Under the knife

I'll be out of commission today, going under the knife for a major, somewhat urgent and quite unexpected surgery procedure with a substantial recovery period. Surgery starts at 0730; as I type this the main worry in my mind is getting from my house to the hospital (arrival time 0530) with all the ice still all over my neighborhood's twisty and windy streets.

Not looking forward to the next 2-3 weeks. But like Clint Eastwood once famously said: "Hog's breath is better than no breath at all..."

There are lots of things that I am afraid of, but weirdly enough, death is not one of them. I think that the fact that if I were to croak today I'd still be leaving behind around ten thousand pieces of artwork which have been sold, traded, given away, left in hotel rooms, inserted into Goodwill stores and/or otherwise left to leave an artistic footprint, is rather a calming feeling.

This is a major, multi-hour, robot-not-a-human-in-charge operation, which I am told has an 80% success rate where the John Doe doesn't bite the bucket (and frankly, I picked the robot over the human, because of something called "tremors" when it comes to a surgical scalpel), soooooooooo.... If I do bite the bucket, I'd like a tombstone that looks like a Pictish Stone, sort of like this one that I did in Scotland in 1989:

Clach Biorach Pictish Standing Stone
Edderton, Ross, Scotland
circa 1989 by F. Lennox Campello
Pen and Ink wash on paper, 9.5 x 6.5 inches

Hard to believe...

That I used to do watercolors like this...

"Northern Lights, Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland."
30x40 inches. Watercolor on Paper. In a private collection in Banff, Scotland.

Little Keithock Farmhouse

Little Keithock Farmhouse, Near Brechin, Angus, Scotland

One of the most influential times of my life were the years that I lived in Scotland (1989-1992). Above is a drawing that I did in 1990 of the farmhouse where I used the live. This haunting (and haunted) place was built in  1681 and there was even an older dovecot right next to it. Its farm fields were adjacent to the Brechin Golf Club, which I think is the second or third oldest golf playing ground in the world.
 
In fact, the dovecot next to it was so much older (built in 1534), that it merited an entry in the Scottish Ordnance Map as an "antiquity," not an easy thing in Europe's most ancient nation.

Anyway, the farmhouse had a beautiful garden, which was surrounded by a tall stone wall. One day, one of the trucks that used the dirt road that ran in front of the house, and led to the nearby potato and turnip fields, lost control, and slammed into the wall, destroying a couple of feet of wall.

A couple of days later, another truck dumped a small pile of new rocks, and soon afterwards an elderly gent showed up, and using nothing but a small hammer, began to rebuild the wall. He re-used the old rocks that had been disturbed by the accident, as well as some of the new ones.

Slowly but surely, over a few days, the wall was rebuilt before my eyes. When it was done, other than the fact that the moss on the stones had been re-arranged, it was impossible to tell that an accident had happened. A year later, the moss was back everywhere and no visual evidence that a chunk of the wall was "new" existed.

What shows up on Ebay

 

Skies above the Montrose Links, Scotland
1990 Watercolor on paper by F. Lennox Campello

This 1990 watercolor - done while I lived in Scotland is currently up on Ebay for a steal! See it here

Field near Battledykes

"Field near Battledykes, Forfar, Angus, Scotland"
Pen and Ink Wash. 1992. 28x40 inches
In a private collection in Scotland

The Picts and the Power of the Web

Some of you are aware of my deep interest in the artwork and culture of the original people of Scotland, known to history by their nickname (given to them by the Romans): The Picts.

This interest started in childhood when I used to devour sword & sorcery genre books authored by Texan pulp writer and poet Robert E. Howard.

It reached a burning interest when I lived in Scotland from 1989-1992 and discovered the real culture of the Picts.

In 1994 I created the internet's first website dedicated to Pictish culture, and three years later, as a result of that website, I was a "talking head" in a television special on the art of tattooing called "Women of the Ink" and done by TBS. I discussed, and proved on the air, the written (and apparently unknown to most scholars) third century evidence of Pictish tattooing.

Between 1993 and 2000 I visited Scotland regularly, and studied the many remaining Pictish standing stones and stone circles, and associated Pictish art, and in 1997 I created a series of drawings based on the symbols depicted on many of the stones.

Those drawings and prints from the drawings were then placed online here, and over the years I've been selling a few here and there.

In 2003 I had a solo show at Fraser Gallery titled "Pictish Nation," which married my interest in figurative drawing with Pictish symbology.

"Pictish Warrior" Charcoal on Paper by F. Lennox Campello
A few days ago, I bitched about the National Geographic's apparent lack of interest in anything Pictish, and now, suddenly I have been contacted by the National Geographic Society's television people, which is apparently filming a documentary, and wants to use some of my 1997 Pictish drawings in their documentary.

Dalhousie Arch

This is "Dalhousie Arch, Edzell, Angus, Scotland." 

It's from around 1990 and one of the many ink drawings of the arch that I did while stationed at NSGA Edzell. 

It has been part of the US Navy art collection since then. 

"Dalhousie Arch, Edzell, Angus, Scotland"

After the base closed, it hung at the old CNSG... it is now hanging at Fleet Cyber Command/US TENTH Fleet in Fort Meade.

My awards for the 31st Tephra ICA Festival (formerly Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival)

Now in its 31st year, the Tephra ICA Festival (formerly Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival) will take place on May 20–22, 2022 and will highlight more than 200 artists and artisans from across the nation. Drawing upon a robust exhibitor and collector base coupled with Tephra ICA’s contemporary art foundation, the Festival has become one of the region’s most anticipated events, attracting approximately 30,000 people to the unique, outdoor environment of Reston Town Center.

Details here.

I juried this festival a few years ago, and have participated in it many times over the years, maybe 25 or 26 times out of the 31 years, and I have won a ton of awards over the years - I applied again this year and got rejected, which is OK, since there are new jurors each year, and rejection is part of an artist's life.

It is a great show!

This year's jurors will select the award winners when the festival opens - but as usual, I'd like to run through them online and award my own awards.

You can see the artists here and make up your own awardees... my first observation is that (as usual), this show is heavily tilting towards the craft side - it's somewhat of a trademark for Reston, and since the beginning it has added more and more jewelry, furniture, etc. at the expense of the fine arts. There are about 30 jewelers in the group! And they're all really good!

But, did I sound elitist or what? Sorry...

And the awards go to...

Best Painting Award: Jill Banks - Booth 943 - A true example of the 10,000 hour rule; Banks is a master and her work shows it. Tough category with 37 painters here - all really good with notable ones such as the superbly talented Ann Barbieri, Jon Smith, Cassie Taggart and others.

Best Photography Award - Landscape photography dominates, which is to be expected, and (as I've noted for decades now) I tire of seeing photos of crumbling buildings in Havana and old 1950s cars - please! Enough! If you wanna take photographs of Cuba, go somewhere else other than Havana! Maybe photograph some of the heroes who often take to the streets to protest the brutality of Communism! 

James McArthur Cole is trying hard to head in the right direction, and he has some stunning Cuban photos, such as the one below - but I deduct two points for each photo of an old car.

Cuba 60 by James McArthur Cole

But John Deng - Booth 317 - stands out! His beautiful photos are equally adept at capturing immensely different landscapes as well as the diversity of the human species.

Honey Gatherers by John Deng

Photo by John Deng at Tephra 2022 ICA Festival

John Scanlan's photos of Scotland are breathtaking, but then again, Scotland is possibly the most beautiful country on the planet! Nonetheless Deng takes my "Best Photography Award."

Best Weird Art Award: Greg Stones - Booth 523 - Greg notes that his "basic process is this: Paint a landscape. Then add weird stuff." It works! They are immensely interesting paintings.

Best DMV Award: Joseph Craig English - Booth 700 - Craig is a master of the DMV landscape/landmarks - no one on the planet can do it better. By the way - there are only four printmakers in the entire show: English plus Mel Fleck, Jim McCormick and Laura Wilder; they are all really, really good. Note to future jurors: More printmakers!!!!

Best Craft Award: Mick Whitcomb - Booth 816 - Specializes in one-of-a-kind furniture and lighting made from architectural and industrial salvage - the kind of stuff that some call "steampunk."  The work is clever and unique and far outshines (no pun intended) the category competitors.

Fan Light Fixture by Mick Whitcomb

Best Drawing Award - Easy pick here with the complex drawings of Susan Deaton in booth 423. She notes that her work is about "conceptualization of social and environmental issues through the use of symbolic images." Methinks there's a lot of Lovecraft in there as well.

Best Glass Award - The DMV is home to three of the best known glass artists on the planet, and thus a magnet place for artists of this genre.  The work of David Sandidge stands out... some of the whimsical pieces remind me of Carmen Lozar's early work.  Sandidge is clearly a master of this most demanding of all arts.

Glass art by David Sandidge

I will announce the Best in Show winner when I visit the show in person next month!

Scottish road

This watercolor shows a winter snowfall on the road from the Scottish farmhouse (where I lived from 1989-1992 (Little Keithock Farmhouse)) that lead from the farmhouse to the the B966 (I think it was also called the Trinity Road) paved road. It was about a quarter of a mile from the farmhouse to the road, but at night in the winter you could not see your hand in front of your face because it was so dark out in brooding Angus.

Winter Road, near Brechin, Angus, Scotland, c. 1990

Scotland's Rocky Statute?

If we were accountants or lawyers, I am sure our professional advice would be taken seriously but when it comes to art, everyone is suddenly an expert.

So complains Richard Calvocoressi, the director of the Henry Moore Foundation and until recently director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, who packed up his toys and went home over the fact that the Scots apparently want a particular statute in front of their Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, and it's by an artist who was not one of the five that he and the rest of the body which recommends art for the Scottish Parliament invited to submit proposals.


Read the Guardian story here.

Wha's Like Us? Damn Few And They're A' Died

Scotland calling

I used to go to Scotland once a year or so, and lived there from 1989-1992. I feel it calling me...

The Road to the Isles

A far croonin' is pullin' me away
As take I wi' my cromak to the road.
The far Coolins are puttin' love on me,
As step I wi' the sunlight for my load.

Chorus:
Sure, by Tummel and Loch Rannoch
And Lochaber I will go,
By heather tracks wi' heaven in their wiles;
If it's thinkin' in your inner heart
Braggart's in my step,
You've never smelt the tangle o' the Isles.
Oh, the far Coolins are puttin' love on me,
As step I wi' my cromak to the Isles.

It's by 'Sheil water the track is to the west,
By Aillort and by Morar to the sea,
The cool cresses I am thinkin' o' for pluck,
And bracken for a wink on Mother's knee.

It's the blue Islands are pullin' me away,
Their laughter puts the leap upon the lame,
The blue Islands from the Skerries to the Lews,
Wi' heather honey taste upon each name.

This showed up at an auction recently

Two Canadas over Brechin, Scotland by F. Lennox Campello, c. 1990

 

Battle of Dunnichen

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Dunnichen or Battle of Nechtansmere (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Dhùn Neachdain, Old Gaelic: Dún Nechtain, Old Welsh: Linn Garan, Old English: Nechtansmere), which was fought between the original indigenous people of present day Scotland, the Picts, led by King Bridei Mac Bili, and the English Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith on 20 May, 685.

"Egfrid is he who made war against his cousin Brudei, king of the Picts, and he fell therein with all the strength of his army and the Picts with their king gained the victory; and the Saxons never again reduced the Picts so as to exact tribute from them. Since the time of this war it is called Gueith Lin Garan."
— Nennius' account of battle from Historia Brittonum.

King Ecgfrith was killed in battle, and his army destroyed and this ancient battle ended with an unexpected and decisive Pictish victory which severed Northumbrian control of northern Britain and eventually assured the creation of a separate Scottish nation rather than a larger English nation.

More on the Picts here.

Viva Scotland!

Jobs in the Arts

Several nice job openings at the Guggenheim in NYC. Check it out here.

Want more art jobs? See below:
 
Various job opportunities at the Guggenheim Museum: NYC, USA.Deadline: asap.
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/about/jobs/full-time
Current available positions at The Museum of Modern Art, MOMA NYC: NYC, USA.Deadline: asap.
http://www.moma.org/about/jobs

Current available positions at The Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. USA.Deadline: asap.
http://whitney.org/About/JobPostings

Current available positions at the TATE. UK.Deadline: asap.
http://workingat.tate.org.uk/pages/job_search_results.aspx?searchtype=all

Current available positions at Christie's. Worldwide.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.christies.com/about/careers/

SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) current Opportunities. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://sfmoma.snaphire.com/home

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute offers a broad range of career opportunities. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.clarkart.edu/about/employment.cfm

Victoria and Albert Museum: View current vacancies and apply online.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/jobs/apply/

University of Glasgow, College of Arts: View current vacancies and apply online.
Deadline: asap.
http://goo.gl/3QFv6

University of Cambridge Museums (UCM): View current vacancies and apply online.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/contact/jobs/

Cincinnati Artswave current Job Opportunities. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.theartswave.org/connect/jobs

Association of Midwest Museums current Job Opportunities. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.midwestmuseums.org/jobs.html

School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Current Full-time Faculty Positions. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

New York Foundation for the Arts: Jobs in the Arts, current vacancies. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.nyfa.org/opportunities.asp?type=Job&id=94&fid=1&sid=54

Marketing and PR Coordinator at de Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Interested candidates should send their resumes with cover letters and salary requirement, by email to hr@decordova.org . USA, MA, Lincoln.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.decordova.org

Das Badische Landesmuseum, eines der bedeutendsten kunst- und kulturgeschichtlichen Museen Deutschlands, sucht zum 1.1.2013 eine(n) Mitarbeiter(in) für das Referat PR und Marketing in Vollzeit befristet bis 31.12.2014. Germany.
Deadline: November 12, 2012
http://www.landesmuseum.de/website/Deutsch/Museum/Freie_Stellen.htm

Zürcher Hochschule der Künste: im Departement Kulturanalysen und Vermittlung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Transdisziplinarität suchen wir für das Forschungsprojekt „Size Matters. CH.
Deadline: November 12, 2012
http://www.zhdk.ch/fileadmin/data_zhdk/Personal/DKV_FSP_Trans_2xDoks_Okt_12.pdf

National Galleries of Scotland: Assistant Curator (Maternity Cover) - (NMS12/273) Scotland.
Deadline: November 12, 2012
https://vacancies.nms.ac.uk/nms/vacancies/microsite.asp

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery: Conservation Project Manager (Staffordshire Hoard) UK.
Deadline: November 14, 2012
http://www.bmag.org.uk/about/vacancies

Herzog & de Neuron: Das Communications - Team sucht per sofort oder nach Vereinbarung für mindestens ein Jahr einen engagierten und motivierten Praktikanten (m/w) am Hauptsitz in Basel. Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Bewerbung unter Angabe der Referenznummer B12-6. CH.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.herzogdemeuron.com/index/practice/jobs/current/praktikum-communications_121004.html

Tate: Assistant Curator, Collections International Art. UK.
Deadline: November 15, 2012
http://workingat.tate.org.uk/pages/job_search_view.aspx?jobId=895&JobIndex=2&categoryList=&workingPatternList=&locations=&group=&keywords=&PageIndex=1&Number=11

Leiter/in Institut für Theorie (ith), 100 % - Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. CH.
Deadline: November 15, 2012
http://jobs.zeit.de/jobs/zuerich_leiterin_leiter_institut_fuer_theorie_ith_100_80785.html

Lund Humphries, long-established publishers of illustrated art books with a particular reputation within Modern British Art, are seeking an experienced Project Manager to join their Editorial and Production team. UK.
Deadline: November 16, 2012
https://www.ashgate.com/pdf/vacancies/Project-Manager-Lund-Humphries-Oct-2012.pdf

An der Hochschule für Künste Bremen ist in direkter Anbindung zum Rektorat zum nächstmőglichen Zeitpunkt die Stelle einer/eines wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiterin/Mitarbeiters für Forschungsfőrderung und wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs (Kennziffer DL 12/06) mit der Hälfte der regelmässigen wőchentlichen Arbeitszeit einer/eines Vollbeschäftigten (zunächst) befristet bis zum 30.09.2014 zu besetzen. Germany.
Deadline: November 16, 2012
http://jobs.zeit.de/jobs/bremen_wissenschaftlichen_mitarbeiterin_mitarbeiters_fuer_forschungsfoerderung_und_wissenschaftlichen_nachw_81461.html

The Dacorum Heritage Trust is an Accredited Museum based at The Museum Store in Berkhamsted, with collections covering the Borough of Dacorum. The Curator will continue to run this small, but busy museum service, assisted by an Assistant Curator and a large group of volunteers. A job description and application form can be obtained by emailing: Finance Manger finance@dacorumheritage.org.uk . UK.
Deadline: November 16, 2012
http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk

Das Landesmuseum Württemberg sucht zum 1. Februar 2013 eine/einen Pädagogin/ Pädagogen im Bereich Kulturvermittlung in Teilzeit (50%). Germany.
Deadline: November 16, 2012
http://www.landesmuseum-stuttgart.de/ueber-uns/stellenangebote/

Cubitt Gallery is looking for a manager. One of the UK’s most established artist-run spaces,  renowned for its programme of innovative and challenging exhibitions. Please note that there is no curatorial element within the role. UK.
Deadline: November 19, 2012
http://cubittartists.org.uk/about/opportunities/

Die Prof. Hans Jürgen Kallmann-Stiftung sucht für das Prof. Hans Jürgen Kallmann-Museum in Vollzeit eine/n Museumsleiter/in. Germany.
Deadline: November 19, 2012
http://jobs.zeit.de/jobs/ismaning_bei_muenchen_museumsleiter_in_81430.html

Director of Education at Young At Art Museum, USA, FL, Davie.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.youngatartmuseum.org/employment.php

Das Schweizerische Institut für Kunstwissenschaft (SIK-ISEA) sucht für seinen Hauptsitz in Zürich ab Anfang Januar 2013 eine Praktikantin / einen Praktikanten für das Schweizerische Kunstarchiv (6 Monate zu 50%). CH.
Deadline: November 20, 2012
http://sik-isea.ch/Aktuell/OffeneStellen/tabid/307/Default.aspx

Open Eye Gallery is looking for a new Director to lead the organisation through what promises to be one of the most exciting periods in its history. UK.
Deadline: November 22, 2012
http://www.openeye.org.uk/get-involved/opportunities/

Das Kunsthaus Zürich sucht sucht eine Ausstellungskuratorin / einen Ausstellungskurator. CH.
Deadline: November 23, 2012
http://www.infoclio.ch/en/node/27854

Derby Museums are looking for an Assistant Exhibitions Officer. UK.
Deadline: November 23, 2012
http://www.derby.gov.uk/jobs-and-careers/jobs/job-vacancies-information-and-advice/

Chinese Arts Centre is looking for a curator. In the coming months, we will be recruiting new positions to join the team. UK.
Deadline: November 23, 2012
http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/index.php?cID=254

Center for Curatorial Studies and Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College (CCS Bard) seeks Director of Graduate Program. Candidates must have an advanced postgraduate degree (M.A., M.F.A, or Ph.D.) in a field pertinent to the graduate program, close familiarity with the contemporary visual arts and current curatorial and exhibition practice, and significant experience teaching at the graduate level.Applicants must submit a letter of interest including salary expectations and c.v. by email only to hr12705@bard.edu. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.bard.edu/ccs/study

OSLO10, the independent exhibition space for contemporary art in Basel, is looking for a curatorial team for the period from April 1st, 2013, to March 30th, 2015. CH.
Deadline: November 30, 2012
http://www.kulturmanagement.org/fileadmin/user_upload/redaktion/Stellenausschreibungen_2012/25_10_12_OSLO10_engl.pdf

The Otago Museum is seeking an outstanding Director/Chief Executive to lead this well-established and popular museum who will enhance its reputation both locally and internationally. Dunedin, New Zealand.
Deadline: November 30, 2012
http://www.eqiglobal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=e2smarty_item&id=521&Itemid=17

Die Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in München sucht ab 01. Januar 2013 eine/n Ausstellungskurator/in. Germany.
Deadline: November 30, 2012
http://www.hypo-kunsthalle.de/newweb/informationen/stellenanzeige.html

Université de Lausanne: la section d'histoire de l'art de la Faculté des Lettres met au concours un poste de: Première assistante ou Premier assistant en histoire de l'art de la période contemporaine (XIXe-XXIe siècle). Référence no: 2723. CH.
Deadline: November 30, 2012
https://applicationsw.unil.ch/adminpub/?MIval=PoIntHome&TypelC=811&PoId=2723

CCA Wattis seeks new Director: Screening begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled. USA.
Deadline: asap.
http://www.cca.edu/about/jobs/60075

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC): Full-time Faculty Position, Art Historian, North American Art, 1865–1945. USA.
Deadline: December 1, 2012
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago MCA Chicago. USA.
Deadline: December 1, 2012
http://www2.mcachicago.org/andrew-w-mellon-postdoctoral-curatorial-fellowship/

The School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position in the history of modern and/or contemporary art, at the rank of assistant professor. USA.
Deadline: December 2, 2012
http://jobs.illinois.edu

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC): Full-time Faculty in Sculpture. USA.
Deadline: December 14, 2012
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

Mardin Artuklu University is looking for an additional staff member to teach classes in Turkish. Although a preference would be shown to applicants with a background in Modern, Early Modern or Medieval European Art, all specialisms will be considered. To apply, please send a CV with the names and contact details of two referees to Dr. Elif Keser-Kayaalp (Chair): ekayaalp@artuklu.edu.tr. Turkey.
Deadline: December 31, 2012
http://sanattarihi.artuklu.edu.tr/en/

An der Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Wien ist die Stelle eines / einer Universitätsprofessors/Universitätsprofessorin für Kunstgeschichte Asiens zu besetzen. Austria.
Deadline: January 4, 2013
http://personalwesen.univie.ac.at/fuer-mitarbeiterinnen/professorinnen/job/prof/singleview/article/an-der-historisch-kulturwissenschaftlichen-fakultaet-der-universitaet-wien-ist-die-stelle-eines-ei/?tx_ttnews[backPid]=11881&cHash=4b16cfebf25c8d55c84bbce7065b377a

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC): Full-time Faculty Position in Architecture. USA.
Deadline: January 4, 2013
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC): Full-time Faculty in Fiber and Material Studies. USA.
Deadline: January 7, 2013
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC): Full-time Faculty in Painting and Drawing. USA.
Deadline: January 7, 2013
http://www.saic.edu/about/jobsatsaic/facultypositions/full-timefacultypositions/

The Department of Fine Arts and Art History at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, invites applications for the Mary Fox Whittlesey Visiting Professorship in the fields of Art History, Art Theory, Studio Arts, Performance Art and/or Music for a non-renewable period of one year, starting September 1, 2013. Lebanon.
Deadline: January 15, 2012
http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas

Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellowship at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA). USA.
Deadline: January 31, 2013
http://www2.mcachicago.org/marjorie-susman-curatorial-fellowship/

Das Kunstmuseum Luzern bietet laufend Kunstwissenschaftliche Praktika (80-100%). Geeignet sind Bewerberinnen und Bewerber mit abgeschlossenem (oder, in Ausnahmefällen, sich im Abschluss befindlichem) Kunstgeschichtsstudium an einer Schweizer Universität. Switzerland.
Deadline: Anytime.
http://www.museums.ch/assets/files/stellen/2012-02-02_Ausschreibung-Praktikum.pdf

What Dan Zak did

Over the years, decades really, I've been complaining about the way in which the Washington Post treats its own visual arts backyard. If you go back to the very beginnings of this blog, well over a decade ago, you'll find it hard to see a week's worth of postings where I'm not complaining or bitching about something that the WaPo did, or most often didn't do, about our visual arts scene, galleries and artists.

When I first came to the DMV in the late 1980s (1987-1989) it was as a young Lieutenant in the Navy, and in those years I spent most of my summers sailing in the Arctic off the then Soviet mainland at the top of the world, I started reading the WaPo regularly. Back then, the WaPo had a daily section titled The Arts, which covered art galleries, museums, regional visual artists, etc., in addition to all the other genres of the arts.

I left the area for a few years, and lived in Scotland, and then in Sonoma, CA. I returned to the DC area in late 1993, and by then the precipitous decline in the WaPo's coverage of its city's visual art scene was just beginning.

I then began writing about the DMV visual arts scene for a lot of local, regional and national magazines, in the process becoming deeply immersed in the scene itself. In those latter years of the 1990s, the WaPo's Arts Editor was a nice, kind man named John Pancake. I developed a professional relationship with him, and every once in a while we'd meet for coffee and discuss the area's visual arts. It was he who once described deciding to open an art gallery as a "heroic undertaking."

In those years the paper still had multiple columns covering the visual arts, which included the usual Wednesday Galleries column, then authored by Ferdinand Protzman, as well as other ad hoc gallery and museum reviews by Paul Richards. It also included a weekly Wednesday column titled Arts Beat, then authored by Michael O'Sullivan, who as I recall held the title of Assistant Arts Editor. Arts Beat reflected the interests of its author, and essentially augmented the paper's coverage of the DC area visual arts scene.

By the end of the 90s, things began to unravel.

Almost against the will of the WaPo's leadership (as related to me back then by one of the editors of the WaPo Online), the newspaper went on a major expansion of its online presence and also an associated expansion of its printed paper coverage. This included the visual arts, and I was hired, along with Jessica Dawson and others, as freelancers to cover gallery shows for the paper's online site (I wonder where all those reviews are now - have they ever been archived and preserved by the WaPo?).

I can't remember exactly when Richards retired, but his retirement (to Scotland I think) caused all kinds of minor waves for the DC art scene. First, Protzman quit, some say because he was upset that he didn't get "promoted" to Richards' job. Instead, the WaPo began a hiring process and eventually brought Blake Gopnik from his Canadian newspaper to take over as the paper's chief art critic (my titling).

Protzman's departure also brought a need for a regular freelancer to do the Galleries column, and several of those of us who were doing online reviews about Galleries were interviewed. I declined the position once we got deep into it - at the time, as some of you may recall, I was also part of the Fraser Gallery, and didn't think that being a gallery co-owner and a regular Wednesday critic for the paper would pass the smell test with some; but the real victims would be the gallery's artists, as clearly they could never get at WaPo reviews.

Around 2000, Dawson (who had been writing art reviews for the Washington City Paper) was then hired as the freelancer to cover galleries and subsequently Gopnik was hired to cover all the visual arts. 

A few years later Pancake retired, and by the mid 2000s the Wednesday coverage shrunk significantly when Arts Beat was demoted to a twice-monthly column, refocused to cover all the arts, and then eventually terminated. Most of the damage to the visual arts coverage was started by then Style Section editor Eugene Robinson.

It was Robinson who began the process to let Blake Gopnik get away with only reviewing (with one or two very rare exceptions) museums, thus having the nation's only art critic too good to review his city's artists and art galleries. On July 6, 2006, Steve Reiss (the Style section's Asst. Editor) stated online: "As for Blake Gopnik, he is a prolific writer and I find it hard to argue that we should be giving up reviews of major museum shows so he can write more about galleries that have a much smaller audience."

When Robinson left, under the new editor Deborah Heard, the coverage got even worse, with Galleries being reduced to twice a month. That added up to around 25 columns a year to review the thousand or so gallery shows that the DC area gallery art scene had to offer in those days.

A few years ago, when Dawson quit the WaPo (2011) to go to work for the Hirshhorn and in the interim, the WaPo experimented with using a couple more freelancers, but both experiments ended badly from both sides. Eventually they hired Mark Jenkins, who is their current Galleries critic, and who (in my opinion) is the best from all the names mentioned here so far.

What is a constant over all these years and memories, is the miserly coverage of DMV artists and galleries by the world's second most influential newspaper.

And then this past weekend, WaPo writer Dan Zak showed us a brilliant glint of what this coverage could be, if the WaPo "got it."

Zak's The Polaroids of the Cowboy Poet is perhaps the best article that I have ever read on an artist.

Chris Earnshaw is an odd and brilliant and sloppy man who vibrates with great joy and grand melancholy. For decades he has ambled through bandstands, major motion pictures and demolition sites, searching for prestige and permanence, all while being ignored on the gray streets of a humdrum capital.

This work has Pulitzer written all over it, but more importantly, this article is exactly the sort of coverage of the DMV visual artists and galleries, that we've always clamored from the WaPo to do 2-3 times a year - as they do when some celebrity visits the city.

Dan Zak: Well Done! You've not only delivered a brilliant article, but also shown the WaPo and Washington, DC, and the DMV visual arts scene, how it is done.

Campello watercolor at auction

At auction here is a 1994 original watercolor starting at a decent price, as original works from this vintage and style have sold/been appraised as high as $5,000. Although I returned from Scotland back to the US in 1992, I went back to visit Scotland on a yearly basis through the early 2000s, so this piece is probably a Scottish-inspired skyscape.

Check it out here.

Rousseau on Campello

Dr. Claudia Rousseau checks in at East City Art with an insightful review of my current solo show at Artists and Makers Studios II in Rockville:

The artist has always been fascinated by history, mythology, and the imagery of religion and legend.  These often overlap in his creative mind.  Having been stationed in Scotland for a number of years before returning to the United States in 1992, Campello became deeply immersed in the rich and mysterious history of the ancient Picts and Celts of Scotland and Ireland.  The spiritual connection that he developed to the place and its material and visual culture has become almost a second origin for him

Most people don't know that Dr. Rousseau was once considered one of the leading art critics in Latin America! We are lucky that subsequently, when returning to the US, she turned her formidable skills to the DC area - both in writing and in teaching!


Read the entire review here. 

Callanish Stone Circle

Callanish Stone Circle (Clachan Chalanais), Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

My favorite stone circle on the planet - even more spectacular than Stonehenge and a lot harder to get to... I took a million photos from all angles and have done about 100 drawings as well, like the one below... sort of.

"Cross Stitch" or "Claire Beauchamp at the stone circle"
 c. 1991, charcoal and conte on paper 

The above 1991 drawing was done after I read a book titled "Cross Stitch" by Diana Gabaldon,  which is about time travel and stone circles.  At the time those were (and still are) two of my fave subjects! The circle is made up of a couple if real stone circles in Scotland,  heavily influenced by Callanish.

Eakins: Not the first time?

As we've discussed before, the potential exodus from Philly of Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic" has fired up Philadelphians to an enviable level, and efforts continue to keep the work of art in the city.

The Sixth Square has been keeping up a daily info blitzkrieg on the issue, and this post has a gem:

We’ve always heard talk of earlier attempts to pry The Gross Clinic from its moorings at Jefferson, but we never knew any detail. Then we ran across an old, yellowed clipping.

On March 25, 1976, Adrian Lee of The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin wrote that Jefferson had rejected a $1 million offer for the painting in 1969. But he had a more dramatic number to report. Lee had gotten wind of a new offer: $30 million building in exchange for the painting. After “two stormy, back to back meetings,” in December 1975 and January 1976, Jefferson held a “secret vote.” Sixty eight voted to keep the painting. Only seven voted to sell it.

Who was this would-be buyer? Both times it was no less than Paul Mellon, trustee of the National Galley of Art in Washington, D.C. — the very same institution today teamed up with Crystal Bridges.

Read the entire post here.

Leads me to wonder if there are paintings (or other visual artworks) that are so rooted into a city's psyche and/or history, that they could become that city's own Eakins in the event that they were to be removed and exported to another city?

Hopper's Nighthawks in Chicago? Leonardo's Mona Lisa in Paris? Picasso's Guernica or Velazquez's Las Meninas in Madrid?

Old timers will recall the many years that Picasso's "Guernica" hung in New York City, as Picasso didn't want it to be in a Spanish museum while Franco was alive. When the Generalisimo died (and yes SNL freaks, he's still dead), eventually the masterpiece made its way to Madrid, but not without some angst from New Yorkers.

And in Scotland, a few years ago there was a mini revolution of sorts, as Scottish villagers fought to have the original Pictish standing stones in their villages returned to their fields. Many of the original stones had been removed in order to protect them from the elements and replaced with replicas, while the originals went on display in museums. The villagers then realized that they were losing tourists who wanted to visit the stones, and many villages sued the museums to have the Pictish stones returned to them.

Which leads me to wonder why there has never been an exhibition of Pictish art and sculpture outside of Scotland, and why the National Geographic has never done a single article on Pictish culture - a people who only ruled northern Britain for two thousand years!

Oh oh... I see a new pet peeve brewing...

Vettriano original nets £290,000

Everytime one of Jack Vettriano's paintings comes up for auction in the UK, it's as if British art collectors spit on the face of British art critics and British museums.

One of Jack Vettriano's most popular paintings, Dance Me To The End Of Love (one of the world's bestselling posters), just sold for nearly 300,000 pounds in Scotland (and way over that once all commissions are added in) - that's a lot of dollars!

Untrained, gruff and very un-PC, Vettriano is perhaps the world's best-selling artist. He has been shunned by the high art world, with major UK galleries refusing to acquire his works. However, this self-taught Scottish artist has huge worldwide popular appeal. His painting The Singing Butler sold for almost £750,000 in 2004, the highest price ever paid for a Scottish painting at auction.

The only example of his work to be featured in a public collection in the world is a painting donated by a collector to the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife, Scotland, Vettriano's birthplace.