Showing posts sorted by date for query scotland. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query scotland. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2016

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.

Saturday, January 02, 2016

Vintage Campello at auction

Since several of you (mostly fellow Americans who were lucky enough to have spent part of our life in Scotland) have asked me about these Scottish watercolors... 

This one is on Ebay right now at a great price... 


These vintage pieces have been appraised for as much as $5000 (much larger pieces)... someone in Las Vegas is offering this one starting for under $200!

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Scotland!!!!!


Sunday, March 15, 2015

Yoani Sánchez to talk at GMU

Yoani Sánchez is an acclaimed Cuban blogger, journalist and founder of 14ymedio, Cuba’s first independent daily digital news outlet. She is currently the Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

A University of Havana graduate in Philology, she emigrated to Switzerland in 2002 to build a new life for herself and her family. Two years later, she returned to Havana, promising herself to live there as a free person. In 2007, she began Generation Y, her personal blog about daily life in Cuba. She has been arrested and detained by the Cuban government for starting her activities.

In 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama wrote that her blog “provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba” and applauded her efforts to “empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology.” TIME magazine listed her as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People, stating that “under the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, Sánchez has practiced what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot: freedom of speech.” Foreign Policy magazine has named her one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.  
She will be speaking at GMU on Tuesday, march 17, 2015 from 4:30pm - 6:15pm. RSVP here. 

I will be there to listen to a true hero, who can teach some lessons here in the US to some wanna-be "victims."

I also plan to give her a gift of a watercolor that I did in 1977 while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, Washington. This piece was the second in a series of works all focused around the island of Cuba as a prison. It has followed me all over the planet and lived in Seattle, San Diego (CA), Spain, Monterey (CA), Bowie (MD) twice, Scotland, Sonoma (CA), Dumfries (VA), Media (PA), and Potomac (MD) thrice.
 
CUBA "Isla Prisión" (Prison Island)  Watercolor on Paper by F. Lennox Campello, c. 1977  2x4 inches
"Isla Prisión" (Prison Island)
Watercolor on Paper by F. Lennox Campello, c. 1977
2x4 inches

Hopefully, she will accept it and it will then live with a real life hero. 

Monday, February 23, 2015

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.


Sunday, February 15, 2015

1990s artwork

Between 1992-1994 I lived in Sonoma, California (great place!!!) and at that time I was still serving in the US Navy as the Executive Officer (XO) of NSGA Skaggs Island.

Prior to that, destiny had given me the opportunity to be stationed at NSGA Edzell, in Scotland... easily one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

While in Scotland I worked with a model named Fleur, took some shots of her and then, and later on, using the photos while living in Sonoma, created some watercolors based on the images.

At the time a local Sonoma gallery (Presidio Gallery) picked me up and gave me two great solo shows... one was an incredible solo aimed at raising funds for the Sonoma Ballet Conservatory - that story deserves a post of its own - and the other was a show of assorted artwork.

And then, thanks to the amazing connectivity of Al Gore's Interwebs, I get an email from the person who bought two of the Fleur watercolors.

And for the first time since 1993... here they are!

"Fleur" circa 1993, watercolor 10x8 inches by F. Lennox Campello
"Fleur" circa 1993, watercolor 10x8 inches by F. Lennox Campello

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

When in Scotland - Part II

As I noted earlier, I was fortunate to have lived in gorgeous Scotland, perhaps the most beautiful country on planet Earth, from 1989-1992 (although I had been visiting it regularly several times a year starting in 1987).

This spectacular nation is an artist's dream come true, especially if you are a landscape artist (which I wasn't), but the sheer beauty of the Scottish landscape turned me into one... and over the years I produced hundreds of Scottish watercolors, pastels and drawings (and some etchings) which celebrated not only the Scottish landscape, but also all the "stuff" around me (I lived in a farmhouse built in 1532), such as sheep, horses, cows, Highland games, fish, and the brilliant Scottish people.

See some of my Scottish sheep pieces here, and enjoy the below art homages to Scotland.

North Sea, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.  In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland by F. lennox Campello
North Sea, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.
In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland
Loch Ness, Scotland  11x14 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.  In a private collection in Montrose, Scotland by Lenny Campello
Loch Ness, Scotland
11x14 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.
In a private collection in Montrose, Scotland

Two Deer, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Brechin Road, Angus, Scotland  28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.  In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland by Lenny Campello
Two Deer, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Brechin Road, Angus, Scotland
28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.
In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland

Snowfall, near Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland  16x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.  In a private collection in Braemar, Scotland by F Lennox Campello
Snowfall, near Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
16x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.
In a private collection in Braemar, Scotland
Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Norfolk, Virginia by F. Lennox Campello
Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Norfolk, Virginia

Seagulls Following the Plow, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland  40x32 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Boise, Idaho by Lenny Campello
Seagulls Following the Plow, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland
40x32 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Boise, Idaho

Road to Cairn O'Mount Pass, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.  In a private collection in Banchory, Scotland by Lenny Campello
Road to Cairn O'Mount Pass, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Banchory, Scotland

Seagulls following the plow, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.  In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland
Seagulls following the plow, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.
In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland

Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in San Diego, California
Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in San Diego, California

Back road, near Battledykes, Angus, Scotland  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.  In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland
Back road, near Battledykes, Angus, Scotland
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.
In a private collection in Aberdeen, Scotland
Northern Lights, Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Seattle, Washington
Northern Lights, Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Seattle, Washington

Just Before Trinity Fields, Enroute Brechin, Angus, Scotland  6x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Dundee, Scotland
Just Before Trinity Fields, Enroute Brechin, Angus, Scotland
6x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Dundee, Scotland
Back Road near Smiddie Wood, near Stracathro and Careston Estates, Angus, Scotland  12x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland
Back Road near Smiddie Wood, near Stracathro and Careston Estates, Angus, Scotland
12x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland
River South Esk, near Brechin, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991. by Lenny Campello
River South Esk, near Brechin, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991.
In the Collection of the Earl of Southesk

View of the Highlands, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland  10x14 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Fresno, California
View of the Highlands, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland
10x14 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Fresno, California
Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Trinity, Angus, Scotland  18x36 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.  In a private collection in San Francisco, California
Back Road, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Trinity, Angus, Scotland
18x36 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in San Francisco, California

North Sea, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.  In a private collection in St. Cyrus, Scotland
North Sea, near Stonehaven, Angus, Scotland
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1989.
In a private collection in St. Cyrus, Scotland
Road near Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, where my daughters would take horse riding lessons  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
Road near Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, where my daughters would take horse riding lessons
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In the Collection of the Earl of Southesk

Back road near Laurencekirk, Angus, Scotland  7x10 inches. Ink wash on paper, c. 1990.  In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland
Back road near Laurencekirk, Angus, Scotland
7x10 inches. Ink wash on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Brechin, Scotland

Taking the walk behind the Blue Door, The Burns, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991  In a private collection in the United States
Taking the walk behind the Blue Door, The Burns, near Edzell, Angus, Scotland
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1991
In a private collection in the United States

View from Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland  28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Glasgow, Scotland
View from Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Glasgow, Scotland

View of the Highlands, near Maryculter, Angus, Scotland  30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.  In a private collection in Montrose, Scotland
View of the Highlands, near Maryculter, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Montrose, Scotland

Monday, January 26, 2015

When in Rome... I mean Scotland...

I was fortunate to have lived in gorgeous Scotland, perhaps the most beautiful country on planet Earth, from 1989-1992 (although I had been visiting it regularly several times a year starting in 1987).

This spectacular nation is an artist's dream come true, especially if you are a landscape artist (which I wasn't), but the sheer beauty of the Scottish landscape turned me into one... and over the years I produced hundreds of Scottish watercolors, pastels and drawings (and some etchings) which celebrated not only the Scottish landscape, but also all the "stuff" around me (I lived in a farmhouse built in 1532), such as sheep, horses, cows, Highland games, fish, and the brilliant Scottish people.

Here are some of the hundreds of pieces that I did on sheep, which were essentially everywhere!

Sheep in a field near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland  - by F. Lennox Campello 26 x 40 inches, Pastel on paper, c. 1989
Sheep in a field near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
26 x 40 inches, Pastel on paper, c. 1989
In a private collection in Edzell, Scotland

View from Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
30x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Montrose, Scotland

Field off the A90, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
12x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Brooklyn, New York

Blackface Highlanders, near Inverbervie, Angus, Scotland
12x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1990.
In a private collection in Arbroath, Scotland
View from Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland  28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.  In a private collection in Glasgow, Scotland by F. Lennox Campello
View from Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Fettercairn, Angus, Scotland
28x40 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992.
In a private collection in Glasgow, Scotland

Blackface Highlanders (Near Edzell, Angus, Scotland)  8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992  In a private collection in the U.S. By Lenny Campello
Blackface Highlanders (Near Edzell, Angus, Scotland)
8x10 inches. Watercolor on paper, c. 1992
In a private collection in the U.S.
Blackface Highlanders, near Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland  20x40 inches. Pen and ink wash on paper, c. 1992 by F. Lennox Campello
Blackface Highlanders, near Glamis Castle, Forfar, Angus, Scotland
20x40 inches. Pen and ink wash on paper, c. 1992
In a private collection in Banff, Scotland
Blackface Highlander, near Dunnottar Castle, Angus, Scotland  28x40 inches. Pen and ink on paper, c. 1991 by F. Lennox Campello
Blackface Highlander, near Dunnottar Castle, Angus, Scotland
28x40 inches. Pen and ink on paper, c. 1991
In a private collection in Stonehaven, Scotland
Blackface Highlanders, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Brechin Road, Angus, Scotland  30x30 inches. Pen and ink wash on paper, c. 1990  In a private collection in St. Andrews, Scotland by Lenny Campello
Blackface Highlanders, near Little Keithock Farmhouse, Brechin Road, Angus, Scotland
30x30 inches. Pen and ink wash on paper, c. 1990
In a private collection in St. Andrews, Scotland

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Burns Night

Burns Night is celebrated each year in Scotland (and around the world) on or around January 25. It is in celebration to commemorate the life of the bard (poet) Robert Burns, who was born on January 25, 1759. It is also a great excuse for Scots and people of Scottish ancestry around the world (where the one-drop rule applies) to get together and drink single malt, and eat haggis, and drink single malt.


I lived in a 307-year-old farmhouse in Scotland from 1989-1992. The farmhouse, which had a fireplace in almost every room, and two in the bathroom and two in the huge kitchen, was named Little Keithock Farmhouse and was full of ghosts, as my two daughters, Vanessa and Elise can testify to. That's my drawing of the house to the left.

My landlord (Mr. Stewart) was a really nice guy and a big wig in the nearest town, which was the most ancient village of Brechin, and in 1991 he invited me to the village's Burns Night and not only that, but also to its greatest honor: to deliver the Burns' ode to the haggis and then stab the beast... in case you don't know, the whole focus of the evening centers on the entrance of the haggis on a large platter to the haunting sounds of a piper playing bagpipes. As soon as the haggis is on the table, the host (in this case me) reads the "Address to a Haggis." 

This is Robert Burns' ode written to that succulent Scottish dish. At the end of the reading, the haggis is ceremonially stabbed and sliced into two pieces and the meal begins.

This is what I was supposed to memorize and deliver:

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis
As you can see, it is not written (nor delivered) in English, but in Old Scots language.

Being the amazing Renaissance man that I am, I took the challenge, and for about three months, I practiced my Scottish accent, with the help of Vanessa and Elise's local Scottish babysitter. 

I practiced and practiced, and she damned near died laughing most of the times... but towards the end she told me that I was pretty good and that I sounded like someone "from the Orkneys..."

On Burns' Night I arrived at the magnificent Victorian building that is the Brechin's Mechanics Hall, wearing my official US Navy kilt with the official US Navy tartan, ready for Freddy and confident about the challenge ahead. 

And yes, my babysitter had advised me (as all Scots do to newbies just to screw with them) that I was supposed to go commando under the tartan, which I did, and which caused a nightmarish next-morning shower event worth of its own story).

Scots are some of the friendliest people on this planet and Scotland is easily the most beautiful land on that same planet, and as a key part of the Night, everyone wanted to treat me to a drink.

That where the problem started.

I got there on an empty stomach about 7PM, you see... and to make things worse, I don't really like Scotch, single malt or otherwise... I know, I know... heresy.

But as a good guest, I accepted the dozens of Scotches delivered to me by the region's nicest gentlemen, and of course, everyone had a toast, and so... ahhh, I drank a lot of Scotland's best-known product.

The only issue to my spectacular abilities to hold my booze was the fact that the haggis wasn't actually delivered until 11PM, and by then I was three sheets to the wind and as drunk as I have ever been but a hundred times worse!

I actually like haggis and whenever it is on the menu (here or there) I usually order it... most of you would gag if you knew what it is... cough, cough... so that's not the storyline here.

Anyway, around 11PM, I was tipped that the haggis was being delivered... the bagpipes began to cry that spectacular sound of the Celtic world, and the huge platter arrived.

I walked unsteadily towards it, grabbed the large, sharp knife, and as protocol calls for, began waving it around while I started, in my best Scottish accent, to pay homage to the haggis while at the same time trying not to slice off my ears.

The hall was silent, and a couple of hundred people followed my every word and movement of the knife, sculpting invisible shapes in the air.

And then, as called for, I stabbed the beast and cut it in two.

The hall exploded in applause and I walked back to my table... so far so good... other than the unexplained laughter.

Mr. Stewart, who was sitting next to me, was standing and clapping furiously, as was everyone else. This by itself, my addled brain registered, was curious, as Scots are great people, but rather reserved. To my slight alarm, I also noted that he was laughing really, really, really hard.

So hard, in fact, that tears were running down his face.


Oh, oh....

He slapped my back as he hugged me and continued to laugh, and placed yet another single malt on my hand.

"That was great!" (sounds like "gret" in Scottish) he shouted above the din, as tears ran down his handsome face, "We've never heard 'Address to a Haggis' recited in a Japanese accent before!"

"What a gret ideee!"

Put yourself in my place for a moment here... there are a couple of hundred Scots thinking that I just pulled a comedy routine on their sacred ode, and they're laughing their ass off, so it must have worked... right???

"I practiced like crazy," I said, suddenly quite sober.

And that's the story of how this guy delivered on a Burns' Night in Brechin, Scotland, got drunk on his ass, made a lot of really good, decent Scottish men laugh, and had a most memorable night.

The story of how I got home, as I clearly couldn't and didn't drive, is a story for another day... suffice it to say that thistles usually grow on the side of most Scottish back roads and that if you brush against them, you are really fucked for a while. 

Scotch and thistles don't mix well on a really dark night in the Scottish country side.

Field near Battledykes

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

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Scotland Independence Vote

Scottish voters (starting at the age of 16) are voting today in an attempt to once again secede from the 307 year-old union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A union that was started by a Scottish king, not an English king.

I love Scotland - I lived there from 1989-1992 and was seduced by one of the most beautiful nations on the planet and some of the hardest working, smart, people on the same planet... when you are in Scotland, and walk around the glens, and see the sun poke a hole in the clouds and shine on this planet's greenest pastures, one understands why people believe in magic. And thus my my heart says yes to independence, but the Scottish National Party -- like most politicians on the planet - are a bunch of crooks with half lies, empty promises and jingoistic fervor that history teaches us leads to no good end! What they have promised the Scots, if they vote yes, has been built mostly on deceit and promises of a super nanny state funded by disputed oil resources in the North Sea.

In spite of that, I would think that I would let my heart rule and I would vote yes to secede and take my own chances as an independent nation of very tough, brilliant people... same for the Catalans, who are in a similar situation in Scotland's ancestral home in Spain...

Here's what I'm afraid of -- if they secede...

1. The English will force them off the pound - as they should! Why would Scotland vote to leave, but keep the old currency?

2. They will also boycott any attempt by Scotland to join the European union - Even if they don't, it will take years for the Scots to join the EU.

3. They will actively work to isolate Scotland and teach those Celts a lesson!

4. Scotland is essentially a rural country with a very strong sense of identity, but lacks an industrial infrastructure - because the English have designed it that way for centuries; even the shipbuilding in Scotland is dependent on English imports.

5. The international courts will rule against Scotland for the oil wells outside of the CTML 12 mile limit - this is where future funding for the SNP nanny state is supposed to come from...

6. Scotland will depend on imports to form an industrial base.

7. The English will work to make that difficult.

8. A desperate Scotland will present a BRILLIANT opportunity for China (or Putin) to step in and "help the Scots."

Result? English arrogance and ethnic insolence (they consider Scots as WOGS) - will push the Scots into the arms of the old Reds and the new Reds; Mark my words... So I hope the Scots vote no. And of course... "IF IT'S NOT SCOTTISH ---- IT'S CRAP!"

Monday, August 11, 2014

Lida Moser 1920-2014

I am sad to report that legendary American photographer Lida Moser, who for years lived in retirement in nearby Rockville, Maryland, passed away today around 2:30PM.

This grand photographer was not only one of the most respected American photographers of the 20th century - respected by fellow photographers, curators and all human beings -- but also a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Her photography has been in the middle of a revival and rediscovery of vintage photojournalism, and has sold in the five figures at Christie's auctions and continues to be collected by both museums and private collectors worldwide. In a career spanning over 60 years, Moser has produced a body of works consisting of thousands of photographs and photographic assemblages that defy categorization and genre or label assignment.

Additionally, Canadian television a few years ago finished filming a documentary about her life; the second in the last few years, and Moser’s work has been for years in the collection of many museums worldwide. A couple of the years ago, the Smithsonian Institution purchased over 200 photos by Moser of her beloved New York.

She was once called the "grandmother of American street photography" by an art critic, which prompted a quick rebuttal by Moser, who called the writer's editor and told him that she wasn't the "fucking grandmother of anything or anyone, and would he [the writer] ever describe Ansel Adams or any other male photographer as the 'grandfather' of any style."

Tough New Yorker.

I once sold one of her rare figure studies to a big famous photography collector from the West Coast (who collects mostly nude photography). There were four or five prints of the image, taken and printed around 1961, but one had all the markings and touch-up evidence of the actual photo that had been used by the magazine, and thus I sent him that one.

He called me to complain that although he loved Moser's work, that he wasn't too happy with the retouching, and could I ask Lida for one of the untouched photos.

Now, you gotta understand that these images were taken and touched-up by hand for publication in a newspaper or magazine (since they were nudies, the latter probably). They were not touched up for a gallery or an art show - they were "battlefield" prints of a working photographer.

I called Lida and explained the situation over the phone. "Sweetie," she said to me in her strong New York accent, "you call that guy right back and tell him that you talked to Lida Moser and that Lida Moser told you to tell him: Fuck You!"

I didn't do that, but just sent him an untouched vintage print.

Tough New Yorker.

Lida was a well-known figure in the New York art scene of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and a portrait of Lida Moser by American painter Alice Neel hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Neel painted a total of four Moser portraits over her lifetime, and one of them was included in the National Museum of Women in the Arts' "Alice Neel's Women" exhibition.

Charles Mingus by Lida Moser
"Charles Mingus in his Apartment in New York City", c. 1965.

Among her body of works there are also loads of photographs of well-known artists and musicians that either hung around Lida's apartment in NYC or who were part of her circle of friends.

Man Sitting Across Berenice Abbott's Studio in 1948 by Lida Moser

Lida Moser's photographic career started as a student and studio assistant in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio in New York City, where she became an active member of the New York Photo League. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines throughout the next few decades, and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

In 1950 Vogue, and (and subsequently Look magazine) assigned Lida Moser to carry out an illustrated report on Canada, from one ocean to another. When she arrived at the Windsor station in Montreal, in June of that same year, she met by chance, Paul Gouin, then a Cultural Advisor to Duplessis government. This chance meeting led Moser to change her all-Canada assignment for one centered around Quebec.
Quebec Children, Gaspe Pen, Valley of The Matapedia, Quebec, Canada by Lida Moser
Armed with her camera and guided by the research done by the Abbot Felix-Antoine Savard, the folklorist Luc Lacourcière and accompanied by Paul Gouin, Lida Moser then discovers and photographs a traditional Quebec, which was still little touched by modern civilization and the coming urbanization of the region.

Decades later, a major exhibition of those photographs at the McCord Museum of Canadian History became the museum’s most popular exhibit ever.

Construction of Exxon Building, 6th Avenue and 50th Street, New York City by Lida Moser c.1971She also authored and has been part of many books and publications on and about photography. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81.

Her work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives, Ottawa, the National Galleries of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, Corcoran Gallery, Phillips Collection and many others. And that iconic photo of the window washers cleaning windows at the Exxon Building in NYC was actually made into a 3D sculpture at Leggoland (without Moser's permission) in Florida.

Moser was an active member of the Photo League and the New York School.

The Photo League was the seminal birth of American documentary photography. It was a group that was at times at school, an association and even a social club. Disbanded in 1951, the League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness that reaches street photography to this day.

photo by Lida Moser
"New York City, Office Building Lobby" c. 1965


If you are a female photographer, I hope that you didn't miss the opportunity to visit the Arts Club a couple of years ago when they hosted a wonderful show of her works... and hopefully met one of the women who set the path for all of you.

The Arts Club show was curated by my good friend Erik Denker, the Senior Lecturer, Education Division at the National Gallery of Art, who is also an authority on all things Moser. The show was titled "The World of John Koch" and depicted Moser's portraits of the renowed New York portrait artist John Koch taken over a 20 year span from 1954-1974. These photographs were exhibited in Washington for the first time and are only one of two portfolios of the portraits ever printed by Moser (the other was given to the Koch widow once the painter died in 1974).

John Koch by Lida Moser

John Koch, Silver Gelatin print by Lida Moser, c.1970

The Fraser Gallery represented Lida's works for many years, and also gave her several solo shows. Read the WaPo review of one of her DC solo exhibitions at Fraser here also also the CP's review of another one of her shows here and lastly the CP's profile of Moser from a decade ago.

Lida Moser signing a copy of 100 Artists of Washington, DC in 2011
This hurricane of a woman lived a fruitful life and has left a magnificent artistic footprint on the history of American photography. She will be missed, and we are saddened by her departure, but happy to know that Moser's enormous legacy will live forever.

Monday, August 04, 2014

King Robert The Bruce heads to Europe

This drawing is "King Robert The Bruce." It is a charcoal and conte drawing that I did as an art assignment in 1980 while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle.

The assignment was to do a drawing in the style of the great masters, and me, being me, chose the late great American master Frank Frazetta, and took one of his paintings and re-did it as a drawing with my visualization of the great Scottish king, who after a personal struggle (well documented in the great Mel Gibson film Braveheart) faced the great English armies, defeated them, and sent them back home to England, thus preserving an independent Scottish nation.

By the way, most of you are not aware of this, but next month the people of Scotland will be voting to secede from their union with England and once again become a separate nation.

In any event, this drawing was just purchased by an European collector, 34 years after it was created, and it is now heading to Sweden of all places.

Monday, April 15, 2013

2013 Bethesda Painting Awards Finalists... cough, cough

Below are the finalists for the top painting prize in the region (thank you Carol Trawick!!! and congrats to the final eight!). 

My nepotista side says that the DMV's own Joan Belmar should win it - he's an amazing artist and richly deserves this recognition... my instinct would guess that brilliant Baltimore artist Cara Ober also not only richly deserves the prize, but is also due the recognition afforded by this prize by all the stuff that she does to support and expand the Baltimore art scene. I also really, really like Christine Gray.

And yet... being a pedantic Virgo (and batting about .800 in predicting both this prize and the Trawick Prize winners), I always look at the jurors, and then try to figure out who's the big mouth most persuasive voice in the jury panel and then try to guess who's gonna win based on that juror's own nepotism and ability to strong-arm the other jurors...

Everyone bring nepotism to the table when it comes to this sort of stuff... I've been in dozens and dozens of these panels and seen it surface every time. It's OK though... it is part of being human and a sincere mensch (if you admit that objectivity, when it comes to this sort of process, is only plausible for Vulcans).

These are this year's jurors: Tim Doud, Duane Keiser and Christine Neill.

Both Doud and Keiser are brilliant painters - and great choices for jurors; I don't know the third juror (Christine Neill), but because she's a professor of painting at MICA, and because three of the final eight finalists actually work at MICA (including her boss)... cough, cough... and 50% of the finalists are from Baltimore, I'm just guessing that she was the big mouth most persuasive in the jury panel.

Since I'm usually the big mouth in any art selection or art jury panel that I'm asked to be in, I think that I'm pretty good in figuring out my fellow big mouths persuasives. And yet, it takes some brass balls to keep a straight face while picking three painters who work with one of the jurors (including her boss) to be in the finalists.

Didn't someone in the panel think and then say: "What will the City Paper say once they find out that one of the juror's boss is one of the finalists? ... C'mon people!"

Awright, awright... maybe I'm being too much of a Kriston-Capps-wannabe here... and we're all pretty sure that she would recuse herself from voting, or discussing, or even being present when her co-workers came up for jurying... right?... right?...[Update: I am told that Ms. Neill recused herself from the panel when her boss was selected], but, I'm just sayin' - it just doesn't look good; but maybe it's just me.

And I'm not even touching the issue that three of the other finalists are also grads of American University... cough, cough.

You are asking by now: "Who's gonna win Campello?"

Sooooooo... based on all of the above, and the angry denial emails or cool and collected clarification emails that I am about to get, I suspect that I may have just about hosed the MICA contingent for this year's prize. If that's the case, then I say that either Belmar or Ilchi get the prize.

If no one gives a fuck about potential nepotism or potential conflict of interests (both of which I have been accused of... and both of which are rampant in the world at large)... then pick any of the MICA employees.

Now you are asking: "Nice tap dance... Who's gonna win Campello?"

Let me split: Ober or Gray - and both would be great choices! Although I may have just tipped the scales in the favor of Belmar, who'd also be a terrific choice. 

Here are the finalists:

Joan Belmar, Takoma Park, MD
Joan Belmar was born in Santiago, Chile. He came to Washington, D.C. in 1999, and was granted permanent residency in the U.S. based on extraordinary artistic merit in 2003.
Belmar's recent work uses a unique technique of 3-D painting, which produces changes in transparency as light and the viewer move in relation to the work. 

Joan Belmar's work is in the permanent collections of the DCCAH Art Bank; the District of Columbia's Wilson Building; the Airport Art Collection in Ibiza, Spain and the Union of Concerned Scientists permanent collection in Washington D.C. His work has also been shown in national and international exhibits.

Belmar was a Mayor's Award Finalist in 2007 as an outstanding emerging artist in Washington, D.C. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities awarded him an artist fellowship grant in 2009. In 2010, the Maryland Arts Council awarded Belmar a 2010 Individual Artist grant in Visual Arts: Painting.
 
Dennis Farber, Lutherville, MD
Dennis Farber has been a professor at Maryland Instutute College of Art since 1998. Prior to working at MICA, Farber taught at the University of New Mexico, New York University and Claremont Colleges in Claremont, CA. His work has been exhibited regularly in the United States and abroad. It was included in MoMA's millennial exhibition, OPEN ENDS, 1960- present, Innocence and Experience, and has been included in major museum exhibitions and traveled by both the Museum of Modern Art and the Jewish Museum in New York. Farber's work is in permanent collections of major museums, universities and corporations around the United States.
 
Christine Gray, Alexandria, VA
Christine Gray received a Bachelor of FIne Arts from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Fine Art from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently a Visiting Artist at the George Washington University.  


Gray has participated in numerous group exhibitions across the United States, most recently at Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA and Salisbury University Art Galleries in Salisbury, MD. Gray received Dean's Faculty Research Grant from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011. 

She has also received the Jentel Foundation Residency Fellowshop, Golden Foundation Fellowshop, 7 Below Arts Initiative Residency Fellowship, and more.
 
Hedieh Ilchi, Rockville, MD
Hedieh Ilchi was born in Tehran, Iran and draws her artistic intenstions directly from her dual cultural identity as an Iranian/American. Ilchi received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 2006 and her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the American University in 2011. 

She has received many awards including Robyn Rafferty Mathias International Research Mellon Grant from the American University and the Sons of the Revolution in the District of Columbia American Art Essay Prize. Ilchi was recently selected as the semifinalist for the eighth annual Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. She is an active participant in the local art scene and is currently an artist in residence at the Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, VA.

Ilchi has shown her work in numerous group exhibitions in the Washington D.C. area including at the Corcoran Gallery of Art + Design, American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Irvine Contemporary gallery and Civilian Arts Project. She had a recent solo exhibition at the Contemporary Wing gallery. 


Her work has been reviewed in a number of publications including the Washington Post and Art Papers magazine with a reproduction of her work on the front cover page. She is currently represented by Contemporary Wing gallery in Washington D.C. and Shirin Gallery in Tehran.
 
Barry NemettStevenson, MD


Barry Nemett, Chair of the Painting Department at Maryland Institute College of Art, studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Pratt Institute and his Masters of Fine Arts at Yale University. His awards include The Hugh Fraser Foundation, Ford Foundation Grant, MICA Trustee Grant for Excellence in Teaching, Maryland State Arts Council Individual Fellowship Grant, ITT International Travel Fellowship/Fulbright Hays Grant, Ely Harwood Schless Award for Excellence in Drawing and Painting at Yale University, Faculty Enrichment Grant and the Berkeley T. Rulon Miller Award. Prof. Nemett has curated numerous traveling exhibitions, and has exhibited his own work nationally and internationally.

His publications include: Images, Objects, and Ideas: Viewing the Visual Arts and Crooked Tracks. He has published articles in Arts Magazine, Museum & Arts: Washington, New Art Examiner, Washington Review, Baltimore magazine, Forays Review and many artist catalogue essays. Nemett has been a Visiting Artist at numerous colleges and universities in the United States, and has been Artist in Residence at Alfred and Trafford Klots Residency Program, Rochefort-en-Terre, France, Bates College, Glasgow School of Art, Keisho Art Association (Japan), Studio Art Centers International Florence and Summer Scholarship Program, Scotland.

 
Cara Ober, Baltimore, MD

A painter, teacher and writer, Cara Ober layers drawing, painting and printmaking into mixed media works that examine and reinterpret sentimental imagery. 

Ober is commercially represented by Civilian Art Projects in Washington, D.C., with solo exhibits in 2012 and 2009. She has participated in numerous international art fairs, including Art Miami, Aqua Wynwood Miami and Bridge Fair in London. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Washingtonian Magazine, Hamptons Magazine and US News and World Report

In 2009, Cara received a “Best Of Baltimore” award from Baltimore Magazine, calling her “practically an art scene unto herself.” In 2007, Cara took second prize in the Bethesda Painting Awards, after being a finalist in 2006. She is a 2006 Maryland Individual Artist Grant recipient for painting and received a Warhol Grant for Emerging Curators in 2006. 

Cara Ober earned an Master of Fine Arts in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from American University. Cara writes art reviews for The Urbanite Magazine and ArtNews Magazine, and publishes her own award-winning art blog, BmoreArt.


Erin Raedeke, Gaithersburg, MD
Erin Raedeke earned a Bachelor of Fine Art from Indiana University and a Master of Fine Art from American University. She has participated in exhibitions at many galleries in the United States and London.

Raedeke is a 2013 winner of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award. Past honors and awards include a Carnegie Melon research grant, William H. Calfee Foundation Painting Award, Merit Scholarship at American University, First Prize in Particular Places and a Creative Arts Research Grant at Indiana University.

 
Bill Schmidt, Baltimore, MD

Bill Schmidt studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME before moving to Baltimore in 1969. He received an Master of Fine Art from the Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art in 1971. 
He has exhibited his painting, drawing and sculpture extensively in the Mid-Atlantic region. Schmidt has received numerous grants and awards including two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, one in Sculpture (1990) and one in Painting (2008). In 2004 he attended the Alfred and Trafford Klots Residency Program in Rochefort-en-Terre, France.

After teaching for a decade following graduate school, Schmidt began working in the field of restoration, first on gilded objects and then on furniture finishes. In 2001 he became the Interim Director of the Post-Baccalaureate Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art after being its Resident Artist since 1996. In 2007 he was appointed Director, a position he continues to hold.