Monday, January 02, 2006

Faith Flannagan's Top 10

Faith Flannagan is both a collector, an arts activist and a well-known arts persona around our town(s). Herewith her top ten 2005 DC area visual art shows (Nepotista declaration: Faith passes that she's on the board of DCAC and has also purchased work by some of these artists and they are listed in no particular order):

· Mary Coble, Note to Self @ Conner Contemporary Art
· Mary Early, Sculpture @ Hemphill Fine Art
· Empire of Sighs @ Numark Gallery, curated by Andrea Pollan
· Dylan Scholinski, sent(2)mental @ Nevin Kelly
· Sean Scully, Wall of Light @ The Phillips Collection, curated by Stephen Bennett Phillips
· Noelle Tan, Latent @ District of Columbia Arts Center, curated by Paul Roth
· Kelly Towles, Underdog @ Adamson
· Visual Music @ Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
· Ian Whitmore, Mirror Mirror @ Fusebox
· Kehinde Wiley, White @ Conner Contemporary Art, curated by Scenic / Simon Watson

Worthy of Note:

· Blast @ G Fine Art, curated by Paul Brewer
· Found Sound, curated by Welmoed Laanstra
· Little Creatures @ Transformer Gallery
· Points of Departure @ District of Columbia Arts Center (Nathan Manuel and D. Billy), curated by Trish Tillman
· Traveling with Gulliver @ District of Columbia Arts Center (Alan Callander, Ian Jehle and Karen Joan Topping).

Boot Camp for Artists

On Sunday, February 26, 2006, we will present another one of our highly successful "Success as an Artist" Seminars. This next seminar will be jointly hosted with the good people from Art-O-Matic, and the Warehouse Theater, Café and Gallery, on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006 from 10:30-6PM, with lunch provided.

The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by over 2,000 artists and arts professionals from all over the Mid Atlantic is designed to deliver information, data and proven tactics to allow artists to develop and sustain a career in the fine arts. The seminar costs $80 (includes lunch) and is limited to 50 people. For more details please visit this website. For this seminar, sometimes called "Boot Camp for Artists" by the attendees, people as far as Arizona, California, New York and South Carolina have attended, including many, many university level art professionals.

In its seven hour format, the seminar covers a wide range of structured issues including:

1. Materials - Buying materials;strategies for lowering your costs, where and how to get it, etc.

2. Presentation – How to properly present your artwork including Conservation issues, Archival Matting and Framing, Longevity of materials, a discussion on Limited editions, signing and numbering, Prints vs. Reproduction, discussion on Iris Prints (Pros and Cons).

3. Creating a resume - Strategy for building your art resume, including how to write one, what should be in it, presentation, etc.

4. Juried Shows – An Insider's view and strategy to get in the competitions.

5. How to take slides and photographs of your artwork

6. Selling your art – A variety of avenues to actually selling your artwork, including fine arts festivals, corporate acquisitions, galleries, public arts, etc.

7. Creating a Body of Works

8. How to write a news release

9. Publicity – How to get in newspapers, magazines, etc. Plus handouts on email and addresses of newspaper critics, writers, etc.

10. Galleries – Discussion on area galleries including Vanity Galleries, Co-Operatives, Commercial Galleries, Non-profit Art spaces, etc.

11. How to approach a gallery – Realities of the business, Contracts, Gallery/Artist Relationship, Agents.

12. Outdoor Art Festivals – Discussion and advice on how to sell outwork at fine arts festivals, which to do, which to avoid, etc.

13. Resources - Display systems and tents, best juried shows and ones to avoid.

14. Accepting Credit cards – How to set up your art business.

15. Grants – Discussion on how to get grants in DC, Regional and National, including handouts on who and where and when.

16. Alternative Marketing - Cable TV, Local media

17. Internet – How to build your website at no cost, how to establish a wide and diverse Internet presence.

The seminar has been a spectacular success, and the feedback from artists can be read online at here and we continue to receive tremendous positive feedback on the practical success that this seminar has meant for those who have taken it.

You can sign up for the seminar at 301/718-9651 (starting next week) or via email (immediately) at info@thefrasergallery.com. Hurry, as the 50 spaces usually book very quickly, and we already have a bunch of people signed up (they already were on a wait-list from the last time that the seminar was offered and sold out).

DCist Top 10

Well... really KC's reluctantly policed Top 10:

1. Mary Early, Sculpture at Hemphill Fine Arts
2. Kendall Buster, Model City at Fusebox
3. Ian Whitmore, Mirror, Mirror at Fusebox
4. Dan Steinhilber at Numark
5. Linn Meyers, Current at G Fine Art
6. Jiha Moon, symbioland at Curator's Office
7. Kelly Towles, Underdog at David Adamson
8. Julee Holcombe, Homo Bulla at Conner Contemporary
9. Molly Springfield at JET Artworks
10. Jason Zimmerman, Fair Game at Transformer

Bumming around

Little beats watching football on TV while lounging on the beach... still in eff-el-ay until the 5th anyway...