Art of Connecting

Thursday, April 27 | 7:00 until 9:00 pmFriday, April 28 | 10:00 until 11:30 am
MPA@ChainBridge, 1446 Chain Bridge Road, McLean

Please join MPA at MPA@ChainBridge for the Art of Connecting. Anne Marie Marenburg, an MPA ArtReach instructor and National Gallery of Art docent will guide parents on creating enriching and enjoyable experiences with art from preschool to high school and beyond. Ms. Marenburg will provide parents tools to facilitate meaningful connections between their children and art objects they encounter. Utilizing these tools will in turn help to deepen the bond between parent and child while strengthening core skills such as reading comprehension and critical thinking at any age.


An exhibition by J.T. Kirkland will be on view and his works will contribute to the discussion. 


RSVP Here

Call for Entries – The Wearable Hat Show with Steven Krensky

If you are a DMV area artist, gallerist, art dealer, college/university art faculty, museum director or curator, and do not know who Steven Krensly is, then you are woefully out of tune with the DMV art scene.

Krensky is easily one of the most visible faces at nearly every DC area art opening or event - not just because he's a good looking feller (which he is), but mostly because of his haberdashery... and also one of the DMV's premier art collectors.

To say that the Krenskiester stands out in a crowd is a gross under-estimattion.

Krensky is really plugged into the scene - he attends nearly every student/MFA art show around the region, and often discovers artists waaaay before most gallerists, curators, etc.

And as a result, he also has the planet's largest art collection focused (mostly) on DC area artists. And when I say large... I mean humongous collection: 100s and 100s of artists.

Anywhooooo.... Krensky, together with his wife Linda, also often dabbles in curating some exhibitions and he's got a really interesting call for artists for his next one:

Artists and Makers Studios is proud to host The Wearable Hat Show – with Steven Krensky at both A&M locations

This exhibit, curated by Steven Krensky and a mystery juror, will offer artists in the metro area an opportunity to make a statement through the art of the hat. Pick a hat form, any hat will do. Paint it, stitch it, weld it, glue it, glass it, bead it, weave it together with wire or string or any old thing. Your hat can be a reflection of your daily creative process, make a political statement, it can be whimsical, flattering, or funny. It must be functional, but need not be comfortable. Your hat must be for sale!

Artists whose work has been selected will be shown at both locations – the Reception Gallery at Parklawn, and in our Wilkins Avenue Merge Gallery for this month long exhibit. Hats will be pinned to the walls, or displayed on pedestals, at the gallerist’s discretion. Artists & Makers Studios will take a nominal 25% commission on sales from this exhibit. The artist should insure their own work for the duration of the exhibit if necessary.

Submission Requirements
****Submissions due on or before August 1st before 4pm, notification by August 9^th.

Accepted work must be delivered to/and picked up from the assigned gallery, no shipments of artwork will be accepted.

Delivery date deadline, Sept 5th – 10-4 (Parklawn or Wilkins in Rockville)
Opening, Sept 8th from 6-9pm
Show ends Sept. 27th
Pick-up of unsold work Sept. 28th, 29^th, 30th – 10-4

Artists may submit up to 5 jpegs of their work for consideration. The curator will choose works appropriate for public display from among all of the works submitted, and will include as many artists as possible. An artist may have one or more works accepted for exhibit. All work must be available for sale, and functional.

All entries must be submitted electronically in JPG format only. Email your images along with the completed form below to: judith@artistsandmakersstudios.com Please type Hat Show and your last name in the email subject line. For example: Hat Show/heartsong.

Images should be sized at no more than 1024 by 768 pixels, and less than 1 megabite in disk space size. Image file names must include artist’s last name and title of the piece in the following format: 

(ArtistLastName_ImageTitle.JPG) example: vanGogh_StarryNight.jpg

Click here to get a pdf of HAT Call for Entries 2017

Never bow down to art censorship

The University of Alaska at Anchorage is refusing to remove a professor’s graphic painting depicting a decapitated Donald Trump, saying it was important to protect even objectionable artistic expression. 

The painting shows a nude Captain America (as portrayed by liberal actor Chris Evans) standing on a pedestal and holding Donald Trump’s head by the hair. The head drips blood onto Hillary Clinton, who is reclining provocatively in a white pant suit, clinging to Captain America’s leg. Eagles scream into Captain America’s ear, and a dead bison lies at his feet.

Couch, cough.... read about it here.


See the image here - horrible technical skills by the way...

Wanna go to a closing reception tomorrow?

CLOSING RECEPTION - SATURDAY APRIL 22, 4-6pm
"THE RED DOT"
WORKS BY HARRIET LESSER

STUDIO GALLERY.    2108  R STREET NW.  WDC 20008

The end of the JPG?

Virtual reality has hit the mainstream seemingly overnight. 

The New York Times posts daily 360° videos and has a virtual reality app, 200,000 developers are registered with Oculus to create VR games, and the Hirshhorn created a VR version of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors exhibition. These organizations, among others, are seeing the incredible potential of VR technology.  

Virtual reality offers two unique advantages. First, it can be used to experience a space—like a gallery—in an incredibly realistic manner without setting foot in it. Second, it offers entirely new experiences that no one has ever had before. Arts organizations are beginning to take advantage of the former, and artists are exploring the latter. 

While VR may not change the way galleries are run immediately, keeping an eye on the digital landscape will inform the future of your gallery’s programming. There are steps you can take now, investments both small and large, to prepare your gallery for what’s to come—and generate excitement about your program in the short term.

Read this fascinating (and important article) via Artsy here.  

Winners and Losers

A guest piece by Bill Roseberry 

WINNERS AND LOSERS

"... like any juried or selection process, there’s people who can be perceived as winners and people who can be perceived as losers."

So says the executive director of a prominent D.C. non-profit arts organization in a recent article in The Washington City Paper.

He's right. There simply aren't enough public-sponsored venues and exhibit halls for every artist who wants to be seen. And it would be a losing battle even if D.C. didn't have the number of federally-funded arts institutions it has, all competing for the share of attendance and visibility local arts non-profits might otherwise expect. The MD and VA suburbs are bursting - and as is the numbers of artists who now work and reside there - all wanting to take advantage of the city arts opportunities and limited arts funding.

(Funny it is how the topic of D.C. Statehood is nowhere to be heard among those speaking of DMV arts and culture. As if there simply isn't any relationship - or if any attempt to define the difference between those with state representation and those without is offensive or irrelevant in a discussion of art and arts funding?)

What to do...? Concede to the sports analogy of "winners and losers"? Why can't D.C. become like a major-league player in the arts? Why shouldn't D.C. attract wealthy arts patrons like the big-league owners, and class-A administrators and curators with competitive salaries and seasonal contracts? Not to mention that D.C. real-estate development would be nowhere without quality arts and entertainment. No, we mustn't disappoint the owners, the developers, the managers, the team ... or the fans.

So it's a good thing that there are so many artists and performers (makers and creatives) in and around D.C. It "raises the bar".

Whose bar?

Another question I keep returning to is, "Since when did the arts become a competitive endeavor and why?

Is the sole purpose of arts organizations to establish even more competitive arenas with more entrepreneurs and even greater stakes (and subsequently more "losers" than winners) in the pursuit of a more "refined" or "progressive" culture ...??

Awards, prizes, grants, exposure, sales are not what all artists want or need; but it is the only thing they've come to expect will ever be offered if only by some stroke of fortune or dogged placation that those who control the rewards of cultural labor might look upon them.

So despite what artists are being told they need and want, the last thing (...ask any artist) is to be informed that they are a "loser" and not among a select team of "winners". Not this time. But maybe next? Everyone receives his or her turn? Not likely.

What's the alternative?

(First it must be seen that there is a significant difference between visual and performing arts organizations, their audiences, as well as their function. There are a few similarities but I wish to focus on the visual arts as that is my area of knowledge and not attempt to draw too large a picture or create too many generalities).

Museums of contemporary art, arts institutions of contemporary culture, and arts organizations - that profess to support more community-centered arts and culture - but also serve for the promotion and marketing of contemporary global culture as an economic incentive. The differences between their vision to serve as education centers, as showcase venues for artists, and as arts advocates varies as much as those functions may be blurred or be said to overlap. As centers for arts education, organizations and institutions may be eligible to receive non-profit status and much needed tax deductible donations - even though the direct impact or supplement to school-based arts education is also be heavily abstracted - particularly where those centers for arts education are estranged geographically from the communities and neighborhoods they claim to serve.

The truth is that contemporary arts institutions and organizations are less educational than promotional in their programming - serving more as proxy venues for artist promotion and sales as well as training grounds for the careers of curators, administrators, consultants, assistants and the host of arts-professionals whose competitive salaries must paid from an ever-increasing requirement for funding. Managing gallery and performance spaces are also very costly, contributing to a large percentage of an organizations overhead expense (and volunteer time) while serving only a small percentage of artists and a limited range of cultural views.

However, from the artists point of view (and similarly like any unobstructed lawn with a goalpost and bleachers becomes a potential playing field for sports enthusiasts) any public building with bare walls and lights becomes a gallery, or a performance space and a potential sales and promotion venue... or more to the point, a source of revenue to be "managed".

As there is never enough space for all of the art and performance that is produced selective management becomes absolutely critical to its continued function as a viable space - choices must be made and curatorial standards and narratives must be devised to substantiate those choices - however dubious or artificial those choices, standards and narratives are to reality and relevant to the community in which they are displayed. Hence, "winners" and "losers"; those who are assisted in selling their work or their brand, and those who are left to fend for and support themselves.

But what if... arts organizations were NOT in the business of promotion, of giving support to some artists but not others? What if arts organizations supported ALL artists both equitably and more directly without preference to gender or race, style or substance? What if arts budgets went directly to the communities they represent to strengthen the cultural infrastructure, providing incentive for artists and cultural workers to remain within those communities, to thrive, and both preserve the native culture and provide for the unique cultural requirements of which the artists have an innate and natural relationship? What if arts organizations did not serve as a proxy for the commercial market as galleries and theatres to promote art and ticket sales or as a career platform for transient arts administrators, transient curators and transient non-artist professionals? What if arts organizations were not players in the cultural gentrification of communities but the glue that held those communities together to resist urban expansion and cultural homogeneity?

What would arts organizations do?

Perhaps the most effective, the most significant (and the least costly) thing arts organizations could do is to formally recognize the difference between art and artists; between culture and its potential for marketing. (Many of those who annually profess "support for the arts" could care less about the welfare of artists or community cultures. To them "the arts" are either a collector commodity or a refined source of entertainment that likewise must be codified, qualified.. to be entered into competition; to earn approval or disapproval through critical judgment.)

Rather, artists and culture share a living relationship, a symbiosis, by which one is not likely to survive without the other. For art to survive requires nothing more than a museum and those with the means to collect it. For artists and cultures to survive requires a great deal more imagination and committed effort.

"Art has no ‘dominion’ really – it just exists and sometimes in the unlikeliest places made by the unlikeliest people." (1)

Functionally speaking, arts organizations could raise money along with awareness to do little things that would actually help all artists thrive and by extension to build and secure a more vibrant, viable art community that the public would be proud to call their own and in a way that would set a newer, higher and directly productive standard for arts organizations everywhere.

How would they do this?

As an advocate for artists rights, affordable housing and studios, as advocates for fair practices, create job banks for artists, create emergency funding for artists and their immediate families when there is a serious medical need, fire, or job layoff, underwrite group insurance, to advocate for health safety in the arts workplace, as a representative for artists with the local government with regard to city planning and arts education in the public school system, in conjunction with other arts organizations to advocate for artists in federal arts legislation, as an advocate for elderly and handicapped artists, as an archive for local artist's documents such as with the Archives of American Art, as an historical library or repository of the Arts in D.C. or to assist artists with the compilation of their personal archives (2) ...

The truth is there are plenty of things that D.C. arts organizations could be that are fully inclusive that doesn't presume to select one group of artists or selection of any individual artist over another; that doesn't contribute to divisiveness, that doesn't require a curator or even a scheduled exhibition space; whose budget isn't merely self-preserving, and that doesn't presume that the only need artists have is greater exposure ("people die from exposure").

The idea that artists and the public must be educated to the latest trend in contemporary art or to the newest big-names in a list of this year's emerging artists - or that artists are somehow uniquely gifted or visionary in voicing the needs and issues of communities while remaining silent with respect to their own issues of livelihood - and that somehow manifests as a cultural service - is not only short-sighted, it's redundant and proven to be of little if any long-term effective value.

It's time to stop seeing arts organization as arenas. Art is not a competition. Artists are not players. Culture needs to be served, not sold; it is its own reward, and a city with its diverse neighborhoods and cultures deserves to be treated fairly, unequivocally, with equanimity to all - that art and art practice might the one human endeavor by which NO ONE LOSES. Ever

B.R

(1) https://blogcabinbyvic.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/ode-to-a-jackdaw-the-sequel/
(2) https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonDCAreaArtistsHistoricalRegistry

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

Thursday night from 7-9pm, one of the DMV's blue chip artists will be having a reception for his latest solo show. "With the Grain: Paintings by J.T. Kirkland" at the McLean Project for the Arts in McLean, VA. The exhibition will run until June 3 at their new/temporary location on Chain Bridge Rd.

Here's a blurb about the show:

This exhibition features multipart and shaped paintings on wood. Focusing on line, color, form and structure, J.T. Kirkland combines wood and paint into uniquely warm and abstract paintings in the minimalist vein.  Using grain of the wood as both guide and essential component, Kirkland incorporates and contrasts the organic nature of the material with the crisp intentionality of hard-edged blocks of color.

Linguini versus Spaghetti

MFA Thesis Exhibition Alternative Views

Q: What's one of the best places for both new collectors and experienced ones to "discover" new artists early on their careers?


A: Student art shows!

American University's MFA Thesis Exhibition Alternative Views Opens April 29, 2017

AU's Department of Art presents the work of their Masters of Fine Art Thesis candidates: Mills Brown, Aaron Eckstein, Yaroslav Koporulin, Sarah Norman, Sarah O'Donoghue, Jen Smith, and Zarina Zuparkhodjaeva. 

American University Department of Art presents the work of current first and second year Studio Art MFA candidates in a two-part exhibition. From April 1-April 19, MFA First year students present work completed during their first year, followed by the thesis presentation of MFA second year students from April 29-May 28. Collectively, these emerging artists represent study, experimentation, and reflection while also providing a window into each artist’s individual artistic practice.

Gallery Talk from 5-6 pm and Opening Reception from 6-8 pm in the museum on April 29.

While you're there, in the DMV's most beautiful museum space (with plenty of parking!) make sure that you see Frida Larios' Maya Alphabet of Modern Times (through May 28):

Maya Alphabet of Modern Times intends to re-codify a small part of the Maya mythic narrative, giving the artistic tradition new graphic form. In the Maya Alphabet of Modern Times typo-graphic works, Frida Larios, a native of El Salvador, has borrowed directly from the logo-graphic language of the ancestral Maya scribes, but speaking to and for the Indigenous Maya of today. Since finishing her master thesis in London in 2005, Larios has regenerated nearly 100 new designs that have been integrated into diverse media: books, works on paper, installations, sculptures, garments, jewels and toys. These new artifacts carry through the Pre-Columbian heritage to a contemporary audience of every age, thus intending that the Meso American script is preserved to see a new generation.

Also The Summerford Legacy:

Ben L. Summerford (1924-2015) taught at American University's Department of Art from 1951-1987. All of the artists in Summerford Legacy studied under Professor Summerford and took different aspects of his teaching to heart. Some stayed close to their artistic roots in AU's Department of Arts, and some used those roots to support far-flung but personal explorations. All of the artists exhibit the artistic integrity embodied by their teacher, and approach their art as an act of discovery. 

Free Parking: A salon-style conversation with former students of Ben L. Summerford.  April 27, 2017.  RSVP

Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association Welcomes Fifteen New Members

The Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association recently completed its Annual Membership Jury. From this process, fifteen new artists were selected as Associate Members. Congratulations to:  Ahmed Ansari, Veronica Barker-Barzel*, Ramon Camarillo, Cam Chapman, Dennis Crayon, Tsolmon Damba, Mary Beth Gaiarin, M. Alexander Gray*, Briana Hertzog, Yoon Sun Lim, Lizzy Lunday, Charlene Nield, Ciddi Sermin, Meg Talley, and Marine Weiss for being selected as the Torpedo Factory Artists Class of 2017.

The Annual Membership Jury process is conducted in two phases. The first phase evaluates the digital images submitted with each application. Steve Prince, Associate Professor and Artist in Residence at Allegheny College, served as the Phase I juror. In Phase II, artists are placed into one of two groups: two-dimensional or three-dimensional work. Artist work is then anonymously evaluated, both individually and collectively, by all three jurors for that group. There are no quotas or recommendations given to the jurors by the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association.

For 2017, the jurors for two-dimensional jurors were: David Bellard, Creative Director, Social Marketing & Program Services at Rare Residency Program; Glen Kessler, Founder of The Compass Atelier; and Robert Yi, Director of George Washington University’s Corcoran Arts Continuing Education Program. The three-dimensional jurors were: Michael Janis, Co-director of Washington Glass School; Mary Cloonan, Professor of Ceramics, Adjunct, Towson University and Exhibitions Director at Baltimore Clayworks; and David Knopp, Towson Art Collective and Sculptors Inc.

The Newly Juried Artist exhibition is on display in Gallery 311 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center until April 30. There is a closing reception on April 30 from 3:00 pm - 5:00pm.

On a note of personal interest, waaay back in 1995 or 1996 I applied to this process and was soundly rejected! Another example of why artists need thick skins! Congrats to all the new members!

*Members of Printmakers Inc; a Torpedo Factory studio and workshop

Wanna be in an art show?

CALL FOR POSTCARDS / DEADLINE MAY 19TH

Wish You Were Here 16
A.I.R. Gallery's Annual Postcard Show

A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce its 16th annual postcard show, Wish You Were Here, which will take place in the entry gallery of our Plymouth Street location from May 25 - June 25, 2017. This inclusive event both raises valuable funds for A.I.R. programs and makes affordable artwork available to the public. Past Wish You Were Here exhibitions have included work by notable artists like Mary Beth Edelson, Dottie Attie, Mary Grigoriadis, and Barbara Zucker.

They invite artists from all over the world - female / male / cis / trans / gender nonconforming / neutral -  to participate by donating 1 postcard-sized work (4 x 6 inches) in any medium. Each original work is sold for $45 on a first come first serve basis and the buyer will take the work with them at the time of the sale. All proceeds go to benefit A.I.R. programming and are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

FREE ENTRY & ALL WORKS ACCEPTED!

For more information and to submit work for the annual postcard show, click here.

Deadline is May 19, 2017 at 6pm.

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Jacob Kainen, High Noon II, 1980, oil on linen, 24" x 30"

JACOB KAINEN
&
ROMARE BEARDEN

Romare Bearden, Woman and Egret, 1975, collage and acrylic on board, 11 3/4" x 16"

April 15 - June 10, 2017

Opening on April 15, 2017, 6:00pm - 8:00pm at Hemphill


HEMPHILL1515 14th St NW
Washington DC 20005
tel 202.234.5601hemphillfinearts.com

Wanna go to a Friday night Opening?

Amazon Lady in Red Chair by Marcie-Wolf-Hubbard

Traveling in Place

April 10 - May 5

Paintings by Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

The Den Coffeehouse & Wine Bar at Politics and Prose

5015 CONN AVE NW, WASH, DC 

Artist’s Reception: April 14 (7–9pm)

Frida at $100 starting bid!

Anybody like Frida? This very cool painting that I did in art school and which sold originally almost 15 years ago, just showed up at an auction house! Follow the link! At a really good starting bid - Only $100!

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/f-lennox-campello-american-cuban-artist-passio-115-c-90143738cd

Frida Kahlo: Picasso Style
Oil on Board, c. 1980
F. Lennox Campello

#fridakahlo #frida #picasso #pablopicasso #fridapainting #lennycampello #artauction

Frida in a Cross of Clouds

Frida in a Cross of Clouds
Charcoal, Conte and Unfired Bisque, c. 1980-2017, 7x7x2.25 inches
F. Lennox Campello

"Frida in a Cross of Clouds" is one-of-a-kind mixed media (charcoal, conte, and unfired bisque), about 7x7 inches, c. 1980-2017 and designed to hang as a 3D piece on your wall... and which will be part of my upcoming solo show at Judith Olivia HeartSong's wonderful Artists and Makers Studios in Rockville! Stay tuned for more details! At $250 this will be gone on opening night, so reserve it now with Judith!

#fridakahlo
@ArtistsAndMakersStudios

Art Scam Alert!

Stay away from this mutant... E-mail address is positivepackaginginc@gmail.com, in case anyone else gets this:

"Hello,
Am Anthony Petrello from California. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work. I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too, You are doing a great job. I would like to purchase one of your Collections Labyrinth Sculpture, 16.5 H x 32 W x 1.5, as a surprise to my wife on our anniversary. Also, let me know if you accept check as mode of Payment.
Thanks."

20th Annual Bethesda Row Arts Festival

Application Deadline: May 31, 2017

Apply Here

WHAT: 20th Annual Bethesda Row Arts Festival

WHERE: Bethesda Row - Bethesda, Maryalnd

WHEN: October 14-15, 2017

           Saturday 11am - 6pm; Sunday 10am - 5pm

NOTEWORTHY:

*The Great Application Giveaway - Art-Linx will award 3 lucky artists their jury fee. This random drawing is based on application (not acceptance) to the show.  Winners will be notified via email.

*Limited to 195 Artists

*45,000 Attendance 

*Multi-Page Glossy Program - mailed to 20,000 high income single family homes  prior to the show 

*Cash Awards:  First Place $2000, Second Place $1500, Third Place $1000

      Best in Category (16) $50

*Free artist parking

*Artist Hospitality Room stocked with snacks & beverages during the show

 

*24-hour police security

*Festival Director and Staff on-site during entire festival

*Artist only bathroom facilities

*Booth sitting

*Extensive Marketing to Art Buying Patrons

We invite you to apply to the 20th Annual Bethesda Row Arts Festival.  The festival takes place on the streets of Bethesda Row, a prime location of fabulous dining, entertainment and specialty boutiques.

Our multi-page glossy program will be mailed to 20,000 high income single family homes prior to the show and personally handed out by your street captain to the 45,000 art lovers who come to the show.

APPLY TODAY on ZAPP

Jury Fee: $40

Booth Fee: $550 10'x10', Limited 10'x15' and Double Booths Available

Application Deadline: May 31, 2017

Notification: June 30 , 2017

For more details visit their Website

Contact: Robin Markowitz, Festival Director at Robin@BethesdaRowArts.org or call 

301-637-5684

Mid City Artists Open Studios

Mid City Artists (MCA), a decade old visual art collective, located in one of the liveliest sections of the city, opens their studio doors on May 13th and 14th. Local artists invite the public to explore and interact in the intimate setting of their studios, spread among the Mid City area of NW Washington DC (from Dupont Circle, to U Street and Logan Circle), by offering visitors a rare portal into the artists’ creative habitat.

For the first time, the Mid City artists will also show their work in an Open Studios Preview Night on May 11th at the White Cloud Gallery located at 1843 14th Street, NW. Examples of work created by the talented artists who live and work in the neighborhood will entice you into the studios to see more.

Visitors can enjoy DC’s spring weather by touring artist studios and witnessing an expansive offering of art and culture by some of the city’s most talented and creative artists. It is an opportunity to see the most recent works by artists at the site of their origin, gain meaningful insight into their process of creation and participate in the District’s dynamic and diverse arts community. MCA open studios gives collectors and art lovers the opportunity to purchase works directly from the artists’ studio inventory and discover new talent before it makes its way to the gallery walls. 

Open Studios is free and offers self-guided and guided tours. The self-guided tour is an open format that has proven to be an ideal way to encourage dialogue between artists and enthusiasts allowing visitors to gain firsthand knowledge about the creative process. Guided tours will also be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and will help familiarize participants with the works in a conversational setting. These free guided tours must be reserved in advance.  To reserve a tour, please email info@midcityartists.com and to download our map, visit the MCA website (www.midcityartists.com). 

MCA studios remain nestled among the new condos, trendy shops and restaurants, proving that artists find ways to make space for their creativity. These local artists continue to contribute to the growth of Mid City by infusing the neighborhood with authenticity, creativity and economic activity. MCA is a driving force in keeping art and creative expression alive within Mid City. 

The Mid City Artists Open Studios is generously supported by many Mid City businesses that believe a flourishing arts community adds vibrancy and economic value to the neighborhood.

Open Studios Participating Artists:  Chuck Baxter, Stephen Benedicto, Jane Cave, Michael Crossett, Brand Dave, 

Indira Marin Dingledine, Charlie Gaynor, Arthur Kwon Lee, Miguel Perez Lem, Andrew Lisi, Lucinda Friendly Murphy, Betto Ortiz, Mark Parascandola, Brian Petro, Marie Ringwald, George H. Smith-Shomari, and Robert Wiener.

The Board of the Zenith Community Arts Foundation (ZCAF) is sponsoring its Second Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser Event. 

This year’s Fundraiser will be held on Sunday, May 7, 2017, 5:00-8 PM at The Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20012.  

They are asking for your support so that they can continue the success of their After School and Community based Arts Programs. These programs include our “Hands On Workshop” (HOW) for the Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC), a DCPS program and the Hands On Workshops now under the grantor, for Middle School (12-15) High School (16-18) and Young Adults (18-24).

The curious case of the blowback on the City Paper's Nesbett interview

As first detailed in this post, it all started a while back with DMV artist Barbara Januszkiewicz  noticing and asking a Facebook question about the annual Washington Projects for the Arts fundraising Gala auction (disclaimer: I’ve been part of this auction multiple times in the past). You can catch up on that issue/question here.

Subsequently, and as a result of the nearly 2,000 comments that Barbara’s question received, the Washington City Paper’s freelance scribe Kriston Capps conducted an interview with the WPA’s newish Executive Director Peter Nesbett.  The interview initially missed the key question, but that question was subsequently added in a revised version of the interview, which can be read online here.

I then commented on Nesbett’s answers in this post, essentially noting that Nesbett had missed a golden opportunity to use the Facebook commenting as a perfect way to start a constructive dialogue with the WPA’s artists’ members. Instead he doubled down on his perception that the Janus Facebook post was as triggered as result of Barbara’s personal issues with him, and his public criticism of her work. You can read that post here.

Following the Capps’ interview, the Facebook attention shifted to what many commenters considered Nesbett’s massive foot-in-mouth answer and inexplicable introduction of the race and age card into the discussion.

And not for the first time… cough, cough… DMV artists also began to find issue with Capps’ interview, which many opined only showed one side and failed to present a response from the person (Barbara J) who was essentially being somewhat attacked with claims of aggressive emailing (to Nesbett).

Subsequently a new FB thread focused on Capps and asked:

 Art coverage, Kriston Capps. Some questions.  

Can we talk about Ethical Standards for the Media?

 How do most reporters correct mistakes?

 Are they to be accountable to the public for the fairness and accuracy of in what they write. Should they correct mistakes promptly? Should they take responsibility for decisions and consider the possible consequences of their writing and actions

 respecting the laws of the country and the principles of freedom of the press?

 Should writers who post on blogs could they be providing accurate and balanced reporting, substantiating facts and figures, identifying sources and clearly identifying between fact and rumor?

Criticism of Capps’ article mounted in several comments, as well as some defenders, one noting that:

“There's a lot being asked of a 2000-word interview that earned the author $15 (WCP blog freelance piece fare).

 

At the least you got Nesbitt, on record, outside of Facebook, doubling down on putting his foot in his mouth, and then miraculously sticking a second foot in his mouth.

But, let's not overlook the original substance of all of this: Barbara's legit criticism of the auction, and questions from others on auction functions, to which Nesbitt answered Capps' summary of questions.

Given the response, should future issues occur, I'm guessing the author won't bother with the $15. And everyone will be left wondering, "why is no one writing about this?"

That’s a great point, which shifts Capps’ interview flaws (more on that later) by highlighting the fact that it was via this WCP interview that Nesbett truly stepped on his crank big time.

As I myself noted in the FB comments, I think that the main issue with Capps’ interview is that as soon as (in a "subjective" newspaper article… awright, an “interview”) a point of view (in this case from the interviewee) says something or claims something (or in this case: accuses) about the other side (in this case a person... in the Capps' case Nesbett about Barbara's "aggressive emails") , then one would expect the journo to approach the second person and see about the triggering comment/accusation (is this true Barbara???)

Especially since Barbara’s has stated in various FB comments and separately that this allegation is false, and yet, no one contacted her to verify or get her comments on what Nesbett claims was the main trigger point for the complaint (sour grapes).

It is bad journalism, but arguably passable for just an "interview"by a freelancer done for fifteen bucks… cough, cough.... I can't jump on Capps too much for this... but it is a missed golden opportunity!

Especially when compared to this article in the HudsonValley-Times, where writer Paul Smart does a brilliant job of reporting on Nesbett’s strange experience with the  Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild.  It is not an interview, of course, but Smart does a damned good job of documenting all the strange allegations against Nesbett as well as his point of view and responses. That article ends with the Guild’s President noting that “It’s frightening for me to think of how many people out there were frightened by his words…”