Mobile Art Gallery

Overboard by Andy Yoder

CulturalDC Podcast

Joining our discussion today are DC sneaker enthusiasts Ian Callender, Dominick Adams and Abdul Fow-zi.

Ian Callender has been longtime DC business owner and sneaker purveyor for many years. As founder of Suite Nation,

Ian created events that were conceptual, creative footwear showcases blending music, fashion, food, art, and unique, exclusive sneakers. Today, Ian continues to build community and spaces for culture as Co-Owner of Sandlot Southeast and Southwest.

As Co-Owner of SOMEWHERE® Dominick Adams has helped build the foundation of modern fashion in Washington D.C. A third-generation Washingtonian,

he is a proud alum of School Without Walls with a career highlighted by time served as General Manager of the pioneering sneaker boutique MAJOR in Georgetown & founding member of the creative team that birthed communal marketplace Maketto.

To many DC sneakerheads, Abdul is the “guy with ALL the shoes”. Over the last 30 years of amassing an incredible collection of classic and exclusive sneakers, Abdul has built friendships and community around the love of fresh kicks. As a fan of the industry and culture, Abdul can be heard discussing current event topics and sneaker industry regularly on his podcast, Whats’a Podcast with his co-hosts Eddy and Jerome Baker III.

Thirty years ago, five shipping containers fell off a freighter during a storm, dumping 61,820 Nikes into the Pacific — an incident known as “The Great Shoe Spill of 1990.”

Attendance Details

• Dates: Thursday, April 22 (Earth Day) — Sunday, June 27, 2021

• Gallery Hours (subject to change): Thursday/Friday from 4-8pm and Saturday/Sunday from 12-6pm

• Location: Sandlot Southeast (Get Directions)

• Hosted by Sandlot Southeast, in partnership with MRP Realty

Exhibit and Artist Information

As the shoes washed ashore on the coast of Oregon and Washington, a network of beachcombers collected, washed, and resold them. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer connected with this network to create data leading to an important study monitoring the ocean’s currents. It led to huge interest from the news media, including appearances by Dr. Ebbesmeyer on late-night TV shows. Nike embraced his work and nicknamed him “Dr. Ocean,” inviting him to speak to employees. Yoder learned about this incident while researching ideas for his installation in CulturalDC’s Mobile Art Gallery, which is created out of a repurposed shipping container. The installation is comprised of over 150 sneakers constructed from recycled materials like boxes, bags, and posters. Each shoe is a version of the Nike’s iconic Jordan 5 sneaker, a shoe that was introduced in 1990, the same year as the spill. The installation examines the sneakerhead culture and brings attention to the impact of capitalist consumer culture on our environment.

Sandlot Southeast is a 5,000 square foot, outdoor container bar & event space offering cold-pressed cocktails & grab-and-go meals w/ a side of sports, music, cultural arts & entertainment all nestled between a dog park located at the base of the Fredrick Douglas Memorial Bridge, and directly across the street from the players entrance of Nationals Park Stadium.

“I’m a big believer in the possibility of second chances, which is why this story has such appeal for me. Most of the sneakers are made from materials I pulled out of recycling bins, like a beachcomber collecting Nikes on the beach. Making art is a form of alchemy, and being creative gives us the power to steer the ship, rather than bobbing around like a sneaker lost at sea. With this in mind, if you come across a shoe on the beach (or a flip flop, or a bottle), do the right thing, and toss it in the trash. You never know where it might go from there,” said artist Andy Yoder.

COVID Safety Measures

As we return to in-person programming, its important that we’re prioritizing the health of CulturalDC staff, artists, and audiences. Our team is fully vaccinated. We will continue to update our protocols to keep up with the latest regulations and vaccine rollout. Here’s some precautions we’ll be taking:

• Masks Required for all CulturalDC Staff and Guests

• Frequent Cleaning of Surfaces/Minimizing Interaction with Surfaces

• Limits on Gallery Occupancy

• Maximizing Airflow in the Gallery

Deep Dive

Artist discussions, relevant articles, podcasts, and more to help you dig in to the art.

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Art, Policy, Recycling: How We Communicate and Care about the Environment

How did we bring together these people? Andy Yoder’s exhibit Overboard touches on (1) recycling, (2) ocean conservancy, and (3) communicating environmental issues to the public.

(1) Jonathan Black was a Senior Policy Advisor for Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) on energy and environment issues. Black has nearly twenty years experience in the Senate covering a variety of high profile issues, including chemical safety reform, plastic pollution reduction, climate change, renewable energy, and pesticides & farm worker safety. He recently helped with the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020, legislation that would phase out unnecessary single-use plastic products, hold corporations accountable for wasteful products, reduce wasteful packaging, and reform our broken waste and recycling collection system. 

(2) Maggie Ostdahl is a lifelong ocean enthusiast whose academic background is a BS in biology and environmental science and policy from Duke, and an MA degree in marine policy from University of Washington. Her professional positions span outdoor education, on-water instruction, fisheries scientist, teacher, writer, researcher, policy advocate, activist and sustainability manager. She is the Conservation Policy Manager for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland

(3) Hunter Schwarz is a political reporter and the author of Yello. He just published a whole piece, “How Graphic Design Shaped the Environmental Movement.” He has worked as a reporter for outlets including CNN, the Washington Post, and BuzzFeed. He previously co-wrote two newsletters about politics and pop culture, Cover/Line and The Political Edit.

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