Wendy Navarro Public Talk: Tonight!

Monday, February 21, 7:00pm - Free! Sponsored by Washington Project for the Arts and Foreign Policy in Focus -- at Busboys and Poets at 5th & K.

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) and Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) are excited to announce a public talk with Wendy Navarro, an independent art critic and curator currently based in Barcelona, Spain. Since the mid 1990s, Navarro has been an active curator at the Visual Art Development Center (CDAV) in Havana, Cuba, while working as an editor of the magazine ArteCubano, and lecturing about Cuban contemporary art at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) and Havana University. The public talk is free and will take place on Monday, February 21 at Busboys and Poets at 5th and K.

About the Curator: Wendy Navarro's curatorial practice focuses on establishing links between the work of artists from different latitudes. Recent exhibitions include Collective Utopia, Casa América Cataluña, Barcelona; Asalto al Cielo: Insular Strategies of Cuban Videoart, LOOP Video Art Fair, Barcelona; Heteronimous: oneself's others: Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid and Correspondence, VIII Havana Biennial. She also has collaborated with institutions including the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community; Hardcore Contemporary Art Space, Miami; Gallery TAIK, Berlin-Helsinski; Gallery Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona and The Center for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), Barcelona.

Navarro has published extensively in catalogues and magazines such as ArtNexus; SalonKritik; ABC de ARCO; Revista Atlántica de las Artes CAAM and participated in several symposiums related to Latin American art including International Forum of Latin American Art, Arco Art Fair, Madrid; Latin American Dialogues, Patrimonio Cultural y Artístico of the Generalitat Valenciana; Multiculturalims, Institutions and Relationships North- South, 10 Havana Biennial; and Workshop of Carlos Garaicoa, Professional School of Fine Arts, Complutense University, Madrid, among others.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 31, 2011

Call for Entries: Open to all artists 18 years or older working or living in Virginia, Maryland, DC, Delaware, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia.

To Enter: Each entry requires an on-line application through Juried Art Services.

Exhibition Theme: “BITE: identity and humor” asks artists to use irony, sarcasm, and wit to shed light on issues of personal struggle in mainstream society. Artists are asked to create and share work that challenges historical, societal, and cultural norms that dictate expectations of who we are supposed to be. The selected work does not have to be “funny” as much as insightful. The work will be juried by DMV artist Jefferson Pinder.

Full Prospectus: detailing Acceptable Works, Entry fees, and Special Instructions located here

GreaterRestonArtsCenter
Reston Town Center
12001 Market Street
Suite #103
Reston, VA 20190
703.471.9242
fax 703.471.0952

White stuff

We're in the Poconos for the long weekend and woke up this AM to a lot of powdery snow... fun!

Opportunity for Artists

When: March 29, 2011.

Out of Order is the Maryland Art Place's Annual free-hung Benefit Exhibition, Silent Auction and Party!

Silent Auction and Gala: Friday, April 1st, 8 – 11pm. Join them for a fantastic evening of great art, music, food, and an open beer & wine bar.

Hanging Dates and Times: March 29, 7am – midnight. All Artists are invited to participate. During the One Day Only, Do‐It‐Yourself installation, March 29, 7am – midnight, each participating artist hangs one original piece in the MAP galleries. For submission guidelines, please visit MAP’s website www.mdartplace.org. Note: Artists are asked to support MAP by paying $10 to participate in Out of Order. Each participating artist receives one free ticket to the April 1 event.

Participation: There is a $10 participation fee to hang artwork in Out of Order. As a participating artist, you will be given one complimentary ticket to the gala on April 9th. ($40 value!). Proceeds will be split 50/50 between the artist and MAP.

How to Get Tickets: Purchase Tickets Online: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/156249
Current MAP Members must call to reserve their tickets. New or renewing members must join MAP by March 24 to receive complimentary ticket(s) to the event. Artist/Student/Individual members receive 1 Free Ticket; higher membership levels receive 2 Free Tickets. No tickets are mailed; names of ticket holders are held at the door.

For More Details: access their website: www.mdartplace.org or call 410-962-8565.

Edwards on Katie Dell Kaufman

The Gazette's Jordan Edwards has a mini review of Katie Dell Kaufman's works at the current BlackRock exhibition.

Read it here.

Katie Dell Kaufman, Richard Dana and the NIH Camera Club through Feb. 26 at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown. Call 301-528-2260 or visit www.blackrockcenter.org.

Claudia Rousseau on Kirk Waldroff

By Claudia Rousseau

I just went to see Kirk Waldroff’s new work at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery. Entitled “Untold Fables” this work is both magical and inspiring. It was completely ignored by the Gazette writer who published a “pre-review” of the work of Waldroff’s co-exhibitor, Levon Jamgochian before the exhibit opened. While the latter’s sculpture is of mild interest, Waldroff’s pieces are far more compelling and varied, unlike the monotonous sameness of Jamgochian’s prints. Yet, the Art Gallery didn’t even publish a checklist of his works in the exhibit, a fact that is difficult to understand.

Waldroff’s contribution to the Glenview exhibit include prints and wooden constructions that hold cast glass panels, that is, glass sculptures that have a print image on them—a technique that Waldroff will be teaching at the Washington Glass School on Saturday afternoons in April. They are created using a revolutionary kiln-casting process so that each is a unique reproduction of a carved woodblock (the kind originally created for wood-cut prints). These are set into wooden cabinets, or deep wooden boxes. There’s even a marvelous headboard with two inset glass panels topping a queen-sized bed right in the gallery. On the opposite wall are prints on paper from the same block that made the glass panels. Many of these glass/wood boxes are illuminated, but I imagine they would be effective set against a natural light source as well, or placed where they receive sun or lamplight. The warm light coming into the mansion gives them a nice glow. There are also a number of carved and painted wood panels presented as paintings rather than wood blocks.

The subjects here emerge from the titles, titles of stories that only exist in the works themselves, but which conjure memories of stories that we might have read somewhere in the past, or that were read to us. Titles like Theodulus and the Egret or The Wrens and the Badger conjure ancient fables. And the images are simple, but enough to stimulate the imagination. There are no right answers here. The viewer is encouraged to write them from his/her own trove of memories and ideas. Children (and their parents) will love it.

Kirk Waldroff “Untold Fables” through March 1, 2011
Glenview Mansion Art Gallery at Rockville Center Civic Center Park
602 Edmonston Drive
Rockville, MD 20851
Mon., Wed., Fri. 9 AM-4:30PM, Tues/Thurs, 9AM-9PM
240-314-8682 or 240-314-8660 for information or to confirm hours.
www.rockvillemd.gov/arts

Correction: According to Julie Farrell, Director of the Glenview Mansion Gallery, as many as 70 programs including checklists of the work of both Levon Jamgochian and Kirk Waldroff were, in fact, printed for the exhibit. In addition, the Gazette Newspapers in Montgomery County published a specific mention of the Waldroff exhibit in the "Montgomery Hot Tickets" on February 9, 2011. The article was titled "Mythic Media".

Back to oils

When I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, most of my "training" was focused on painting, and for the first decade or so after I graduated I concentrated on painting.

Most of those paintings were sold while I lived in Europe, and when I returned to the USA in 1992, I stopped painting and focused strictly on drawing. The only works on canvas that I've done during those years didn't really involve the use of the brush, as these pieces were and are mostly an intensive amount of taping and paint application.

I recently received a complimentary try-out set of Cobra Water Mixable Oil paints, with a note from Royal Talens, the manufacturer, asking me to try them out for them. I put it off for a while, but after scoring some amazing prices in a variety of substrates at Plaza, I took brush back to hand and painted my first new representational paintings in years.

These Cobra paints are amazing by the way; the facility with which one can mix them with water, and the resulting ease of not having to have mineral spirits around is worth a try alone, and I highly recommend them and intend to get a full set of them soonest.

I was stunned as to how much I had forgotten in the intervening non-brush-painting years, and it will certainly be an interesting road to regain the facility that I once had with the brush. In any event, below are my first three finished new oil paintings. They are all oil on masonite. The imagery is familiar in two of them, and returns to my Eve and The Lilith themes.

Persephone. Oil on masonite. 7 x 5 inches, c. 2011

Eve Running Away from Eden. Oil on Masonite. 5 x 5 inches, c. 2011.

The Lilith Running Away from Eden. Oil on Masonite. 7 x 5 inches, c. 2011.

Tonight: Rosemary Feit Covey at MFA

"Death of the Fine Art Print" is this brilliant printmaker's exploration of the theme "When is an image no longer art?"

February 18 - March 9, 2011
Morton Fine Art
Opening Reception: Friday, February 18, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009

Little Treasures – Big Rewards

The role of small works of art has, in modern culture, been delegated to the “minor works” category. They become overlooked, poorly appreciated and frequently labeled as good choices for a holiday show to generate a few sales. They have also been the subject of shows where size is all that matters, i.e. all works will be postcard size, measure 12”x12”, etc. Historically, the role of small works has been very different. The Mona Lisa is perfectly sized for a good holiday show, as is Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” Many of Rembrandt’s great portraits would also qualify, and the finest works ever done by Rubens would neatly fit into a child’s knapsack. The creation of small works for many artists has been a device where the improbable becomes possible, an idea is tried or a risk is easily taken.

“Little Treasures – Big Rewards”assembles a group of artists all deliberately working in the small format. For Elizabeth Bisbing, the diminutive scale is her forte, where her collages take on the grandeur of Renaissance masters. For others, such as Vivian Wolovitz, whose large works easily command the viewer in any gallery space, in recent time she has found a rich and varied voice in the pocket size, creating a deep space for the gravity of her painted atmosphere. Alex Queral continues to push the envelope incorporating recycled phone books. Ross Bonfanti utilizes concrete to warm the heart and surprise the senses. Susan B. Howard combines the political with the fanciful, sending a powerful message in a seemingly sweet package. Craig Cully reminds us of the Dutch master Franz Hals with his dazzling Hershey candies, while Caleb Weintraub demonstrates that the sweet world of contemporary children is a troubled place due to the modern obsession with war game technology. Frank Hyder demonstrates the experimental arena of the small works with examples from his perdido and rhythm series. F. Lennox Campello brings us his relentless salsa seasoned social commentaries, invigorating pencil and paper into a sword and shield bent on righting injustice wherever it is found.

In “Little Treasures – Big Rewards,”Projects introduces Canadian realist, Matthew Schofield, working in a diminutive scale using images from his childhood experiences. Zoe Spiliotis makes a debut with a formal spin on geometric linear explosive abstractions. Debra Van Tuinen from Portland, Oregon, serves up sensuous sky-like images made in encaustic that appear to be mixed with air. Projects also introduces Marcelo Suaznabar, a Bolivian artist currently living in Toronto, whose surrealistic vision presents a world where nothing is as it should be but often is more appealing than how things are. Amy Orr arrives for the first time at Projects with her imaginative up-cycled transformations, while E. Sherman Hayman returns with selections from her coffin series, loaded with meaning and too good to bury. This group exhibition puts the emphasis on the rewards, not the ruler, and packs a real punch.

“Little Treasures – Big Rewards”will be on display at Projects Gallery in Philadelphia from March 4 - 26, 2011. There will also be an artist’s reception First Friday March 4th from 5 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Wanna go to a DC opening tonight?

Longview Gallery will be showcasing the works of several standout new artists showing with Long View Gallery including Ryan McCoy, Shaun Richards, Jordan Bruns, Zach Sherif, Tom Burkett, Amy Genser, Shawna Moore, Michelle Peterson-Albandoz, and Clyde Fowler. In addition to highlighting the work by each of these new artists, several of Long View Gallery’s favorites will be showing as well.

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 17th, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Show Dates: February 17, 2011 - March 13, 2011

Look for Ryan McCoy to steal the show here as well...

President Obama Proposes Deep Cut to NEA in FY 2012 Budget‏

From Americans for the Arts:

The Obama Administration released today the FY 2012 budget request to Congress which includes the nation's cultural agencies and programs, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS), and the Department of Education's Arts in Education program.

As Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert Lynch noted in a press statement:

"The administration request of $146 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is a decrease of $21 million from the $167.5 million that Congress appropriated last year."

Details here.

Wanna go to an artist talk tonight?

Jessika Tarr: Monstrous, Wednesday, February 16th at Hillyer Art Space.

Time: 7-7:30pm

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies between June 1 and August 31, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria, Virginia is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, cast and stained glass, and sculpture. The Torpedo Factory is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art – allowing the public an opportunity to share in the excitement and fascination of the creative process.

The projects undertaken by Visiting Artists for this self-directed, creative residency must be compatible with available working studio spaces and facilities.

Visiting Artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work.

Finalists will be selected by yours truly. There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap.

Select


The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA), the mid-Atlantic's premier alternative arts organization, has announced the dates for its Annual Art Auction Exhibition and Gala, SELECT. The curated exhibition will be on view Saturday, February 19 through Saturday, March 12, 2011.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the organization's well-known arts gala that includes a curated silent auction of more than 100 contemporary works by top contemporary artists, formal dinner, and performance art. Tickets to the auction gala start at $300. I have been selected to participate in this auction for the second year in a row.

The event will be held at 700 Sixth Street, an Akridge-managed property, in northwest Washington; it is expected to draw over 500 art enthusiasts.

In advance of the March 12 event, WPA will host an exhibition opening reception on February 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm and Curators' View on March 1 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. These two events are free and open to the public. At the Curators' View, each Select curator will present and discuss their exhibition selections. In addition, WPA's prized Alice Denney Award will be presented by Robert Lehrman to Washington-based artist William Christenberry for his support of WPA and sustained commitment to the DC arts community.

The SELECT exhibition will be on view 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, Wednesdays-Saturdays, through March 12th. For a complete list of participating artists or images, please contact Kristen DeMarco at auction@wpadc.org.

DC's hidden gems
From the SI archives:

To commemorate the centennial of Washington's birth in 1832, Congress commissioned Greenough to create a statue to be displayed in the Capitol Rotunda. As soon as the marble statue arrived in the capital city in 1841, however, it attracted controversy and criticism.

Greenough had modeled his figure of Washington on a classical Greek statue of Zeus, but many Americans found the sight of a half-naked Washington offensive, even comical.

After the statue was relocated to the east lawn of the Capitol in 1843, some joked that Washington was desperately reaching for his clothes, on exhibit at the Patent Office several blocks to the north.

In 1908 Greenough's statue finally came in from the cold: Congress transferred it to the Smithsonian. It remained at the Castle until 1964, when it was moved to the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). The marble Washington has held court on the second floor ever since.

Seventh Annual Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: Friday, February 25, 2011

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the seventh annual Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition honoring four selected painters with $14,000 in prize monies. Deadline for submission is February 25, 2011. Up to nine finalists will be invited to display their work at a Bethesda gallery.

The competition will be juried this year by Philip Geiger, an art instructor at the University of Virginia; Evelyn Hankins, associate curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. and Jinchul Kim, a painting professor at Salisbury University.

The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after February 25, 1981 may also be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. No reproductions.

Each artist must submit five digital files or slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

Applications are available online at www.bethesda.org.

The Bethesda Painting Awards were established by my good friend and Bethesda philanthropist, art collector and community activist Carol Trawick in 2005.

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies (June, July and/or August, 2011). The TFAC (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria VA is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. The TFAC is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art.

Visiting artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work. Finalists will be selected by yours truly.

There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap. Send questions to: vap@torpedofactory.org.

The House of Batiatus

I can't believe that the new (well prequel to the last season, which was the first) Spartacus episodes have been on for four weeks and I didn't know!

Time to DVR some repeats and catch up with the bacchanalian excesses of the House of Batiatus! (... really, any excuse to watch Xena).

Rosemary Feit Covey at MFA

"Death of the Fine Art Print" is this brilliant printmaker's exploration of the theme "When is an image no longer art?"

February 18 - March 9, 2011
Morton Fine Art
Opening Reception: Friday, February 18, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009

Las Tapas in Old Town

I've been to Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria many times in the past, and until last Saturday I had never been disappointed.

Perhaps it was the fact that it was crowded and the cooks were concentrating on the "set menus" for couples, but the tapas - almost all of them - that we ordered a la carte were not very good.

The pinchitos are some of my favorite tapas on the planet. When I lived in Spain, they were usually served using ex bicycle wheel spokes as the skewers. The ones that we got last night at Las Tapas were tasteless - they certainly didn't have that pinchito-unique flavor - and they were lukewarm, and they were tiny! They should be called tapitas, not tapas.

The Calamares Rellenos En Salsa De Tomate looked great, but when I went to cut into one of them, the stuffing popped out all in one lump, as it was also lukewarm and the dish had been allowed to settle back and separate, thus allowing the stuffing to congeal into one lumpy mass.

The Pulpo A La Gallega was acceptable, but once again, it was lukewarm and the thinly sliced octopus would have probably tasted a lot better if it had been hotter in temperature.

The Mejillones Al Vapor were hot and delicious; no complaint there. The Pa Amb Oli, one of the priciest tapas on the menu, was also good.

I had a half jar of Sangria and this is where La Tasca really failed. This was by far the worst Sangria that I have ever tasted in a restaurant, Spanish or not.

It was essentially made up of Triple Sec and wine, with the Triple Sec overpowering all the other stuff which is supposed to be in a true Spanish sangria and which I think was missing from this "sangria."

I suspect that what happened was that they ran out of the pre-mixed Sangria (we were there at 8PM) and they were just dumping wine and triple Sec and cut up apples into the pitchers.

As many of you know, and anyone who went to a Fraser Gallery opening between 1996-2006 can testify to, I can make one really decent sangria, which follows a recipe that I learned while living in Spain. This perhaps makes me a tough juror for Sangria.

But if you are a Spanish restaurant, and your Sangria tastes like watered down Triple Sec, then you have a problem.

Fail!