A brooding man

"A Brooding Man" is an original watercolor on 300 weight, Ph-balanced, acid free, white paper. It is signed and dated on the lower front margin and on verso. Circa 2014. The painting measures approx. 13 x 13 inches. The watercolor has been professionally float framed in a minimalist black wood frame. Come see it at the (e)merge art fair this coming October.

Corcoran fires Jayme McLellan

When Save the Corcoran formed in 2012, its aim was to keep the museum from selling its historic building. That ship has sailed, though, as the institution prepares to enter a partnership with the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University. The group, led by co-founder Jayme McLellan of Civilian Art Projects, has shifted its focus to what will come next for the Corcoran’s collection — and how they can preserve this piece of Washington history.

- Maura Judkis, April 19, 2014, Washington Post

In every facet of life or work, or in this case the visual arts, there are yappers, symbiots, hangers-on, grubs, and a tiny, tiny, microscopic number of doers.

Jayme McLellan of Civilian Art Projects, and an instructor at the Corcoran, is a doer. Not only has Jayme made Civilian one of the leading galleries in the DMV's cultural tapestry - all of that as a result of hard work, which is the only way that an independently owned, commercial fine arts gallery can survive in the DMV - but McLellan has been a leading voice and doer in the effort to find an alternative way to save the Corcoran, and also an instructor at the Corcoran, hired by the Chair of the Corc's Department of Fine Arts. Classes start in two weeks and she's listed as the instructor for the class, which by the way, is full.

Below is the class from the Corc's website:

2014 Fall FA01
FA4170/Lecture/A - Professional Practices for Fine Artists | Credits 3.00
No artist, however famous or successful, had a clear path to succeed from the beginning. Successful artists learn to maximize opportunities and resources available to them, navigating his or her way at every turn. There is not one single approach; a strategy with lots of planning and variables must be created and examined. Artists will develop a resume and artist statement, research and write grants, practice applying for residencies, and participate in information gathering sessions with art spaces. Led by the founder of two arts organizations, the instructor will create opportunities for students to meet gallery directors, curators and professional artists in DC, Baltimore, and New York. These meetings will provide substantive time to discuss practical issues and concerns that will add to a post-school plan. Writing and reading assignments will be two papers including writing a grant application and creating a personal post-college plan plus one exam. Completion of this course will result in a deeper understanding of the specific tools available to emerging artists and the nature of the art world in general. For BFA Fine Art majors only. Prerequisite: FA3091 Fine Art Studio IV.

Registration Type	Traditional
Fees	N/A
Instructors	Ms. Jayme McLellan
Duration	9/8/2014 - 12/15/2014
Schedule	Mon  3:15 PM - 6:00 PM;  Corcoran College, Downtown, Room 9-2
Prerequisites	FA3091 / Studio
Corequisites	N/A
Credit Types	Audit Credit
Class	12 Seats | 1 Remaining
	Open (Target Met)

Yesterday, Peggy Loar, Interim Director at the Corcoran fired McLellan from a full class that starts in two weeks.

I have sent Ms. Loar a note asking for the reason that McLellan was fired, and if she responds, I will publish it here. In the interim, the "appearance" of this firing, at least to me, smells and tastes like a retaliatory firing of an employee who dared to take a stance opposing the Corc's planned disintegration.

Here's what Ms. Loar wrote to the Corcoran community when she took over as Consulting/Interim Director:

 April 8, 2013

Dear Corcoran Community,

•     As I begin my tenure as consulting director, my goals are clear, ambitious, and achievable:
•     To begin immediately collaborating with the Corcoran team on the strategy and design of a strong programmatic partnership with the University of Maryland
•     To work closely with the Board and the broader Corcoran community on ideas for the creation of a hybrid and exciting new direction for the Corcoran
•     To step up our financial planning and fundraising—discussion and coordination with the Board of Trustees and the University of Maryland
•     To move expeditiously in our partnership with the National Gallery, particularly in regard to the first exhibition to be held at the Corcoran

While the Corcoran has had considerable experience in cross-pollinating the programs and talents within the College and the Gallery, we now have a whole new roster of colleagues to engage with us on structuring our creative agenda. We will inspire each other. I believe that the University of Maryland and the National Gallery of Art will be catalysts toward an inventive tripartite collaboration.

The Corcoran Board’s success in identifying and securing the University of Maryland as a partner—in accordance with the criteria the Board set—was in large part due to the confidentiality of the discussions. It’s a new time now, and transparency and dialogue will bring us all success.

I look forward to those conversations and to working collaboratively with the staff, faculty, and students of this vital and storied institution. Additionally, I hope that members, alumni, and the public will continue to take full advantage of our exhibitions and educational opportunities during this exciting time.

Sincerely,

Peggy

WaPo gets two new art reporters

Announcement from Liz Seymour, Washington Post's executive features editor, David Malitz and Mitch Rubin, deputy features editors, and Christine Ledbetter, arts editor:

We are thrilled to announce two terrific arts reporters are joining Features. Peggy McGlone of the Star-Ledger will cover the local arts beat and Geoff Edgers of the Boston Globe will be our national arts reporter.

Peggy has covered a variety of news and features beats during her 27 years at the Star-Ledger. She created the arts beat, covering and (and uncovering) public art controversies, concert industry secrets and ethical lapses at the state arts council. Former Star-Ledger Editor Jim Willse described her as “one of my favorite people in any newsroom.” At the Post, she will be our point person on the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center and other cultural institutions. A lifelong Jersey girl and a Mets fan, Peggy graduated from Seton Hall University and has a PhD from the City University of New York. She is the mother of three and two of them are students at Loyola University in Baltimore. We don’t know if they are as happy as Peggy is to be moving closer to campus.

Geoff, a 12-year veteran of the Globe, has written about pop music, classical music, museums and just about every big cultural story to hit Boston. The Globe announced his departure by writing: “Smart, enterprising, energetic and resourceful, Geoff has simply excelled.” Prior to the Globe, he was a reporter at the Boston Phoenix and the Raleigh News and Observer, and freelanced for a variety of magazines including GQ, Details and Wired. He produced a full-length documentary about his personal mission to reunite the Kinks and was the host/writer on the Travel Channel series “Edge of America.” Geoff will have a broad reach to write about arts, entertainment and cultural issues across the nation. A Brookline, Mass. native, he graduated from Tufts University and lives in Concord, Mass. with his wife Carlene Hempel, a writer and full-time journalism teacher at Northeastern University, and their two children. Geoff will be based in Boston but will be appearing in the newsroom frequently.

I will ask Ms. Ledbetter if these two new writers will also cover the DMV's visual art galleries, augmenting Mark Jenkins' most excellent and refreshing coverage.

Georgetown's revival as a gallery hot spot

Mark Jenkins Friday article will cover a most excellent look at the revival of the Georgetown art scene... Read it here.

The number of Washington art galleries is decreasing both in longtime habitats — Dupont Circle, downtown — and such newer locales as Logan Circle and the Atlas District. While some seek and a few have found fresh locations in gentrifying districts, the area that’s experienced a significant growth spurt is one that was far artier a generation ago: Georgetown. ¶ There are currently eight galleries in the area known as Book Hill, just south of the neighborhood’s library, including three that arrived this summer: Cross MacKenzie Gallery, All We Art and Washington Printmakers Gallery. Next month, Artist’s Proof is scheduled to make it nine when it moves from Cady’s Alley, south of M Street, to Wisconsin & Q.

Art world stunned: Second ‘Mona Lisa’ appears to be authentic

Last year, art experts claimed that Leonardo da Vinci completed a version of the Mona Lisa some ten years prior to that of the famous Mona Lisa painting which hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

The original Mona Lisa was thought to be the only portrait of Lisa Gherardini (aka Lisa del Giocondo) ever created by the artist,

The painting in question, dubbed the Isleworth Mona Lisa, is slightly larger than the famous portrait and has been the subject of debate as to its authenticity, but new revelations may finally end the debate that has continued since the painting's discovery a century ago.

 Details here.

Massive studio sale at Flux Studios

MASSIVE Ceramic/Art Studio Moving Sale in Gateway Arts District !!

Saturday August 9, 2014
8am -- 2pm
3708 Wells Avenue, Mt. Rainier, MD

Flux Studios is moving to Jerome, Arizona and EVERYTHING MUST GO!
Come get it while the getting is good! Selling off most of the contents of a 1500 square foot studio:

• Table top spray booth ($125)
• Pottery wheel ($125)
• 2 table saws ($300 and $100)
• SKUTT KM-1018 kiln ( $400)
• Numerous worktables, chairs, stools, metal and wood book shelves
• Three worktables solid work tables on wheels with shelving below ($350 each)
97" x 61" x 31" h ($350 each)
97" x 61" x 31" h ($350 each)
97" x 61" x 36" h ($350 each)
• Graphics Display System Panels w/ covers (enough to create 10x10 outdoor art fair booth) $200
• Glass Display Shelving ( $75 each)
• Vitrines
Small -- 26 ¾" h x 20 ¾" w x 9 ¾" d ($50)
Large -- 48 ½" w x 24 ½" h x 9 ¾" d ($75)
• Two Ikea Klippan sofas ($75 each), rug ($20) and table ($5)
• Collapsible pedestals, ephemera, cigar boxes,
• Bisque moulds, glazes, tools, Ultracal, bags of plaster, boxes of clay, toaster for polymer clay, acrylic stand, lumber, handmade paper
• Appliances -- Kitchen Aid mixer, Italian gelato machine, etc.
• Two handcrafted cherry Shaker side tables, need refinishing on top ( $50 each)
• Two white nightstands ($20 each)
And tons of random cool stuff collected in over a decade of working in DC!

(Prices will drop 50% after 1 pm)

2014 Trawick Prize Finalists

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and the Bethesda Urban Partnership will showcase the work of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards finalists in a group exhibition. The exhibit will be on display September 3 – 27, 2014, at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

2014 Trawick Prize Finalists

Larry Cook, Landover Hills, MD

Lisa Dillin, Baltimore, MD

Neil Feather, Baltimore, MD

Zoe Friedman, Baltimore, MD

Nicole Lenzi, Baltimore, MD

Kim Llerena, Washington, D.C.

Jonathan Monaghan, Washington, D.C.

Martine Workman, Washington, D.C.

Naoko Wowsugi, Washington, D.C.

 The award winners will be announced on Thursday, September 4, 2014. The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after April 7, 1984 may also be awarded $1,000.

The public opening reception will be held Friday, September 12 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

The 2014 Trawick Prize jury includes Tom Ashcraft, visual artist, founding member of Workingman Collective and Associate Professor and the head of Sculpture in the School of Art at George Mason University; Laure Drogoul, interdisciplinary artist, Director of The 14Karat Cabaret and Co-organizer and Curator of the Transmodern Festival; and Jeremy Drummond, media artist, Assistant Professor of Art and Interim Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Richmond.

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.

Wanna download my book?

100 Artists of Washington, DC is now available on Google to be downloaded as a PDF if you are too cheap to buy a hard copy.

Volume two announcement coming soon!

Download the first volume here.

Audrey Wilson Silent Auction

As happens from time to time, every artist now and then runs out of money for materials! And this is even worse when the artist has shows coming! 

DMV artist Audrey Wilson has two shows coming up in the near future, including a solo show and a museum show, and she has run out of money for materials to produce the new work!

But we have it in our power to help out a new voice in art today (and get a good deal while we are at it!) There will be a silent auction on August 5, 2014 at the Washington Glass School from 5 to 9pm.

Several of the artists in the studio and others have donated original work towards her cause... work by Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Sean Hennessey and others.

Absentee ballots are accepted as well. Come to the Glass School on Aug. 5, or call them at (202) 744-8222 or send them an email to timtateglass@aol.com to have images emailed to you and/or to put in an absentee bid. 

Below are a few samples... 

Audrey Wilson

Ibn Firnas’ First Glider

9” x 26” x 14”

Pate de verre kiln formed glass, found objects

Retail: $1700 / Minimum: $600 / Buy it Now: $1300

 

Tim Tate

Best Day Ever!

14” x 8” x 8”

Cast Glass

Retail Price: $3500 / Minimum Bid: $ 750 / Buy It Now: $2000

Sean Hennessey

Radiance

Cast Glass

Retail Price: $400 / Minimum Bid $200 / Buy It Now: $300

Michael Janis

The Brightness We Could Not Touch

Cast Glass, Glass Powder Imagery

(2 piece work) 20” x 30” x 1.5” and 20” x 10”x 1.5”

Retail Price: $7200 / Minimum Bid: $2500 / Buy It Now: $6000

F. Lennox Campello

"Suddenly She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer XXIII"

Size:20” x 25”

Retail Price: $500 / Minimum Bid: $150 / Buy it Now: $450