The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding

Having lived for many years in Europe, I have direct experience with the great benefits and astounding shortfalls of many of those nations' heavy-handed governments, where the massive burocracies of socialist minds are involved in nearly every facet of daily life, including the arts.

Local GMU economist Tyler Cowen has an interesting look at this issue. Cowen is the author of many books, including Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures (Princeton) and In Praise of Commercial Culture.

He is the Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, and his most current book is Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding.

Cowen argues that "American art thrives through an ingenious combination of small direct subsidies and immense indirect subsidies such as copyright law and tax policies that encourage nonprofits and charitable giving. This decentralized and even somewhat accidental--but decidedly not laissez-faire--system results in arts that are arguably more creative, diverse, abundant, and politically unencumbered than that of Europe."

More on the book here.

Taxing Reading

From the tone of these mini-reviews, Jessica must have had a tough tax day last Saturday.

Read at your own risk here.

Parsons on Compelled by Content

DCist's Adrian Parsons reviews our current "Compelled by Content" exhibition.

Read the review here.

Art Deal(s) of the Week

This week's super art deal are these beautiful mixed media Mermaid boxes by Illinois artist Carmen Lozar, currently on exhibit as part of the "Compelled by Content II" exhibition.

Each of these interesting sculptures starts with a found object, in these cases an antique cigarrette or snuff box. Lozar then transforms the object by casting a blue ocean made of glass, and also creates a small glass mermaid that can be rotated through the ocean through a small lever handle that she builds into the side of the box. The inner lid of the box is also a small oil painting of the ocean's horizon. These interactive pieces can then be "rotated," making the small glass mermaid jump in and out of her glass ocean.

Two of the three boxes below are still available for sale. The one below is an old "Maryland Club" tobacco tin measuring four inches long by 2.5 inches deep (closed) or five inches deep open and about three inches high with mermaid in the up position.



An a detail looking from the top:



The second box is an antique J.G. Dill's Best Cube Cut Plus tin measuring 3.5 inches long by one inch deep (closed), two inches deep (open) and 3.5 inches tall with mermaid in the up position. Each of the sculptures is $600.



An a detail looking from the top:



To buy them call the gallery at 301/718-9651 or email them at info@thefrasergallery.com.

Student Prints

The 21st Annual Corcoran College of Art + Design Print Portfolio is now on view through May 27, 2006 at the Kathleen Ewing Gallery.

This year’s portfolio contains the work of Corcoran College of Art + Design faculty and students from the BFA and Continuing Education programs. as well as guest faculty and artists.

This year they have included work by Frank DiPerna, Claudia Smigrod and Renee Stout.

This exhibit has been titled Thinking Voodoo ; Why? Because as the city of New Orleans is historically linked to the practice of voodoo and the supernatural, Thinking Voodoo seemed an appropriate title for this year’s portfolio following the events of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath of destruction.

One copy of the full portfolio is placed in the permanent collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Corcoran College of Art + Design and the College Printmaking department, however copies of the work will also be on sale.

Compelled by Content Opening

I'll have some pictures of the opening later, but the show looks great and once again artists using glass (among other things) are dragging the genre away from the bowl and vessel and to the fine arts. This is an amazing show.

The preview went well, and a major New York museum commissioned a Tim Tate piece for their collection! More on that later.

The public opening was really packed as well, and in fact so many people showed up for the guided Bethesda Art Walk that two separate walks were done.

I've been really taken by the work of Illinois artist Carmen Lozar, more on her and her work later. I've also been impressed by how much Michael Janis' work has progressed in the last year or so. More on him later as well.

Colloquium on African American Art

Authentic Art has all the details about the 17th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art, which will be held April 20-22, 2006 at Howard University.

Agenda, schedule and details here and here.

DC Mayoral Candidates Forum on the Arts

Moderated by Renee Poussaint and featuring all of the DC Mayoral Candidates taking questions on their views of the arts.

Date: Monday, May 1, 2006
Time: 6:00- 8:00pm
Place: Tivoli Theater, 3333 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Free Grant Development Triathlon Workshop

Attend presentations by the experts regarding upcoming funding opportunities and how to respond with competitive proposals. Representatives from the Federal Government, DC Government, and Local Foundations have been invited.

Date: Thursday, May 4, 2006
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Place: Sumner School Museum & Archives
Metro's Red Line to Farragut North

Space is limited and early reservations are recommended. Registrations will be accepted through May 1, 2006. To register, e-mail dawn.mitchell@dc.gov.

Women's Caucus for Art: 2006 Annual Networking Day

Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington DC will be having their 2006 Annual Networking Day, focusing on exhibiting and marketing your Art. I will be presenting a focused shortened version covering marketing derived from our Bootcamp for Artists seminar. Event is free and open to the public.

When: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Saturday, April 29, 2006
Where: Goodwin House
3440 South Jefferson Street
Falls Church, VA 22041
1.703.820.1488

The Women’s Caucus for Art, a major national non-profit member organization, was founded in 1972 and is an affiliated society of the College Art Association. It is unique in its multi-disciplinary, multicultural membership. WCA members are artists, art historians, arts administrators, museum and gallery professionals, teachers, students, curators, critics, collectors, and others who are committed to WCA’s goals.

For more info call 301.910.1231 or email Authentic_Art@att.net.

See ya there!

Coop Gallery Seeks New Member

The Artists’ Undertaking Gallery, 309 Mill St. in historic Occoquan, has an opening for an artist member working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, collage, art quilts or wall hung fiber arts.

This is a cooperative gallery in its 29th year. Applicants must be able to work in the gallery one day every other week and attend the monthly business meeting. Juried entry is on the first Monday of the month.

Please call Carol Holmes at 703/897-8990 for more information and to make an appointment.

Taxes: Foul Mood

I can't believe how many Samolians I have to send Uncle Sam by tomorrow, and to make matters worse, this year I'm also sending the Soviet Socialist State of Mary's Land a ton of rubles - in fact almost three times as much as Uncle Sam gets.

Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) seeks Executive Director

Deadline: Tuesday, April 18, 2006

This is quite a LATE announcement on the part of GRACE, with a deadline in just a few days.

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE), a well-established non-profit arts organization located in the Reston Town Center, seeks an executive director who will be a highly visible and effective leader able to take the organization to a new level of achievement. GRACE serves the Northern Virginia community through art exhibition and arts learning programs for all ages, including the innovative Art in the Schools (AIS) program and the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, one of the top ranked fine arts festivals in the United States. For detailed description of GRACE and its programs please visit their website at www.restonarts.org.

The executive director reports directly to the GRACE Board and is responsible for the overall direction and management of the Center overseeing an experienced staff of 4 employees operating with a $600,000 annual budget. The executive director should be a leader with the right combination of education, work experience, and talents to manage GRACE.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to lead in a "participative" team environment, to continue building an organization through proactive fundraising activities and community outreach, and to develop and manage within detailed budget. Ideally the candidate should also have an understanding of and appreciation for contemporary arts, progressive responsible management experience, excellent oral and written communication skills, and high degree of comfort working in a dynamic growth oriented organization.

Interested candidates should submit resume and letter of intent no later than April 18, 2006 to:

Greater Reston Arts Center
Search Committee
12001 Market Street Suite 103
Reston, VA 20190

Resumes and letter of intent may also be emailed to director@restonarts.org. No faxes please.

For more info:
Greater Reston Arts Center
t: 703.471.9242 or f: 703.471.0952 or info@restonarts.org

This announcement does not tell a salary range, but I can reveal to you that it's quite a well-paying job.

McNatt on Imboden

The Baltimore Sun's art critic finally takes a trip to Bethesda and reviews the great Connie Imboden exhibition at the new Heineman Myers Gallery.

Read the review here.

This coming Friday

Next Friday is the second Friday of the month and thus it's the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating venues and with free guided tours.

We will open "Compelled by Content II", which is an exhibition of contemporary narrative glass curated by Catriona Fraser. This is the second iteration of an annual group exhibition of emerging and established contemporary fine arts glass sculptors from around the nation who use glass as their main medium to convey narrative ideas in a genre generally only associated with bowls and vessels.

The 2005 exhibition established a new footprint and direction for glass, and began the task of pushing it away from pretty, decorative art and towards narrative work with context and meaning. It generated a substantial amount of discussion, both pro and con, which at the last count included over 80 pages of comments on various art websites as well as several reviews in the printed media.

This exhibition brings the focus of the art to a place where it is no longer just about glass, but about artists who use glass in their process to tell stories, discuss events, narrate biographies and make social statements.

The exhibition includes work by Jeanne Brennan, Robin Cass, Mel George, Michael Janis, Carmen Lozar, Syl Mathis, Liz and Lindsey Mears, Michael Rogers, Alison Sigethy and Tim Tate.

An opening reception for the artists, free and open to the public, will be held on Friday, April 14, from 6pm - 9pm as part of the Bethesda Art Walk.

An artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance will take place at the gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM. The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance.

In the below piece, titled "Lost" by Carmen Lozar, a damsel in some distress, gently vomits from a pier.

Opportunity for [some] artists

Deadline: May 30, 2006.

For Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry Artists - The Hispanic AIDS Forum announces an open call for its Estampas de Vida, a juried contest featuring works by Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry visual artists, celebrating community, health, self-respect and self-esteem.

The winning art will be used to create a series of 10 "estampas" or cards that will be used to promote AIDS/health awareness within the Latino/Hispanic/Latin American ancestry communities.

They invite all Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry visual artists to get involved with this project and make a difference in the community. There are no fees for submissions.

A total of 10 winners will be selected. Winners will be announced on June 12, 2006 via email and HAF webpage. Each will receive a $200 cash award. For more information and the full prospectus go to: www.hafnyc.org/estampas.

Joe Shannon

An exhibition of one of our area's most influential painters, Joe Shannon: Past and Present opens at Gallery Actaeon with an opening reception, on Sunday April 23, 2006 from 1-5 pm. Joe's gallery is at 21180 Beallsville Road, Dickerson MD. RSVP to 301-349-5858.

What is a Curator?

The University of Maryland’s Union Gallery presents, What is a Curator? A panel discussion on the topic of what it means and can mean to be a curator of contemporary art at the beginning of the 21st century. Tuesday, April 18, 2006, 5-7PM.

The panelists include:
Leigh Conner, Director of Conner Contemporary, Washington, D.C.
Annie Gawlak, Director of G Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
Scott Habes, Director of The Art Gallery, University of Maryland
Andrea Pollan, Director of Curator’s Office, Washington, D.C.
Stewart Watson, Director of Area 405, Baltimore, MD

The panel will be moderated by Jeffry Cudlin, Adjunct Professor of Art and Art Theory at the University of Maryland and art critic for the Washington City Paper.

The panel will be in the Prince George’s Room of the Stamp Student Union. Both the Prince George’s Room and the Union Gallery are located on the first floor of the Stamp Student Union on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Admission to the panel is free and open to the public.

Ouch

This is what happens when art bloggers offer political advise: The Right Reverend has a ton of fun with your written words.

Heading back

WIll have loads to post later today...