New Acquisitions at Testudo U

From the University of Maryland:

In the spring of 2008, five gifted students were selected to be part of a committee that was taught the intricacies of contemporary art and sent on trips to New York City and Washington D.C, where they visited multiple galleries and artists ’ studios. The program concluded with the committee of students purchasing a number of pieces of contemporary art to be added to the collection of The Adele H. Stamp Student Union, Center for Campus Life.

The committee’s selections are currently on exhibition in The Stamp Gallery, located on the 1 st floor of the Stamp. The exhibition runs from August 31st-October 1st, 2009 with an opening reception on September 17th from 5-8pm .

This sounds like a really cool program and an art program that puts its money where its mouth is! I am already curious which galleries in DC they visited and if they also visited any other spaces in the Greater DC area.

For more information about the exhibition and the program contact the gallery at 301-314-8493 or stampgallery@umd.edu.

Lida Moser

I'm glad to report that photography legend Lida Moser was able to make it to her opening. This in spite of just being released from the hospital where she was as a result of a fall and associated bone fractures.


That's one tough New Yorker and in the background that's curator Erik Denker, the Senior Lecturer, Education Division at the National Gallery of Art, who is also an authority on all things Moser.

The end of a blog?

"I'm still not 100% sure that this post is the end of the road for Thinking About Art. There are several unfinished projects that have stalled and there is certainly more to say. There is more to learn as well, but the thing I have found is that the blog can really put pressure on some relationships. There are art dealers who were once friends of mine who now ignore me. It has been suggested that some of my reviews from 5 years ago might have played a role in me not getting into some MFA programs. I know for a fact that I've been excluded from shows and other opportunities because of the blog. Knowing this, has the past 5 years been worth it? Absolutely, yes. I've learned so much writing this blog and interacting with you, the reader, that I feel I have grown astronomically as an artist. The relationships I have formed because of this blog have been enriching and I value them immensely."

Read Kirkland's post here. In reading JT's post, I readily understand his points, and it doesn't take much to visit a few once super-active and interesting blogs, both local and national, to see that most art bloggers seem to have reached blogexhaustion with content and posts declining in most of them while others have translated their writing skills, honed through blogging, into paid gigs with magazines and newspapers. And in some cases, the sensationalist ingredient of political blogging has so poisoned some blogs' wells, that now they are nothing but harbingers of the art world's bad news and dirty laundry.

I'll be here while I am still having fun.