¿Quién tiró la tiza?

While I was in Miami last week, a friend turned me onto this Afro-Cuban rap song about the sad state of race injustice in Cuba, where one of the planet's most racist dictatorships oppresses their people, and oppresses their African ancestry citizens even worse.

The refrain goes:

Who threw the chalk?

That Negro

Who threw the chalk? Was it the doctor's son? No

Who threw the chalk? That Negro

Because, the son of the doctor, John, is the best

An example of one of the verses:

In class, if I raise my hand, get out of the class Negro

If I argue with the girl, it had to be the Negro

If I get a good grade on the test, I know that you copied it Negro

And if I fail the test, You didn't study - I'm happy

¿Quién tiró la tiza?
El negro ese.
quien tiró la tiza no Fue el hijo del doctor? no
quien tiró la tiza, el negro ese
porque el hijo del doctor, john es el mejor

¿Quién tiró la tiza?
El negro ese.
quien tiró la tiza no Fue el hijo del doctor? no
quien tiró la tiza, el negro ese
porque el hijo del doctor, yo

primero escucha y despues goza asi que ponte pa las cosas dio!
primero escucha y despues goza asi que ponte pa las cosas

primero escucha y despues goza asi que ponte pa las cosas dio!
primero escucha y despues goza listen to me, pa lo que digo aqui

A ver como te explico yo esta parte, para ese año estaba yo en la escuela nacional de arte
estudiando el primer año del nivel elemental y
Yo un negrito chiquitico con su uniformito y si acaso colonia Bebito encima

En cambio los hijos de de papi y mima iban con Addidas, medias deportivas y una perfuma nada que ver con la mía, mira observa aqui na´má, un dolor solo en común teníamos el color,pero, ima-gína-te papa es doctor, y ya tu sabes, cuatro puertas, pescador
Y yo el Zingaro porque el mío sí era constructor, hey yo

¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Quíen tiro la tiza? No fue el hijo del doctor. No.
¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Porque el hijo del doctor, John, es el mejor. * se repite*

El hijo del doctor da ropa, zapatos
El hijo del doctor merece un buen trato
El hijo del constructor, ese negro es delincuente
Y por eso este año, coño, va a ser repitente.
El día del maestro llegará en cualquier momento
Y ¿cuál será el regalo? Ladrillo, cemento.
Pa´llá pa'lla Esos negros, elementos,
Me quedo con el doctor que resuelve medicamentos

En clase si levanto la mano, sal del aula negro.
Si discuto con la jeva, tenía que ser el negro
Si sacaba buenas notas, sé que te fijaste negro
Y si desaprobaba, no estudiaste, me alegro

Por eso no es lo mismo el hijo de un doctor que el hijo de un constructor
Porque la vida del doctor es carro, motor; la vida de un constructor es con dolor. hey yo!

¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Quíen tiro la tiza? No fue el hijo del doctor. No.
¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Porque el hijo del doctor, John, es el mejor.*se repite*

Empezandose ejercicios complicados
Yo volviéndome un mago
Y una pila de profesores dándome de lado
Suerte que a mi no me fue tan mal
Y una profesora al frente con clase particular, cosa usual
Bien por el primer control parcial, cosa extraña
Profesores preocupados diciendo, hay maraña
Como siempre, ah, el negro y su problemática
Se habían robado cuatro pruebas y de matemática
La misma prueba que ya había examinado.
Comentario: Ya sabía por qué había aprobaó
Porque tú eres un mano suelta, sinvergüenza, descarao
No asimilaban que este negro había estudiao
Las clases particulares no eran gratis, eran pagao
Bueno, si las pagaste ya tu estás desaprobao
Men dime quien aguanta este tren
Y la esperanza de la pura era verme en la FEEM, ¿qué tu crees?
pero estas son cosas que revuelven la gantiña
antes de que me botaran yo si me fui pa la ********

¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Quíen tiro la tiza? No fue el hijo del doctor. No.
¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Porque el hijo del doctor, John, es el mejor.*se repite* y se repite

primero escucha y despues goza asi que ponte pa las cosas dio! ah!
primero escucha y despues goza asi que ponte pa las cosas, lleva ritmito

¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.
Quíen tiro la tiza? No fue el hijo del doctor. No.
¿Quíen tiro la tiza? El negro ese.

claro claro claro es el mejor * se repite*
el hijo del doctor john

( no se si diga john o namas yo!)

suerte!!

Tiene el leopardo un abrigo

To my dear friends and extended FB friends... thank you for all your kind words about my mother's passing... I leave you with a poem by Jose Marti:

Tiene el leopardo un abrigo
En su monte seco y pardo:
Yo tengo más que el leopardo,
Porque tengo un buen amigo.

Duerme, como en un juguete,
La mushma en su cojinete
De arce del Japón: yo digo:
"No hay cojín como un amigo".

Tiene el conde su abolengo:
Tiene la aurora el mendigo:
Tiene ala el ave: ¡yo tengo
Allá en México un amigo!

Tiene el señor presidente
Un jardín con una fuente,
Y un tesoro en oro y trigo:
Tengo más, tengo un amigo.

Another tree falls

When my father died last year, I began his eulogy by noting that another oak had fallen.

This morning, around 1:25AM, Ana Olivia Cruzata Marrero de Campello, his wife of over 60 years, and my beloved mother, passed on on the day of her 97th birthday.

If my father was an oak, then my mother was an equally strong, but also very pliable, and elegant tree.  When hurricanes attack the mainlands of the world, the strong tall trees often fall, but the pliable ones, like plantain trees, always give with the wind, and survive the storms, and thrive in the drenching rains.

My mother was like a an aged plantain tree, not only immensely strong and pliable, but also giving and nurturing.

Like many Cuban women of her generation and her social-economic background, she had never worked for a living in Cuba, and yet within a few days of our arrival in New York in the 1960s, she was working long hours in a sewing factory, putting her formidable seamstress skills, honed in the social sewing and embroidery gathering of young Cuban girls, to use in the "piece work" process of the New York sewing factories.

As soon as we saved the money, one of the first things that my mother bought was an electric sewing machine - a novelty to her, as she had always used one of the those ancient Singer machines with a foot pedal.

I remember as a child in Brooklyn, that women used to bring her fabric and a page from a magazine with a woman wearing a dress. Without the benefit of a sewing pattern, my mother would whip up a copy of the dress that was more often than not probably better made than the original. As the word of her skills spread, so did her customers and soon she was making more money working at home than at the factory - but she kept both jobs.

I once noted to her that I admired the courage that it must have taken her to leave her family and immigrate to the United States. "We didn't come here as immigrants," she corrected me. "We came as political refugees, and I initially thought that we'd be back in Cuba within a few years at the most."

When the brutal Castro dictatorship refused to loosen its stranglehold on her birth place, she became an immigrant, and from there on an American citizen from her white-streaked hair down to her heel bone (that's a Cuban saying). Like my father, she loved her adopted country with a ferocity, that I sometimes feel that only people who have been bloodied by Communism can feel for a new, free homeland.

As as I've noted before, Cubans are archaic immigrants... we love this great nation because we recognize its singular and unique greatness; perhaps it is because our forebears had the same chance at greatness and blew it.

I remember as a teenager, once I started going out to parties and things at night on my own (around age 16 or so), that my mother would wait up for me, sitting by the third floor window of our Brooklyn apartment, where she could survey the whole neighborhood and see as far as the elevated LL subway station a few blocks away, to watch me descend the station stairs and trace my way home.

My mother was always fit and, as once described by my father, "flaca como un fusil" (as slim as a rifle). She was strong and fast. She was also quiet, but never silenced, and when needed, could and would command attention.

My mother was always well dressed and superbly coiffed. When we'd go to parties and events, women would always ask her where she'd gotten that dress! The answer was always the same: she'd made it!

At least once a week, to my father's dismay, and in spite of his demands that my mother stop it, she'd get her hair done at the nearby peluqueria (hair dresser).

My dad knew, and respected his limits with my mother. 

I remember one time that my father and I were returning from shopping at the supermarket, dragging one of those wheeled folding carts that could carry four full paper grocery bags. It had been snowing, so the Brooklyn streets were wet and muddy.

When we got to our apartment my father opened the door. He then stood there.

"Go in!" I demanded.

"We'll have to wait," he said gloomily, "Your mother mopped the floor and it's still wet." This giant, tough, street-brawling Galician then looked at me sheepishly, "I'd rather walk through a mine field than step on your mother's wet floor."

I learned a lesson there.

She used to delight in telling stories how, as a child, she would often win the horse races that kids staged around the small country towns where she was raised in Oriente province, where her father was a Mayoral.

"I almost always won," she'd say, and then would add: "Even though I was a skinny girl."

Once, in her seventies, back in the days where you could actually accompany people to the departing gates at airports, we were escorting my oldest daughter Vanessa, who had come to visit, and we were running late. As we got to the airport, we ran to the gate, and to everyone's surprise, Abuela got there first. I still remember how delighted my daughter was that her grandmother could still run like a gazelle.

When I joined the Navy at age 17, my first duty station was USS SARATOGA, which at the time was stationed in Mayport in Florida, and thus my parents decided to migrate south to Florida and moved to Miami... just to be close to me.

They spent the next 40 years in the same apartment while I was stationed all over the world.

The mostly Cuban-American families that lived over the years in that apartment loved my mother, and would always tell me stories about my mother, ever the nurturer, bringing them food when she knew that they were going over tough times, or riding the buses with them, just to show them the routes.

This week, when I arrived in Miami, already somewhat knowing that this was approaching the end, I saw her with tubes coming out of her mouth and her eyes closed. When I spoke to her she opened her eyes, and in spite of the visuals that my eyes were seeing she somehow still managed to look strong. 

I showed her photos and movies of her grand children, and talked to her for a long time.

I thanked her for having the courage to leave her motherland and afford me the opportunity to grow as an American.

When she was being extubated, a young woman came into the room with a guitar and played and sang the haunting free prose of Guajira Guantanamera (The peasant girl from Guantanamo); a most fitting song, since my mother was from Guantanamo, and she came from strong Cuban peasant stock.

"Guajira pero fina (A peasant, but a very refined woman)", noted a neighbor and loving caretaker. 

The song, which can start with just about any prose, started with the Jose Marti poem:

 Yo quiero, cuando me muera, sin patria, pero sin amo, tener en mi tumba un ramo de flores y una bandera

I want to, when I die, without my motherland, but without a master, to have on my tomb a bunch of flowers and a flag.

She died without a master, a strong and pliable woman who not only gave me the gift of life, but also the gift of freedom.

And as my mother died in her sleep in the early hours of the morning, in the capital city of the bitter Cuban Diaspora, all that I could gather to say to her was mostly the same that I said to my father when he passed last year: "Thank you for your courage... from me, and from my children... and soon from their children. You opened a whole new world for them."

I love you Mami... Un Abrazo Fuerte! Thank you for your gifts to me and my children, and happy birthday in Heaven!

How do your feet move?

Your brain helps your feet move. The cerebellum is at the back of your brain and controls balance, movement and the way your muscles work together. Nerves send electric signals very fast between the cerebellum and muscles in your feet. Your foot muscles move your bones. Together, bones and muscles in your feet and ankles help your feet move. Smaller muscles work right in your foot, but some muscles that move your feet are higher up in your legs. There are 33 joints or connections between your foot bones, and there are 26 bones and more than 100 muscles in your foot. A quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.

- Anderson Campello, age 6

At American University's Katzen Museum

Contemporary North Korean Art:
The Evolution of Socialist Realism

Curated by BG Muhn

The forms and structure of contemporary North Korean art, a central and highly developed dimension of the national culture, are largely unknown to the outside world. This exhibition, the first of its kind in the US, seeks to broaden understanding of North Korean art beyond stereotypes of propaganda and kitsch to show sophisticated and nuanced expressive achievements. It investigates previously unrevealed evidence of North Korean artistic experimentation and the evolution of Socialist Realism within this culturally homogeneous context. The works in the exhibition focus on the development of Chosonhwa, North Korea’s predominant painting medium that is revered as the nation’s most refined. The exhibition is curated by BG Muhn, artist and Professor at Georgetown University.

 

 

South Korean Art:
Examining Life Through Social Realities

Curated by GimChoe Eun-yeong

Examining Life Through Social Realities documents and examines life and the social realities of people living on the Korean peninsula through the Realist paintings of ten South Korean contemporary artists. As explained by exhibition curator GimChoe Eun-yeong, definitions of Realism have changed over time, but the Realism of South Korea closely approximates 19th century French Realist painter Gustave Courbet’s use of the term: to manifest artists’ perspectives of the world through expressive techniques and methods.

 

Art Cart:
Honoring the Legacy

Curated by Pamela Harris Lawton and Adjoa Burrowes

This exhibition ties together two cities - Washington, DC and New York City - in an inter-generational, inter-disciplinary project. Professional visual artists aged 62 and older are matched with students of art, healthcare, and aging to document and preserve their artistic legacy. The exhibition includes painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and installation by ART CART artists that highlight turning points in the artists’ lives including the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements.

ART CART: SAVING THE LEGACY is a DC and New York based project that helps older professional artists and provides mentorships to students. ART CART: HONORING THE LEGACY features Alonzo Davis, Cheryl Edwards, Annette Fortt, Cianne Fragione, Pauline Jakobsberg, E.J. Montgomery, Annette Polan, and Terry Svat.

 

 

The Looking Glass:
Artists Immigrants of Washington

Alper Initiative for Washington Art

This exhibition celebrates ten artists who left Latin America for many different reasons over the last sixty years—primarily for safety, freedom, and opportunity—and made their homes, and their artistic careers and contributions, in the Washington region. They include Joan Belmar and Juan Downey from Chile, Carolina Mayorga from Colombia, Ric Garcia, F. Lennox Campello, and Jose Ygnacio Bermudez from Cuba, Muriel Hasbun from El Salvador, Frida Larios from Honduras, Irene Clouthier from Mexico, and Naúl Ojeda from Uruguay. They brought with them artistic traditions that took root and bore fruit here in the United States.

 

 

 

Bandits & Heros, Poets & Saints:
Popular Art of the Northeast of Brazil

Curated by Marion E. Jackson, Ph.D. and Barbara Cervenka, O.P., Curators

Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints explores how the ancient cultures of Africa blended with indigenous and colonial Portuguese traditions to form the vibrant and complex cultural mosaic of modern Brazil. This eclectic collection of popular art—photography, sculptures, paintings, religious objects and books of poetry—depicts the vibrant culture of the Northeast of Brazil and the Nordestinos. The exhibition explores the coming together of diverse traditions of the region through work by historical and contemporary artists.

 

 

SAVE THE DATE

 

Opening Reception
June 18, 6-9 p.m.

Bethesda Painting Prize winners

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District announced the top three Bethesda Painting Awards prize winners on Wednesday evening during the exhibition’s opening at Gallery B. Tanja Softic of Richmond, VA was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Richard Levine of Falls Church, VA was named second place and was given $2,000 and Amy Sherald of Baltimore, MD received third place and was awarded $1,000.

 

Tanja Softic studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo and earned her Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. She works across the media of printmaking, drawing, photography and book arts. She is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant, National Endowment for the Arts/ Southern Arts Federation Visual Artist Fellowship and Soros Foundation - Open Society Institute Exhibition Support Grant. Tanja’s work is included in numerous collections in the United States and abroad, among them New York Public Library, Library of Congress Print Department and New South Wales Gallery of Art in Sydney, Australia. She participated in 12th International Print Triennial in Cracow, Poland and won a First Prize at the 5th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Ino-cho Paper Museum in Kochi, Japan in 2002. She completed print projects at Flying Horse Press, Tamarind Institute and Anderson Ranch's Patton Print Studio. She lives and works in Richmond, VA, where she is Professor of Art at the University of Richmond.

 

The eight artists selected as finalists are:

 

John Aquilino, Rockville, MD

Katie Baines, North Chesterfield, VA

Amy Chan, Henrico, VA

Andy Karnes, Baltimore, MD

Richard Levine, Falls Church, VA

Erin Raedeke, Montgomery Village, MD

Amy Sherald, Baltimore, MD

Tanja Softic, Richmond, VA

 

A public opening will be held on Friday, June 10, 2016 from 6 – 9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in downtown Bethesda. The work of the eight finalists will be on display from June 3-27, 2015. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12 – 6pm.

Entries were juried by Dorothy Moss, Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery and Director of the Triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition; 

Dr. David Park Curry, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, American Painting & Sculpture at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Megan Marlatt, award-winning painter and Professor of Art and at University of Virginia.

 

The Bethesda Painting Awards was established by Carol Trawick in 2005. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is past chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, past chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.

".art" domain to launch this fall

UK Creative Ideas Limited (UKCI) signed an agreement with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in late March, to launch and be the exclusive operator of the new .ART top-level domain (TLD). Launching in late fall 2016, .ART is new, undeveloped Internet real estate dedicated to serving the arts and culture communities by providing the infrastructure to enhance and preserve the art industry’s online presence. With more name choice, shorter names, exact match for searches, and immediate identification with the arts, the global art world will have a new opportunity to meaningfully connect to their audiences in the digital realm.

“We are very fortunate to have secured .ART for the long-term,” states Ulvi Kasimov, Founder of UKCI. “We are at the beginning of an exciting new phase of innovation for art online, and .ART will be an important facilitator for existing and future players within the arts and culture community.”

“Our goals are to support existing museums, galleries, artists, auction houses and others in protecting and enhancing their brands, to inspire new organizations to build on .ART real estate, and to make domain names available to younger players to the art scene whose names are no longer available in other TLDs and want to immediately be identified with the art world,” states John Matson, CEO of UKCI.

The process of securing .ART began in 2012 when UKCI submitted an application to operate .ART to ICANN, the global nonprofit responsible for regulating and overseeing the Internet’s domain name policy. In 2014, ICANN expanded the number of generic top-level domains including major cities such as .nyc and .london, industry-specific domains such as .luxury and .guru; as well as brands like .axa, .bmw, and .google. Now with this new contract in place, the launch of the .ART domain will take place in late 2016.

To request a .ART domain or to learn more about .ART, please visit the website at www.dotart.domains.

Airborne

Heading to Miami to see my mother...

Last Friday the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) launched a new eMuseum that makes the District's fine art and public art collections available to the public in digital format for the first time.

 

The site will catalogue more than 2,800 pieces of the District's Art Bank fine arts collection, as well as public artworks commissioned by the DC government. Users will be able to search by different criteria, including artist name, media and year of creation.

 

"Using technology in this way allows us to make these artworks accessible to a larger group of the population," said Arthur Espinoza, Jr., Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. "The District has acquired an impressive collection of works by local artists over many years, and we want to make sure that our residents and visitors have the opportunity to see and engage these pieces."

 

The new site is part of innoMAYtion, Mayor Muriel Bowser's month-long initiative that showcases DC's innovation ecosystem.

 

The Art Bank is the District's fine art collection, managed by DCCAH. Each year, DCCAH takes submissions from local artists to be included in the collection. Submissions are reviewed by an independent panel that makes purchase recommendations. The artworks are then displayed in public areas of District government buildings.

 

Currently, 40% of the collection is available to view online. The total collection will be online by the end of 2016. Public artworks commissioned by the District will also be viewable online.

 

Visitors to the site will have the option to register for a free account to save their favorite works, as well as share artworks on social media networks.

 

For more information, visit: www.dcarts.dc.gov.

Memorial Day

Have a grand Memorial Day! Our grateful thanks to all those who have served and their families, and our gratitude to all the soldiers, airmen/women, marines, and sailors currently serving all over the world and at sea.


We've got your back!

RESPECT: Unsung Heroes in Uniform Art Exhibit at Del Ray Artisans Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday, June 3 from 7-9pm

Show Dates: June 3-26, 2016

When one is in uniform, people tend to see the uniform but not the individual. Let’s take a moment to give respect to ALL unsung heroes in uniform: coaches, teams, nurses, doctors, dentists, vets, food and restaurant workers, janitors, maintenance employees, retail service workers, gym instructors, landscape workers, bus and train drivers, police officers, and security personnel... just to name a few!

Visit Del Ray Artisans gallery in June to see how area artists chose to show their respect. Some artists expressed their point of view, depicted something funny or thought provoking, or honored a loved one. There will also be a small memorial section in the gallery where visitors can reflect, contemplate or remember. The exhibit runs June 3-26, 2016.

 

Please join uthemfor the opening reception on Friday, June 3 from 7-9pm, and check Del Ray Artisans website calendar for other events scheduled throughout the month.

 

The RESPECT exhibit is at Del Ray Artisans gallery in the Colasanto Center, 2704 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, Virginia 22301. Gallery hours are: Thursdays 12-6pm, First Thursdays (April-September) 12-9pm, Fridays 12-9pm, Saturdays 12-9pm, and Sundays 12-6pm. The gallery is free, open to the public and handicap accessible.

For more information, please visit www.TheDelRayArtisans.org or contact the curator, Tracy Wilkerson, at RecycledWorks@yahoo.com.

Tim Tate

What has DMV uber artist Tim Tate been up to in the last few?






A Century Of Longing
9 x 9 x 1 inches
Cast Ploy-Vitro, Video

This piece's video shows the first time in history that two men were filmed dancing together. It is 1898 in Thomas Edison's studio. Just as the way we perceive these two men has morphed over the last century, and so too has the way we view new media. They could never have known that the three minutes they stood and danced together would become an iconic image for a new age

Aubergine Infinity
Cast Poly-Vitro, Glass, Lighting
16 x 16 x 3 inches

Bellows Interrupted
15 x 23 x 4 inches
Wood, Video



Crimson Infinity
16 x 16 x 4 inches
Cast Poly-Vitro, Glass, Lighting



I See How Far I've Wandered
9"rd
Poly-Vitro, Video

 Video is of a woman, writing on a chalkboard, "I See How Far I've Wandered" forwards and backwards

On These Magic Shores
Blown and Cast Glass, Found Objects
26 x 10 x 10
The small figure on the top finial dreams of childhood memories. The title comes from a quote from Peter Pan



She Was Often Gripped With The Desire To Be Elsewhere..
Blown and Cast Glass, Video
25 x 10 x 10

Inside the dome, a young woman holds a video screen showing a girl in a pleated skirt and saddle shoes confidently carrying a suitcase into her unknown future. The top finial is of a cast glass hand holding a compass.

Summer Anthracite
Cast Poly Vitro, Video
9" round

 Video is a stop motion of tulips opening and closing

The Awe Of Imagination
24 x 18 x 4
Cast Glass, Video

The Guardian/The Watcher
Cast poly Vitro, Video
18 x 24
There are two videos in this piece: One left, one right. Each is of an eye peering through a peephole, the other a girl in negative, spinning in a dress

The Next 50 Years Begin Now....
Blown and Cast Glass, Found Objects, LED
25 x 14 x 8

Inside the smaller dome are shards from the original piece. On top of that is a small man holding a large video screen, playing that video. The finial on the outer dome is a bust of Dale Chihuly. The surface of the outer dome has been etched with the history of Dale Chihuly, his importance to the arts, and ends with his lawsuit against his former assistant for knocking him off.




The Oculus Of The Titanic
18 x 16 x 2
Cast Glass, Video

The imagining of an intricately carved porthole in the Titanic and the view from today



The Sea Always Filled Her With Longing
15 x 23 x 4
Wood, Glass, Video

The cast glass panel in front is cast with lenses, each one refracting the video image of the gently rolling sea behind the glass.

The Shadow Nation
Cast poly Vitro, Video
18 x 24

 There are two videos in this piece: One left, one right... each is of an eye peering through a peephole, presumably at each other



Tread Softly, You Tread On My dreams
16 x 16 x 4
Cast Poly-Vitro, Video

This piece writes then unwrites over and over this line from the famous poem, making each work important... and mesmerizing to watch.



Violet Infinity
16 x 16 x 4
Cast Poly-Vitro, Glass, Lighting

An entirely illuminated infinity piece

Art Walks America ap

More than 25 million Americans attend thousands of art walks, gallery openings, and other arts events every year ... and now they will have an app designed specifically to meet their needs and enrich their experiences. Launching July 4, 2016, Art Walk America (AWA) will be available in both an ad-supported free and a $1.99 version. AWA is a product of its parent company, MOV!


AWA beta tester sign-ups are being accepted now at www.ArtWalksAmerica.com prior to the Independence Day launch. The initial version of the AWA app will feature 8-10 major cities across the United States, with a wider focus planned in stages throughout the third and fourth quarters of 2016. For more on the Art Walk America app, go to https://youtu.be/IJ720rYaOyo.


Art Walk America is the brainchild of MOV! CEO and Art Walk America Creative Director Gloria J. Fredricks, who is an oil painter, sculptor and interior designer: "As an artist who seeks to connect with fellow artists and others who appreciate the arts, I have been keenly aware for years now of the need for a means by which the arts and the public can come together more fully and with greater ease. Not only will Art Walk America bring more people to the arts, it also will provide important opportunities for those who support the arts to demonstrate that and, perhaps most importantly, for artists to find a market for their works."


The primary appeal of AWA is simple: A user-friendly way to search, find and make the most of art-related events, including art walks, gallery showings, and other culinary, fine arts, music, and fashion events.


AWA will feature live streaming video from art walk events, as well as AWA user submitted photographs, reports, and reviews. Event organizers will be able to self-submit content about their events and the featured galleries and artists. Additional content will be curated by AWA, sponsors, event organizers, and AWA users. Supported by The Hastings Group, Art Walk America will make use of the latest in technology to bring together the public, events, artists, event organizers, and sponsors. 
 
The ad-supported Web site and free app will feature events searchable by city and personal location, as well as dates, times, maps, gallery information, and other content. The $1.99 version will be ad free and offer such enhanced features as live, step-by-step maps, a "concierge service" (restaurants, B&Bs, parking), special gallery tours, talks by artists, access to special events, and other premium features.


Gloria Fredricks said: "No one should ever have to wonder again whether or not there is a local art event available to them. No one should ever have to feel like a stranger when they show up at an event. And no one should ever have to worry that they didn't have the richest and fullest experience as an attendee. Our goal is to make Art Walk America a win for everyone ... the general public, event organizers, sponsors, gallery owners ... and, most importantly, the artists who make all of this possible."


MOV! is currently beginning to speak to organizations interested in supporting the mission of Art Walk America, including planned foundation activity such as art in the schools, art camps, art competitions, and the promotion of art around the world.


Gloria J. Fredricks is a resident of Washington, D.C., Minnesota and Arizona. For 10 years, she has been a full-time practicing artist, with a focus on plein air oil painting, figurative drawings, photography, sculpture, fashion design, and the culinary arts. Fredricks ran an interior design firm for 15 years. Her works have been featured in a variety of shows throughout the U.S. and have been sold to collections internationally. She is member of Landscape Artists International, International Plein Air Painters, and a signature member of Northern Plains Artists. 
 
MOV!, the parent company of Art Walk America, is the growing center of a number of new brands and services designed by artists for artists .and those who appreciate the arts. MOV! products and services evoke strong responses from their users. MOV! will move you.


Follow Art Walk America on Twitter at @LaunchAWA and Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArtWalksAmerica/.

Your Body and the Stars

I just tuned into Stephanie Marango’s new book, "Your Body and the Stars," published a few weeks ago by Atria Press, an imprint of Simon and Shuster. It can be purchased at Barnes & Noble or through that little outfit owned by my Cuban peeps... Amazon.

Even though this is an art news outlet, I get a lot of books sent to me to look at... and let me affirm that this is the first book of its kind – a fun, practical and insightful handbook that takes a revolutionary approach to wellness by showing the relationship between the twelve Zodiac signs (e.g. I'm a Virgo) and the specific body region each sign represents (e.g. the Upper Back and Heart). 

Stephanie is a holistic health physician and educator, and her collaborator, Rebecca Gordon, is the resident astrologer for Harper's Bazaar.

Two impressive minds...

While new to modern times, the relationship between health and astrology actually dates back to Babylon and forms much of the history of medicine and science, from Plato, Aristotle and the school of Hippocrates, and all through the history of Rome, and weaves all the way through medieval times. 

How can you apply this ancient wisdom to your life? 

Pick a body part (e.g. neck) or a star sign (e.g. Taurus), and read how to bring your well-being into greater balance including practical tools like self-directed questions and yoga/Pilates/strengthening exercises for an effective result.

And I think that artists can learn a lot from the other arts, especially those with ancient roots, that seem to reach and tickle each individual cell, as though each cell is tied to each floating bit of energy in the Universe.

Even though I get a lot of unsolicited books to review, as you constant readers know, seldom do I wander away from the art world, but this is a good meander -- You can find the book at Barnes & Noble as well as my bud Jeff's Amazon... you can read and enjoy it now... and learn.

Whether or not you believe in astrology, the book’s an exceptional read, weaving in mythology, history and health - and that's how it hooked me in. 

I think that you'll find it a welcome exercise at expanding your perspectives and further opening your mind to "what if?"

Read it! Use it! Art it!

It's the parents' fault...

Two young boys gleefully destroyed a piece of art at a museum in Shanghai last week while adults, presumed to be their mothers, filmed the incident.

Read the story here. 

Color Chords

City of Alexandria to take over the Torpedo Factory

The city’s controversial move last week to temporarily take control of the Torpedo Factory Art Center caught many in Alexandria off guard. While three years seems to be pushing the boundary of what’s truly “temporary,” on face value the action makes sense.

Read that Alexandria Times story here.

 “The expectation now is that if we are leasing directly with the artists, now the city is bringing in that income, so we’re expecting the business model to still be self-perpetuating as it currently is but in a slightly different channel,” Ruggiero said. “Especially since this is a temporary measure, we will set it up within our system as a separate budget so it won’t be absorbed into the office of the arts. It’ll be a separate thing so we can track it better.”

Read that other Alexandria Times story here. 

Artists and art patrons have been expressing concern about the future of the center since a consultant’s report in January excoriated how the Torpedo Factory is organized. The report called the management structure dysfunctional, citing distrust among those involved and a lack of diversity among the artists. It also described the center as “continually hampered by disruptive politics about the distribution of power and authority.”

Read that WaPo story here.

A 5th force discovered?

A laboratory experiment in Hungary has spotted an anomaly in radioactive decay that could be the signature of a previously unknown fifth fundamental force of nature, physicists say—if the finding holds up.

Details here.