The Perils of Iguanaing

Both my hands were very dirty from charcoal, as I had been rubbing a drawing for the longest time... and I was hungry.

Upstairs, the smell of freshly cooked steak wafted down to the basement. I went up, and soon there was a nice plate of steak, onions and mushrooms all ready to be eaten.

I was alone, and so I took the plate down, intending to eat while I continued to work.

Downstairs I realized that I had left the utensils upstairs... but the steak had been sliced into somewhat manageable portions.

I decided that I would iguana-eat a piece, so that I could eat it while I went back upstairs... and so I iguana'd the chunk of steak, but I was so hungry that I ate it too quickly... 

What to do?

Master iguana-eaters perfect their eating craft while carrying one of those giant buckets of pop corn (at the movies) in one hand, and a giant soft drink in the other.

No one can resist waiting to be seated to start on the pop corn, and so many of us iguana the pop corn en route to our seat... the head dips, the mouth opens and pop corn is iguana into the gullet.

As a master iguana-eater, I decided to grab another piece of steak, and then head upstairs for the utensils.... my head dipped down into the plate... black charcoaly hands spread out for balance.

I iguana'd the steak bite, raised my neck, and a smaller piece of meat, which had been barely attached to the larger piece in my mouth, went flying... and landed squarely on the middle of the drawing.

Yah!

ALCHEMICAL VESSELS

March 17 – May 5, 2017

 

Opening Reception, Friday, March 17, 7:00-9:00 pm

Benefit Reception, Friday, April 28,

7:00 - 10:00 pm

 Closing Reception, Friday, May 5, 7:00 pm

 All Benefit tickets will go on sale March 1st at

10:00 am

 Log in HERE to purchase your Benefit ticket

       This year not only marks Smith Center for Healing and the Arts' 20th anniversary, but also the 5th Alchemical Vessels exhibition and benefit. This year's concept for A-V-5 is The Night's Journey: 125 artists, chosen by 20 curators, have been asked to create or choose a vessel to tell their story about the cyclical passage from pain to healing - a journey that resonates with all of us.

       Once again we are offering the opportunity to take home one of these unique artworks and this year we've added an additional ticket option based on your feedback. Each ticket sold directly supports our mission as Washington DC's only independent integrative cancer support organization.

This years participating artists include:

        Lina Alattar, Jennifer Anderson, Kasse Andrews Weller, Sondra Arkin, Rushern Baker IV, Julia Mae Bancroft, Marilyn Banner, Joan Belmar, Michael Booker, Lenny Campello, Sally Canzoneri, Elana Casey, Mei Mei Chang, Hsin Hsi Chen, Schroeder Cherry, Vachu Chilakamarri, Travis Childers, Mara Clawson, Irene Clouthier, Ellen Cornett, Brian Dailey, Lama Dajani, Richard Dana, Delna Dastur, Ana U Davis, Rachel Debuque, Rex Delafkaran, Nehemiah Dixon III, Jim Doran, Spencer Dormitzer, Sarah Eargle, Mary Early, Cheryl Edwards, Lauren Emeritz, Heloisa Escudero, Lisa Farrell, Gregory Ferrand, Mary Freedman, Emily Fussner, Ric Garcia, Mark Garrett, Shaunté Gates, Donovan Gerald, Janis Goodman, Stefan Greene, Matthew Grimes, Adam Hager, Mia Halton, Key Han, Mansoora Hassan, Caroline Hatfield, Sean Hennessey, Jeffery Herrity, Mary Higgins, Leslie Holt, Jackie Hoysted, Aaron Hughes, Melissa Ichiuji, Sarah Irvin, Charles Jean Pierre, Wayson Jones, Jessica Kallista, Sally Kauffman, Don Kimes, JT Kirkland, Micheline Klagsbrun, Catherine Kleeman, Reagan Lake, Kyujin Lee, Liz Lescault, Yue Li, Erin Lisette, Nathan Loda, Steve Loya, Tsedaye Makonnen, Marty Ittner, Jenee Mateer, Carolina Mayorga, Freda Lee McCann, Olivia Morrow, Kristine Moss, Minna Nathanson, Nahid Navab, Nasrin Navab, Thien Nguyen, Shanti Norris, Sarah O'Donoghue, Javier Padilla, Anthony Palliparambil, John Paradiso, Nara Park, Judith Peck, Lyric Prince, Susana Raab, Carol Reed, Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Jamea Richmond Edwards, Lisa Rosenstein, Kevin Runyon, Jac Rust, Nancy Sausser, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Alma Selimovic, Samantha Sethi, Alexandra Sherman, Ellen Sinel, Anne C Smith, Michael Snowden, Susan Stacks, Hillary Steel, Dafna Steinberg, Anneliese Sullivan, Martin Swift, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, Mars Tokyo, Patricia Underwood, Andrea Uravitch, Mark Walker, Jenny Walton, Leslie Weinberger, Ellyn Weiss, Josh Whipkey, Millicent Young, Helen Zughaib

Thank you to this year's curators:

Joan Belmar, Adah Rose Bitterbaum, Jim Doran, Nekisha Durrett, Tim Fleshner, Helen Frederick, Judith Heartsong, Phil Hutinet, Jessica Kallista, Kunj Patel, Gloria Nauden, Henry Thaggert, Anne C. Smith, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Dolly Vehlow, Zoma Wallace, Ellyn Weiss, Nikki Brugnoli Whipkey

Here's what's new this year:

Benefit Tickets for sale:

Premium - $300  TICKETS # 1-15

Admission for one to the benefit event and a priority ticket number to choose your favorite vessel (1-15).  *Tickets  1-15 are assigned first come, first serve beginning March 10th, 10:00 am – The 1^st purchaser of a premium ticket will receive 1^st choice of a vessel, 2^nd purchaser will get the 2^nd choice and so on.

Standard - $175                     TICKETS # 16-125

Admission for one to the benefit event and a standard ticket number to choose your favorite vessel (16-125).  *Tickets 16-125 are assigned first come, first serve beginning March 10th, 10:00 am – The 1^st purchaser of a standard ticket will receive 16^th choice of a vessel, 2^nd purchaser will get the 17^th choice and so on.

Benefit only - $50

Admission for one to attend the Alchemical Vessels benefit, a lovely and lively evening of catered food, live music and complimentary wine and beer all night. This ticket does not include the purchase of a vessel.

Please contact our Alchemical Vessels coordinator Deirdre Darden for any questions or more information. Thank you!

Opportunity for Artists

Artists wishing to be considered for an exhibit in the Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) galleries are invited to submit a general exhibit application. The HCAC Exhibits Committee meets quarterly to review applications and select artists for the exhibit space. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. The Committee also welcomes proposals from curators and organizations.

 

Detailed entry guidelines are available in the Exhibit Opportunities section of the HCAC website at hocoarts.org, for pick-up at the Howard County Center for the Arts, or by mail by calling 410-313-2787 or emailing info@hocoarts.org. The next deadline for submissions is Saturday, April 1, 2017.

 

HCAC manages two galleries at the Howard County Center for the Arts with over 2100 square feet of exhibit space. The HCAC gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists.

 

HCAC presents 11-12 exhibits per year of national, regional, and local artists, including two-person, small and large group, juried, curated, and community shows.

 

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, and Sunday 12-4pm. To learn more about HCAC programs and exhibits, call 410-313-ARTS (2787) or visit hocoarts.org.  

Heard it on the radio

Usually during the week, on the way home after I pick up Little Junes from school, we listen to Sports Talk radio... 

He loves the discussions about football... 

Today a song was playing on the radio - clearly about someone leaving someone - and he piped in: "They should call Cordell & Cordell" - FYI, that's a divorce law firm that caters to men and advertises on ESPN Radio... gotta be on watch ALL the time with little ones... Feh!

The curious case of the WaPo using a misleading photo (twice!)

The power of the photographic image at work!

Text of a letter from a reader published in the Washington Post:

Why did The Post choose an emotional image of a woman embracing her mother in a wheelchair on the front page of the Jan. 29 paper? The mother was from Dubai, which was not on President Trump’s list of countries from which travelers were banned, as the caption noted. The Post could equally well have used images of travelers from Canada or Australia because those countries’ citizens weren’t affected either.

This is a misleading image and not up to The Post’s standards.

To make matters worse, when you click on the letter to the WaPo here, what you get is a different photo, and the caption for that image published in the WaPo's website reads: Shanez Tabarsi, right, is greeted by her daughter Negin at Logan Airport in Boston on Feb. 6 after traveling to the United States from Iran.

That was NOT the image published in the print edition and the one that the reader refers to - here's the print edition - the image is halfway down.

This is the image published by the WaPo and the one that reader questions - See it here.

Of course, now when you see the whole thing online, the reader's concerns don't make sense? Because of the "new" image...


And the press/media wonders why no one trusts them... 

Emily Fussner at MMG

Who invented the term DMV?

Who invented the term "DMV" to refer to the District/Maryland/Virginia??? 

This post from 2003, is the earliest that I have using that term personally: 

http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2003/10/faith-flanagan-organizes-muse-which-is.html

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this art scammer!

From: alfayidgroup@gmail.com

Subject: INTERESTED IN YOUR ITEM

Reply-To: alfayidgroup@gmail.com

Hello, We have interest in purchasing your item and we sincerely hope to establish a long-term business relationship with your esteemed company, I will like to know if you sell in large quantities and if you accept bank transfer (wire transfer) as a mode of payment. Regards. Al-Fayid Al-Azeez ALFAYID GROUP OF COMPANIES IPIC Square, Muroor (4th) Road PO Box 107888, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates alfayidgroup@gmail.com

This is how the scam works and how to protect yourself... 

Vintage Vinyl Record Live Auction!

The Rockville Bookstore (4886 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, MD) will host the Friends of the Montgomery County Library's first vinyl records auction on Saturday, February 25 at 12 p.m. Preview day Friday, February 24 at 12 p.m. On the block will be jazz and pop collectibles such as records by rock icons, like the Beatles and the legendary Miles Davis.


Click here for a full listing of records to be auctioned.


Auction catalogs will also be available at the bookstores. Email bookstores@folmc.org for more information.

Saatchi Gallery's Selfie Competition

To coincide with the announcement of the exhibition From Selfie to Self-Expression, Saatchi Gallery and Huawei have joined forces to offer artists, photographers, and enthusiasts around the globe a chance to show their most creative selfies internationally, and have their work exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery as part of the #SaatchiSelfie competition.

 

This global competition offers a chance for entrants to express themselves by exploring and advancing the creative potential of the selfie today.

 

Entries must take the form of a photographic selfie. We encourage submissions that are experimental and innovative that take the selfie in exciting new directions.

 

Who is eligible?

The #SaatchiSelfie competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over (See www.saatchigallery.com/selfie for further details).

 

What prizes can you win?

The shortlist of ten winners, selected by a judging panel of renowned artists and forward-thinkers, will have their work exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery and will also receive Huawei's newest smartphone.

The overall winner of the #SaatchiSelfie competition will be announced at the show’s launch in London on 30th March 2017 and will receive a priceless photographic experience, to be announced at a later date.

 

How do you enter?

It's easy to enter. The competition opens for submissions today and over the course of 7 weeks, you can submit up to six selfies on www.saatchigallery.com/selfie

Selfies can only be submitted in the form of still photographic images and not any other form of work (such as video).

 

Once you have submitted your entries, you can post them on social media directly from your profile page on the Saatchi Gallery’s website using #SaatchiSelfie.
 

For further details click here.

Call for artists

Artists wishing to be considered for an exhibit in the Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) galleries are invited to submit a general exhibit application. The HCAC Exhibits Committee meets quarterly to review applications and select artists for the exhibit space. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. The Committee also welcomes proposals from curators and organizations.

 

Detailed entry guidelines are available in the Exhibit Opportunities section of the HCAC website at hocoarts.org, for pick-up at the Howard County Center for the Arts, or by mail by calling 410-313-2787 or emailing info@hocoarts.org. The next deadline for submissions is Saturday, April 1, 2017.

 

HCAC manages two galleries at the Howard County Center for the Arts with over 2100 square feet of exhibit space. The HCAC gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists.

 

HCAC presents 11-12 exhibits per year of national, regional, and local artists, including two-person, small and large group, juried, curated, and community shows.

 

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, and Sunday 12-4pm. To learn more about HCAC programs and exhibits, call 410-313-ARTS (2787) or visit hocoarts.org.  

Jack Boul Art Show at Stanford University Gallery in DC

Call to Artists

Mark your calendars for MAP's 20th Annual Spring Benefit Exhibition & Silent Auction, Out of Order (OOO)!  

One of the most celebrated events among the Baltimore arts community, Out of Order provides an opportunity for artists to hang their work in a salon-style exhibition. Whether you are an emerging, mid career or established artist, join MAP by participating in their 20th annual Out of Order!

Click here for more information about OOO Artist Install Day!

Any artist is welcome to hang one original work of art on the first come, first served installation day, taking place on Thursday, March 30, 2017 from 7 am - midnight. No need to sign up in advance, just come by MAP's first floor gallery space @ 218 West Saratoga Street in the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District!

• All work must come ready to hang.  (size requirement TBA)
• Registration is $10 and can be paid with check, cash or credit card
• All works will be silently auctioned Friday, April 7, 2017 from 7 -10pm

Out of Order (OOO) is a one-night-only opportunity for collectors to acquire contemporary art at unbelievably low silent auction prices.  Purchase your tickets to Out of Order today! 

I've done this show many times and have always sold my work!

Amazing eraser

It's pretty hard to get excited about an eraser... unless you're an artist... and especially if you work in charcoal.

Over the years I've used and been a fan of kneaded erasers (and still am)... and yet, I've discovered this amazing new eraser that really, really works great!

It doesn't tear into the paper, and yet it removes a lot of... whatever!

I got mine from Jerry's Artarama for almost nothing... see it here.

Fullbright!!!!!!!!

Congrats to one of the DMV's real blue chip artists and a great friend - the amazing Chawky Frenn- who just received a Fullbright to go to India!

Yay Chawky!

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Opening Reception: Friday, February 3  6-9pm

Artists & Makers Studios

11810 Parklawn Dr  Rockville, MD

Show open Feb 3-25; Tues-Sat 10am-4pm

The Compass Atelier's inaugural class of the Master Artist Program is graduating with a celebration of their talent and hard work. This Thesis Exhibition will showcase the incredible work of 17 local artists who have completed their 3-year course of study in this revolutionary art program.

 

Christine McNall. 'Awakening'

Oil on canvas.24x36

The students of this unique school have produced an incredible array of high-concept, high-technique portfolios of work. Their accomplishment is overwhelming, especially given that many had never drawn or painted before this program. Now just three years later, many are poised to become professional artists with sales, shows, and gallery representation already beginning to add up.

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking. Wine and food will be served at the Opening Reception.

At ArtReach Gallery

Idiot of the month

A Dallas teacher is in hot water after a controversial stunt she pulled inside a classroom went viral... Payal Modi, an art teacher at Adamson High School, was caught on camera shooting a squirt gun as a video of President Obama... projected onto a whiteboard. The 8-second video shows the teacher repeatedly pointing the water gun at the president and then yelling, “Die.”

Above quote from this CBS article edited for "fake news" effect just to get your brain rolling - but imagine it as noted above... and how you would have heard about this... and then read the article here. 

Art Scam Alert!

Please ignore this mutant trying to rip off artists!

"Lindsey Supply Store."

Hello,
     I want to place an order, to our branch in Singapore, and i want yo to answer below.
Do you accept pick up from your location?
Do you accept visa or master credit card?
I will be waiting your reply.
Regards
(786) 763-3919
Linda

Business Basics for Artists, Scholars, and Arts Management Professionals

Join VisArts for the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts' Creative Entrepreneurship series in Montgomery County! This program is just the ticket for working artists/scholars who need to know how to start and run a successful arts-business as well as established arts managers looking to brush up on best practices and industry standards.

Hosted over six weeks at VisArts in Rockville, the series offers:

1. Business Entity Formation, Feb 15, 7pm - 9pm
2. Copyright/Trademark Protection and Use, Feb 22, 7pm - 9pm
3. Contracts and Licensing, March 1, 7pm - 9pm
4. Negotiation Strategies, March 8, 7pm - 9pm
5. Grants and Leases, March 15, 7pm - 9pm
6. Tax Strategies, March 22, 7pm - 9pm

Brought to you by a collaboration of The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) and Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA), each of the workshops is FREE FOR WALA MEMBERS or $20 per workshop for the general public. Individuals can register for a WALA membership through AHCMC for only $30 and organizations can register for only $100! Organizational membership extends member benefits (including free workshop registration) to all staff members and board members.


If you're not a WALA Member and would like to join, CLICK HERE* to get your discount membership through AHCMC! (instructions for discount below)

*Once at the WALA website, select "Other_____" and type in the discounted annual membership amount that applies to you.  $15 for Students (normally $20), $30 for Individual Artists and Scholars (normally $40), and $100 for Organizations (normally $150). If you use the pre-selected amounts, the discount will not be applied.