Fullbright!!!!!!!!

Congrats to one of the DMV's real blue chip artists and a great friend - the amazing Chawky Frenn- who just received a Fullbright to go to India!

Yay Chawky!

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Opening Reception: Friday, February 3  6-9pm

Artists & Makers Studios

11810 Parklawn Dr  Rockville, MD

Show open Feb 3-25; Tues-Sat 10am-4pm

The Compass Atelier's inaugural class of the Master Artist Program is graduating with a celebration of their talent and hard work. This Thesis Exhibition will showcase the incredible work of 17 local artists who have completed their 3-year course of study in this revolutionary art program.

 

Christine McNall. 'Awakening'

Oil on canvas.24x36

The students of this unique school have produced an incredible array of high-concept, high-technique portfolios of work. Their accomplishment is overwhelming, especially given that many had never drawn or painted before this program. Now just three years later, many are poised to become professional artists with sales, shows, and gallery representation already beginning to add up.

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking. Wine and food will be served at the Opening Reception.

At ArtReach Gallery

Idiot of the month

A Dallas teacher is in hot water after a controversial stunt she pulled inside a classroom went viral... Payal Modi, an art teacher at Adamson High School, was caught on camera shooting a squirt gun as a video of President Obama... projected onto a whiteboard. The 8-second video shows the teacher repeatedly pointing the water gun at the president and then yelling, “Die.”

Above quote from this CBS article edited for "fake news" effect just to get your brain rolling - but imagine it as noted above... and how you would have heard about this... and then read the article here. 

Art Scam Alert!

Please ignore this mutant trying to rip off artists!

"Lindsey Supply Store."

Hello,
     I want to place an order, to our branch in Singapore, and i want yo to answer below.
Do you accept pick up from your location?
Do you accept visa or master credit card?
I will be waiting your reply.
Regards
(786) 763-3919
Linda

Business Basics for Artists, Scholars, and Arts Management Professionals

Join VisArts for the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts' Creative Entrepreneurship series in Montgomery County! This program is just the ticket for working artists/scholars who need to know how to start and run a successful arts-business as well as established arts managers looking to brush up on best practices and industry standards.

Hosted over six weeks at VisArts in Rockville, the series offers:

1. Business Entity Formation, Feb 15, 7pm - 9pm
2. Copyright/Trademark Protection and Use, Feb 22, 7pm - 9pm
3. Contracts and Licensing, March 1, 7pm - 9pm
4. Negotiation Strategies, March 8, 7pm - 9pm
5. Grants and Leases, March 15, 7pm - 9pm
6. Tax Strategies, March 22, 7pm - 9pm

Brought to you by a collaboration of The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) and Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA), each of the workshops is FREE FOR WALA MEMBERS or $20 per workshop for the general public. Individuals can register for a WALA membership through AHCMC for only $30 and organizations can register for only $100! Organizational membership extends member benefits (including free workshop registration) to all staff members and board members.


If you're not a WALA Member and would like to join, CLICK HERE* to get your discount membership through AHCMC! (instructions for discount below)

*Once at the WALA website, select "Other_____" and type in the discounted annual membership amount that applies to you.  $15 for Students (normally $20), $30 for Individual Artists and Scholars (normally $40), and $100 for Organizations (normally $150). If you use the pre-selected amounts, the discount will not be applied.

Pictish Nation finds a home after 14 years!

"Pictish Nation" c. 2003 F. Lennox Campello Charcoal on Paper 15x41 inches
In a private collection in New York City

Over a decade ago, I had a solo show at the original Fraser Gallery in Georgetown in which I focused all my work on my interest on the original people of Scotland before the Celts arrived from Spain (via Ireland). The show was titled Pictish Nation and was widely reviewed by multiple local newspapers (ahhh... the halcyon days of DMV mainstream media reviews, see some of them here, and here, and here...).


"This legion, which curbs the savage Scot and studies the designs marked with iron on the face of the dying Pict," are the written words of the Roman poet Claudian that give the only insight as to the name given by Rome to the untamed Britannic tribes living North of Hadrian's Walls and one of history's nearly forgotten Dark Ages people: The Picts.

Perhaps the greatest mystery of Scottish or even European history is the people who once inhabited the lands north of Roman England, as far north as the Shetlands. Who were these fiercely independent people? Where did the come from? Which language did they speak? What did they call themselves? We first hear of them in the third century from a Roman writer in Spain, who describes their fierceness and battle skills of both men and women. The writer Eumenius, writes about them 200 years after Rome has been in Britain, and the name associated with the Pict is forever coined. To this day, we do not know if this is truly as in "pictus" (the Latin for "painted") or a Latin form of a native name. Because of the isolation of northern Scotland, history yields little, and the Roman Empire's expeditions into the north ended in little gains.

"We, the most distant dwellers upon the earth, the last of the free, have been shielded...by our remoteness and by the obscurity which has shrouded our name...Beyond us lies no nation, nothing but waves and rocks"...The above words by the Pictish chief Calgacus are recorded by the Roman enemy in the words of Tacitus and are a perfect example of the obscurity and legendary status held by the Picts almost 2,000 years ago.

In "Pictish Nation," I married my interest in history (I am one of the world's earliest and leading Pictologists) with art. The show consisted of two dozen charcoal drawings that interpreted and delivered my vision of how Pictish men and women, and their tattooed bodies, may have appeared.

Borrowing from the designs in the unique Pictish standing stones that dot the Scottish countryside, I re-created, for the first time in nearly 1200 years (The Picts ceased to exist as an independent people in 845 AD, when Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish by father and Pictish by Mother, usurped the throne of the Picts and Scots and proceeded to erase all traces of Pictish culture from Scotland), the unique Pictish designs of animals, objects and imaginary beasts.

Most of the show sold, and it completely sold out over the years, except for the key central piece (Pictish Nation depicted above). I kept this work for my own, and in 2004 I had Old Town Editions in Alexandria do a small Gyclee edition of 10 reproductions of the work - all of which also sold.

Last year I decided to sell the drawing.

It has now found a home with a well-known collector in New York.

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

Just saying...

Art fairs that we're doing in 2017

• Affordable Art Fair New York (Spring)
• Scope Art Fair New York
• Affordable Art Fair New York (Fall)
• Chicago EXPO
• Texas Contemporary (Houston)
• Context Art Fair, Miami
• Scope Art Fair Miami Beach

The Caissons Go Rolling Along...

Something about nuns

Not sure why, but over the years I just keep coming back to this subject... maybe it is all thanks to the sisters of Our Lady of Loreto School in Brooklyn... cough, cough

Elvis and Buster Keaton as Nuns, c. 2001 Charcoal and Conte on Paper By F. Lennox Campello

 

Two Cool Nuns, c. 2005 Charcoal and Conte on Paper By F. Lennox Campello

Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards

The 2017 Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards application is now available! http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/trawick-application

The deadline to submit is Friday, April 7.

The prizes are:

Best in Show - $10,000

Second Place - $2,000

Third Place - $1,000

Young Artist (must be born after April 7, 1987 to enter this category) - $1,000

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted. The jury will select up to 10 finalists for a group exhibition in Bethesda in September 2017.

Artomatic returns to Crystal City: Tour Spaces this Saturday

Artomatic returns to Crystal City for a 2017 signature event! Please join AOM for a site tour this Saturday, January 28th, from 11 am to 1 pm to get a peek at the spring home for Artomatic 2017.

Meet some of the people who make it happen and discover the many ways you can be part of the core volunteer team in building this unique event. 

While you are touring the building imagine the endless creative possibilities for the space and how you can help by contributing your talents!

Assemble in the lobby of 1800 South Bell St, Arlington VA. Come join us!

There is easy access to Artomatic with the Crystal City METRO Station, Yellow and Blue lines, as well as plenty of parking and bus stops nearby - plus a superb mix of restaurants and retail.

LOCATION:

1800 South Bell St

Arlington VA

Saturday January 28th, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

 

Registration details on how to exhibit work or perform at Artomatic will be available in mid February. Please subscribe to Artomatic by email or Facebook, and check the Artomatic website for updates.

Rania Hassan at Gormley

Private collection for sale

Read this article and then see below...

NYC here we come!

We are honored to be participating at the Scope Art Fair (March 2-5) in NYC, and then at the Affordable Art Fair (29 March - 2 April) also in NYC! More on the artists later!

And this is what the finished commission looks like!

In this post I described the inner machinations of a recent commission...

All done! And here's what it looks like all installed...

First the original space:

And now with my two pieces added in - each is a mirror image of each other and flanking the windows:

This is what student artwork looks like

These are all from about the same period (1977-1981) when I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art...

A good look at what student artwork looks like... explorative... right?All over the place... reacting to assignments, to teachers, to fellow students...

Most of these were sold right after they were graded, as I used to sell my artwork at the Pike Place Market in Seattle... also between 1977-1981.