Young Frida

Rare photo of a very young Frida Kahlo - photographer unknown, but probably her father...

Pyramid Atlantic Opens Outdoor Pop Up Gallery in Takoma Park

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center – with funding from City of Takoma Park Community Grants Program —will create a pop-up art gallery in a 177sq. ft. open air site, likely a former garage, which cuts into the slope of Hilltop Road. The site is close by the defunct Sligo Creek Water Works, which pumped water to residents as far away as Kensington from 1900 to 1930. The first of two planned exhibitions on this site, Water Works, opens December 2.

Pump House Pop-Up opens its first exhibition, Water Works, on December 2 with a reception from 2 – 4 pm (Rain date: Sunday, December 3). Water Works runs through March 3. The outdoor gallery is open to the public daily and located at Hilltop Road between Maple and Geneva Avenues in Takoma Park, MD. More at pyramidatlanticartscenter.org or 301-608-9101.

 

Pump House Pop-Up is the brainchild of Pyramid Atlantic Artist Marty Ittner, a Takoma Park resident of 17 years. “This space was waiting to be a gallery,” remarks Ittner, who has walked past the structure almost daily for over a decade. “I’m an artist and I saw an opportunity. It was just sitting there doing nothing! I wanted to transform it to be something else.”

 

It took Ittner two years to get around to slipping a little note into the mailbox of her neighbor on whose property this should-be gallery sits. “He emailed me right back!” After getting permission from the site owner, and convincing Pyramid Atlantic and the City of Takoma Park of the undertaking, Ittner’s work truly began. She convinced the Department of Public Works to clear the site of large rocks, spent 8 hours clearing the ground by hand of about 4 inches of packed debris (mostly glass), and secured free mulch to level the “gallery” floor. Further, on December 2^nd she and fellow Pyramid Artist Gretchen Schermerhorn open the site’s first exhibition: Water Works.

 

Water Works focuses on the gallery’s proximity to the defunct pumping station and the importance of clean, clear water to Takoma Park’s founder B.F. Gilbert. Ittner and Schermerhorn are creating a cyanotype /screenprint installation that utilizes imagery of the era sourced from Historic Takoma. For their cyanotypes (photographic prints exposed in the sun) they drew inspiration from Sligo Creek Park, using found rocks and sand. The work will be mounted to the walls of the gallery in an installation that will weather and change in the open-air.

 

In tandem with the exhibition, a self-guided walking tour encourages visitors to be present in historically significant spots. Sepia-toned prints are waiting to be discovered in the very spots where the original photos were taken in the 1900s. Highlights include spotting the circular foundation of the filtration building, and envisioning Washington Adventist’s sanitarium—an architectural gem razed in 1982—at the top of the hill near the creek.

 

Pump House Pop-Up gallery is made possible by the City of Takoma Park Community Grants Program, Giuseppe Cimmino, and Historic Takoma. A second exhibition is scheduled for May 5 – July 4, 2018. A call for entries from local talent will be issued in early December.

 

Norman Rockwell discovery leads auction

Recently returned to a family after it was stolen more than 40 years ago, Norman Rockwell’s endearing Lazybones (Boy Asleep With Hoe), also known as Taking a Break, sold for $912,500 as Heritage Auctions totaled more than $4.3 million at its  Nov. 3 auction of American art.

 

Illustration Art swept the sale’s top lots as Rockwell’s Fishes Like Neckties, an interior illustration study for American Magazine, 1934, reached $200,000 and The Rescue of Theophilus Newbegin, painted by Joseph Christian Leyendecker in 1907 as a cover for The Saturday Evening Post, sold for $187,500.

 

“Bidders responded to the incredible diversity we brought to the block this fall, as evidenced by the by the 90% sell-through rate that we achieved” said Aviva Lehmann, Director of American Art at Heritage Auctions. “We offered superb material across the board, while setting artist records in the process.”

 

The sale set multiple auction records in the arena of Golden-Age illustration, most notably for Albert W. Hampson’s Bump Mobile, a Saturday Evening Post cover published June 22, 1940, which sold for $137,500, and Monte Crews’ Amateur Nite - Cowboy Bill's Ramblers, a 1936 Saturday Evening Post cover illustration that achieved $40,000.

Classic Hudson River School and Impressionism fetched high prices on November 3 as well: A stunning oil painting by George Henry Durrie titled Winter in the Country, A Cold Morning, 1863 ,a masterwork identified as “one of his best contributions to native winter landscape painting in the nineteenth century," realized $324,500.  Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s iconic bronze Joy of the Waters, 1917 far exceeded its pre-sale estimate when it sold for $150,000. Offered for the first time in nearly 30 years, William Merritt Chase's Untitled (Nude Resting in a Chair), circa 1888, brought $125,000.

 

Leading a selection of California and Western Art, Howard Terpning’s Absaroke Trail, 1993, sold for $162,500, more than double its pre-sale estimate. Wild Heliotrope near San Juan Capistrano, by John Marshall Gamble sold for $68,750 and Dave McGary’s bronze Long Soldier (Life-size), 1989, fetched $52,500.

 

Additional highlights include, but are not limited to:

 

Francis Criss, Third Avenue El, circa 1933 realized $62,500.

 

Wolf Kahn, Redwing's Pond, 1982 realized $47,500.

 

Leyendecker’s, Fitted for a Suit, The Saturday Evening Post cover study realized $47,500.

Clinton Hill at The Georgia Museum of Art

A shout out to my peeps - Navy veteran Clinton Hill at GMA!

The Georgia Museum of Art is very excited to say that we’re opening an exhibition displaying the works of artist Clinton Hill. Known for his talent when working with paper, print, and even sculptures, Clinton Hill creates pieces that are known for their abstract expressionism as well as their minimalism and collage elements. These different elements are what stamps Hill’s works to be unique and one-of-a-kind.

Hill was born on a ranch in Payette, Idaho, a small town in the southwest region of the state. Surrounded by Native American reservations, Hill studied and grew to appreciate Native American culture. Later on in his life, Hill and his family moved to La Grande, Oregon, an area of vast mountains and overwhelming natural beauty. This is where Hill began his efforts to experiment with watercolor and found his passion as an artist.

Hill was a man of experience. Not only was he a United States Navy Vet, but he traveled all around the work studying art and culture. He attended L’Academie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France as well as the Art Institute of Florence in Florence, Italy. Along with his vast education, he was also granted a Fullbright Fellowship that took him to India where he studied textile weaving and paper-making, two very intricate and delicate processes that require a lot of patience. These skills made an undeniable print on Hill’s artistry, one that many can see in his pieces.

The Georgia Museum of Art’s Clinton Hill exhibition will be available to the public on January 6th. For no price whatsoever, guests will be able to examine the various works and prints created by the skilled artist throughout the course of his extensive career.

Feel free to check out https://www.georgiamuseum.org or email hazbrown@uga.edu for more info about Hill’s exhibitions as well as upcoming events.

Opportunity for Prince George's County artists

Bring It! is the 2018 annual exhibition of artwork by Prince George’s County Artists in the Prince George’s Delegation of the Lowe House Office Building, in Annapolis. It serves as a reminder to our lawmakers about the importance of the arts, and offers daily, moral support through the power of art as they work on our behalf throughout the legislative session.

We know how good the artists in Prince George’s County are. We just want to show everyone else. Rather than asking artists to respond to a theme, Bring It! Intends to demonstrate the broad range of artwork being created in our county, and to foster an inclusive spirit among the artists exhibiting together in the exhibition. So, Bring It! Show us your best two-dimensional artwork, and let us show it to the world.

APPLY ONLINE BY DEC 8 at:
https://m-ncppc.submittable.com/submit

ELIGIBILITY
This call is open to all artists who are 18 years of age or older who live, work, study, or have a studio in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Due to the nature of the exhibition space, only two-dimensional artworks that can be safely installed on hanging rods can be accepted.

HONORARIA
Each artist selected to participate will receive a $100 honorarium in appreciation of his/her contribution. Registration as a vendor with The M-NCPPC is required in order to receive payment. Honoraria are typically paid near the end of the exhibition.

EXHIBITION LOCATION
Prince George's Delegation office area
Lowe House Office Building6 Bladen Street
Annapolis, MD 21401

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The full prospectus and contact information is online at  https://m-ncppc.submittable.com/submit

Opportunity for nude artists (ha! ha!)

Deadline: 12/17/17 

The Lexington Art League seeks submissions for its annual figure exhibition. For over 30 years the figure show continues to push the boundaries beyond the traditional ‘nude’ toward a deeper exploration of the human figure and experience. 

Brutal Beauty is a contemporary exhibition of the human figure that speaks to our innermost instincts for satisfaction, pleasure, and comfort through work that invites us to examine the qualities that we are unable to avoid, but often hide from others. This exhibition seeks to convey a rawness that is universal while revealing our desires and limitations in a boldly honest approach to the way we experience the human form.

Eligibility: 

International call. Open to all artists regardless of location, media, or experience level. 

Conditions: 

Artists are required to deliver artwork to the Lexington Art League, 209 Castlewood Drive, Lexington, KY, 40505, by 5pm, January 15th, 2018. 

Artists picking up their artwork are required to do so between 3/13/18 - 3/14/18 from 10am and 4pm. 

If art is shipped to the gallery, the artist is responsible for shipping costs to the gallery. Return shipping will be paid by the Lexington Art League.

All accepted work must be ready to hang or display. Artists must provide written installation instructions for any artworks requiring special handing or installation methods. 

Artists may choose to make their work available for sale.  This is not a requirement.  All sales will be managed by the Lexington Art League for a 30% commission of the sale price. 

Submission Requirements: 

Artists may submit up to six works of art for consideration.  Each work may be considered separately, unless otherwise noted by artist that works must be shown as a complete collection.

Please keep the number of files submitted under 10 files (images at 300DPI/PPI.) Include image list with size, title, media, and date, artist statement, bio, and resume. No online cloud drive submissions will be accepted. Audio/video, files should be uploaded as seperate document with .html links in files upload section of application.

Submitted applications must be received by December 17th, 2017.  A contract will be sent upon acceptance. 

Entry Deadline: 12/17/17 11:59p.m. MST

Event Dates: 1/26/18 - 3/11/18

Deliver work by: 1/15/18

Shipping address: 209 Castlewood Drive, Lexington, Ky, 40505

Accepted applicants will be notified by December 21, 2017

Apply here.

Annual Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature

Strathmore Visual Arts Presents
84^th ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF FINE ART IN MINIATURE
LARGE SCALE: MINIATURE ARTISTS GO BIGAnnual showcase features 750 works by more than 290 miniaturists;
companion exhibition magnifies the precision, detail, and skill of audience favorite Miniature artists

The time has come—the one time each year that Strathmore’s Mansion galleries can accommodate a vast collection of 750 works—the Annual Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature, celebrating its 84^th annual showcase of tiny treasures, some as small as a fingernail. The exhibition features 292 artists from 11 countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Malta, and Australia. Strathmore presents this annual favorite with concurrent exhibitions Large Scale: Miniature Artists Go Big and Bodies of Work: Diane R. Weiner, from Saturday, November 18, 2017–Sunday, January 7, 2018. A free Opening Reception for all three exhibitions will be held on Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 2 p.m.

A counterpoint to Miniature, with Large Scale Strathmore unleashes the immense talent of favorite miniaturists onto a larger canvas. Ideas are uncontained as artists paint with broader brushstrokes to capture vast, expansive images. Though comparatively large, the work is no less meticulous, with artists applying the same keen eye and deliberate technique that they channel into their miniature masterpieces.

Using Renaissance techniques and color-rich oils, Diane R. Weiner draws similarities between unlikely muses through her exquisite rendering of contours, gestures, and expressions in the bodies of humans and cows. Bodies of Work, on view in the Invitational Gallery, brings the viewer unusually close and in touch with the anthropomorphic qualities of Weiner’s bovine subjects.

For more information, visit www.strathmore.org.

Strathmore Visual Arts Presents84^th Annual Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature
Large Scale: Miniature Artists Go Big
Bodies of Work: Diane R. Weiner
Saturday, November 18, 2017–Sunday, January 7, 2018

First Floor Galleries, Gudelsky Gallery Suite, and Invitational Gallery Hours
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Sunday, noon – 4 p.m.
Closed Monday
Closed Thursday, November 23; Sunday, December 24; and Sunday, December 31 for holidays
Closes at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 6 for a private event

Children’s Talk & Tour
Saturday, November 25, 2017
10:15 a.m.
Recommended for ages 7 and up with adult.
$5, registration required. No charge for parent chaperones.

Curator’s Tour
Saturday, November 25, 2017
1 p.m.
Free

Miniature Painting Workshop
Saturday, December 9, 2017
10 a.m.
Painting experience is recommended. All supplies to create a miniature in oil are provided.
$70

For additional information visit www.strathmore.org or call (301) 581-5100.

Molly Donovan at GRACE

INSIGHT: MOLLY DONOVAN Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art November 16, 6pm, Greater Reston Arts Center

Join GRACE for a talk by Molly Donovan. Molly will discuss Sue Wrbican's current solo exhibition at the Greater Reston Arts Center and common threads in surrealism and contemporary art.   No registration required.   Free and open to the public.   Join the Facebook event here.   Greater Reston Arts Center 12001 Market Street, Suite 103 | Reston, VA 20190 703.471.9242 | info@restonarts.org | restonarts.org  Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm

New Miami location for these great fairs

Today, Art Miami LLC announces the completion of a concrete slab that will house Art Miami - the city's longest-running contemporary art fair and its sister fair CONTEXT Art Miami, at their new waterfront location at One Herald Plaza in Downtown Miami. The 250,000 square-foot cement floor solidifies the fair's commitment to its new location and its continued investment in their beloved city of Miami.

 

This year, Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami have designed an area with new amenities that improve the guest experience, allowing visitors to spend an entire day at the fairs. To facilitate the experience, there will be six hospitality areas including a waterfront café, an indoor café, outdoor dining space, cocktail lounge, an outside cocktail deck overlooking beautiful Biscayne Bay. Both fairs will feature newly designed VIP lounges. The hospitality areas will accommodate up to 600 people at any given time.

 

Nestled between the Venetian Causeway and MacArthur Causeway and just east of Biscayne Boulevard, the 28th edition of Art Miami and the sixth edition of CONTEXT Art Miami will offer an unprecedented level of convenience and a renewed connectivity to the activities and collectors on Miami Beach with accessible parking, a complimentary shuttle service between fairs and UBER service for VIP ticket holders throughout the week. The waterfront location will also add to the fairs' exceptional ambience as collectors browse through more than 140 international galleries at ART Miami and more than 100 contemporary galleries at CONTEXT Art Miami.

 

Parking and transportation options at the new location provide more options than years past with valet parking being offered opening night, and multiple general parking garages within one city block walking distance with more than 4,000 combined parking spots. A transportation center will be set up at the front of the fair providing access for the drop off and pick up from taxis, shuttle bus service and Uber. 50 feet from the front door of the fair special parking lot will be reserved and designated as a waiting area for private black car services dropping off and picking up collectors on the move.

 

"The completed foundation at our new location marks a milestone for Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami as we finally have an infrastructure and long-term location that is reflective of the quality art work on exhibit for acquisition and reinforces our position during Art Week Miami and on the international stage of important art fairs in the world," said Nick Korniloff, Executive Vice President and Partner of Art Miami LLC. "As we continue to grow, we are committed to providing the best experience possible for our international attendees, participating gallerists and community partners, and our new home enables us to do just that.

 

This year's fair will kick off on the evening of Tuesday December 5th, with a VIP Private Preview to benefit the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), sponsored by Christie's International Real Estate. This is the sixth consecutive year that PAMM has been the fair's exclusive VIP Preview benefactor and Art Miami LLC has already donated more than $150,000 to further the museum's collection and mission. The partnership remains an integral part of Art Miami's larger commitment to the city of Miami.

 

As one of the top ranked international art fairs for attendance in the U.S. and second most attended globally, Art Miami attracts more than 85,000 new and established collectors, curators, museum professionals, members of the press and art world luminaries annually. Presenting the finest investment quality paintings, photography, prints, drawings, design, sculpture and video art, with works from the 20th and 21st centuries, the 2017 line-up features galleries from more than 20 different countries. The acclaimed international galleries will showcase important modern masters and blue-chip contemporary artists as well as the most sought after living artists from around the world.

Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Post-Graduate Residency Program

Now in its third year, the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Post-Graduate Residency Program is the subject of Target Gallery’s newest exhibition. Target will feature the work of the four residents in a group exhibition, Saturday, October 28 – Sunday, December 3, 2017.

 

The Torpedo Factory Post-Graduate Residency is a competitive program for recently graduated art students, housed in Studio 12, where four emerging artists have an opportunity to create and sell work, interact with the public, and build a network.

 

“The residency space provides artists with both studio resources and professional development opportunities in the critical period shortly after graduation,” said Leslie Mounaime, director of Target Gallery. “This culminating exhibition is both a celebration of their time here as well as a stepping stone to their professional career.”

 

The 2016 artists are: Fumi Amano, Lindsay Hall, Jay Hendrick, and Samantha Sethi. All were juried into the program by Kayn Miller, director of exhibitions at the Arlington Art Center.

 

Amano (October through December  | Virginia Commonwealth University) entered graduate school to expand her expertise with glass as a medium, but her work shifted more into the conceptual space as she began using her art as a primary means to express her emotions, given English is her second language. Her work is inspired by her strong desire for connection as well as a deep sense of loneliness. Through her performance work, she can speak to others beyond spoken language’s normal spectrum. Her performance series Worries of a 30-Year-Old Single captures the social pressure and anxiety she feels as an unmarried woman without children. Amano’s work Look at Me was featured in the Target Gallery group exhibition Please Touch in 2016.

 

Hall (July through September | Indiana University-Bloomington) creates creates colorfully titillating works that engage the notions of pleasure, beauty, and the perverse as they relate to the body, sexuality, and the intimacies and vulnerabilities of human interaction. She uses an eclectic range of materials including silicone, textiles, clay, spray paint, and glitter to combine contrasting textures, forms, and materials. She presents dualities: attraction/repulsion, hard/soft, feminine/masculine, interior/exterior, made/found. Her resulting pieces and installations fantasize these shared human experiences, often sugarcoating shame and disgust with humor and playfulness. Recent Target Gallery visitors will remember her piece Blinged Out in the Material as Medium group exhibition in 2016.

 

Hendrick (January through March | George Mason University) questions the value of value in his work. He creates paintings, then analyzes their importance, worth, and merit by exposing his work to different methods, such as digitization, duplication, and performance. His visual vocabulary is based on grids, a stable and reliable form, and color to assess the form’s value. His sundry palette draws from high and low culture, bringing together pop-music pink with cave-born ochers.  

 

Sethi (April through June | American University) explores the natural world around and humanity’s relationship with and impact on it. Her work reference a broader view of our world as a landscape both inhabited and studied by humankind, altered even as it is observed. In the exhibition, her sculpture, Cause and Effect, was constructed as a model of an “iceberg”. The blue polystyrene foam is an effective thermal insulator and commonly used as building insulation It’s also used for sculpture, but is typically coated and concealed. In Sethi’s sculpture, it remains visible as part of the content. Polystyrene foam, untreated, naturally has an icy appearance. Rather than produce a realistic reproduction, this work was imagined as an “in process” theatrical monument to the icebergs or as a form to protect them from rising temperatures.

 

About the Artists

Fumi Amano completed her undergraduate studies in art education at the University of Education in Aichi before refining studies of her medium at Toyama Institute of Glass Art in Toyama, Japan, and at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Amano has won several awards including best student work at Niijima Glass Art Festival in Tokyo and also at Pilchuck Glass School. Her work was selected at the International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa, Japan; the Contemporary Glass Triennial in Toyama, Japan; and the Itami Craft Triennial in Osaka, Japan. She has shown her work in group and solo exhibitions in both the U.S. and Japan. She completed her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University in May of 2017.

 

Lindsay Hall, a West Coast native, is currently based in Arlington, Virginia. She received a MFA in Painting from Indiana University in 2016, as well as a BFA in Painting and Drawing (2012) and a BA in Journalism and Media Studies (2010) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has been exhibited nationally at venues such as the Janet Kurnatowski Gallery in New York, the New Hampshire Institute of Arts, and Kent State University in Ohio and will be featured in a summer 2017 issue of Studio Visit magazine. Lindsay Hall has co-curated group exhibitions in Indiana and New York. She received the Ilknur P. Ralston Memorial Award in Visual Arts in 2016.

 

Jay Hendrick, based in Fairfax, Virginia, has shown work in the U.S., England, and Japan and his work was featured in New American Painting. In 2015, Hendrick received his MFA from George Mason University. He completed his undergraduate degree with Abilene Christian University in Texas with degrees in applied studies and a bachelor’s of fine art. He teaches at Northern Virginia Community College in Woodbridge, Virginia, and is a contributing writer for East City Art.

 

Samantha Sethi is a multi-media artist working primarily in drawing, installation, sculpture, and video. Sethi received her MFA from American University where she explored concepts of ephemerality, entropy, human impact on the environment, mapping, and our experience of time. She received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC where she lived and worked until moving to Washington DC in 2013. She is currently based out of Baltimore, MD where she is currently an Artist - In Residence at Creative Alliance.