Someone formerly from the Washington Projects for the Arts just pointed out a big error in the CP article by Kriston Capps. In the article Capps compares my 100 Washington Artists book to WPA efforts to expose DC area artists; he writes:
"And the gains may be limited for the artists, whose peers are many, and who compete for a vanishingly small slice of the pie. Half of Campello’s selections appear in the WPA’s Artfile, a browsable archive where member artists upload artists’ statements and images—a lot like what Campello is offering. Until recently, the WPA Artfile was published in print: a guide, not a game-changer."This is completely incorrect and inaccurate.
The WPA Artfile has never been published in print.
What was published in print in the past was a separate WPA project which had nothing to do with the Artfile, and it was done at a very reasonable cost to the artists ($80 per artist as I recall) and open to anyone who submitted their inclusion fee and WPA membership fee. There are hundreds of artists in these WPA guidebooks, and each artist had one page with contact information and one image.
Also, as far as I know that WPA guidebook was never offered for sale in bookstores or Amazon, etc. as my book will be. And in my book none of the artists pay a cent to be in it.
Thus the comparison (erroneous to start with) is like comparing apples and mangoes.
The Artfile is a lot like what the books offers. It is not the same as what the book offers.
ReplyDeleteThe Artfile took the place of the old, printed artists membership guide. I cross-matched the artists named for the book with artists listed in the Artfile; if I recall correctly, 49 artists appeared on both.
The Artfile was never published in print.
ReplyDeleteThere has been an Artfile in one way or another for many years. It was originally in the form of slides and then digital files and then online. But the Artfile and the guide co-existed for years and were and are mutually exclusive.
The guide didn't include all members. You had to submit one image and your address and your fee. It was a separate project.
The Artfile was never published in print.
It's OK, we all make errors.
This is STILL going on????? By now you two must be fighting on quicksand! which one eyed king or queen could possibly be important enough to hack at each other for this long? Go watch 'Life with Bryan', make plans for festivus, have a duel, pretend you were in NY and there were several other dozen fights going on at the same time, anything but this dwelling on and on back and forth.
ReplyDeletei apologize for butting in, Lenny, it is your blog, but you all are making me dizzy!!!
Thanks and good luck with the book.
You're great Lenny, don't give the CP too much thought. Just flip to the back pages to see their advertisers. Case closed.
ReplyDeleteYou work for free my friend. Thanks for creating your book, It's a great project and the edge this 'controversy' adds to the scene is refreshing. Keep it up!
Lenny,
ReplyDeleteI am writing to ask for your permission to include your posts on
DCguide.com and include a link to your blog in our directory. We would
include a link back to your blog fully crediting you for your work
along with a profile about you listed on DCguide.com . Please let us
know as soon as possible.
Mike@dcguide.com
Mike Thomas
Editor-in-Chief
DCguide.com
I think we're talking about the WPA artists' directory, which became the artfile...?
ReplyDeleteCan somebody say "crock of shit"? This Capps guy should be parsing words for Clinton.
ReplyDeleteJoe The Other Plumber