Saturday, November 26, 2016

Finally, he's dead!

It had to happen, after all, the old Celt was in his ninth decade, and yet, it was still somewhat of a surprise when the announcement came that the world's longest reigning dictator, Fidel Castro Ruz was dead.

Those Celtic people from Iberia's northern mountains last a long time, and Castro's generation was a particularly long-lived ones. "Estan hechos de hierro [They're made of iron]", my mother used to say.

But he's dead, and it sounds like he died in his sleep, or otherwise peacefully, unlike the tens of thousands of Cubans under his boot who died in pain, or under torture, or drowning, or against a firing-squad wall, or while being lobotomized... all because of him, via him, through him, as a result of him... him, him, him.

"El Caballo" was one lucky Celt - he escaped multiple attempts on his life; all while millions of his countrymen also escaped the hell that he made his island into.

After Fidel died, his spirit, as all do, arrived at the Pearly Gates. He stretched his tall frame and started walking towards the gate. To his relief, he noted that they were open. He also noted a tall, bald man standing outside the gates.

"I've been waiting for you," the man said in Spanish... clearly Cuban Spanish from Oriente province.

"Campello?," said Castro, recognizing the man, after all, they once spent many months together in the Sierra Maetra, "Why are you here, outside the Gates?"

My father comes a little closer to Fidel, who is still a little unsure of himself, probably for the first time in his life... ah afterlife. "As I said," repeats my father, "I've been waiting for you." He also stretches himself and he's just as tall as Castro.

Two tall Galicians facing each other.

Castro begins to speak when my father's fist smashes into his mouth, and the meaty part of Castro's inner lip shreds into his teeth. He stumbles backwards, spitting blood and teeth; his inner lip is wedged between his front teeth, making it hard to speak. He looks back, fear in his veins, looking for an escape venue. He then notices that there is a black hole nearby, and that rancid smoke and screams of pain come from within it.

Even Castro knows where that leads - after all, he studied in his youth at exclusive Jesuit schools. A privileged part of his upbringing from the upper class landed gentry of Cuba's Galician blue blood society.

He turns to my father as another fist smashes into his perfectly Aquiline nose; a Roman nose like the ancient statues. It makes a crunching sound, the bone shatters and blood begins to pump out of the nose, joining the blood from his mouth.

This is pain like Castro has never felt before. Suddenly his mind is flooded with thousands of memories of broken noses and broken teeth; all the memories of the Cubans that his henchmen tortured and killed over the decades.

He stumbles a little, trying to avoid my father and at the same time trying to avoid the black hole. He thinks that he hears a melee of voices coming from the hole - they call his name.

His first name, like Cubans once called him.

He cannot defend himself; he was always a coward. Even in the attack against the Moncada on that 26th of July long ago, he was the first to run and only one of a handful who got away. When he was finally caught, the black Cuban Army Lieutenant who captured him, recognized Castro and protected him, as that Lieutenant had once known Castro as children. It saved Fidel's life.

How did Castro repay this honorable man? He was one of the first Cubans executed in 1959. It was clear that Fidel was too embarrassed by his cowardly behavior to leave that man as a witness to it.

He's gotta talk his way out of this, but his lip is still caught and jammed between his front teeth, and his stammers and lisps. The lisp brings to mind the thousands of maricones that he sent to concentration camps for the crime of being gay. Many were accused of being gay simply because of speaking with a lisp, a gruesome logic if one side is armed with guns and power.

"Work Will Make Men Out of You" said the sign to the entrance to the concentration camp for gays and lesbians.

The next fist strikes him on the forehead and he stumbles and falls backwards. Now he feels the heat coming out of the black hole and the voices calling his name grow louder. The soundings inside his injured head is augmented with the images of the tens of thousands of gay men that he ordered "cured" via lobotomies.

He screams in terror and the thin strand of lip meat that has been wedged between his front teeth finally snaps and he's free to beg for mercy, but the blood is now pouring really fast into his throat and lungs, and he gasps for air.

My father's next punch strikes at his throat, and the Comandante begins to choke. Now his brain is filled with the over 60,000 Cubans who drowned at sea while attempting to escape from Cuba. He's drowning in blood and cannot understand how one can die twice.

One can't.

My father looks at him, and whispers the accusation that only Cubans who fought against Batista on the streets of Havana and Santiago and Guantanamo and many other Cuban cities know. Cubans who fought in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra and the Escambray; Cubans who risked their lives, and their families' lives to fight against a bloody tyrant, only to have that tyranny replaced with one a million times worse.

"Traidor", my father whispers as he kicks Castro down the black hole into the waiting hands who want to tear, the waiting teeth who want to bite, the waiting flames, which wait to burn.

There is no scream on the way down.

My father turns and slowly walks through the Gates... he's been waiting for Fidel, and now his wait is over.

"Un hombre puede ser traidor, pero un pueblo... jamas!"

Friday, November 25, 2016

Money for art

Congrats to Jefferson Pinder

Each year, United States Artists (USA) awards $50,000 fellowships to the country's most accomplished and innovative artists working in the fields of Architecture & Design, Crafts, Dance, Literature, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts and Visual Arts. Former DMV artist (now living in Chicago) and one of the 100 in my book about DC artists, Jefferson Pinder is the recipient of the Joyce Fellowship in Performance and Theater. 

Fellows are selected through a rigorous, highly competitive process involving hundreds of experts, scholars, administrators and artists. USA Fellows spotlight the importance of originality across every creative discipline, celebrating the broad diversity of American artistic practices from coast to coast, cultivating a creative ecology that is diverse in age, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. Past recipients of USA Fellowships include visual artists Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, Theaster Gates and Catherine Opie; cartoonist Chris Ware; designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy (of Rodarte); performing artist Meredith Monk; jazz composer Jason Moran; ballet dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied; choreographer Bill T. Jones; and writers Annie Proulx and Sapphire.

For more information about USA Fellowships, click here.
Jefferson Pinder's work provokes commentary about race and struggle. Focusing primarily with neon, found objects, and video, Pinder investigates identity through the most dynamic circumstances and materials.  Through his meditative exploration with light and sound or his intensely grueling corporeal performances, he delves into conversations about race. His exploration of sound, music and physical performance are conceptual threads to examine history, cultural appropriation, and portrayals of exertion and labor. Creating collaged audio clips and surreal performances he under score themes dealing with Afro-Futurism and endurance. 

His work has been featured in numerous group and solo shows including exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, Showroom Mama in Rotterdam, Netherlands, The Phillips Collection, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  At present, Pinder is preparing for the 2016 Shanghai Biennale, and has just finished a sculptural installation at the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. Pinder resides in Chicago where he is a Professor in the Sculpture department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 
For more information on Jefferson Pinder, click here
 
For available artworks by Pinder, who is represented locally by Curator's Office, click here.

Jefferson Pinder is ALSO representing the USA in the current 11th Shanghai Biennale with a work entitled Black Portal (2015). The exhibition is called "Why Not Ask Again: Arguments, Counter-arguments, and Stories" and takes place at the Power Station of Art, the first state-run museum dedicated to contemporary art in mainland China. It was curated by Raqs Media Collective and co-organized by Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi.

For more information about the 11th Shanghai Biennale, click here.

Context Art Miami - here we come!

Polarizing Mist Gun, 2016 Audrey Wilson
Polarizing Mist Gun
2016, Audrey Wilson
Glass, neon and found objects


Come see us in booth 326 at the Context Art Miami art fair Nov 29 - December 4, 2016.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that you all have the luck to spend today with your families... and I ask that we all think a thought for all of those who can't do that, especially our men and women in uniform stationed all over the world, and our sailors and Marines at sea.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Help to fund Alma

From hardworking and super-talented DMV area artist Alma Selimovic:
I am an artist who lives and creates in Mount Rainier, Maryland. I work with metal, but experiment with other materials such as plaster, digital media, photo transfers, fiberglass, etc. I have my own studio and I am involved in my local community, teaching art to kids at Art Works Now.

Six years ago, I would have never thought my life would have taken this direction. As one of the more prominent LGBTIQ activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I faced violence and threats. In late 2009, I came to the USA where I was granted political asylum.

I was new to USA, hardly making a living, struggling with language and barely making basic connections with other artists. For me, it was hard to imagine going to graduate school, having my own studio, and working endlessly.
But, here I am. Seven years later. I feel blessed to have a life I have. And, I would like to give something back. I took an opportunity to be an artist in residence at the INSTITUT FÜR ALLES MÖGLICHE, for two months (May and June, 2017) in Berlin, Germany. My focus there will be to create live digital drawings of people from Eastern Europe who are queer, trans and/or gender neutral. At the same time, I would like to record their life stories and incorporate them in the final work. I want to capture each person’s uniqueness and give their stories a different kind of voice. Incorporating visual and sound in my work is experimental for me and I am really excited to take that step. My drawings/instalations will be exhibited in Berlin, Bosnia, USA and potentially at a few other locations.

Where your money will go?

I would like to compensate travel and time of all of my models. Most individuals are transitioning or struggling in far worse ways than I ever did. I am turning to you for help. Please donate as little as you can or as much as you want. In return, you will become a part of this project and monitor its progress. You will also get a copy of my work, mailed to you upon my return to the US. If any of my work is sold during the exhibitions, part of the profit will be donated to LGBTIQ organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Please help me help others tell their stories. Please help me make these stories count. Only together we can make change.

If you are not familiar with my work you can chek it out at www.almaselimovic.com.

Thank you,
Alma

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Hurry!!!! Last minute call for artists!

Not much time... act now!
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through the work of its Employee Resource Groups (ERG), supports local organizations in different ways such as volunteering our time, sponsoring tables at fundraising events, and holding events to promote their work. This year, Latinos in Philanthropy, one of the five foundation ERGs, is hosting ArteFest  on Thursday December 8th at 2:00pm, as a way of promoting the work of local Latino artists, such as yourselves. This event aims at promoting your work but also our culture among foundation staff and supporting our local Latino arts community.

This event is an opportunity for you to promote your work and make yourself known to an audience who may not necessarily be familiar with your art.   You are welcome to bring your business cards and any other promotional material you would like to distribute.

It will not be possible to hang paintings in the conference room where the event will be held.  Instead, we will provide you with easels as it has been done for past events.  We understand that the standards you may be used to are different due to the high quality of your work; therefore, we thought it was important to communicate this information as soon as possible.   On a personal note, prior to joining the Gates Foundation, I spent 15 years working with many of the area’s museums and galleries and private collectors, focusing on the accessible display of all types of works.   I am happy to address any questions or concerns that you may have, pertaining to the set-up, logistics, and display at this small event.    I may have even installed your work(s) in the past, in one of the public offices in DC, through a partnership my former company had with the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.

Because of the foundation’s nonprofit status, we are also not allowed to compensate you for your time; however, we can refund you for transportation expenses, if necessary.

The foundation is located at: 1300 I Street, NW (near the McPherson Square metro stop). 
If you're interested, please email Laura Casey by Friday, Nov. 26th!

Her email is   Laurie.Casey@gatesfoundation.org

“Unprecedented” Van Gogh Sketchbook Controversy

Two respected art historians ignited controversy on Tuesday when they proclaimed 65 ink drawings in a newly revealed sketchbook to be authentic works by Vincent van Gogh. But the Van Gogh Museum responded swiftly with a wholehearted rejection of the claim. So what are the opposing stories and why are art world experts describing the faceoff as “unprecedented”?
Read the fascinating article by Abigail Cain here. 

At The King Street Gallery

The King Street Gallery presents the 44th Annual Faculty Exhibition. The exhibit opens December 5, with a reception December 8. This exhibition features artwork by notable emerging and established DC artists. The prolific faculty and staff of Montgomery College’s Visual and Performing Arts department exhibit recent work in this annual exhibition. The show includes notable local artists Iona Rozeal Brown, J. J. McCracken, Michael Booker, Jake Muirhead, Renee Lachman, Jeremy Flick, Ellington Robinson, and Kate Kretz, among others.


Representing varied interests and backgrounds, faculty exhibit paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, and more. The 44th Annual Faculty Exhibition includes pieces previously exhibited nationally, as well as never-before seen artwork.


The 43rd Annual Faculty Exhibition runs December 5– January 27 at the King Street Gallery. A reception will be held Thursday, December 8 from 6–8 p.m.


 The event is located at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center.


For more information, visit http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/arts-tpss/exhibitions/. Free and open to the public.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Frida Kahlo Painting Rediscovered after 60 Years

Frida Kahlo, Niña con collar, 1929. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.


For six decades, the whereabouts of Frida Kahlo’s 1929 painting Niña Con Collar remained unknown. The only evidence that oil-on-canvas portrait had even existed was a black-and-white photograph taken by Lola Álvarez Bravo in the artist’s catalogue raisonné from 1988. Now, the work has resurfaced at Sotheby’s and is slated to go to auction next week as part of the house’s Latin America: Modern Art sale, with an estimate of $1.5–2 million. But the story of how the work arrived at the auction house is about more than its expected price tag. 
Niña Con Collar has remained with a single owner, one of the artist’s former assistants, since 1955, the year after Kahlo’s death at the age of 47. As a token of gratitude, Kahlo’s husband Diego Rivera gifted the painting to this assistant, who had worked closely alongside the artist at her Mexico City studio.
Read the whole fascinating article by Isaac Kaplan here. 

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Blame it on my Navy training

Email from a major Miami glossy magazine comes in yesterday: 
 
"Need 200 words and an image on ABMB week... can you do it?"
 
I respond yes.
 
Just sent it...
 
Shocked editor responds: 
 
"WOW, my favorite new writer. You have no idea how many weeks of pulling teeth it takes me to get 60 words from some people."

Torpedo Factory Post-Graduate Residents announced

For the third consecutive year, the Torpedo Factory Art Center announced the names of the incoming Post-Graduate Residents. Fumi Amano, Nakeya Brown, Jay Hendrick, and Samantha Sethi were juried into the program by Kayn Miller, director of exhibitions at the Arlington Art Center.
 
Starting in January 2017, these four emerging artists will each occupy Studio 12, located in the center of the Torpedo Factory’s first floor, for a quarter of the year. Therein, they can create and sell work, interact with the public, and network with other artists, gallerists, and collectors.
 
“We are inviting some of the region’s most promising emerging artists into our high-visibility space and providing them with practical resources and professional development opportunities,” said Leslie Mounaime, director of Target Gallery. “This gives them a chance to define their practices and establish a network outside of an academic context. My hope is that we continue to have a dynamic exchange of perspectives, techniques, and ideas throughout 2017.”
 
Launched in 2015, this three-month residency is a competitive program that provides meaningful support to recent graduates who have recently completed master’s of fine arts degrees. It is unique program in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area for addressing the critical post-graduate juncture in an emerging artist’s career.
 
The announcement came on Thursday, November 10, during the reception for the current Post-Graduate Residents exhibition, on view in Target Gallery through November 27, 2016. Just as in the current year, the 2017 program will culminate in a group exhibition in Target Gallery, October 21 – November 26, 2017. The reception will take place during Second Thursday Art Night, November 19, at 7 pm.
 
 
Meet the 2017 Post-Graduate Residents
 
Jay Hendrick
January – March
George Mason University
Jay Hendrick questions the value of value in his work. He creates paintings, then analyzes their importance, worth, and merit by exposing his work to different methods, such as digitization, duplication, and performance. His visual vocabulary is based on grids, a stable and reliable form, and color to assess the form’s value. His sundry palette draws from high and low culture, bringing together pop-music pink with cave-born ochers.
 
During his residency, Hendrick hopes to emulate the processes of other contemporary artists in the greater Washington, D.C. region in an effort to understand why other painters do what they do. He will interview each participating artist and document the project on his blog and organize a round-table discussion about painting.

Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Jay Hendrick has shown work in the U.S., England, and Japan and his work was featured in New American Painting. In 2015, Hendrick received his master’s of fine art from George Mason University. He completed his undergraduate degree with Abilene Christian University in Texas with degrees in applied studies and a bachelor’s of fine art. He teaches at Northern Virginia Community College in Woodbridge, Virginia.
 
April – June
American University
Samantha Sethi see our world as a landscape that is both inhabited and studied by humankind, altered even as it is observed. It’s both the location and the material of our pursuit of meaning. She blends the physical with the digital in her work. In using natural materials like ice, tar, and sediment, and processes like melting and erosion, she creates works that are both action and images. She records the work in video and also draws or traces it to represent it through time.
 
During her residency, Sethi plans to pursue the further potential of this work through drawing, digital works, and physical installation.
 
Sethi is currently based in Washington, D.C. She completed her master’s of fine art at American University in May 2016. She is currently teaching art as an adjunct at AU and will teach at George Washington University in Spring 2017. Sethi completed her bachelor’s of fine art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her work has shown in New York, Washington, and Berlin and has appeared in publications including The Washington Post, Time Out New York, and Studio Visit magazine. Sethi was awarded a Mellon grant in 2015 as well as the Elizabeth Van Swinderen Award in 2016.
 
July – September
George Washington UniversityNakeya Brown’s photography touches on the racialized and commodified bodies of black women and highlights the cultural relevance of their lived experiences. Her practice centers on black beauty. She uses hair as a tool to identify facets of womanhood. Likewise, she turns her attention to specialty haircare products to entwine the materiality into identity formation.
 
While a resident, she will continue exploring the symbolism of womanhood through installation, portraiture, and still life photography.
 
Born in Santa Maria, California, Nakeya Brown received her bachelor’s in visual arts and journalism from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Her photography has been exhibited at the McKenna Museum of African American Art, Woman Made Gallery, Vivid Solutions Gallery, and Welancora Gallery. Brown’s work has been featured in publications such as New York magazine, Saint Heron, Dazed & Confused, The FADER, and NYLON, and has been published by international publications, Hysteria and Elephant. She is currently pursuing her master’s of fine art in photography at The George Washington University and will be graduating in Spring 2017.  
 
October – December
Virginia Commonwealth University
A native of Aichi, Japan, Fumi Amano seeks to do new and creative things with glass and demonstrate new possibilities within the medium. Amano entered graduate school to expand her expertise with glass as a medium, but her work shifted more into the conceptual space as she began using her art as a primary means to express her emotions, given English is her second language. Her work is inspired by her strong desire for intimacy as well as a deep sense of loneliness. She is obsessed with communicating with others and creates work that elicits visceral, gut emotions in her audience. Recent visitors to Target Gallery will remember Amano’s work Look at Me, in the group exhibition Please Touch in June 2016. Viewers were invited to lick the frosted glass pane to reveal themselves to a person on the opposite side.
 
During her residency, Amano hopes to collaborate with local artists to integrate into her glass house project, in which she hosts performances in a house she creates from reclaimed window frames. Through her work, she also hopes to address some of the gender and racial stereotypes that she’s encountered as a Japanese woman in America.
 
Amano completed her undergraduate studies in art education at the University of Education in Aichi before refining studies of her medium at Toyama Institute of Glass Art in Toyama, Japan, and at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Amano has won several awards including best student work at Niijima Glass Art Festival in Tokyo and also at Pilchuck Glass School. Her work was selected at the International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa, Japan; the Contemporary Glass Triennial in Toyama, Japan; and the Itami Craft Triennial in Osaka, Japan. She has shown her work in group and solo exhibitions in both the U.S. and Japan. She is presently enrolled in the master’s of fine arts program at Virginia Commonwealth University to study glass art and will be graduating in spring 2017.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

At the National Building Museum

November 19, 2016 - February 12, 2017at the National Building Museum


DISTRICT II is a poetic visual essay exploring the changing streetscape of downtown Washington in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s through the urban street photography of Chris Earnshaw, Joseph Mills, and the late Bill Barrett.


Organized by the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. and presented in partnership at the National Building Museum, DISTRICT II explores several decades of architectural and social change in the heart of the Nation’s Capital, from the majesty of the McGill building, to storefronts exclaiming TOPLESS GO GO, to sleeping street denizens and the aching beauty of respectable rooming houses turned less-so flophouses slated for the wrecking ball.

Call for Artists: Silent Auction

Deadline for submissions is January 23, 2017


The Howard County Arts Council is seeking artists to participate in the annual Juried Silent Art Auction Exhibit as part of the Arts Council’s annual fundraising gala, Celebration of the Arts in Howard County. The Silent Auction shines a spotlight on Howard County’s diverse and talented visual arts community at this important event.
 
All 2-D, 3-D, and fine craft artists, 18 years or older, residing, working, or studying in Howard County; HCAC members; and artists who have exhibited in Howard County in the last year are eligible to submit. Deadline for submissions is January 23, 2017.
 
Visual artists working in all styles and media are invited to apply, including painters, sculptors, ceramicists, fiber artists, jewelers, and photographers. Artists will be selected by the silent auction committee who may also invite artists who are eligible to participate. This showcase of artists in Howard County has proven to be a great benefit to both established and emerging talent in the community and is also a successful fundraiser to support art programs, exhibitions, and organizations in the county.
 
This year’s Celebration will be held at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College on Saturday, March 25, 2017 from 6-10pm. The Silent Auction exhibit will be presented in the Rouse Company Foundation Gallery. The final bid for each artwork sold will be divided equally between the artist and the Arts Council. Last year’s Silent Auction resulted in $11,375 in sales, with 81 pieces sold.
 
For more information or to submit an entry, visit A prospectus with additional information is available on the Celebration page of the Arts Council’s website at hocoarts.org; to have a prospectus delivered via postal mail or email, please call 410-313-ARTS (2787).

Context

Want free passes to Art Miami, Context and Aqua Art Fair? Send me an email

Friday, November 18, 2016

Judith Peck, The Reachable Shore

One of the hardest DMV area artists that I know, and easily one of the blue chip painters in our region is Judith Peck! Join me at the opening reception for her solo show...

The Seed of Change   
Judith Peck. Oil and plaster on board  
c. 2016, 33x31 inches
Opening Dec. 2nd 6-9 pm
Artists and Makers Studios 2
12276 Wilkins Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852
   

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Art Scam Alert!

Be aware of this mutant trying to rip off artists!
From: Arif Mumuni General Trading LLC
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 11:44 AM
Subject: "Obama Agonistes" Charcoal and conte drawing, electronic components and video loop. Circa 2011. 16 x 32 inches. In a private collection in Miami Beach, Florida QUOTE INQUIRY
 
Dear Sir,

I would like to purchase some ("Obama Agonistes" Charcoal and conte drawing, electronic components and video loop. Circa 2011. 16 x 32 inches. In a private collection in Miami Beach, Florida), From your store/company to our office in Dubai,
We are interested in buying your products,

I look forward to a successful transaction with you. I will be waiting for your
response soon.

Arif Mumuni General Trading LLC
Abdul Arif Mumuni
Dubai
P.O.Box: 96547, Dubai

New non profit launches

ARTIVE, a new not-for-profit organization will today launch globally with a stated mission to protect and preserve the world's cultural heritage through the use of technology.

Artive will act as an independent advocacy group for the protection of cultural heritage worldwide and will maintain a universal, digital and searchable archive for works of art and cultural property.

Artive is seeking to unify the vast amount of information about at-risk, stolen, looted and destroyed works of art and cultural property held by a diverse and dispersed range of institutions and organizations. By providing a central, not-for-profit data resource, Artive will create a new, secure and permanent platform preserving cultural heritage for present and future generations.

The platform is aimed at cultural heritage professionals, academic bodies, law enforcement bodies, professional service companies and private individuals, and seeks to address and rectify the information gap that exists between independent, disparate and commercial databases.

Artive's database system and records will also have a pertinent application to due diligence practices in the commercial art market. Artive will be the first not-for-profit, impartial service for identifying claims or taints attached to works of art.

The not-for-profit will be headquartered in the United States but will operate with an international mission. Artive is inviting cultural institutions, law enforcement agencies, intergovernmental bodies, and all holders and custodians of data worldwide to host their records on the new database system, itself the most technologically advanced and agile collection management tool in the world. It also invites organizations and individuals with similar causes to partner with Artive for the protection and preservation of the world’s cultural heritage.

Jason Sousa, CEO of Artive, said:

“This is the most disruptive innovation in the cultural heritage world for 30 years. We believe in the power of community to solve problems by sharing information. Together, we can create and manage the world’s most comprehensive public database to protect and preserve cultural heritage today, tomorrow and for generations to come.”

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

MoCo and Artomatic - The council responds!

In response to my issue raised here, where I complain about the 11th wealthiest county in the USA's lack of financial support for Artomatic, Nancy Floreen, President of the MoCo county responds:



MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
 
 
OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT
 
 
Dear Mr. Campello, 

Thank you for your correspondence urging the County to purchase art from local artists participating in Artomatic in Montgomery County. I have made it available to my Council colleagues, and I am pleased to respond on their behalf.
The Executive Director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) was correct when she said that no funding has been designated for this purpose.  Funding for the arts was reduced during the recent recession and has slowly been increased each year since.  The County Executive is currently developing the FY18 budget for the AHCMC and other arts projects supported by the County.  Therefore, I am forwarding your letter to the Executive’s office so that he can consider your funding request for the purchase of local art for inclusion in the FY18 budget which will come to the Council in few months.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on this important matter.

Best,
 
Nancy Floreen
President, Montgomery County Council

5048473

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

New boss at GRACE

The Board of Directors for the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) today announced the appointment of Lily Siegel as the Center's Executive Director and Curator. She will start on December 5. The appointment comes at an important time in the Center’s history, as it builds out its Destination GRACE vision of becoming an even more robust cultural institution in the DC metropolitan region, coinciding with the arrival of the Metrorail’s Silver Line.



“GRACE is a strong regional voice well poised for national impact. Together with the terrific Board of Directors and staff, I will promote that development through a robust exhibition program that includes local and international artists shown side-by-side,” Ms. Siegel said. “We will expand the scope of educational programing, both in regional schools and in the gallery, by emphasizing the promotion of art to enrich community. The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival will continue to grow by broadening the opportunities for artists and the public to get involved.”
 
Ms. Siegel received her BA (Visual Arts: History and Criticism) from the University of California San Diego and her MA (Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She began her career as a curatorial assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, followed by tenures as the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the High Museum in Atlanta and then as the Associate Curator at The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM) in San Francisco. Since moving to Washington, DC, just over a year ago, she has continued her relationship with The CJM as a guest curator for the exhibition From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory in Contemporary Art, which opens on November 25. She will be presenting an exhibition on the late artist Moira Dryer, Moira Dryer: Vice Versa (working title), at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. in Spring 2018. Exhibition research for Moira Dryer: Vice Versa has been generously supported by a Curatorial Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
 
“Lily has already achieved a great deal in her young career, which speaks to her special talents,” said Robert Goudie, GRACE Board Chair. “She brings outstanding academic achievement, a passion for contemporary art, a demonstrated ability to raise money for and manage significant projects, and a national perspective, relationships, and experiences. She’s exactly the right person to lead us forward in our determination to become an even more impactful presence in the metropolitan area’s visual arts landscape. We could not be more excited to have her assuming the leadership of the organization.”
 
“I am honored by this opportunity and look forward to getting to work. The chance to lead this dynamic period of growth and extend GRACE's already well-established reputation for quality is a compelling combination for me,” said Ms. Siegel. “GRACE has a rich history in the community. As the community grows—with the coming of Metrorail and extension of the DC metro area—so will GRACE.”