare and exotic cars, and vintage motorcycles will line the streets of Alexandria at the Fourth Annual Old Town Festival of Speed and Style. Car enthusiasts can see more than 100 supercars from the mid-1900s while experiencing live opera, a fashion discussion with celebrity stylist Monte Durham, and shopping  (Sun, free entry, Alexandria).
4. Preakness 148. Preakness weekend is here: Cheer on your favorite racer, and enjoy a weekend full of entertainment including indoor dining in the grandstand, guided tours of the Pimlico Race Course, and a live concert featuring headliner Bruno Mars, electronic duo Sofi Tukker, and local DJ star Quicksilva (Fri-Sat, prices vary, Baltimore).

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Want More Things to Do?

Budget-friendly. Adults only are invited to this fun library gaming night (every third Thursday, free, Woodbridge). Tune in to a 24-hour reading marathon of Edgar Allan Poe’s works (Sat-Sun, donations welcome, virtual).

Arts and culture. Cartoonist Dana Maier discusses her creative process and her new book Skip to the Fun Parts at Politics and Prose (Thurs, free, Northeast DC). World traveler Marianne Tshihamba takes you on a British tea tour at this interactive cooking class (Sat, $58, Capitol Hill). Join a discussion about Black literary arts with the Hurston/Wright Foundation (Fri, free, virtual). Bring a chair and watch Till at the National Harbor plaza (Thurs, free, National Harbor). Or, watch the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon indoors at a neighborhood library (Thurs, free, Rosedale). Author Michael Gardner and DC illustrator Nadia Fisher discuss the children’s book Daddy Dressed Me (Sat, free, MLK Library). Browse locally made candles, home decor, and art while sipping craft beer at the pet-friendly Port City Brewing Spring Makers’ Market; there’s free coloring books for the first 50 children (Sat, free, Alexandria). Meet authors and browse an array of titles at the Gaithersburg Book Festival (Sat, free, Gaithersburg). Read antiquarian books from 30 sellers at the Georgetown Rare Book Fair (Fri-Sun, free for fair, $50 for preview night, Georgetown).

Community and history. Experience Greek culture, traditional dance, and bites at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church Festival (Sat, free, Bethesda).

Theater and shows. Here There Are Blueberries is showing at Shakespeare Theatre Company (through May 28, $35+, Penn Quarter). It’s the last call to see The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield at Atlas Performing Arts Center (Thurs-Sun, $40, H Street Corridor). Scena Theatre performs a trio of Irish plays in Three by Yeats at DC Arts Center (Thurs through June 4, $40, Adams Morgan). The Washington Improv Theater demonstrates a marketing satire in their new show Not a Pyramid Scheme (Thurs through June 20, $15, Northwest DC). Attend Arena Stage’s Voices of Now Festival to see autobiographical theater works created by grade-school students and adult artists (through Sat, free, Southwest DC).

Music and concerts. There’s a SZA and Doja Cat dance party at Howard Theatre (Sat, $20+, Howard Theatre). Groove to three DJs at the Mayflower Club day party (Sun, free, Northwest DC). Country singer Hunter Hayes performs his new album The Red Sky Tour at Sixth and I (Thurs, $35+, Northwest DC). Get tickets to the Rock Creek Kings’ EP release party (Fri, $15, Wharf).

Bites and beverages. Shop gourmet treats at the DMV Chocolate and Coffee Spring Pop-Up (Sat-Sun, $12+, Chantilly). Check out the city views at Hedy’s Rooftop opening featuring a DJ, cocktails, and food (Fri, free entry, $10 bar, Northwest DC). Weekend brunch is back at Ciel Social Club; celebrate the occasion at their disco dance party or drag brunch (Sat-Sun, reservations recommended, prices vary, Downtown). Join the Black-owned Fine Wine Series of tastings (Fri-Sun, $20, various participating locations).

Things to do with kids. Watch Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on a giant outdoor screen (Sun, free, National Harbor). Or, see a screening of Moana at The Collection (Sat, free, Chevy Chase). Teens can craft jewelry, art, and vision boards at the library (Thurs, free, MLK Library). The Washington Ballet will read children’s story When Langston Dances, and teach a classic ballet lesson (Thurs, free, Cleveland Park).

Get involved. Sample cocktails and bites at The Roost in support of the National Memorial to the Women Who Worked on the Home Front Foundation (Thurs, $50, Capitol Hill).

If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.

Briana A. Thomas is a local journalist, historian, and tour guide who specializes in the research of D.C. history and culture. She is the author of the Black history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C., a story that was first published in Washingtonian in 2016.

“There is a tree on my road that has been cut very strangely to accommodate a power line, and I think about that tree a lot,” says Megan Bogonovich, who envisions the otherworldly potential of human touch on the environment through playful, botanical sculptures.

Based in Norwich, Vermont, Bogonovich recognizes nature’s immense capability for adaptation and strength in seemingly inhospitable spaces. “The whole dandelion growing out of a pavement crack thing,” she says. Her works embody transformation and abundant growth, and unusual colors, shapes, and textures arise in surreal combinations. With bulbous bases, spiked protrusions, and interlocked petals, the works imagine “the batty possibilities of what could be growing in the universe or what might be the first thing to sprout up after an environmental disaster.”

Rooted in play and the “ceaseless goofiness” of reproduction, the sculptures evolve throughout a lengthy process. Bogonovich begins by hand-building small geometric and organic forms like cones, tubes, ovoids, and textured patches made with drilled holes, cuts, and everyday objects like buttons, which she then casts in plaster to make a mold. “If I cast 30 molds one day, by the next day I have a set of slip-cast tinkertoy-type parts that I can alter and bend or duplicate. It’s a lot of labored build-up to get to a point where I can work spontaneously and impulsively with a material that would otherwise want planning,” she says. 

These malleable forms are then fired and readied for glazing, a slow, meticulous process that involves several layers and bouts in the kiln at varying temperatures. “The sculptures are matte white when they first come out of the kiln. I let a lot of pieces build up before I start glazing,” Bogonovich says. “I get used to being surrounded by ghost flowers, so when the tide changes to color it feels like a big shift in the studio.” Like nature, glazing is unpredictable, and the pastel pinks, bold oranges, and mottled hues add a whimsical, playful element to the works. “I live in the woods in Vermont, and at this time of year, there is so much green. It’s nice to imagine bright yellow tree trunks or hot pink maple leaves,” she says. 

Bogonovich works with Kishka Gallery & Library, where she recently held a solo show, and has sculptures on view through May 20 at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York. Find more of her pieces on her site and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Spikes, Interlocked Rings, and Bold Bulges Sprout from Megan Bogonovich’s Otherworldly Ceramic Botanicals appeared first on Colossal.

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Andy Warhol’s Prince silkscreen series violated copyright laws. 

The 7-2 ruling said the famous artist violated a photographer’s copyright when he used her photo in a work for a commemorative magazine honoring Prince. 

“Lynn Goldsmith’s original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority. 

Justice Elena Kagan — with whom Chief Justice John Roberts joined — dissented from the ruling, claiming the court found marketing decisions should outweigh those of artistic expression. 

“For in the majority’s view, copyright law’s first fair-use factor — addressing ‘the purpose and character’ of ‘the use made of a work’ — is uninterested in the distinctiveness and newness of Warhol’s portrait,” the Obama appointee wrote. “What matters under that factor, the majority says, is instead a marketing decision: In the majority’s view, Warhol’s licensing of the silkscreen to a magazine precludes fair use.” 

In the 1980s, Warhol was commissioned by Vanity Fair to create art of Prince for an article titled “Purple Fame” using of the late musician taken by celebrity photographer Lynn Goldsmith. While Goldsmith had agreed to allow the magazine to use her work, Warhol took it a step further with his 12 silkscreen paintings that became known as the Prince series. The image featured in Vanity Fair’s 1984 issue was just the tip of the iceberg for the Prince series. In the years to come, Warhol’s collection would be displayed in museums, galleries, books, and other magazines. 

The real conflict in this case came after Prince’s death in 2016. Vanity Fair reposted the 1984 “Purple Fame” article online, and Conde Nast created a commemorative magazine using the Prince series. Goldsmith claimed the Prince Series infringed on her copyright and contacted the Andy Warhol Foundation for compensation. In return, the foundation filed a declaratory judgment that the Prince series is protected as fair use. 

Photographs like Goldsmith’s are protected by the Copyright Act. Creators get exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display their own art, however, these rights are not without exceptions. Other creators can claim fair use, and use copyrighted art without infringing on an artist’s copyright. To do this, the follow-on works are evaluated for their purpose and the character of their use.                   

The question before the justices in this case centers around the qualifications for the fair use defense. According to Warhol, the Prince series was “transformative” from Goldsmith’s original work, changing its meaning and message, and, therefore, qualifies under fair use. 

A federal judge agreed with Warhol, but the Second Circuit reversed setting up a high court battle. 

While many of the justice shared their creative preferences during arguments in October, it wasn’t clear how they might rule on the case. 

Sotomayor said the court’s only role in the dispute was to answer if the purpose and character of Warhol’s art should be considered “fair use” of Goldsmith’s photograph. 

“The first fair use factor considers whether the use of a copyrighted work has a further purpose or different character, which is a matter of degree, and the degree of difference must be balanced against the commercial nature of the use,” Sotomayor wrote. 

Sotomayor said Warhol’s Prince art in the commemorative magazine held substantially the same purpose as Goldsmith’s photo. 

“Both are portraits of Prince used in magazines to illustrate stories about Prince,” Sotomayor wrote. “Such ‘environment[s]’ are not ‘distinct and different.’” 

The majority also weighed the commercial use of Warhol’s Prince art, finding it was similar to Goldsmith’s because both were licensed to magazines. 

“Taken together, these two elements — that Goldsmith’s photograph and AWF’s 2016 licensing of Orange Prince share substantially the same purpose, and that AWF’s use of Goldsmith’s photo was of a commercial nature — counsel against fair use, absent some other justification for copying,” Sotomayor wrote. “That is, although a use’s transformativeness may outweigh its commercial character, here, both elements point in the same direction.” 

If the court had ruled against Goldsmith, Sotomayor contends, it would greenlight the commercial copying of photos. 

“As long as the user somehow portrays the subject of the photograph differently, he could make modest alterations to the original, sell it to an outlet to accompany a story about the subject, and claim transformative use,” Sotomayor wrote. 

Kagan claims the court took a novel posture in the case — a characteristic in law she finds less appealing than in art. She says the majority’s holding upends the evaluation required by the court’s precedents for copyright cases. Instead of looking at Warhol’s work, Kagan claims, the majority looked at the licensing agreement he entered into with the magazine. 

“Because the artist had such a commercial purpose, all the creativity in the world could not save him,” Kagan wrote. 

Goldsmith praised the court’s ruling, saying it favored photographers and other artists.

“I am thrilled by today’s decision and thankful to the Supreme Court for hearing our side of the story,” Goldsmith said in a statement provided by her attorney. “This is a great day for photographers and other artists who make a living by licensing their art. I want to thank the team at Williams & Connolly for sticking with me from the lows to this incredible high.”

The Warhol Foundation said it disagreed with the ruling but was grateful for its narrowness.

“We respectfully disagree with the Court’s ruling that the 2016 licensing of Orange Prince was not protected by the fair use doctrine,” Joel Wachs, president of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, said in a statement. “At the same time, we welcome the Court’s clarification that its decision is limited to that single licensing and does not question the legality of Andy Warhol’s creation of the Prince Series in 1984.”

The court’s ruling was seen as both narrow and broad by court watchers. The majority made clear it was only addressing the first fair use factor, however, changing the law in that area could still have major impacts. 

“By focusing the first fair use factor on the purposes of the works at issue, and emphasizing the importance of whether a challenged use is commercial or non-commercial, the Court has rewritten an entire body of case law that had previously treated the focus of the first fair use factor as whether or not a challenged work was ‘transformative,’” Bruce Ewing, co-chair of Dorsey & Whitney’s intellectual property litigation practice group, said in a statement.