Applications NOW OPEN for 2025 Wherewithal Grants

 

2025 Wherewithal Grants Info Session: Wednesday, October 16 at 6:30pm  Deadline: Tuesday, November 12

The application portal for the next cycle of Wherewithal Grants is now open! DC-area artists may apply for support in areas of Project & Presentation or Research depending on which best supports your practice at this time. The deadline for applications is November 12. $7,500 Project & Presentation Grants support ongoing or new projects that embrace unconventional or D.I.Y. values and will be presented publicly in the DC-area during the grant period. Project & Presentation grants are intended to directly support artists presenting work in spaces beyond commercial galleries, museums, or established non-profit art spaces. $5,000 Research Grants are for DC-area artists to further their practices through ideation, research, and experimentation. Grant funds compensate you for your intellectual labor, support payment for other artists and thinkers for their time and contributions, and other research-related expenses. The application deadline is Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 11:59pm. Applications will be reviewed by an independent panel of artists and arts professionals with up to 10 grants awarded. The grant period is from January–December 2025. For full details, visit wherewithalgrants.org. Below, find links to RSVP for the Virtual Information Session on Wednesday, October 16 and sign up for one-on-one meetings between October 22 and November 8. Please email Regrants Manager Nathalie von Veh at nvonveh@wpadc.org with any additional questions. DETAILS & APPLICATION HERE Virtual Information Session The Information Session is on Wednesday, October 16 from 6:30–7:30pm and will take place over Zoom. This is for DC-area artists and collectives to learn more about current grant opportunities ahead of the deadline on Tuesday, November 12. It will be recorded and accessible afterwards. RSVP Here. Sign up for Office Hours If you have questions specific to your application, we encourage you to meet one-on-one with Regrants Manager Nathalie von Veh. Meetings will take place virtually between Tuesday, October 22 and Friday, November 8 and will each be 20 minutes long. Reserve a meeting slot here. About Wherewithal Grants Wherewithal Grants are a funding source for artists in the DC-area. Generously funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its Regional Regranting Program and managed by WPA, these grants are intended to support a wide range of experimental and multidisciplinary practices, particularly those that emphasize collaboration and discourse. Since launching in 2019, Wherewithal Grants has supported 146 visual artists with a total of $340,000 in grants.

Sofia Hart at Watkins Nature Center

 

Don't miss the new art exhibition at Watkins Nature Center October 7-December 21, 2024

Brazilian American artist Sofia Hart explores nature's beauty and perfection across different landscapes, by painting nature scenes from her two cultures. Her main passion is Brazil's Cerrado, a beautiful and vast tropical savanna that is being deforested at a faster rate than the Amazon. Sofia highlights the need for its protection by showcasing Cerrado's flora, fauna and natural treasures. Visit the exhibition and meet the artist at a free, public art reception on October 19 from 1-3 pm. Light refreshments will be served. Watkins Nature Center is located at # 331 Watkins Park Drive, Upper Marlboro/ Kettering, MD 20774. Hours are: Tuesday -Saturday 10am -5pm, Sunday 10am -4pm.  To learn more about the artist and her works, visit: https://www.sofiaartista.com

New Call For Artists for the 2024 Prince George's County Juried Exhibition

 

New Call For Artists for the 2024 Prince George's County Juried Exhibition at Harmony Hall Regional Arts Center

"A Sense of Place" DEADLINE: 11:59PM on November 3, 2024 Submissions are now being accepted: https://m-ncppc.submittable.com/submit

Patin & Oberndorfer staying in NYC

The AAFNYC continues -- a couple of decent works by Dora Patin and Cory Oberndorfer are staying in New York!

Dora Patin

Cory Oberndorfer

Images from Affordable Art Fair NYC

 

Tony Porto working the fair at AAFNYC Fall 2024

 

Tony Porto working the fair at AAFNYC Fall 2024

The tale of the Bisque

 

The Bisque drawings are literally and figuratively flying off the walls!

Day two of AAFNYC

Day starts with a good ole lox on an everything bagel!

Fair opens tonight!

Tonight is the VIP and press preview of the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, which runs through Sunday.

In booth B4 with Mike Janis and Tony Porto plus work by Cory Oberndorfer and Dora Patin. 

The chaos of the start

Dora Patin up

Booth B4 ready for action!

Line outside waiting for the VIP opening reception of the Affordable Art Fair in New York City 

Van is ready

 Van is packed and ready to go to New York tomorrow morning at 4am for the Affordable Art Fair in New York City through Sunday!

From George Washington University

Happy fall! Here are some upcoming events from GW’s Corcoran School.

We are proud to announce the launch of a three-year artist residency with For Freedoms, an artist-led organization known for utilizing art as a catalyst for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. Housed in the Corcoran School and the National Gallery of Art, with events across D.C., the residency will create a vital space for students, artists and community members to collaborate on projects that extend beyond traditional art structures.

We invite you to a series of dynamic programming and public events to mark their debut from October 4-5, 2024. The convening will feature performances, talks, and workshops on billboard and kite-making. In addition, our building (500 17th St. NW) will be open October 4-6 from 1-5 pm for visitors to view installations of For Freedoms' billboards and participate in creative prompts designed by artists. Learn more here.

In addition, don’t miss our annual Corcoran Music Festival and other shows. See you this fall! 

Lauren Onkey

Director & Professor of Music at GW's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

 

Are you gonna vote for Kamala Harris?

Then go see this show and buy some art! May become a historic piece in the years to come!

Margaret Dowell's new website

The amazing artist Margaret Dowell has a new website and it showcases her enviable talent! Visit it here: https://www.margaretdowell.com/

At BlackRock opening tomorrow

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County (HCCMC), in partnership with Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce (GGCC) & BlackRock Center for the Arts, is proud to announce the opening of Hispanic Heritage Month with Colores, an exhibition celebrating the vibrant talents of Latino artists residing in Montgomery County. Colores showcases the rich cultural heritage and eclectic creativity that the Hispanic community contributes to our local arts scene.

“We are thrilled to partner with BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce to launch this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations,” said Dr. Mauricio Vásquez, Executive Director at HCCMC. “Colores is more than an art exhibition. It’s a celebration of the diverse stories, experiences, and perspectives of Latino artists in our community. We are grateful for the support of BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, and we invite everyone to join us in honoring the artistic achievements of our local talent.”

 

In the Kay Gallery

BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

12901 Town Commons Drive

Germantown, MD 20874

 

Reception

14 Sep, 4:00–7:00 PM 

As part of BlackRock’s ‘24–25 Season Launch festivities + followed by a concert from Cuban jazz group Dayramir Gonzalez Vicet (<<Buy One/Get One FREE tickets at this link). Catering by Rio Grande, Germantown.

 

On View
07 Sep–03 Nov

 

Artist Panel

05 Oct, 2:00–4:00 PM, during the Germantown Oktoberfest

 

Closing Reception

01 Nov, 5:00-7:00 PM, More details TBA

Vote for Pippi!

Pippi has been entered in the Partnership for Animal Welfare (PAW) 2025 Calendar photo contest. 

Please vote for Pippi and make a donation to PAW on her behalf. 

The contest ends at 9:00 pm on Sunday so not much time left (sorry). Please forward as you wish. Vote for the Pippinator!!!!

The URL for the website is https://www.gogophotocontest.com/pawrescue/entries/544809 

Lest we forget

 



"Studio View, 9/11"
Oil on Canvas c. 9/11/2001 by David FeBland

Zenith to host a show focused on Kamala Harris

 

Goodbye James Earl Jones

This story starts in the mid 1990s, while I was still on active duty in the US Navy and stationed in the DMV, which at the time was known mostly as the Greater Washington area and as the National Capital Region by the Navy.

As part of my job, I used to travel quite often and probably about half the time I used to sweet talk my way into a free upgrade to first class on most of the flights. 

Whenever I have free "wait" time in my hands, such as waiting to board at an airport,  I start drawing in a nice hardbound drawing book that I carry when I travel. It is a habit that I started in art school in the late 70s and carry to this day.

One summer day around 1995 or maybe 1996 I was flying back to National airport,  and had been already upgraded to first class and seated on a window sit.

Once seated, I pulled out the sketchbook and continued a drawing that I had started earlier that day at the terminal.

A bit later the gent that would be seating next me on the aisle seat arrived, nodded a hello, and sat down. I smiled and nodded back and went back to my drawing.

Suddenly I heard the voice of Darth Vader come from the sear next to me as my fellow traveler said: "That's a mighty nice drawing you're working on..."

Stunned, I turned in slow motion and instantly recognized James Earl Jones, who was smiling.

I nearly said, in what probably would have been a loud voice, "Darth Vader!", but I caught myself and didn't. 

The drawing was the ice breaker and we spent the rest of the flight chatting.  I recall that for some reason we both talked a lot about our grandparents?

It was a very pleasant flight, and at the end, I gave him the drawing as a gift and wrote my name and address on the back. He was very grateful and we shook hands and parted ways.

About a month later I received and old fashioned thank you card from Jones with a nice note. Inside was a Polaroid photo of the drawing, framed and hanging (I assume) on his wall.

Good bye, sir. It was an honor to share the planet for a while with you.

Tomorrow and Sunday

What? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival.

When: September 7-8. 

Where: Streets of Bethesda Row

Over the last two decades I have written extensively about the phenomenon of gallery art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as art magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last 18 years confirms this fact - I have my own positive empirical evidence, albeit with the caveat that fairs still seem to be recovering from the Covidian monster..

There's another "art world" out there of fine art fairs that - because of the curious highbrow attitude of the "high art" cabal - never really gets any attention from the arts media, etc.

I’m talking about outdoor art fairs that some of us know well, and many more others think they know well even though they've actually never been to any of the good ones. I am talking about the outdoor art festivals that get ranked as the top ones by Sunshine Artist magazine and others; fairs such as the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, or the Ann Arbor Arts Festival (actually four separate art fairs that draw over half a million visitors), and of course, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, which routinely attracts about 150,000 visitors in the Miami area.

Immediately the clueless “experts” who have never been to one of these top-of-the-line outdoor art festivals will think and imagine what they visualize as an outdoor art market: dried flowers, teddy bears and watercolors of barns. 

Don't get me wrong, there are thousands and thousands of these type "art" fairs around as well - but those are NOT the ones that I am talking about.

I am talking about the cream of the Sunshine Artist Top 100 list. These are shows where only original art, not reproductions, are allowed, and photography has very severe rules (must be done by the photographer, limited editions only, signed, archival processes only, etc.). These shows are highly competitive to get in (they're juried), and usually offer quite a lot of money in prizes for the artists. The jurors vary from museum curators, art center managers, art critics, artists (I’ve been a juror myself many times), etc.

I guess I'm saying that there's some curatorial legitimacy to them as well... for the elitists amongst you dear readers.

But the real point to which I am driving here is the mathematics of attendance: thousands.

Locally in our area, there are several of these exceptional fine art outdoor festivals: The Bethesda Row Arts Festival in Bethesda, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival in Reston, and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, also attract those numbers of people and are all highly competitive.

Consider the median income in either Bethesda ($185K) or Reston ($135K), and what you get out of it is a lot of people with a lot of disposable income. As a whole, the DMV itself has a median household income of around $100K – one that ranks among the highest among the U.S.'s 25 most populous metro areas.

Art price tags at these local fairs range from $100 to $20,000. As such, there's a somewhat comparable universe of prices to the DC area gallery market, as an example.

And I submit that a lot of the people who attend one of these outdoor fine art festivals do not have the "formation," as a Communist would say, to dare set foot in a white cube gallery... and have probably never heard of Art Base Miami Beach.

Nearly all of these huge and highly successful outdoor arts festivals (as far as I know) only allow individual artists to sell their work at the fairs, and their entry fees are about 1/100th of the entry fees of the “other” art fairs.

Wanna see one? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival, and one of the best in the country, will take place September 7-8. The show will showcase 185 artists in 14 media categories: ceramics, drawing/pastels, fiber/decorative, fiber/wearables, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, oil/acrylic painting, photography/digital art, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. It is located essentially at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodmont Avenue, two blocks from the Bethesda Metro, and there are various public parking garages close to the show itself. 

Online here: https://www.bethesdarowarts.org

See ya there! I'll be in booth S104!