The Final Artomatic Top 10 Artists of 2009

Happy 4th of July! I've been working on this list forever, and superbusy on other stuff (more on those news later); but here it is!

With around 1,000 artists at AOM, it is pretty difficult, if not truly impossible to pick a list of the top 10 artists there and immediately piss off 990.

To make things easier for me, this year I decided to limit my own personal recommendations to artists whose work I am/was not overly familiar with or whose work I had not see before; so no Tim T., no Laurel L., no Kelly T., no Michael J., etc. in this list.

Canpello's top 10 AOM artists are listed in alphabetical order.

Sarah Blood - Space 513 0n the 5th floor. This British artist has some of the most memorable work in AOM this year. Her work is elegant and sophisticated, and easily amongst the best 3D work in the show, but she is in an universe by herself when it comes to the marriage of neon to glass and sculpture.

When one views her work, the viewer is left amazed not only by the technical skill and dexterous facility with which she handles the medium, but also how she makes an inherent gaudy and repetitive component (such as neon is) seem fresh and cool each time. Hers is the best neon work that I have ever seen.

David D'Orio. His work is at space 909 on the 9th floor. Add him to the list of amazing glass artists who are reinventing the genre one piece at a time. The latest from his "Feeder" project (detail to left) stands out in the 2009 Artomatic already showcasing the work of some very good glass artists from the area and Great Britain.

It is no secret that the Greater DC area has become one of the great fine art glass magnets in the world, and in this abundant sea of glass talent, D'Orio's glasswork stands out in a singularly unique way.

This is no small accomplishment when one also looks at the breath taking work of the British glass artists participating in this year's AOM as well as the many Washington Glass School artists and students in the show. Glass was possibly the strongest category in this year's AOM and D'Orio's work still managed to stand out.

James Halloran - Space 809 on the 8th floor. I know that I am a sucker for technical skill in any genre, but technical skill alone does not a good artist make.

Halloran's paintings appear very simple in composition and color schemes at first view, but once you study them they rank amongst the best paintings at AOM that I have seen in years and showcase what a very good painter can do with a very restricted palette of colors. This is another artist whose work would sell well at art fairs.

Rania Hassan - Space 903 on the 9th floor. I think that I know by now... and so I think that what Rania Hassan is doing in her ongoing marriage of knitting and painting is unique, maybe in the world. It sounds a little odd in words, so you need to see it to see what I mean.

It is not only clever, but also visually intriguing and breaks a very difficult three dimensionality aspect that many "painters" try to broach.

Jeannette L. Herrera - Space 210 on the 2nd floor. This blue face killer is all over the map with her artwork, and yet she covers that map very well. She makes and sells everything: T-shirts, buttons, stickers, skateboards, shoes, custom made frames, etc.

She is a GerhardtRichterian artist in the sense that her artwork is about what interests and makes her tick, not what the critics dictate. I love the energy and drive and zeal behind her work; it's like an artistic hurricane in violent motion at all times.

I know a lot of accomplished artists, now in the October of their careers (the best time for hurricanes) who wish they could find a way to rediscover 10% of the energy and intelligence that Herrera drives through your brain with paint-stained nails in each of her paintings.

Deb Jansen. Space 804 on the 8th floor. Seldom does a great artistic shout like Jansen's "Catharsis & Karma: An Open Thank You Letter to a Homewrecker" installation says it all for one artist, and as Jansen is a young artist, we have many years ahead to watch where she goes from here.

Having said that, her brilliant dedication and "this-is-not-a-revenge" discussion of the world's most expensive blow job as Jansen thanks the "other" woman who freed her from an allegedly abusive and destructive marriage was without a doubt, at least the multiple times that I visited AOM, the hit of the show, and it earns Jansen a top 10 ranking. I'll say it again: this alone is worth a visit to AOM.

Susan La Mont. Space 203 on the second floor. I know that I have mentioned this artist's work before, but AOM gave me the first opportunity to examine a lot of her work all in one place.

And while Dr. La Mont still has a lot of painting and examinations and thinking and work to create and do ahead of her, this Pratt Institute graduate's artwork shows the sophistication, elegance and artistic merit and weight that causes it to stand apart in the immense AOM world of painters.

Jessica Van Brakle. Space 916 on the 9th floor. When I was first exploring the 9th floor I almost missed Jessica's work.

Lucky for her, I was attracted by the work of Jenny Walton, and once that caught my eye, it was natural for me to be magnetized also by her neighbor's work. Vna Brakle's work is refreshing and very strong for such a young painter. If my fellow art dealers were to ask me about who to pick today and take to an art fair tomorrow and sell a lot of work, I would immediately send them to this new painter.

Megan Van Wagoner is a prime example of what happens when you pass judgement on an entire show without taking the proper time to examine the show.

I've never seen her work before, and the first time that I walked by her booth I almost missed it, as my eyes and brain were beginning to hit overload. But it did catch my eye and on the second visit, following my notes I went straight to her space on space 811 on the 8th floor. Let me say it succinctly: this will be the artist whose work stood out as the most technically brilliant in AOM and whose presentation was the most professional.

It is ready for prime time and I bet that she goes places fast. I can dream of a show of her work next to Joshua Levine out in the Left Coast.

Sean Welker. 712 on the 7th floor. This is an artist turning technology around on the viewer. When I first saw Sean Welker's drawings, I thought that they were prints. When I returned and talked a little to Sean, I discovered that they were each an individual drawing expressing Welker's interest in sugar skulls, matryoshka dolls, maneki neko figures and other odd elements.

Push the medium of drawing to a level where the artist says to the reproduction genre: I can do each one by hand. It is a novel twist on taking the short cut to everything. This artist will make DC look good all over the nation in the near future. Check out his sugar skulls here.

Tomorrow is the last day to see Artomatic; if you haven't been, and call yourself a member of the Greater DC area arts community, this is your last change to get there or have your membership in the community revoked.

You get a second chance of sorts in a gallery setting as my former gallery, Bethesda's Fraser Gallery continues a tradition started many Artomatics ago with Ms. Fraser's selection of her "Best of Artomatic 2009" with work by AOM artists Jennifer Bishop, Deb Jansen, Edward Johnston, Christine Keers, Andrew Livingstone, Brain Lusher, Joanne Mitchell, Molly Sheldon, Frank Turner and Andrew Zimmermann. An opening reception will be held in conjunction with the "Bethesda Art Walk" on Friday, July 10 from 6PM - 9PM.

I'm heading out West tomorrow... more from the California desert later, including my choice as the best artist in Artomatic for 2009.

Happy 4th of July! America rocks!

Pat Goslee's Top 20

DC artist Pat Goslee responds to my call for Top 10 Artomatic artists and she sends a list of 20 artists who interest her and about whom she never heard of before and discovered at AOM:

Christin Boggs

Rachel Thern

Megan Van Wagoner -- damn fine installation, fine fine artist, fine fine designer.

David D'Orio - (Executive Director of DC Glass Works) I had never heard of him before.

m. gert barkovic

Michelle Soy Sauce Chin

Richard J Bailey - my favorite installation that I can't capture with my camera so y'all just have to go back and experience it for yourself if you missed this

Alex Goldschmidt - lots of bargains @ $25

Megan Rall - lushishly liminal

Lizbeth Kaufman

Matty Burns (Hickling) Danny: The Astronaut Deer

Shawn Behling -- all pieces cost no more than the equivalent of minimum wage for time spent on the piece.

Susan Chapin

Christian Tribastone

Jessica Van Brakle

PRANG

Corwin Levi

Sean Welker

Yelena Rodina

Kate Foley -- she really did a nice job with a unique display system for her photographs

Meinir Wyn Jones (Sunderland UK artist)


By Lizbeth Kaufman; she says:

The work I am exhibiting at Artomatic are photographs I've taken over the past year and a half. Originally the photographs had nothing to do with each other. But as I arranged them for this show I realized that they come together into some kind of evidence, like snapshots from the scene of a crime.

I grew up in New York City, and I graduated from Yale University in 2008 where I studied Chinese and Photography. I now live and work in Washington DC.

Too bad Lizbeth Kaufman doesnt seem to have a website; she uses a 4x5 view camera... strange and beautiful takes. That is what struck me -- these disparate images were weird, part of some unknown whole.

- Pat

This week: Cream at the Katzen

The Washington Project for the Arts' (WPA) Cream exhibition is now at (through March 6, 2010) at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

This annual exhibition features works by more than 110 local and national artists selected by an esteemed group of eight top curators including scholars, museum directors, practitioners and collectors. All works are on view until the WPA Annual Art Auction Gala, which will take place March 6, 2010, during which the exhibited works are available to the highest bidders.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 6-9pm, along with a talk by the curators on Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm, both at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.

The 29th iteration of this exhibition highlights some of the region's most talented artists, presenting a broad range of media and styles of both new and emerging artists as well as more established career artists. As an annual WPA presentation, the auction exhibition has gained new stature and recognition, evolving from a brief 'showing' of artists' works as a preview for the WPA's auction event, to one of the most prestigious and recognizable art showcases of its kind, with a high caliber of notable curators selecting the works. Cream is a notable survey of contemporary art in the region and beyond, with selected works representing the cream of the crop and the talent of the artists included that rose above thousands of others viewed during the curatorial process.

"We are tremendously pleased with the participating curators and their art selections - the work is fresh and exciting, and there are artists with long-standing ties to WPA as well as new names that the curators are introducing to the public," said Lisa Gold, WPA's Executive Director. "It was particularly rewarding to have a window into the curatorial process this year," she added, referring to 36 Studios- Part I, a 36-hour tour with collector Mera Rubell, during which she visited with 36 artists to inform her exhibition artwork selections.

Curator View and Presentation of Alice Denney Award
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9pm

Curator and former WPA Executive Director Jock Reynolds will present the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art to James F. Fitzpatrick, followed by a slide show and short talk by Cream curators about their exhibition selections and a preview of the exhibition.

Admission to the exhibition and curator talk is free and open to the public. Seating for the curator talk is limited; attendees are encouraged to RSVP by February 19 to info@wpadc.org.

Cream exhibition curators and their selected artists include:

KEN ASHTON, Visual Artist and Museum Technician for Works on Paper, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Margaret Adams, Chan Chao, Natalie W. Cheung, Billy Colbert, Frank Hallam Day, Matthew Girard, Avi Gupta, James Huckenpahler, Michael Dax Iacovone, Hatnim Lee, Marissa Long, Kate MacDonnell, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Ding Ren, E. Brady Robinson

KRISTEN HILEMAN, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Ken Ashton, Clarke Bedford, iona brown, Renee Butler, David Carlson, Zoë Charlton, Mary Coble, Jennifer Dorsey, Susan Eder & Craig Dennis, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Ryan Hill, Brece Honeycutt, Dean Kessmann, Cara Ober, Erik Sandberg, Joe White

CAROL K. HUH, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Jon Bobby Benjamin, Howard Carr, Neil Greentree, Max Hirshfeld, Tim Hyde, Franz Jantzen, Courtney Jordan, Martin J. Kotler, Jeffrey Smith, Stanley Staniski, Oliver Vernon

JOANNA MARSH, The James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Mark Dion, Michelle Elzay, Kota Ezawa, Devon Johnson, Mark Newport, James Prosek, Jean Shin, Joseph Smolinski, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, René Treviño

JOCK REYNOLDS, The Henry J. Heinz II Director and Visual Artist, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

William Christenberry, Tom Green, Jacob Kainen, Betsy Packard, Lisa Scheer, Jeff Spaulding, Alan Stone, William Willis, Yuriko Yamaguchi

CHARLES RITCHIE, Visual Artist and Associate Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Jay Bolotin, Astrid Bowlby, Georgia Deal, Douglas Florian, Cassandra Kabler, Mark E. Karnes, Karey Ellen Kessler, Sangram Majumdar, Rob Matthews, Beverly Ress, James Stroud, Lynn Sures, Bill Thompson, Alice Whealin, John Wilson, Janine Wong

MERA RUBELL, Co-founder, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL

m. gert barkovic, Holly Bass, Judy Byron, F. Lennox Campello, Rafael Cañizares-Yunez, Adam de Boer, Mary Early, Victoria F. Gaitán, Carol Brown Goldberg, Pat Goslee, Jason Horowitz, Barbara Liotta, Patrick McDonough, Brandon Morse, Dan Steinhilber, Lisa Marie Thalhammer

N. ELIZABETH SCHLATTER, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA

Hsin-Hsi Chen, Irene Clouthier, Joelle Meredith Francht, Ron Johnson, Sue Johnson, Kirsten Kindler, Martin McFadden, Susan Noyes, Erling Sjovold, Jessica Van Brakle, Barbara Weissberger, Andrew Wodzianski, Amy Glengary Yang, Shannon Young

Additional works on view in the exhibition this year include a new series of glass sculptures created by Joe Corcoran, David D'Orio, Steve Jones, and Megan Van Wagoner, members of DC GlassWorks, a public access glass blowing and sculpture facility located in Hyattsville, MD. These pieces will be featured in the museum exhibition and on the dining tables during the auction event, also available for bid.

The Cream exhibition is open for viewing, Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Admission is Free. More information on the exhibition is available at www.wpadc.org. Preview the works at auction.wpadc.org.

About the Art Auction Gala
Now in its 29th year, the WPA Art Auction Gala will be held at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University and is the organization's most important fund raising event. Guests include more than 400 artists, collectors, and business leaders vying to bid on the works included in the Cream exhibition, as included above. The event supports WPA mission's to promote emerging and established artists in the greater DC metropolitan region. The gala dinner is sold out but information on purchasing party tickets will be available at auction.wpadc.org.

Best deal in the auction block (in my clearly biased opinion)? This gorgeous piece.

Cream at the Katzen

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) has announced the opening of its newest exhibition, Cream, January 30 - March 6, 2010, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

This annual exhibition features works by more than 110 local and national artists selected by an esteemed group of eight top curators including scholars, museum directors, practitioners and collectors. All works are on view until the WPA Annual Art Auction Gala, which will take place March 6, 2010, during which the exhibited works are available to the highest bidders.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 6-9pm, along with a talk by the curators on Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm, both at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.

The 29th iteration of this exhibition highlights some of the region's most talented artists, presenting a broad range of media and styles of both new and emerging artists as well as more established career artists. As an annual WPA presentation, the auction exhibition has gained new stature and recognition, evolving from a brief 'showing' of artists' works as a preview for the WPA's auction event, to one of the most prestigious and recognizable art showcases of its kind, with a high caliber of notable curators selecting the works. Cream is a notable survey of contemporary art in the region and beyond, with selected works representing the cream of the crop and the talent of the artists included that rose above thousands of others viewed during the curatorial process.

"We are tremendously pleased with the participating curators and their art selections - the work is fresh and exciting, and there are artists with long-standing ties to WPA as well as new names that the curators are introducing to the public," said Lisa Gold, WPA's Executive Director. "It was particularly rewarding to have a window into the curatorial process this year," she added, referring to 36 Studios- Part I, a 36-hour tour with collector Mera Rubell, during which she visited with 36 artists to inform her exhibition artwork selections.

Curator View and Presentation of Alice Denney Award
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9pm

Curator and former WPA Executive Director Jock Reynolds will present the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art to James F. Fitzpatrick, followed by a slide show and short talk by Cream curators about their exhibition selections and a preview of the exhibition.

Admission to the exhibition and curator talk is free and open to the public. Seating for the curator talk is limited; attendees are encouraged to RSVP by February 19 to info@wpadc.org.

Cream exhibition curators and their selected artists include:

KEN ASHTON, Visual Artist and Museum Technician for Works on Paper, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Margaret Adams, Chan Chao, Natalie W. Cheung, Billy Colbert, Frank Hallam Day, Matthew Girard, Avi Gupta, James Huckenpahler, Michael Dax Iacovone, Hatnim Lee, Marissa Long, Kate MacDonnell, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Ding Ren, E. Brady Robinson

KRISTEN HILEMAN, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Ken Ashton, Clarke Bedford, iona brown, Renee Butler, David Carlson, Zoë Charlton, Mary Coble, Jennifer Dorsey, Susan Eder & Craig Dennis, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Ryan Hill, Brece Honeycutt, Dean Kessmann, Cara Ober, Erik Sandberg, Joe White

CAROL K. HUH, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Jon Bobby Benjamin, Howard Carr, Neil Greentree, Max Hirshfeld, Tim Hyde, Franz Jantzen, Courtney Jordan, Martin J. Kotler, Jeffrey Smith, Stanley Staniski, Oliver Vernon

JOANNA MARSH, The James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Mark Dion, Michelle Elzay, Kota Ezawa, Devon Johnson, Mark Newport, James Prosek, Jean Shin, Joseph Smolinski, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, René Treviño

JOCK REYNOLDS, The Henry J. Heinz II Director and Visual Artist, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

William Christenberry, Tom Green, Jacob Kainen, Betsy Packard, Lisa Scheer, Jeff Spaulding, Alan Stone, William Willis, Yuriko Yamaguchi

CHARLES RITCHIE, Visual Artist and Associate Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Jay Bolotin, Astrid Bowlby, Georgia Deal, Douglas Florian, Cassandra Kabler, Mark E. Karnes, Karey Ellen Kessler, Sangram Majumdar, Rob Matthews, Beverly Ress, James Stroud, Lynn Sures, Bill Thompson, Alice Whealin, John Wilson, Janine Wong

MERA RUBELL, Co-founder, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL

m. gert barkovic, Holly Bass, Judy Byron, F. Lennox Campello, Rafael Cañizares-Yunez, Adam de Boer, Mary Early, Victoria F. Gaitán, Carol Brown Goldberg, Pat Goslee, Jason Horowitz, Barbara Liotta, Patrick McDonough, Brandon Morse, Dan Steinhilber, Lisa Marie Thalhammer

N. ELIZABETH SCHLATTER, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA

Hsin-Hsi Chen, Irene Clouthier, Joelle Meredith Francht, Ron Johnson, Sue Johnson, Kirsten Kindler, Martin McFadden, Susan Noyes, Erling Sjovold, Jessica Van Brakle, Barbara Weissberger, Andrew Wodzianski, Amy Glengary Yang, Shannon Young

Additional works on view in the exhibition this year include a new series of glass sculptures created by Joe Corcoran, David D'Orio, Steve Jones, and Megan Van Wagoner, members of DC GlassWorks, a public access glass blowing and sculpture facility located in Hyattsville, MD. These pieces will be featured in the museum exhibition and on the dining tables during the auction event, also available for bid.

The Cream exhibition is open for viewing, Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Admission is Free. More information on the exhibition is available at www.wpadc.org. Preview the works at auction.wpadc.org.

About the Art Auction Gala
Now in its 29th year, the WPA Art Auction Gala will be held at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University and is the organization's most important fund raising event. Guests include more than 400 artists, collectors, and business leaders vying to bid on the works included in the Cream exhibition, as included above. The event supports WPA mission's to promote emerging and established artists in the greater DC metropolitan region. The gala dinner is sold out but information on purchasing party tickets will be available at auction.wpadc.org.

Best deal in the auction block (in my clearly biased opinion)? This gorgeous piece.

For this evening...

Make sure that you come by the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)'s opening of its newest exhibition, Cream, January 30 - March 6, 2010, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

This annual exhibition features works by more than 110 local and national artists selected by an esteemed group of eight top curators including scholars, museum directors, practitioners and collectors. All works are on view until the WPA Annual Art Auction Gala, which will take place March 6, 2010, during which the exhibited works are available to the highest bidders.

An opening reception will be held tonight, Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 6-9pm, along with a talk by the curators on Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm, both at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.

The 29th iteration of this exhibition highlights some of the region's most talented artists, presenting a broad range of media and styles of both new and emerging artists as well as more established career artists. As an annual WPA presentation, the auction exhibition has gained new stature and recognition, evolving from a brief 'showing' of artists' works as a preview for the WPA's auction event, to one of the most prestigious and recognizable art showcases of its kind, with a high caliber of notable curators selecting the works. Cream is a notable survey of contemporary art in the region and beyond, with selected works representing the cream of the crop and the talent of the artists included that rose above thousands of others viewed during the curatorial process.

"We are tremendously pleased with the participating curators and their art selections - the work is fresh and exciting, and there are artists with long-standing ties to WPA as well as new names that the curators are introducing to the public," said Lisa Gold, WPA's Executive Director. "It was particularly rewarding to have a window into the curatorial process this year," she added, referring to 36 Studios- Part I, a 36-hour tour with collector Mera Rubell, during which she visited with 36 artists to inform her exhibition artwork selections.

Curator View and Presentation of Alice Denney Award
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9pm

Curator and former WPA Executive Director Jock Reynolds will present the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art to James F. Fitzpatrick, followed by a slide show and short talk by Cream curators about their exhibition selections and a preview of the exhibition.

Admission to the exhibition and curator talk is free and open to the public. Seating for the curator talk is limited; attendees are encouraged to RSVP by February 19 to info@wpadc.org.

Cream exhibition curators and their selected artists include:

KEN ASHTON, Visual Artist and Museum Technician for Works on Paper, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Margaret Adams, Chan Chao, Natalie W. Cheung, Billy Colbert, Frank Hallam Day, Matthew Girard, Avi Gupta, James Huckenpahler, Michael Dax Iacovone, Hatnim Lee, Marissa Long, Kate MacDonnell, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Ding Ren, E. Brady Robinson

KRISTEN HILEMAN, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Ken Ashton, Clarke Bedford, iona brown, Renee Butler, David Carlson, Zoë Charlton, Mary Coble, Jennifer Dorsey, Susan Eder & Craig Dennis, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Ryan Hill, Brece Honeycutt, Dean Kessmann, Cara Ober, Erik Sandberg, Joe White

CAROL K. HUH, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Jon Bobby Benjamin, Howard Carr, Neil Greentree, Max Hirshfeld, Tim Hyde, Franz Jantzen, Courtney Jordan, Martin J. Kotler, Jeffrey Smith, Stanley Staniski, Oliver Vernon

JOANNA MARSH, The James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Mark Dion, Michelle Elzay, Kota Ezawa, Devon Johnson, Mark Newport, James Prosek, Jean Shin, Joseph Smolinski, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, René Treviño

JOCK REYNOLDS, The Henry J. Heinz II Director and Visual Artist, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

William Christenberry, Tom Green, Jacob Kainen, Betsy Packard, Lisa Scheer, Jeff Spaulding, Alan Stone, William Willis, Yuriko Yamaguchi

CHARLES RITCHIE, Visual Artist and Associate Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Jay Bolotin, Astrid Bowlby, Georgia Deal, Douglas Florian, Cassandra Kabler, Mark E. Karnes, Karey Ellen Kessler, Sangram Majumdar, Rob Matthews, Beverly Ress, James Stroud, Lynn Sures, Bill Thompson, Alice Whealin, John Wilson, Janine Wong

MERA RUBELL, Co-founder, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL

m. gert barkovic, Holly Bass, Judy Byron, F. Lennox Campello, Rafael Cañizares-Yunez, Adam de Boer, Mary Early, Victoria F. Gaitán, Carol Brown Goldberg, Pat Goslee, Jason Horowitz, Barbara Liotta, Patrick McDonough, Brandon Morse, Dan Steinhilber, Lisa Marie Thalhammer

N. ELIZABETH SCHLATTER, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA

Hsin-Hsi Chen, Irene Clouthier, Joelle Meredith Francht, Ron Johnson, Sue Johnson, Kirsten Kindler, Martin McFadden, Susan Noyes, Erling Sjovold, Jessica Van Brakle, Barbara Weissberger, Andrew Wodzianski, Amy Glengary Yang, Shannon Young

Additional works on view in the exhibition this year include a new series of glass sculptures created by Joe Corcoran, David D'Orio, Steve Jones, and Megan Van Wagoner, members of DC GlassWorks, a public access glass blowing and sculpture facility located in Hyattsville, MD. These pieces will be featured in the museum exhibition and on the dining tables during the auction event, also available for bid.

The Cream exhibition is open for viewing, Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Admission is Free. More information on the exhibition is available at www.wpadc.org. Preview the works at auction.wpadc.org.

About the Art Auction Gala
Now in its 29th year, the WPA Art Auction Gala will be held at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University and is the organization's most important fund raising event. Guests include more than 400 artists, collectors, and business leaders vying to bid on the works included in the Cream exhibition, as included above. The event supports WPA mission's to promote emerging and established artists in the greater DC metropolitan region. The gala dinner is sold out but information on purchasing party tickets will be available at auction.wpadc.org.

Best deal in the auction block (in my clearly biased opinion)? This gorgeous piece.

The place to be tomorrow is...

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)'s opening of its newest exhibition, Cream, January 30 - March 6, 2010, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

This annual exhibition features works by more than 110 local and national artists selected by an esteemed group of eight top curators including scholars, museum directors, practitioners and collectors. All works are on view until the WPA Annual Art Auction Gala, which will take place March 6, 2010, during which the exhibited works are available to the highest bidders.

(Update: AU MFA students will be having open studios on Saturday as well. The studios are located on the second floor of the Katzen Center.)

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 6-9pm, along with a talk by the curators on Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9:30pm, both at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.

The 29th iteration of this exhibition highlights some of the region's most talented artists, presenting a broad range of media and styles of both new and emerging artists as well as more established career artists. As an annual WPA presentation, the auction exhibition has gained new stature and recognition, evolving from a brief 'showing' of artists' works as a preview for the WPA's auction event, to one of the most prestigious and recognizable art showcases of its kind, with a high caliber of notable curators selecting the works. Cream is a notable survey of contemporary art in the region and beyond, with selected works representing the cream of the crop and the talent of the artists included that rose above thousands of others viewed during the curatorial process.

"We are tremendously pleased with the participating curators and their art selections - the work is fresh and exciting, and there are artists with long-standing ties to WPA as well as new names that the curators are introducing to the public," said Lisa Gold, WPA's Executive Director. "It was particularly rewarding to have a window into the curatorial process this year," she added, referring to 36 Studios- Part I, a 36-hour tour with collector Mera Rubell, during which she visited with 36 artists to inform her exhibition artwork selections.

Curator View and Presentation of Alice Denney Award
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9pm

Curator and former WPA Executive Director Jock Reynolds will present the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art to James F. Fitzpatrick, followed by a slide show and short talk by Cream curators about their exhibition selections and a preview of the exhibition.

Admission to the exhibition and curator talk is free and open to the public. Seating for the curator talk is limited; attendees are encouraged to RSVP by February 19 to info@wpadc.org.

Cream exhibition curators and their selected artists include:

KEN ASHTON, Visual Artist and Museum Technician for Works on Paper, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Margaret Adams, Chan Chao, Natalie W. Cheung, Billy Colbert, Frank Hallam Day, Matthew Girard, Avi Gupta, James Huckenpahler, Michael Dax Iacovone, Hatnim Lee, Marissa Long, Kate MacDonnell, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Ding Ren, E. Brady Robinson

KRISTEN HILEMAN, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Ken Ashton, Clarke Bedford, iona brown, Renee Butler, David Carlson, Zoë Charlton, Mary Coble, Jennifer Dorsey, Susan Eder & Craig Dennis, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Ryan Hill, Brece Honeycutt, Dean Kessmann, Cara Ober, Erik Sandberg, Joe White

CAROL K. HUH, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Jon Bobby Benjamin, Howard Carr, Neil Greentree, Max Hirshfeld, Tim Hyde, Franz Jantzen, Courtney Jordan, Martin J. Kotler, Jeffrey Smith, Stanley Staniski, Oliver Vernon

JOANNA MARSH, The James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Mark Dion, Michelle Elzay, Kota Ezawa, Devon Johnson, Mark Newport, James Prosek, Jean Shin, Joseph Smolinski, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, René Treviño

JOCK REYNOLDS, The Henry J. Heinz II Director and Visual Artist, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

William Christenberry, Tom Green, Jacob Kainen, Betsy Packard, Lisa Scheer, Jeff Spaulding, Alan Stone, William Willis, Yuriko Yamaguchi

CHARLES RITCHIE, Visual Artist and Associate Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art

Jay Bolotin, Astrid Bowlby, Georgia Deal, Douglas Florian, Cassandra Kabler, Mark E. Karnes, Karey Ellen Kessler, Sangram Majumdar, Rob Matthews, Beverly Ress, James Stroud, Lynn Sures, Bill Thompson, Alice Whealin, John Wilson, Janine Wong

MERA RUBELL, Co-founder, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL

m. gert barkovic, Holly Bass, Judy Byron, F. Lennox Campello, Rafael Cañizares-Yunez, Adam de Boer, Mary Early, Victoria F. Gaitán, Carol Brown Goldberg, Pat Goslee, Jason Horowitz, Barbara Liotta, Patrick McDonough, Brandon Morse, Dan Steinhilber, Lisa Marie Thalhammer

N. ELIZABETH SCHLATTER, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA

Hsin-Hsi Chen, Irene Clouthier, Joelle Meredith Francht, Ron Johnson, Sue Johnson, Kirsten Kindler, Martin McFadden, Susan Noyes, Erling Sjovold, Jessica Van Brakle, Barbara Weissberger, Andrew Wodzianski, Amy Glengary Yang, Shannon Young

Additional works on view in the exhibition this year include a new series of glass sculptures created by Joe Corcoran, David D'Orio, Steve Jones, and Megan Van Wagoner, members of DC GlassWorks, a public access glass blowing and sculpture facility located in Hyattsville, MD. These pieces will be featured in the museum exhibition and on the dining tables during the auction event, also available for bid.

The Cream exhibition is open for viewing, Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Admission is Free. More information on the exhibition is available at www.wpadc.org. Preview the works at auction.wpadc.org.

About the Art Auction Gala
Now in its 29th year, the WPA Art Auction Gala will be held at the Katzen Arts Center on the campus of American University and is the organization's most important fund raising event. Guests include more than 400 artists, collectors, and business leaders vying to bid on the works included in the Cream exhibition, as included above. The event supports WPA mission's to promote emerging and established artists in the greater DC metropolitan region. The gala dinner is sold out but information on purchasing party tickets will be available at auction.wpadc.org.

Best deal in the auction block (in my clearly biased opinion)? This gorgeous piece.

Strictly Painting 8

This much anticipated biennial juried exhibition at McLean Project for the Arts presents the work of artists exploring the medium of painting who reside in the Mid-Atlantic region. Juried by Jayme McLellan, well-known curator and Director of Civilian Art Projects, the exhibit will include works by thirty-seven artists. Free and open to the public; Opening reception and talk: Thursday, June 16, 7 - 9 pm.

John Anderson
Maremi Andreozzi
David Barr
Marcus Beauregard
Jennifer Bishop
Bong Kyun Noh
Kathy Brady
Nancy Bruce
Thomas Bucci
Mike Cantwell
Carolyn Case
Leigh Anne Chambers
Karl Connolly
Brian Dang
Joel D'Orazio
Joy Every
Claire Feng
Cavan Fleming
E Garner
Seth Havercamp
Timothy Horjus
Margaret Huddy
Rachel Jeffers
Ryan Carr Johnson
J.T. Kirkland
Marni Lawson
Matthew Mann
Greg Minah
Michele Montalbo
Sarah Robbins
Nicole Santiago
Judy Southerland
Nora Sturges
Champ Taylor
Dan Treado
Jessica Van Brakle
Andrew Wodzianski

Art Gallery of Potomac

I finally dropped by the check out The Art Gallery of Potomac (10107 River Road, Potomac, Maryland 20854), which as far as I know is the only art gallery in uberwealthy Potomac, Maryland (more on that later).

The gallery occupies a huge space next to Walgreens, on a former store space of horse riding supplies. After they tore down the stalls and assorted other horsey stuff, what remained behind, an industrial shell of a large space, is perfect for an art gallery: white walls, industrial-looking and raw.

After the horse store closed and the space remained empty and vacant for a while, I was told that a couple of years the artists from Potomac Artists in Touch (PAinT), got together and approached the landlord, and offered to run a gallery in the space until a paying tenant could be found (the "for lease" sign hangs prominently on the front window).

So far they've managed to last a couple of years and instead of an ugly, closed up space, Potomac's only local source of original art is now a mainstay in the Village and the only art gallery in one of the nation's wealthiest barrios.

Most of the work on exhibit appeared to be from PAinT members (Judith Bourzutschy, Colette Calilhanna, Karin Colton, Terri Cunningham, Cherry Dearie, Felisa Federman, Claire Howard, Anne Martinez, Yolanda Prinsloo, Bess Rodiquez Richard and Martha Lechner Spak), although I know that other artists also show there (the current featured show is by Anne Martinez, and it is titled "Portraits of Love" and is an exhibition of pet portraits as well as works by Stephen Dell'Aria, Merry Lymn, David Therriault and others), and I recall that the very talented Jessica Van Brakle also once showed there a while back.

Like any big group show, there was some saccharine work on exhibition, and artwork that ranged from raw amateur -both in display and artwork itself - to accomplished pieces breathing with talent and skill.

Of all the artists in the gallery, the only one that I was familiar with was the work of Argentinean artist Felicia Federman, who is a very dynamic artist and who is always exhibiting somewhere around the DMV throughout the year. Her mixed media works are her strongest skill set and those mixed media pieces are some of the best on exhibition now.

I also liked some of the work by South African-born artist Yolanda Prinsloo, who (if her portrait in her business card is accurate) is a dead ringer for Frida Kahlo!

Overall, my kudos to this hard working group of artists who took an empty shell of a space in Potomac Village and turned it into Potomac's only art gallery, which tells you something about art collectors in the DMV. I only hope that Potomac residents continue to support this artist-driven effort and hope that the landlord never leases this space.

Arlington Open Studios Tomorrow

The public is invited to visit and celebrate the artwork of 14 greater Washington, DC-area artists working at Reeb Hall Studios from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. The artists will meet the public in their studios and discuss their work.

The artists, many of whom have been exhibiting in the Washington area for more than 20 years, include Shahla Arbabi, Anne McGurk, Cynthia Young, Alice Whealin, Lee Vaughan, Carol Lopatin, Kebedech Tekleab, Phil Loiterstein, Rick Weaver, Bruce Williams, Beverly Chello-Donnenfeld, Linn Woloshin, Jessica van Brakle and Mark Giaimo.

what: Reeb Hall Artists Open Studio Event
who: Artists of the D.C. metro region
when: Sunday, October 19, 2008, 1 to 4 p.m.
where: Reeb Hall, 4451 First Place South, Arlington, VA 22204

For further directions and parking information please call 202-280-8267. This event is free and open to the public.

The 2010 Trawick Prize Exhibition

I dropped by this weekend to see the current Trawick Prize show, now on exhibition at the former Heineman Myers gallery space in Bethesda. Since I was familiar with the artwork of several of the finalists, I was particularly interested in seeing the work of the new names in the finalists' list (new to me anyway).

Russian-born artist Milana Braslavsky won the "Young Artists Award" and her very interesting photographs follow Sigmund Freud's notion of the uncanny (unheimlich), or "the feeling one suffers when the familiar suddenly becomes foreign or the attractive becomes repulsive." Freud further adds by discussing "the idea of being robbed of one's eyes." This is a concept that repeats itself obsessively through Braslavsky's strangely elegant photos, specifically in the images where the subject covers her eyes with her own hair and other materials almost as if binding her face. This is a young artist to keep an eye on, and for beginner collectors, her work is a great starting place, and at $400 - $450 for a large framed photograph, are also quite a steal.

But perhaps the most interesting new discovery for me was Anne Chan's work which explores the slick metallic world that seems to surround us everywhere in this ever growing age of technology.

They are almost the photographic equivalent of David Smith's shiny metal sculptures from the 60's, but translated into a contemporary dialogue where technology manages to make its presence known in her almost abstract works.

Magnolia Laurie's four small oils on panel reminded me a little of Jessica Van Brakle's paintings, or perhaps what would happen if some of Brandon Morse's videos were collapsed into two-D paintings.

The $10,000 prizewinner was Sara Pomerance, whose Seinfeldian videos become the first of its genre to win the DMV's most prestigious art prize. It is a well-deserved award. I first saw Pomerance's video work when I was a juror for the Art DC fair (remember that?) a few years ago. Back then they stuck in my head, especially "Too Close."

Dan Steinhilber has now won the second prize at the Trawick's twice, and so I've got my money on Dan for next year. The minimalist beauty of his untitled piece of two plastic sheeting sheets stuck to the wall being held by static electricity is a prize to the eyes of followers of what a talented mind can do with nearly anything and everything.

The show is at the former Heineman Myers Gallery space at 4728 Hampden Lane in Bethesda. A public reception will be held on Friday, September 10, 2010 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. The Gallery hours are Wednesday - Saturday from 12-6pm.

The Trawick Prize was established by local Bethesda business owner Carol Trawick. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership. Additionally, the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company. The prize was awarded well over $200,000 to DMV artists since it was established at the beginning of the decade.

What to do Sunday afternoon

What: Reeb Hall Artists Annual Open Studio Event

Who: Visit the Resident artists and participating artists: Sally Kauffman, Jessica van Brakle, Lee Vaughan, Mark Giaimo, Shahla Arbabi, Anne McGurk, Cynthia Young, Phil Loiterstein, Irene Clouthier, Alice Whealin, and Linn Woloshin.

When: Sunday afternoon, November 1, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Reeb Hall, 4451 First Place South, Arlington, VA 22204

Reeb Hall is located near the southwest corner of the intersection of Route 50, (Arlington Boulevard service road) and South George Mason Drive. It is next to the U.U.C.A.

Parking: Entrance to the building is next to the parking lot. Parking is free for the open house.

More information: www.reebhallstudios.com

Art Deals

Wanna get a Colby Caldwell for a $100 bucks? How about a Tim Tate for $100 Samolians? or an Amy Lin? or Melissa Ichiuji? Susan Jamison? Joshua Levine? Akemi Maegawa? Linn Meyers? Marianela de la Hoz?

Those blue chip artists and a ton more artists' works will be on display at the Corcoran first ever Art Anonymous fundraiser, benefiting the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s BFA Scholarship Fund.

Leading DMV contemporary artists will offer for sale original works alongside the creations of students, faculty, and staff of the Corcoran College of Art + Design and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. All works are only $100 —- the catch: all artwork is signed on the back, so the identity of the artist will remain a mystery until after the purchase.

Hard to disguise a Tim Tate or a Linn Meyers though...

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 6 p.m. Preview and Raffle, 7 p.m. Bidding Opens; Drinks and dancing until 11 p.m.

You have to RSVP for this event by May 1, 2008. For more information and to register, please click here or call (202) 639-1753.

Participating artists include: Irene Abdou, John M. Adams, Dana Aldis, Geoffrey Aldridge, Shahdeh Ammadi, Alida Anderson, Tim Anderson, Sondra N. Arkin, John Aquilino, Geoff Ault, Patricia Autenrieth, Jennifer Axner, Malena Barnhart, Jessica Grace Bechtel, Diane Blackwell, Lisa Blas, Raya Bodnarchuk, Tanya Bos, Richard Boswell, Mark Cameron Boyd, Joseph Bradley, James Brantley, Courtney Bratun, Lindsay Bratun, Julia Braun, Jean Brinton- Jaecks, Andrew Brown, Jason Bulluck, Renee Butler, Craig Cahoon, Colby Caldwell, F. Lennox Campello, Julie Carrasco, Stevens Jay Carter, Julie Casey, Gloria Cesal, Sarah Chamberlain, Amy Chan , Natalie Cheung, Nannette A. Clark, Lauren Clay, Michael Clements, Genevieve Cocco, Cindy Ann Coldiron, Tim Conlon, Bryan Conner, Sarah Coombs, Ellen Cornett, Patricia Correa, Adger W. Cowans, Robert Creamer, Christopher Cunetto, Emily Cunetto, Christopher Cunningham, Jasmine Daraie, John Deamond, Adam de Boer, Marianela de la Hoz, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Francks F. Deceus, Kate Demong, Jennifer DePalma, Rosanna Dixon, Nancy D. Donnelly, Joel D’Orazio, Katie Drenga, Nekisha Durrett, Steven Eson, Lori Esposito, Steven E. Frost, Lee Gainer, Lacey Gentry, Casey Goldman, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Liz Gordon & Anna (Na Kyung) Ahn, Melissa Green, Tom Green, Lauri Hafvenstein, Mohamed A. Hamo, Rion Harmon, Carol Harrison, Jonathan Hartshorn, Stephen Hay, Sean Hennessey, Dayan Herrara, Randall C. Holloway, Jackie Hoysted, Michal Hunter, Melissa Ichiuji, Megan Irving, Ema Ishii, Harry L. Jaecks, Chris Jamison, Susan Jamison, Ian Jehle, Ryan Carr Johnson, Sue Johnson, David Jolkovski, Adam Jones, Coty Jones, Benjamin Gray Jones, Courtney Jordan, Mila Kagan, Margaret Kepner, Amy Kincaid, Marti Deppa Kirkpatrick , Nick Kirkpatrick, Katherine Kisa, William Knipscher, Steve Lakatos, Nick Lamia, Joshua Levine, Gina Marie Lewis, Katie Lewis , Amy Lin, Heidi Lippman, Carol Lukitsch, Raymond MacDonald, Akemi Maegawa , Dana Maier, Susan Makara, Isaac Maiselman, Isabel Manalo, Joey P. Manlapaz, Katherine Mann, Nathan Manuel, Anne Marchand, James Marshall (Dalek), Madeline Marshall, Myra Maslowsky, Leah Matthews, Cory May, Lisa McCarty, John McDaniel, Joseph McSpadden, Robert Mellor, Ashleigh Nicole Meusel, Trace Miller, Adrienne Mills, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Camille Mosley-Pasley, Marci Nadler, Otto Neals, Emilia Olsen, Kerry O’Neil, Jonathan Ottke, David Page, Paulette Palacios, Chul Beom Park, Annie Peters, Brian Petro, Pamela Phillips, Ryan Pierce, Michael B. Platt, Nick Popovici ,Antonio Puri, Carole Rabel Nicoteri, Camden M. Richards, Marcel Richter, Charlotte Riley-Webb, Emily Rockwell, Andrew Roda, Lisa Rosenstein, Michael Knud Ross, Ron Rumford, Anna Samaha, Nancy Scheinman, Kahn & Selesnick, Mike Shaffer, Joanna Silver, Kristy Simmons, John Simpkins-Camp, Kerry Skarbakka, Paul So, Judy Southerland, Ashley A.. Sullivan, Lynn Sures, Zach Storm, Erik Swanson, Jordan Swartz, Tim Tate, Steve Taylor, James Stephen Terrell, Katurah L. Thomas, Kevin Tierney, Erwin Timmers, Susan Powell Tolbert, Patricia Truitt, Alexia Tryfon, Nicholas Tryfon, Katie Tuss, Linn Meyers and Bert Ulrich, Jessica van Brakle, Izel Vargas , Oliver Vernon, Ivi Volanska, Christopher Walker, Cheryl Warrick, Ellyn Weiss, Moon Young Wohn, Sharon Wolpoff, Antoinette Wysocki, Thomas Xenakis, Lindsey Nicole Yancich, Michelle Yo, Trevor Young, and Toopy Zerotree.

Go to this opening tomorrow!

For PLANNING PROCESS at the Arlington Art Center, juror Helen Allen — formerly of PULSE art fairs; currently planning D.C.’s first-ever (e)merge art fair, opening this September — selected 12 artists from across the mid-Atlantic region who were willing to reveal the ways they think and problem-solve in the studio (or in my case, in a hotel room).

The artists below (including yours truly) will exhibit preparatory drawings, computer models, and even notes scribbled in the margins of newspapers next to the finished artworks those starting steps inspired—including traditional paintings, sculpture, installation, earthworks, and even neon.

“PLANNING PROCESS” as well as the concurrent exhibition “Damsels & Daemons” are on view June 22 – Sept 25, 2011. The opening reception for both shows is this next Thursday, June 23, 7 – 9 pm.

Andrew Wodzianski shows a portrait project in which he compares members of his family to the crew of the Pequod in “Moby Dick.”

John James Anderson reveals his scheme to print blank newspapers as a prank—and how this ultimately led him to erasing the front pages of found newspapers by hand.

F. Lennox Campello offers a mock-up of a typical hotel room in order to demonstrate his ongoing project: defacing (and thereby improving) the tacky hotel art he encounters whenever he’s on the road.

R.L. Croft shows large-scale metal sculpture next to one of the R. Crumb-like pen and ink drawings that inspired it.

Craig Kraft reveals how he transforms notes and careless doodles in the margins of newspapers into wall-filling neon sculptures.

Magnolia Laurie uses her quirky pictorial language—referencing makeshift structures, natural disasters, and rubble—to create related works in recycled paper, foam, tiny pen-and-ink drawings and large finished paintings.

Jessie Lehson transforms one of AAC’s experimental galleries into a sort of giant soil mandala: an ephemeral meditative space composed with minimalist-inspired patterns.

Ephraim Russell tracks his own movements using his own homemade hand-held GPS device—and uses that data to create various drawings, printouts, and videos.

Samuel Scharf invites viewers into an unexpected encounter with deep saturated color in a small enclosed environment—an 8 foot cube with a small doorway and a lone LED lightbulb inside.

Dan Tulk creates giant minimalist grids directly on the walls of the gallery using threaded rods, string, and brightly colored yarn.

Jessica van Brakle creates hybrid graphic black and white images in which sublime landscapes are dominated by giant construction cranes.

Tom Wagner shows through a series of four studies how he melds images of contemporary architecture, figures from renaissance art, and the energy of Futurist painting.

Gallery hours: Wed – Fri, 7 – 9 pm; Sat + Sun, Noon – 5 pm

Arlington Art Center
3550 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
703-248-6800

Wanna go to a Maryland opening tomorrow?

Artists Circle Fine Art has its first 2010 exhibition, featuring the works of five local artists who were selected for their "immensely diverse portrayal of different subject matter, unique use of materials and incredible craftsmanship." Artists Circle Fine Art considers these artists some of DC’s “hidden art gems”.

Francie Hester is a long-time resident of the Washington, DC area. Armed with a variety of power tools and refined palettes of paint, Francie tackles thick, waffled sheets of aluminum to create abstract, dimensional works that have a raw, industrial – yet aesthetically beautiful – look.

Angie Seckinger has thrived in the DC area as a corporate-industrial, studio product and editorial photographer for the past 25 years. Her little known secret? - She takes fantastic macro photos that are a testament to her technical mastery of the camera.

Alan Simensky is a self-taught artist residing just outside of DC. His bright, post-Pop-esque works incorporate recognizable imagery which have been referred to as both fanciful and witty. The show will feature several pieces from Alan’s Disgruntled series, portraying themes from the workplace.

Jessica van Brakle’s most recent body of work is inspired by construction in the DC area and an ongoing interest in nature and decorative textures. Jessica’s mix of precise, hand drawn lines with carefully painted organic patterns makes for an intriguing and striking body of work.

Pamela Viola began making photography-based images at the age of fourteen. Emerging as an outgrowth of her extensive experimentation with photographic transfer printing, her current photography work focuses on textural DC landscapes

The opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 22nd from 6 to 9pm.

Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Grants Winners

Congrats to all these talented and lucky folks - they are winners of the 2019 Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Grants!

That "Florence" down there is me - this is my first award since I was an art student at the University of Washington School of Art, when I received Ford Foundation art grants 1977-1981.

Painting

Lesa Cook Frederick

Bobby Coleman Baltimore City

Lania D'Agostino Baltimore City

Sally Davies Prince George’s

Brian Michael Dunn Montgomery

Ric Garcia Prince George’s

Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi Montgomery

Jahru Anne Arundel

Matt Klos Baltimore

Kate Kretz Montgomery

Lindsay McCulloch Montgomery

Gregory McLemore Baltimore City

Ping Shen Anne Arundel

Grace Doyle Baltimore City

Jessica Van Brakle Montgomery

Nicole Dyer Baltimore City

Taha Heydari Baltimore

Sam Lacombe Baltimore City

Giulia Piera Livi Baltimore City

Janet Olney Baltimore City

Randi Reiss-McCormick Baltimore

Carolyn Case Baltimore

Maud Taber-Thomas Montgomery

Deborah Tomlin Montgomery

Alice Valenti Baltimore

Karen Warshal Baltimore City

Lauren Frances Adams Baltimore City

Scott Ponemone Baltimore City

McKinley Wallace III Baltimore City

Works on Paper

Erin Fostel Baltimore City

LaToya M. Hobbs Baltimore City

LeJea Williams Howard

Amy Boone-McCreesh Baltimore City

Florence Lennox Campello Montgomery

Deborah Addison Coburn Montgomery

Elliot Doughtie Baltimore City

Ariston Jacks Baltimore City

Kristina King Montgomery

Angelo Kozonis Baltimore City

Mike McConnell Baltimore

Jerry Truong Montgomery

Lu Zhang Baltimore City

Amanda Burnham Baltimore City

Jackie Milad Baltimore City

Leslie Suzanne Shellow Baltimore City

Julie Wills Kent

Jowita Wyszomirska Baltimore City

What to do today

What: Reeb Hall Artists Annual Open Studio Event

Who: Visit the Resident artists and participating artists: Sally Kauffman, Jessica van Brakle, Lee Vaughan, Mark Giaimo, Shahla Arbabi, Anne McGurk, Cynthia Young, Phil Loiterstein, Irene Clouthier, Alice Whealin, and Linn Woloshin.

When: Sunday afternoon, November 1, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Reeb Hall, 4451 First Place South, Arlington, VA 22204

Reeb Hall is located near the southwest corner of the intersection of Route 50, (Arlington Boulevard service road) and South George Mason Drive. It is next to the U.U.C.A.

Parking: Entrance to the building is next to the parking lot. Parking is free for the open house.

More information: www.reebhallstudios.com

Jessica Van Brakle would have loved this

Construction crane falls on museum, everyone assumes it's a new sculpture.
Attention Dallas: The construction crane that is upended, dangerously resting on your Museum of Art is not a sculpture, it is just a crane that fell. Please stop getting so close to it.

Read the article and check out loads of photos here.

Laura Roulet's Top 10

DC area ubercurator Laura Roulet needs little introduction, she's one of the major freelance curators in the DMV region, whose curatorial hand has been part of the Hirshhorn, Museum of the Americas, to name a few off the top of my head. She responds to my AOM call and sends me her top 10 artists in this year's Artomatic:

- Tim Tate and the Washington Glass School artists
- The group of artists from Sunderland, UK are outstanding, particularly Andrew Livingstone, Midori Shinmura and Theresa Easton
- Laurel Lukaszewski
- Jessica Van Brakle
- Johanna Mueller
- Mike McDermott
- Mark Jude
- Corwin Levi
- Stephanie Booth
- "Space Between", a collaboration between John M. Adams, J.T. Kirkland and Matt Sargent

Planning Process at AAC

While I was in the UK I got the news that I had been selected by Helen Allen (former creator and Executive Director of PULSE Art Fairs; former Executive Director of Ramsay Art Fairs; and current partner for the upcoming (e)merge art fair in Washington, DC) to exhibit at the Arlington Art Center's "Planning Process" exhibition.

What's this exhibition about? From the prospectus:

PLANNING PROCESS is a juried drawing show with a difference: All of the drawings selected for inclusion must be studies created in preparation for finished artworks. Winning studies will be shown alongside finished pieces in a variety of media: A sculptor or a painter could show sketches alongside finished objects . . . a video artist could show storyboards alongside video . . . an installation artists could show plans alongside photos documenting a finished project—or a recreation of that project onsite.

So for this show I will be doing an installation of my Hotel Art Intervention Project.

As many of you know, since 1977 I have been conducting a one man crusade to add original artwork to hotel rooms. As part of this process, when I travel I often bring a minimal set of art supplies as well as tools. Once I check into a hotel room, I identify a piece of hotel wall décor to be “improved” by the addition or substitution of original art. I usually disassemble the piece, and sometimes add imagery to the original piece. In some cases, whenever I feel that I can “get away with it,” (which depends on what other images are hanging in the room) I do a complete substitution of the original hotel piece (most often substituting it with an original drawing or watercolor).

For PLANNING PROCESS: Drawings and Finished Works, I proposed re-creating the Hotel Art Intervention process itself by recreating an entire hotel room at the Arlington Art Center (or at least a subset of it). There would be a bed and other hotel paraphernalia, including some usual hotel wall décor hanging on the wall, and one disassembled piece laying on the bed and been “intervened” upon. At various times during the exhibition period, this piece would be worked on and added to (by me), and at the end of the show the “finished artwork” would be hung back on the wall.

The artists selected by Allen for this exhibit are:

John James Anderson

F. Lennox Campello

R. L. Croft

Craig Kraft

Magnolia Laure

Jessie Lehson

Ephraim Russell

Samuel Scharf

Dan Tulk

Jessica Van Brakle

Tom Wagner

Andrew Wodzianski

DC Sktecher's AOM Top 10

DC Sketcher takes on my Artomatic top 10 challenge and sends me his/hers favorites:

Mei Mei Chang- 7th floor
Jessica Van Brakle- 9th floor
Jenny Walton- 9th floor
Dan D'Orio- 9th floor
Laurel Lukaszewski- 8th floor
Christian Tribastone- 9th Floor
Kelly Towles- 1st floor/Electric Stage
Meinir Wyn Jones- 5th floor
Andrea Roberson- 8th floor

I spent almost three hours last Saturday walking and checking out the 9th and 8th floor and some of the above are also on my list so far... but I have a lot of floors and artists still to see.

More on that later, and more on my thoughts why most art writers and critics are just ill prepared to write a review or commentary of something of the sheer scale of AOM and why they take the easy way out and throw away their journalistic ethics when they physically give up and trash the show rather than actually review it the same way that they would any other art show.

The answer lies in the time that it would take to write a fair review in proportion to what they are getting paid to write a review (quite probably the same as a gallery show that they can visit and form a good critical opinion in less than 15-20 minutes) rather than the multiple hours that it would take to do a fair assessment of AOM.

Capitalism strikes again in the otherwise progressive ranks of art criticism.