Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: April 11, 2011 (4 pm)

McLean Project for the Arts has a call out for Strictly Painting 8, which will be juried this year by Civilian Art Project's Jayme McClellan.

Details and entry forms here.

The more things change...

"At the height of the Washington Color School's popularity, Washington and New York art elites inhabited the same circles. Reed recalls meeting the abstract painter Robert Motherwell at an opening. Motherwell was married to Frankenthaler but was accompanied by Lisa Fonssagrives, the world's first supermodel, who was married to iconic photographer Irving Penn. "He moved in great feminine circles," Reed says.

But financial success eluded the artists. The Jefferson Place Gallery that supported so much of the Color School's work closed in 1975. The '80s were a bitter period for Washington art dealers, but the pressures on Reed did not change much for the worse. "It was always difficult. I have to sell. It's curious. I'm just about poverty level. Here I am this famous artist," Reed says.

He doesn't say whether the spotlight would have shined on Washington longer had a collector base emerged to support its painters."

The more they stay the same... Kriston Capps has an excellent piece on Paul Reed, the last of the Washington Color School painters; read it here.

Critical mass

A critical mass is about to occur between many art organizations.

Target Gallery, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, is sponsoring an outdoor exhibition of artist-made nests created by local arts groups. The event will take place just outside of Washington, DC at the Torpedo Factory Art Center along the waterfront of the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria from Sunday, April 10 through Sunday, May 15, 2011.

The goal is to inspire people to look more closely at their own habitat. Coinciding with Earth Day and Mother’s Day, they hope to increase environmental awareness and encourage care for the planet that we all call home. They will also highlight Habitat’s work for building decent and affordable homes.

All nests will be composed primarily of natural renewable resources like leaves, twigs and driftwood, as well as recycled or re-purposed materials. The intent is to do no harm to the natural environment or wildlife, and everything will be removed at the end of the exhibition. Nest sites will include docks, decks, tree stumps, outcroppings of rock, and selected trees.

Free maps will guide visitors on a nest spotting walking tour, along the waterfront, through a park, into the Torpedo Factory and ending at Target Gallery, where the exhibition Nest can be seen.

What Does Home Mean to You? The public will be invited to participate in the building of a large community nest installed on the main floor of the Torpedo Factory, right outside the Target Gallery. They will provide long strips of paper for the public to answer the question “What does home mean to you?”

They will then be invited to weave their paper into the nest structure. The strips of paper will be for sale for $1 with all proceeds going to benefit the Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia.

To learn more, or donate to fund this project and make it a reality, visit this link.