DC is humming with a lot of new gallery shows opening soon... this is certainly not a sleepy summer in the art gallery scene, and any writer/critic/BLOGger that claims that is just lazy.

Ready.......

Fusebox is without a doubt one of the best galleries in our area, and no one around here works harder than their two owners, Finlay and Murcia. Fusebox will next host Charles Juhász-Alvarado's Fuse Muse, curated by Laura Roulet, in their main exhibition space, and a Summer Group Exhibition in their project space. Both exhibitions open July 10 and run through August 7, 2004. A reception for the artists will be held Saturday, July 10, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

Charles Juhász-Alvarado is one of Puerto Rico’s most exceptional and talented young artists. While included in numerous solo and group exhibitions on the island and abroad, this exhibit will be his debut in Washington DC.

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Not too far from Fusebox, the Gallery at Flashpoint has "Ami Martin Wilber: contained existence" opening on Thursday, July 15. The site-specific installation will include one hundred of her sculptures composed of steel, rubber, Pyrex beakers, and human hair. Through August 14.

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At Spectrum Gallery in Georgetown, Elsie Hull, Karen Keating, Grace Taylor, and Judith Walser will have an exhibition called "Prisma at Spectrum Gallery, Four Photographers - Four Visions."

By the way, both Karen Keating and Grace Taylor, are but a handful of DC area photographers that I know of with a Sotheby's secondary market record.

The opening reception is on July 15 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Spectrum Gallery has been in Georgetown since 1966! Considering that most galleries shut down in six months or less, this is quite an accomplishment!

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At Touchstone Gallery, "Take 10: Works by Ten Washington Photographers" - Diana Adams, Kay Chernush, Patrice Gilbert, Ruth Schilling Harwood, Lisa Masson, Irene Owsley, Margaret Paris, Barbara Tyroler, Harriet Wise, and Pamela Zilly with an opening reception on July 9, 6 - 8:30 PM.

Touchstone has been around since 1976!

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One of DC's art firebrands, curator Andrea Pollan has organized "Plastic Tactics" - Outdoor Sculpture on Mt. Royal Avenue between Cathedral & Lanvale Streets. The Artists are Kathryn Cornelius, Decatur Blue, Jill Greenberg, T. Charnan Lewis, Gabriel Martinez, Renée Rendine, Jeff Spaulding, Dan Steinhilber, Daniel Sullivan and Team Response.

Opening Reception: Friday, July 9, 6-9pm

Los Angeles Center For Digital Art Call for Artists...

Deadline for entries: September 5, 2004

LACDA announces an open call for their un-juried show featuring digital art and photography: "Snap to Grid."

All entries will be printed (8.5"x11" on Epson heavyweight matte paper) and shown in their gallery arranged in a grid. Note to artists: This is an open competition, which means exactly that: ALL entries will be accepted and shown.

Entrants submit one JPEG file of original work. All styles of 2D artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to the creation of the images are acceptable. Digital video stills and screen shots of web/new media are acceptable.

Prior to and after the exhibition the images and artist information will be available to gallery visitors to view in their artist portfolios. Prints can be made available to buyers on an as needed basis. Artwork for future exhibits will be selected from the portfolios, and will also be available for review by area gallerists, curators and arts journalists.

Show Dates: September 9-October 1, 2004 and the registration fee is $30. Submission Rules: Registration and submission are done through their web site only. File uploads are the only accepted submissions and are maximum of 2MB each and not exceed 1024x768 pixels in dimensions.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant

Deadline: September 15, 2004.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund invites visual artists (excluding filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists) to apply for grants to enable recipients to develop their talent and concentrate on their art.

Artists must be 40 years or older, and must live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. Two grants will be awarded in 2004. Grants awarded in 2003 were for $25,000 and $20,000.

Applications must be postmarked no later than September 15, 2004.

To obtain a current application form, please visit the Fund's website, or write to the Fund at 5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268, Washington, D.C. 20015. Send email inquiries to this email address.

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The Ruth Chenven Foundation

Deadline: July 31, 2004.

Awards up to $1,500 to U.S. crafts artists engaged in or planning a project. For more information, send a SASE to: Ruth Chenven Foundation, 7505 Jackson Ave., Tacoma Park, MD 20912.

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grants

Emergency grants are offered to artists who find themselves in need of financial assistance for unforeseen catastrophic events, including fire, flood, or emergency medical needs.

Open to artists working in painting, sculpture, or printmaking. Must be able to demonstrate at least 10 years in a mature phase of their work. Funding is not available for chronic situations, capital improvements, or projects.

To request an application form, contact:

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation
380 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 226-0581
Fax: (212) 226-0584.

For more information, check their website here.

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The Artists Fellowship provides funding to professional fine artists and their families during times of emergency, disability, or bereavement. The Fellowship does not accept requests from performance artists, filmmakers, craft artists, hobbyists, commercial artists, or commercial photographers.

For more information, contact:

Artists' Fellowship, Inc.
47 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (646) 230-9833 or check website.

The Post's Sunday Arts had this wonderful article By Peter Marks profiling ten young, emerging DC actors.

Why not have one of the Post's visual art critics write the same kind of article about ten young, emerging DC visual artists? Either O'Sullivan or Dawson could probably very easily write a piece highlighting ten young (say under 40) area artists. It would be great food for discussion, disagreement and fun. And it would help propel some of those artist's careers.

Instead we get this.

I tried not to mention this, since I am so glad the WCP did such a good job in their article about Manon Cleary, but in the same issue of the WCP there's a review (by another writer) that begins like this...

"The most striking thing about the photographs of Frida Kahlo and her muralist husband, Diego Rivera, currently on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute is how much Kahlo looks like her self-portraits."

I'm I the only one going...

Duh!

The current issue of the Washington City Paper has one of the best articles about an artist that I have ever read in the Washington press.

The article is by John Metcalfe and it is about Manon Cleary, in my opinion, not only the best artist in the Washington area, but perhaps the most powerful realist brush in the nation.

Manon is represented locally by Addison/Ripley Fine Art and in Baltimore by Light Street Gallery and her life and work read like an artist's life should read - including all the suffering and destruction that goes along with being a creative genius.

John Metcalfe has done a terrific job in re-creating the lifestyle and the life led by Cleary, although I wish the article had included some images of Cleary's artwork.

Let this be the first call for a Manon Cleary retrospective at either the Hirshhorn Museum or the Corcoran.

It is long overdue for one of those two Washington museums to give a well-deserved show to Washington's best-known and most talented artist.

Jeff Bloom has a great new online resource for Greater Washington area photographers. It is DC Photo Scene and it is a really great resource for what's going on our area about or for photography.

I've just been told some great news. There is a committee which is planning an Art-O-Matic for 2004! The official Art-O-Matic website has some info about it.

The Art-O-Matic 2004 Steering Committee has a BLOG here.

Art-O-Matic is without a doubt the single greatest art event that happens in Washington, DC. Nothing comes close to it in visual power and impact.

For information about future Art-O-Matic events, artists should sign up here.

The 2004 Steering Committe has some very talented and well-versed-in-the-DC art scene names.

People such as artists Richard Dana, Judy Jashinsky, Rima Schulkind, Andres Tremols and others as well as collector Philip Barlow and art activist George Koch.

I cannot say enough good things about Art-O-Matic. My review of Art-O-Matic 2002 can be read online here and a second review of that same show can be read here.

If you'd like to be a part of Art-O-Matic 2004, as an artist, performer, or volunteer, check out the information on the Art-O-Matic 2004 Get Involved page.

The long awaited and often-protested against, Gunther von Hagens exhibition “Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" finally makes its U.S. debut in Los Angeles as part of a notorious world tour that started in 1996. The exhibition is at the California Science Center.

Initially intended to teach people about the human skeletal, cardiovascular and other systems, the exhibit includes 25 bodies that have undergone a process called “plastination” in which body fluids are replaced with clear, pliable plastic. It has become an art show, rather than just a science show and somehow pushed aside the YBAs less horrific attempts to do the same with animals.

According to the article, during exhibit stops in Asia and Europe, about 6,000 people have signed papers donating their bodies to von Hagens' institute for possible plastination.

Pushing figurative art even further. Just when one thinks that representational art cannot be coaxed into producing anything "new." And as we all know, "new" is what seduces art critics into auto-thinking "good."

When does a Biennale become a scam?

Read this.

Thanks to Arts Scuttlebutt, without a doubt one of the best online resources in the world for artists, where you can post questions about just about anything dealing with the visual arts and you'll get experienced responses.

Today is the first Friday of the month and thus the Dupont Circle Galleries will be having their monthly extended hours from 6-8 PM.

See ya there!

Congratulations to (formerly from Miss.) Reston, Virginia photographer James W. Bailey, who just won the Albert J. Turbessi Award this past Sunday for his photograph, “Woman at the Tomb,” at the 47th Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art, which was juried by Donald Kuspit.

Congratulations to Gaithersburg, Maryland artist Chum Ngek, who is one of 12 artists to receive the 2004 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

On five consecutive Thursday evenings this summer, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and its Museum Store are hosting extended hours until 8 pm.

Free programs include something for everyone -- artist talks, "Hot Nights Jazz," lectures, tours, family activities and after-hours films. For Hirshhorn Hot Nights updates, visit the Museum's website.

Success as an Artist Seminar offered on August 8, 2004.

Almost as soon as we opened our first gallery in Georgetown in 1996, artists began pouring in seeking representation. This continues to this day, and between visits, emails, packages in the mail, etc. we generally receive around 600-800 inquiries a year.

Because we obviously cannot represent or sell the work of such a huge number of artists, a lot of good, talented artists are turned away, after we have recommended follow on steps on what to do. However, in our first few months, Catriona soon discovered that she was spending most of her of time with emerging artists discussing many of the same things over and over, which generally consisted of giving out career advice about such things as gallery representation, contracts, grants, competitions, resumes, etc.

This was not only time consuming with scheduled appointments, but many unscheduled visits caused her to spend several hours a day just meeting with artists and essentially passing out the same information, over and over.

Then her mother came out with a brilliant idea: Why not come up with a structured, formal seminar for emerging artists to pass out this information as well as other important information. Not theory, not review of artwork, but practical advice, usable handouts and a forum to answer questions all at once.

We held our first seminar in 1999 – it was supposed to run for four hours but it ran for seven. So eventually we changed it to a full day, seven hour seminar, and have now presented it to over 1,000 artists and art administrators from nearly every Mid Atlantic state – with attendees coming from as far north as New York and as far south as South Carolina.

It has been spectacularly successful in offering practical business advice to the emerging artist on many areas not covered by any art school curriculum that we know of. The information, advice and details taught at the seminar are not based on theory, but on actual practical experience and hands-on effects. That’s why it has been so successful!

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.

The seminar lasts for seven hours and is now offered twice a year. It costs $80 and the next one is scheduled for August 8, from noon to 7 PM at our Bethesda gallery. Interested artists can read more details or print a registration form online at www.thefrasergallery.com/seminars.html or just call Catriona at 301/718-9651.

The seminar is held at the Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, in Bethesda. The gallery is one block from the Bethesda Metro stop on the Red Line. Ample free parking is also available.

Job Opportunity for Photographer...

The Associated Press seeks a Photo Editor responsible for working with photographers, photo editors,news editors to improve and guide the Washington, DC., photo report. This position will be responsible for planning, organizing and executing coverage of major news and sporting events. Photoshop and computer skills necessary.

Contact:
John E. Hall/ Assistant Bureau Chief/Photo
2021 K st. NW
Washington, DC. 20006
202-776-9511
jhall@ap.org

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Call for Artists...

Deadline: Friday, July 30, 2004

Alexandria Festival For the Arts: Regional Artist Juried Exhibition. Open to all artists living or working in Northern Virginia working in all media. Exhibition Dates: September 11 and September 12, 2004, as part of the national Alexandria Festival for the Arts. Juror: Peter Dubeau, Associate Dean, Division of Continuing Studies, Maryland Institute College of Art, former Director of School 33, Baltimore, MD.

Cash awards available. Postmark Deadline for Submissions: Friday, July 30. Entry fee: $15 for slides or JPEG digital images of up to three (3) works. For prospectus, please e-mail: regionalartist@hotmail.com or call 703-838-4565 x 6.

Tomorrow is the long awaited opening of the Ana Mendieta retrospective at the Whitney in New York.

Organized and curated by our own Olga Viso, the energetic Deputy Director of the Hirshhorn, the show will be on view in New York from July 1 – September 19, 2004 and then it will travel to the Hirshhorn.

Ana Mendieta was a Pedro Pan child and her interest in exploring the female body and its social and political implications through performances, sculptures, and “actions” has a tremendous impact, which although clearly evident, has not truly been recognized - hopefully this exhibition will plant Mendieta very firmly as one of the last century's most influential (and under recognized artists).

This show is a survey of fifteen years of this exiled Cuban artist’s career, and it includes the well-known Silueta Series, made in Iowa and Mexico from 1973 to 1980, as well as Mendieta’s sculptures and installations of the early 1980s.

Look for Hollywood to "discover" the spectacular life led by Mendieta and her even more spectacular death. Mendieta fell from a window of her 34th-floor Greenwich Village apartment where she lived with her husband, the sculptor Carl Andre. He was charged with but eventually acquitted of her murder.

Leslie Cahmi wrote a really good article about Mendieta in the Sunday New York Times. Read it here - at BookofJoe.

Joe Barbaccia points out an interesting story in today's Post.

Creative minds do create in many different avenues and forms.

Thanks to AJ...

The Democratization of Cultural Criticism by George Cotkin is a must read.

"If literary criticism is marked by vicious prose and petty bickering, then art criticism exists without firm judgments... The state of cultural criticism today, in the view of many, is debilitated, perhaps even moribund... our present generation of cultural critics, arriving after the assault of postmodernism and the increasingly widespread commercialization of culture, has been cast adrift, without any firm basis for judgments... Critics today, it is also claimed, are too cozy behind the ivied walls of academe, content to employ a prose style that is decipherable only to a handful of the cognoscenti."

And does this sound familiar in reference to a couple of our local art scribes?

"Today the complaint is that literary culture lacks civility. We live in an age of commercialism and spectacle. Writers seek the limelight, and one way to bask in it is to publish reviews that scorch the landscape..."