The Power of the Web

Well... the power of this blog really.

A while back I wrote a review of Shelly Voorhees at the gorgeous Black Rock Arts Center in Gaithersburg.

Gallerist Sheila Giolitti from Mayer Fine Art in Norfolk read the review, contacted Shelly and when an unexpected opening in her scheduled happened (gallerists hate that!), she gave Voorhees a solo show! I believe that they're also taking Voorhees work to the Art Basel fairs in Miami later this year.


This is the main reason why artists should always look around for opportunities and show their work as much as possible. One never knows who is about to see your work and what doors are about to happen.

And here is a great opportunity.

Potomac Valley Watercolorists Annual Fall Art Exhibit and Sale

When: Saturday, November 7, 3:00-7:00pm, and Sunday, November 8, 12:00-4:00pm

Potomac Valley Watercolorists artists from the greater Washington metropolitan area will exhibit original paintings at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 4000 Lorcom Lane, Arlington, VA, on Saturday, November 7, 3:00-7:00 p.m., and Sunday, November 8, 12:00-4:00 p.m.

A wide variety of sizes and styles (including both framed and unframed paintings) will be available for sale (cash, check or credit card). Admittance is free, refreshments will be provided and exhibiting artists will be on site.

It will be my honor to award the prizes at this exhibit.

Potomac Valley Watercolorists (PVW) is a regional organization of water media painters who have been selected for membership through a highly competitive process. Members have exhibited extensively at the local, national and international levels.

Details here.

Art Teacher Exhibition

Opening reception of the Fairfax County Public Schools Art Teacher Exhibition is Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 6:00pm - 7:30pm at Northern VA Community College - Annandale

If you can't make the reception, you should try to stop by and see all the work. The show is up November 2-14 @ the Ernst Community Cultural Center on the Annandale NVCC campus.

Interns Needed

One of my absolutely top favorite artists around the DC area is the ubiquitous Mark Jenkins, the street artist genius that I call the "tape dude."

Mark has a few shows lined up and he is in dire need of some interns.

Anyone interested should email Mark at daylightdrama@yahoo.com.

SOFAlab is tomorrow

How and where do art and science - two seemingly disparate disciplines of intellectual inquiry - overlap? And, at that confluence, what can practitioners of both disciplines learn to expand their unique fields of knowledge and to affect consciousness?

SOFAlab on Nov. 5, 2009.

SOFAlab's keynote speaker, Tod Machover - Professor of Music and Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, the inventor of Hyperinstruments, a trained-Juilliard musician, and, the man Los Angeles Times deemed, “America's Most Wired Composer” - will bring his boundless knowledge of creative technology to the discussion. With each of Machover's innovations, such as his Hyperinstruments, Hyperscore, Brain Opera, Toy Symphony and MMH (Music, Mind and Health), he has intentionally explored the space where science and art collide and in doing so challenged traditional perceptions of both fields.

Expanding the discussion further, SOFAlab's panelists will include Maria Barbosa, Professor of Biology and a DC-based installation artist, Ernesto Barreto, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, and Brandon Morse, Professor of Digital Media at the University of Maryland and a DC-based video installation artist specializing in 3-D environments and animation software.

SOFAlab takes place on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 - 6pm reception, 7pm keynote address & panel at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1530 P Street, NW, Washington, DC. Free and Open to the Public.

For more information please contact the organizers: Helen Frederick, Shanti Norris, or Paul So, or view the event website at /www.hamiltonianartists.org/sofalab.

FotoWeek DC

So now I've got the press release and all the details on FotoWeek DC:

FotoWeek DC is one of the largest international photography festivals in the world, and it returns to Washington, DC with The FotoWeek DC Awards competition exhibition November 7 – 14, 2009 and an unprecedented roster of events and participating organizations.

Established in 2008, FotoWeek DC "celebrates the profession, the art and the sweeping influence of photography, embracing local, national and international communities of photographers, students, amateurs and the general public during its week long festivities in Washington, DC and the surrounding region."

"FotoWeek DC, in just two years, has evolved from a city wide photography festival to one of international scope,” said Theo Adamstein, Founder of FotoWeek DC. “Through our partnership with world-renowned photographers, we are thrilled to present numerous exhibitions, lectures and programs that encompass a broad spectrum of photography from editorial photojournalism to experimental fine art--and everything in between. This inspiring week-long festival celebrates what photography means to people today, from both a local and a global perspective.”

Highlights include:

• The 2009 FotoWeek DC Awards competition, which has received more than 3,500 images from photographers in 39 states and 28 countries. Photojournalism, editorial, commercial and fine art imagery from twenty-eight countries has been submitted both in single and series form, as well as in multimedia pieces that combine the strength of still images with video, sound and graphics. Open to professionals, amateurs and students with $21,500 in cash awards, including the $5,000 prestigious Spirit of Washington Award, the FotoWeek DC 2009 Awards are judged by a panel that includes many of the industry's most elite editors, photographers and executives. Awards in 12 categories will be presented at the National Geographic Society’s Headquarters on Thursday, November 5, 2009, and the finalists’ work will be featured in the Awards exhibition at FotoWeek Central 1, located at 3338 M Street NW.

• FotoWeek DC and curator Lucian Perkins, himself a Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist, will present special exhibitions of work never before seen in Washington, DC, including new images from Iraq, Russia, and Cuba. Also on view will be “Thy Brother's Keeper,” a powerful exhibition of work by twenty-five esteemed photojournalists who “chronicle the complex multidimensional issues related to global justice and human rights transgressions.”

• The FotoWeek DC Lecture Series, featuring renowned photographers including Tim Hetherington, Lincoln Schatz, Deborah Willis, Matthew Niederhauser, and Ernesto Bazan at American University’s Katzen Arts Center and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

• NightVisions, the first-ever, all night FotoWeek DC live photo shoot in which area photographers are encouraged to participate by shooting and delivering their images to FotoWeek Central 1 (3338 M Street NW) for immediate downloading, printing and displaying.

• NightGallery DC, where visitors will experience the ephemeral magic that comes when light meets surface during a dazzling display of multi-story, large scale projections on the façade of FotoWeek Central 1(3338 M Street NW) of finalists’ work from the FotoWeek DC Awards competition and of selected images from FotoWeek DC special exhibitions. Select buildings in Rosslyn (November 6-8) and Crystal City (November 8-10) will also feature projections, all beginning at dusk.

•FotoWeek DC's 2nd ANNUAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW DAY, Sunday, November 8, 2009 organized by The American Society of Picture Professionals and the Corcoran College of Art + Design, brings 20 nationally acclaimed photography professionals to review the work of participating photographers who sign up in advance.

• Multiple embassies sponsoring FotoWeek DC exhibitions and events, including the official opening reception on November 7, 2009 at the House of Sweden, co-hosted by the American Film Institute featuring “What Lies Beneath: Nature & Urban Landscape in EU Photography,” curated by Judith Turner Yamamoto.

• From DC to Maryland to Virginia, galleries and arts organizations throughout the area are presenting exhibitions, lectures, book signings and more. Whether displaying the work of local photographers or photography of national renown, the gallery community will be united by its focus during FotoWeek DC.

Please visit www.fotoweekdc.org for a full itinerary of events, registration for portfolio reviews, and donation opportunities.