Trawick Prize Finalists Announced

Well, nobody told me or sent me a press release... but they are announced and online here.

Congrats to all the finalists! The eight finalists for the 2009 Trawick Prize Awards will be on exhibit at the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda from September 2 - October 3, 2009.

My bet is on Molly Springfield with Laure Drogoul also a strong contender.

Wiki Wars

Drawing up battle lines – art gallery takes on Wikipedia

The appearance of some of the world's most famous portraits on a website could create a legal landmark

Read about it here.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: Friday, August 21, 2009 at 5:30pm.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in collaboration with District of Columbia Public Libraries (DCPL) is seeking East-of-the-River artists, including writers, to submit proposals for four prominent areas inside the new Benning and Anacostia Libraries which are expected to open in the spring of 2010. The proposed artwork sites provide artists and writers the opportunity to display their work in a large-scale format in a public building. Artist Honorarium: $2,500. For more information about the project contact Rachel Dickerson at rachel.dickerson@dc.gov or (202) 724-5613. To obtain an application go to www.dcart.dc.gov (Public Art - Current Calls to Artists)

For more information about the libraries go to www.dcpl.dc.gov (DCPL Construction Projects).

ACA online

The new American Contemporary Art magazine is now online.

This art magazine is different (at least to me) in that it really covers the country (not just NYC galleries) and there are quite a few DC area gallery reviews and a "focus DC" article by yours truly.

Read it all here.

Cy Katzen

We are sorry to learn of the passing of Cy Katzen. He was a great man and a true ubersupporter of the arts, a good friend, and a great friend of DC area artists. He will be greatly missed but his name lives in the gorgeous American University museum that bears his name.

Desert days

I never expected the constant heat of the desert to be so malleable. One minute it is killing you slowly, and the next minute, and only after you've been hours inside an air conditioned space and slightly chilled out, as you step outside it envelops you in a baking oven of earth heat.

It feels really good, almost sensual as your body gives up the chill and warms up all at once. Soon your cheeks begin to tingle... a tingle like you get when you drink Bacardi 151 by accident thinking that it is regular rum and suddenly your cheeks go numb.

Wanna go to an artist's talk in DC?

Margaret Boozer: Dirt Drawings

When: July 25, 2:00pm
Katzen AU Museum Show dates: Jun 27 – August 16
Hours: (Admission is free) 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tue–Sun
Location: AU Museum at the Katzen, 4400 Massachusetts Ave, Washington, DC.

Boozer is one of DC's rising uberartists and I will be visiting this exhibition (I've been seeing bits and pieces of it in Boozer's studio over the past few months when I've visited her). If you want to see how a great contemporary artist handles a very traditional media and takes it headfirst into the 21st century, go see this show.

Boozer is represented locally by Project 4 Gallery.

Wanna go to a reception in Baltimore this week?



Saturday, July 25, 2009 between 6-9pm for the closing reception of the School 33 Studio Artists’ Exhibition.

Opportunity for Artists and/or Curators

Deadline: December 30, 2009

The Sumter County Gallery of Art (SCGA) is now accepting exhibition proposals for its 2010 exhibition schedule. SCGA is an innovative non-profit art institution that features leading-edge exhibitions and public programs showcasing new perspectives in traditional and contemporary art that pushes boundaries in its treatment of materials and subject matter. Located in stunning galleries within Sumter's landmark Cultural Center, in a newly renovated state of the art facility adjacent to Patriot Hall, SCGA presents work in a range of media by influential national and international artists as well as local and emerging artists. The gallery will accept proposals from emerging and established artists residing in the continental United States for group and solo exhibitions. All media will be considered. No entry fee is required. Please submit a proposal that includes 10-20 jpg images numbered on a CD/DVD. Please include a hard copy of the numbered image checklist (Include: title, media, dimensions, and date), artist statement, bio, resume/cv, and cover letter that describes proposed exhibit and scheduling information to:

Frank McCauley
Curator, SCGA
PO Box 1316, Sumter, SC 29151

Please include a SASE for notification and return of materials.

Moonlanding

40 years ago today, the most amazing feat in human history occurred when an American civilian of Scottish ancestry set foot on the moon and became the first human to leave his footprint somewhere else than Earth (at least that we know about).

This was not only a magnificent scientific achievement, but also a spectacular source of artistic images and we first viewed our world (in a photograph) from another celestial body. The images and objects that those brave men brought from the moon are not just scientific paraphernalia, but some of our nation's greatest works of art.

I hereby call for the Obama administration to renew the historical Kennedy call for the exploration of space.

It can once again become the greatest scientific, explorational and artistic achievement of this planet.

Airborne

Heading back to the Left Coast for some rediscovering, scorpion-and-black widow-avoiding (and brown recluses) in the deserts of California for some sweating (it's a dry heat) and desert drawings for the next two weeks.

Those of you who have my cell number: for the next two weeks, until July 31st, I will be on West Coast time, so if you call me at 6AM my time...

More later.

Opportunity for Artists and/or Curators

Deadline: August 1st, 2009

The Greater Reston Arts Center is requesting proposals for exhibitions for its main gallery space for periods of approximately 4-6 weeks. Proposals will be accepted from artists, independent curators, or arts organizations.

Full prospectus here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 28, 2009.

The Easter Seals 2010 Art Competition is on and they're accepting works for consideration on an upcoming stamps. Works should be a vertical drawing or painting of a lily, in watercolor, oil, pastels, colored pencil, or computer generated image. Size limitations: no smaller than 8-1/2” x 11” and no larger than 18” x 24”. White or off-white stock is preferred. No entry fee. For more information, contact:

Easter Seals
Attn: Lisa Skaggs
233 South Wacker Drive., Ste. 2400
Chicago, IL 60606

Phone: (312) 726-6200; or check website: www.easterseals.com.

Airport Tales

I'm heading back to California, and this time I am flying out of Dulles, which has one of the most beautiful terminals on the planet.

Earlier this morning (I'm in Dallas now waiting for my connecting flight) I was starving by the time I got to my gate, and was pleasantly surprised to find that right across from Gate 71-73 there's a new Five Guys Burgers restaurant, one of the premier burgers in this Universe. And so I order their showcase slider with grilled onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup and grilled mushrooms. I get number 62.

The guy behind me in line (there's a large line as it is around 10:30AM and the breakfast crowd is too late for breakfast and the lunch crowd is beginning to agitate) orders a grilled cheese, fries and water. He gets number 63.

The scene behind the counter is in a frenzy of fast food cooking activity. The Russian lady who is taking orders is firing them to the three cooks behind them at breakneck speed as hungry travellers pass through her order point.

The two African and Central American immigrant ladies doing the cooking are working at a frenetic speed grilling burgers and frying potatoes and getting the orders ready and yelling out numbers as they are ready.

It is a constant process, as quickly as can be done by three people cooking all at once, but there's a necessary delay in cooking the burgers, and none are pre-cooked and there's a large number of people in line and waiting for earlier orders.

But in about 5-6 minutes, they're up to number 59; these ladies are busting their asses to move the food.

The grilled cheese and fries and water guy who is number 63 is clearly impatient; let's call him GCFWG for grilled cheese and fries and water guy.

He approaches the counter and shouts to the back cooks, "Excuse me, how much longer will it be?"

The little Central American cook stops packaging ready orders and comes to him, she looks at him puzzled. "What is your number?" she asks.

"63," he responds rolling his eyes, "I've been waiting for like ten minutes."

I'm trying really hard to stay out of this, knowing that I will fail. GCFWG is very tall and slim, wearing a very, very tight white T-shirt that showcases his slimness and very tight black pants with really ugly, clunky black shoes. He has one of those large man purses and those nerdy, black glasses.

"You're only a couple of orders behind," responds Central American cook lady.

He rolls his eyes.

I can't handle it anymore. "Is your flight departure getting close?" I ask as he returns to waiting.

He looks at me a second before answering. People aren't used to strangers addressing them in airports, or anywhere else for that matter.

"No," he says, "But this is ridiculous," he snaps, looking at the cooks again and pointing his little chin at them.

"How would you speed the process?" I ask him. "Looks to me like those women are busting their asses cooking as fast as they can."

He looks at me and I stare back, looking hard.

"Ahh..." he stammers. "They need more people."

Again, there are three cooks on duty plus a order-taker.

"How many more?", I press him. "One more, two more?"

He looks at me again, this time he seems a little worried. My number is called and I pick up my bag. I return to him. He is now really looking a little agitated.

"Did you decide?" I ask him. "One or two more cooks?"

"Ahh..." He's looking around, and his number is called. He picks it up and I once again come close to him, look at him and smile.

"I think that three is the optimum number back there," I say gesturing to the cooking area. "And those women are busting their ass," I repeat myself. Now the small Central American woman is observing and listening in.

"I got to go." He says very nervous now, and leaves.

The Central American cook and the Russian order-taker smile and continue working their butts off while GCFWG moves on, hopefully having learned a lesson in manners.

Comemierda!

The Frida Kahlo Show

Last night's opening was packed to the gills with people, and the attendance even surprised me a little.

In the middle of the announcements for the award winners, someone from the crowd suddenly piped in and shouted the most off putting and random question that can be asked in a juried show paying homage to the influences of a Mexican artist on contemporary artists.

"What about the looting of art by the Nazis in Europe," shouted a young woman sitting on the chairs reserved for the artists (she wasn't one of the artists and her question was essentially what I wrote above but expressed in a more rambling way). "I just found out about this and I didn't know that the Nazis had killed so many people."

I looked at her and she smiled.

The crowd hushed for a second, a little thrown off by this odd question, considering the context of what I was talking about and the place and theme of the exhibit.

I rolled onto a discussion about how any and all empires and empires-wanna-be's had always stolen the art and intellectual ideas of the conquered, I also gave her a little lesson in art history and brought the conversation back to Kahlo.

She had a Joker-type smile frozen on her face the whole time, but she stayed quiet after that.

Weird, uh?

In any event, the prize winners:

First Prize

Tanya Gramatikova, Tribute to Frida Kahlo II

Second Prize

Diane Kahlo, Las Desaparecidas

Third Prize

Kathryn H. Cook

Honorable Mention

Katya Romero, Petalos Negros

Honorable Mention

Marla McLean

Honorable Mention

Nancy Pollack

Honorable Mention

Priscilla Pompa Alvarez

This is a very cool show... go see it.

The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery is located in the heart of Washington DC's U Street corridor at 1632 U St NW. Call them at 202-483-8600 for info.

Opportunity for Artists

artdc.org and Art Outlet are partnering with Halstead Arlington, a luxury apartment community in South Arlington, and the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, to present The ZIP Code Show, an event featuring artists and their relationships with their surroundings. The show will be held at Halstead Arlington, 1028 South Walter Reed Drive, Arlington, VA, 5:30 pm – 12:00 am, August 29 and September 5, 2009.

For the show, artists were asked to use ZIP codes and other postal code schema as a jumping off point for personal dialogues with the physical, biological, and cultural features of the earth. A team from Art Outlet and artdc.org is curating their ideas and strategies into an polyvalent exploration of artists’ personal geographies, which range from the private sanctuaries of home to public memories and actions.

Artists will be on hand to talk about their pieces at the show’s two evenings, which will include indoor and sidewalk live art and performances, and yours-for-a-donation summer libations.

They are still accepting artist registrations. Find more information here.

Wanna show at Wolftrap?

Deadline: August 1, 2009

The Arts Council of Fairfax County invites the arts community to participate in the 39th annual International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap on September 19 & 20, 2009 from 10 am - 4pm. This is a brand new initiative and a great opportunity for our local artists!

They can accept up to 30 individual artists or artist groups. Artist applications will be reviewed by a panel of art professionals. The International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap is the premier international arts education experience in the United States.

You can download the Word document at this website or and e-mail them at artsandcrafts@artsfairfax.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Jamel McKelvia, International Children’s Festival Intern, at jamel.mckelvia@artsfairfax.org or by phone at (703) 642-0862 x5.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 31, 2009

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is looking for illustration portfolios from professional visual and graphic artists. This is the first stage of the process in attaining artwork to be used to represent the next spring festival. Cash awards available. No entry fee. For more information, contact:

National Cherry Blossom Festival
1250 H St., NW, Ste. 1000
Washington, D.C. 20005

Phone: (202) 661-7584; email: lillian@downtowndc.org; or check website: www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 31st, 2009

DC's International Arts and Artists’ Hillyer Art Space is currently accepting submittals until July 31st, 2009 for its regional artists series of exhibitions beginning January through December 2010.

Requirements:

- Artists must be currently living or working from the Mid Atlantic Region (MD, DE, WV, VA, & DC).
- Artists seeking a solo show at Hillyer must not have been featured in a solo show in DC area within the last 10 years.
- All work to be included in Hillyer Art Spaces shows must have been made in the last 5 years.

For details and prospectus, please email Graham Boyle at grahamb@artsandartists.org or call the gallery at 202.338.0680.

Come to the opening tonight

Last night's talk on Frida Kahlo for the Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm in Washington, DC was standing room only and it went really well.

Tanya Gramatikova, Tribute to Frida Kahlo II
The Opening Reception & Awards is tonight, Friday, July 17, 2009, 5:30 - 8:00PM. Among the work is an amazing piece by Frida's grandniece on the subject of the missing, murdered women of Juarez that will take your breath away. Don't you dare miss it. Come by and introduce yourselves and say hello. This exhibition runs through August 29, 2009. Gallery hours: Wednesday - Friday, 11am - 5pm, Saturdays, 11am-3pm, and by appointment.

See ya there!