“The Year of the Woman” in Maryland

Our great Governor Larry Hogan recently proclaimed 2020 as “The Year of the Woman” in Maryland, as the state prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. 

“Our state’s history has been shaped by extraordinary women leaders, and our administration remains committed to empowering and advocating for women in Maryland,” said Governor Hogan at the announcement, held at The Lightbox Studio in Annapolis. “I look forward to the many events taking place statewide to commemorate the Year of the Woman.”

Happy new decade

My son was born in 2009 - that means that he has now lived in three decades... sounds weird uh?

Let me start 2020 with some questions:

Dear artists who read this blog: this is the year to stop whining about lack of opportunities and do something! For art sake's! (Your art) - if you live in the DMV then come to one of my free seminars (thank you PG County) and revolutionize how you make sure that your artwork ends up in other people's walls! The next free seminar is April 18 - details here.

Dear Art League, Greater Reston Art Center, Rockville Art League, Fill-in-the-blank artists' group/league: I keep giving you hint after hint: When are you guys gonna reach out to me and ask: "Hey Lenster, how do we take this artist group to the next level in this new century?" (instead of still operating in the 20th century model). 

Dear DMV museum directors and curators (except for the Katzen): I've been asking this question since 1992: "When are you going to look at your own backyard for some museum shows for area artists?" Does anyone recall that last time that a DMV area art museum (other than the Katzen) had a full museum show for a DMV artist?

Dear art fair organizers: Thank you for trying to make an art fair work in the DMV - in the last decade the people who run Art Miami and the Superfine! people, as well as the (e)merge art fair stint, all tried to make a successful art fair around the DMV - after all, this area is the second highest concentration of wealth on the planet... and yet. But there are a few key things to try which no art fair organizer has ever tried.

"What about you Lenster?", you might be asking... "whatcha got goin' in 2020"?

For 2020 I'm planning to be doing the Art on Paper fair in NYC, then one of the two Affordable Art Fairs also in NYC, and then the Pulse Art Fair in Miami Beach during Art Basel week.  I've also got two major curatorial projects brewing - one will revisit the theme of Superheroes in art, and the second one (to open during January 2021 actually) will curate a three-gallery show on the 20th anniversary of my Survey of Washington Artists show that I organized in 2001 and which was one of the most popular shows of that year and one which marked a key point in my curatorial trajectory.

More on both of those later... meanwhile, have a great 2020!

Great artist opportunity

From Artists and Makers Studios:

If you would like to become an Artist Affiliate, annual membership (Jan-Dec calendar year) pay just $100 for membership that includes a listing on our site, and participation in our twice yearly open studio event, along with special notices and opportunities in a private Affiliate FB Group.  

Contact Judith for more details via this email

Wanna go to a gallery opening?

MK Gallery Presents: Suh Yongsun & Kathleen J Graves

'Midtown and Beyond'

From January 4 to February 4, 2020.

Opening Reception on Saturday, January 4, 4-6pm.

Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday: 12 pm-6 pm, Saturday & Sunday: by appointment

MK Gallery
1952 Gallows Rd. #202
Vienna, VA 22182
703-734-7777/ 571-215-3029

Open call

This year, MSAC will present four seasonal open-call exhibits in their gallery space!

They are kicking off the year with "Dear Mom" – a non-juried show that features visual art and written messages between children and mother-figures in the form of greeting/postcard art. The exhibit celebrates and embraces the relationships between artists and their mothers and/or mother-figures through a compilation of visual art and written communication. 

Submission deadline: January 6, 2020

Exhibition period: January 9 - March 19, 2020 

Please follow the instructions here to submit.

The Hopper Prize

The Hopper Prize is offering multiple artist grants totaling $5,000 awarded through an open call competition juried by leading curators. Grants are dispersed twice annually. 

WHO: Artists worldwide, 18 and older

FIELD: Any field

AMOUNT: five artists will each receive $1,000

DEADLINE: May 19, 2020

They award 5 individual artist grants in the Spring and 5 in the Winter. There are no restrictions on genre, subject matter, or media. They accept entries in all media. Learn more here.

DELICACIES opens in January

DELICACIES

Paintings by Marcie Wolf-Hubbard & Photographs by Aphra Adkins

Artists' Conversation: SUN, JAN 19 from 6-8PM

Exhibit runs through JAN 31 at 

Takoma Beverage Company
6917 Laurel Ave
Takoma Park, MD

Boynes Emerging Artist Award

DEADLINE: February 1, 2020

The Boynes Emerging Artist Award is an online art award that occurs every three (3) months, with a reward of cash and marketing. They are a 2D award, accepting paintings, drawings and photography of any size or support.

WHO: Emerging artists worldwide

AMOUNT: $50 - $500

This award is about giving talented emerging artists around the world a platform to launch and/or grow their career. For us to help you do that we need your best, we simply require that you submit what you consider your best work to be, the work that is really the greatest representation of your portfolio.  

Learn more here.

A Christmas Story

This is from Christmas Eve 2015:

Those of you who know me... know that I am not a what would be described as an overly religious person; that's not a disclaimer, but a fact.  

I went to a Catholic elementary school (Our Lady of Loretto in Brooklyn), but my family was also not religious at all.  

For 2015, we wanted to get Anderson an outdoor basketball hoop. As there are dozens of them around our neighborhood, we asked our neighbors if anyone wanted to pass one on, and one of our generous neighbors did.  

"We actually inherited the hoop from another neighbor," they said, "And our kids have moved on."  

As the hoop was going to be a Christmas present from Santa, and in order to sneak it into our yard at the last possible minute, last night, around 8PM, I trekked to their house, about a quarter of a mile away, preparing to drag the hoop over to our house.  

I vastly under estimated the weight of the hoop (pole, base and backboard), which has small wheels at the front of its base to allow for relocation movement, but clearly not designed to be dragged by one man for that long of a distance.  

About five minutes into the ordeal, and already soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, as I passed one of the light poles on the street heading to our street, I was startled by my own shadow.  

My shadow, stooped over and carrying the heavy basketball hoop, with the backboard on my shoulders and the pole dragging behind me, startled me because it looked exactly like a man carrying a cross.  

"I wonder what any neighbor who sees this from their house would think," I thought. In the dark of the night, with just some peripheral light from the light poles, it would be easy to confuse me with some zealous penitent carrying a cross.  

I struggled on, my shoulders really aching now, and my sweat pouring from my brow, and my baseball cap being crushed into my eyes by the backboard, so that I had to stop and take my glasses off, and re-adjust the red Nats cap..  

As I stopped and lost the momentum, and I was on a slight uphill, it became really hard to get the hoop going again.  

"What I need now is a Simon to help me," I thought. The "Simon" being Simon of Cyrene, of course... the man who according to the Bible helped The Christ to carry the cross.  

Almost immediately a tall, gangly, dark-haired young man stepped out of the shadows, his hair full of tight black curls.  

"Sir," he said, "Can I help you carry that?"  

"Thank you!" I almost shouted as he put his shoulder to the backboard and together we trudged along; the task a lot easier now.  

"I really appreciate it," I told him as we carried the hoop side by side. "This is for my son," I explained. "Do you live around here?"  

He told me that he was a visitor, and was visiting his girlfriend, who lived in our neighborhood.  

We carried the hoop to our cul-de-sac, placed it in the right spot, and shook hands.  

"Thank you a million times," I said to him. "My name is Lenny, Merry Christmas."  

"My name is Simon," he responded as he walked away into the shadows..."Merry Christmas."  

I walked back into my house, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, and then, and only then, it dawned on me.

Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, Inc. (BOPA) is proud to announce the 15th edition of the Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. The prize will award $25,000 to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Baltimore region. Approximately six finalists will be selected for the final review for the prizes; their work will be exhibited in the Walters Art Museum. Finalists not selected for the Sondheim Prize will be awarded an M&T Bank Finalist Award of $2,500 each.

New for this year, they will also be awarding a Sondheim Creative Residency, a six-week-long fully-funded residency at La Civatella Ranieri, in the Umbria region of Italy, to one of the remaining five finalists not selected for the Sondheim Prize.

Additionally, an exhibition of the semifinalists’ work will be featured in a large exhibition during Artscape (July 17-19, 2020). 

Submit your 2020 application today.

Call to Artists: Art Auction 2020

Entry deadline: January 20, 2020

HoCo Arts in MD is currently seeking artists to participate in their juried Art Auction, one of the highlights of their Celebration of the Arts gala, to be held on March 28, 2020.  Artists working in all styles and media are invited to apply. Click here for more information and to apply.

Request for proposals

The Howard County Arts Council, located in Ellicott City, Maryland, is currently seeking proposals from artists with public art experience for ARTsites 2020, a one-year outdoor sculpture exhibit on display in Howard County, Maryland from August 2020 to July 2021. Selected artists will be awarded a $3,000 grant to participate in the exhibit. Deadline to apply is February 28, 2020.

Complete guidelines and submission information is available here.

Opportunity for Artists!

Our friends at the Hyattsville CDC are looking for artists to submit designs to be considered for their Traffic Box Art Project in Riverdale Park. Selected artists will be paid a $500 honorarium and will have their art displayed on a traffic box along a major thoroughfare. 

This call is open to ALL artists, graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers who currently live or work within the State of Maryland. Submitted designs must be original artwork.

Details here.

Support WALA

Every day, in quiet ways, the volunteer attorneys of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts champion the rights of artists and arts organizations in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. WALA defends the right to free expression. We teach artists how to protect their work, and when necessary, we represent creatives in court. We advocate for stable and increased funding for the arts and humanities, and we promote the interests of artists on Capitol Hill, in the halls of the Wilson Building, and in Richmond and Annapolis. Join us in our fight to defend artistic expression and protect creative innovation.

Donate Now

2019 has been a landmark year for WALA. Constantly evolving to meet legal needs, we have increased our outreach to at-risk and marginalized communities. We’ve acknowledged those who give back by founding the G. Hamilton Loeb Awards for Pro Bono Excellence, and we’ve met a landslide of requests for legal representation by artists of modest means. Help us continue our vital work. A gift to WALA is a gift to the human spirit. WALA nurtures artists, and in return, our local artists nurture the Washington D.C. community, and ultimately humanity. Please make your tax-deductible gift today. Sincerely, John D. Mason Board President PS: Please download the attached WALA Supporter Badge. Display it proudly on your website, your email signature, social media, or wherever you have a digital presence. Let people know that you are making a difference by supporting WALA.

Make Your Gift Today

Opportunity for photographers

Deadline: February 04, 2020

ZEISS PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD 2020

Epiphanies, inventions and transformations from the known to the unknown, we want to see something new. Submissions exploring the landscape, humans, science, political or economic changes, or even something more conceptual, are all welcome. No Entry Fee. Details: http://bitly.com/2RfsqsA

The curious case of the new art gallery at Union Station

Earlier this month I was excited to announce that a new art gallery had opened in the historic and gorgeous building at Union Station in DC.

The gallery, called LOVE ALL SERVE ALL on the Mezzanine, the 2nd floor on the right as one goes up the curved stairs after passing through the Grand Hall... next to Andrews Ties, and it is 2640 square feet.  

It is the labor of love of local DMV artist Amy Marx, a well-known and quite accomplished painter on her own right.

LOVE ALL SERVE ALL Gallery in Union Station

Apparently, even as I write this post, I am being told that Marx is being kicked out of the space!  She notes in a text that last night she was "escorted out of the gallery by seven police... why that was necessary I have no idea... I have no idea period. I still have no idea why this is happening... it's an art gallery..."

I have no idea either, but it is curious to me that a new art space opens in one of the capital's most iconic buildings, and a couple of weeks later the owner of the new art gallery is being escorted out? Sounds like something that The Washington City Paper or The Washington Post should be looking into?

More later as this develops...

Wanna propose a solo or group show?

Deadline: Feb 1, 2020

BlackRock Center for the Arts is now accepting exhibition proposals for solo, group and themed exhibitions to be presented in our gallery spaces in 2021 and beyond. Visual artists, curators, and coordinators of artist collectives and organizations who are over the age of 18 and live or work in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania are encouraged to submit Exhibition Proposals. 

BlackRock is a nonprofit arts center which presents changing exhibitions of contemporary art by both emerging and established artists working in all media, to include site-specific installations, video and other time-based media, performance, new technologies and experimental forms.

Details here.

Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant

DEADLINE: February 1, 2020

The Virginia A. Groot Foundation established the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant in 1988 so that a ceramic sculpture or sculpture artist may have the opportunity to devote a substantial period of time to the development of his or her work. Each year the Virginia A. Groot Foundation offers three grants (up to $50,000, $20,000, $10,000) to artists who have exceptional talent and demonstrated ability in ceramic sculpture or sculpture. Artists may be at any stage of career development, from emerging through mature. 

WHO: Ceramic or sculpture artists - DMV area artist Tim Tate is a past winner.

AMOUNT: $50,000, $20,000, or $10,000

Learn more here.

Call for Editors - Arts in Education Grant Application

The staff of the Maryland State Arts Council is pleased to begin the final phase of Arts in Education program revisions and we need editors from across the state! Editors will receive a modest compensation for the entire process, including two in-person meetings and two at-home, electronic editing assignments. A Gmail account is necessary to participate. Editors must be a resident of the state of Maryland.

Submit your name and information at this link by January 20, 2020

to be considered as an editor.

Tonight is the opening!

Wanna buy these three original drawings on unfired Bisque?  They are all at the "UNDER $500" fund raiser for the Maryland Art Place.  

On Saturday, December 14 at 6 o'clock join them for a first-come, first-served opportunity to purchase affordable and original works of art. The event will feature the work of Baltimore and surrounding area artists at a price point of $500 or less. Purchase work at any point throughout the evening and take home that night!

"The Morrigan" (Celtic Goddess of Love, Lust and War"

"An Unmarried Woman"

"Suddenly, She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer"