I almost forgot!

Freelancer Mark Jenkins, who writes (mostly about movies) for the Washington City Paper, is filling in and is suddenly writing art reviews for the Washington Post Weekend section while Michael O'Sullivan writes about movies for Weekend.

O'Sullivan is probably one of only two DC art critics who truly knows the DC art scene and who our artists and gallery dealers know (personally) and trust and who has the pulse of our art scene.

Are we all on the same page now?

Anyway.... Jenkins, who is a pretty good theater reviewer and a really good writer, delivers a third (or maybe fourth) Post-published review; this time in the "print-space-poor---that's-why-we-don't-do-more-galleries" Weekend section of the Post for the Quilt Show at the Corcoran.

C'mon guys (C'mon Joyce Jones - editor of Weekend) ... isn't three reviews of one show by one newspaper (that claims that lack of print space is the reason that they do not do more reviews) enough?

OK, OK, I reviewed it too because it is a damned good show and it is a show that teaches us lessons about art, political correctness, and how hypocritical art critics can be.... read my review here, which by the way, has been picked up by five Spanish language newspapers in the US and Latin America.

Gunk Foundation Grants
Deadline: April 30, 2004

Grants are provided for "works" of art (not, for example, art festivals, group exhibitions or general operating support for public art organizations).

Anyone can apply­­: individuals, groups, or organizations, and there is no need for a fiscal sponsor. International projects and artists are encouraged.

How to Apply: Grant proposals must include:
Application form, Resume(s) of the project participant(s)

Example of previous work done (preferably one slide sheet, 1-2 videos. No original work please!)

One or two page summary of the proposed project (This should be separate from the application form, and should be an elaboration upon the questions asked in the form, or should include any other relevant material not covered by the form.)

Budget and time line (predicted costs, source of other funds if needed, and when the project will be presented.

Call or write for Application:

The Gunk Foundation
P.O. Box 333
Gardiner, NY 12525
(845) 255-8252

Celebrity sighting at the Georgetown Canal Square Galleries 3rd Friday openings tonite: None other than Fran Drescher, TV's "Nanny," was hanging around the galleries talking to the artists and admiring the art.

She's tiny!

Tonite's must read artlink (somewhat art I guess) comes via photographer and video artist Darin Boville.

Tomorrow is the 3rd Friday of the month, which means that the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown (MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish) will be having their openings and/or extended hours.

The openings are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant and we'll be also serving our world famous Sangria.

All free and open to the public. From 6-9 PM. The Canal Square is at 1054 31st Street, NW, Corner of M in Georgetown. See ya there!

BLOGger Tyler Green writes about DC artist Ian Whitmore on artnet.com. Its near the lower part of the page.

Whitmore is one of my favorite painters too. He came to my attention a while back when I reviewed him for DC One Magazine. It was the Strictly Painting show at McLean Center for the Arts.

He is now represented by Fusebox Gallery.

Jessica Dawson visits six spaces in today's Galleries column in the Post.

I like this mini-review approach that the Post has implemented in the last couple of years or so. In fact, a few years ago - before Dawson replaced Protzman as the Post's galleries' critic - I had suggested this mini-format directly to John Pancake (the Post's Arts editor) as a way to "spread the wealth" of the Post's very small print space dedicated to gallery reviews.

This is hard work on Dawson, who has to visit a lot of galleries, all over the city, just to produce one column. Too bad that the Post's online art pages, which used to run its own set of gallery reviews independent of the print section when John Poole used to be its Arts Editor, no longer does so.

This is puzzling to me, as at one point, when Poole was the Online Arts Editor, he had several additional writers (including Dawson) "augment" the print version of galleries and museum reviews with several freelance writers.

When Poole moved up the food chain and was promoted, his job was left vacant for a while, and when the Arts Editor job was finally filled a year later or so, whatever funds were available to pay the freelancers had probably been snatched by another department or cut, and thus the current Online Arts editor (Maura McCarthy) no longer has the luxury of augmenting the Post's meager gallery criticism with additional online writers.