DC is humming with a lot of new gallery shows opening soon... this is certainly not a sleepy summer in the art gallery scene, and any writer/critic/BLOGger that claims that is just lazy.

Ready.......

Fusebox is without a doubt one of the best galleries in our area, and no one around here works harder than their two owners, Finlay and Murcia. Fusebox will next host Charles Juhász-Alvarado's Fuse Muse, curated by Laura Roulet, in their main exhibition space, and a Summer Group Exhibition in their project space. Both exhibitions open July 10 and run through August 7, 2004. A reception for the artists will be held Saturday, July 10, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

Charles Juhász-Alvarado is one of Puerto Rico’s most exceptional and talented young artists. While included in numerous solo and group exhibitions on the island and abroad, this exhibit will be his debut in Washington DC.

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Not too far from Fusebox, the Gallery at Flashpoint has "Ami Martin Wilber: contained existence" opening on Thursday, July 15. The site-specific installation will include one hundred of her sculptures composed of steel, rubber, Pyrex beakers, and human hair. Through August 14.

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At Spectrum Gallery in Georgetown, Elsie Hull, Karen Keating, Grace Taylor, and Judith Walser will have an exhibition called "Prisma at Spectrum Gallery, Four Photographers - Four Visions."

By the way, both Karen Keating and Grace Taylor, are but a handful of DC area photographers that I know of with a Sotheby's secondary market record.

The opening reception is on July 15 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Spectrum Gallery has been in Georgetown since 1966! Considering that most galleries shut down in six months or less, this is quite an accomplishment!

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At Touchstone Gallery, "Take 10: Works by Ten Washington Photographers" - Diana Adams, Kay Chernush, Patrice Gilbert, Ruth Schilling Harwood, Lisa Masson, Irene Owsley, Margaret Paris, Barbara Tyroler, Harriet Wise, and Pamela Zilly with an opening reception on July 9, 6 - 8:30 PM.

Touchstone has been around since 1976!

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One of DC's art firebrands, curator Andrea Pollan has organized "Plastic Tactics" - Outdoor Sculpture on Mt. Royal Avenue between Cathedral & Lanvale Streets. The Artists are Kathryn Cornelius, Decatur Blue, Jill Greenberg, T. Charnan Lewis, Gabriel Martinez, Renée Rendine, Jeff Spaulding, Dan Steinhilber, Daniel Sullivan and Team Response.

Opening Reception: Friday, July 9, 6-9pm

Los Angeles Center For Digital Art Call for Artists...

Deadline for entries: September 5, 2004

LACDA announces an open call for their un-juried show featuring digital art and photography: "Snap to Grid."

All entries will be printed (8.5"x11" on Epson heavyweight matte paper) and shown in their gallery arranged in a grid. Note to artists: This is an open competition, which means exactly that: ALL entries will be accepted and shown.

Entrants submit one JPEG file of original work. All styles of 2D artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to the creation of the images are acceptable. Digital video stills and screen shots of web/new media are acceptable.

Prior to and after the exhibition the images and artist information will be available to gallery visitors to view in their artist portfolios. Prints can be made available to buyers on an as needed basis. Artwork for future exhibits will be selected from the portfolios, and will also be available for review by area gallerists, curators and arts journalists.

Show Dates: September 9-October 1, 2004 and the registration fee is $30. Submission Rules: Registration and submission are done through their web site only. File uploads are the only accepted submissions and are maximum of 2MB each and not exceed 1024x768 pixels in dimensions.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant

Deadline: September 15, 2004.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund invites visual artists (excluding filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists) to apply for grants to enable recipients to develop their talent and concentrate on their art.

Artists must be 40 years or older, and must live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. Two grants will be awarded in 2004. Grants awarded in 2003 were for $25,000 and $20,000.

Applications must be postmarked no later than September 15, 2004.

To obtain a current application form, please visit the Fund's website, or write to the Fund at 5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268, Washington, D.C. 20015. Send email inquiries to this email address.

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The Ruth Chenven Foundation

Deadline: July 31, 2004.

Awards up to $1,500 to U.S. crafts artists engaged in or planning a project. For more information, send a SASE to: Ruth Chenven Foundation, 7505 Jackson Ave., Tacoma Park, MD 20912.

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grants

Emergency grants are offered to artists who find themselves in need of financial assistance for unforeseen catastrophic events, including fire, flood, or emergency medical needs.

Open to artists working in painting, sculpture, or printmaking. Must be able to demonstrate at least 10 years in a mature phase of their work. Funding is not available for chronic situations, capital improvements, or projects.

To request an application form, contact:

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation
380 W. Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 226-0581
Fax: (212) 226-0584.

For more information, check their website here.

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The Artists Fellowship provides funding to professional fine artists and their families during times of emergency, disability, or bereavement. The Fellowship does not accept requests from performance artists, filmmakers, craft artists, hobbyists, commercial artists, or commercial photographers.

For more information, contact:

Artists' Fellowship, Inc.
47 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (646) 230-9833 or check website.

The Post's Sunday Arts had this wonderful article By Peter Marks profiling ten young, emerging DC actors.

Why not have one of the Post's visual art critics write the same kind of article about ten young, emerging DC visual artists? Either O'Sullivan or Dawson could probably very easily write a piece highlighting ten young (say under 40) area artists. It would be great food for discussion, disagreement and fun. And it would help propel some of those artist's careers.

Instead we get this.

I tried not to mention this, since I am so glad the WCP did such a good job in their article about Manon Cleary, but in the same issue of the WCP there's a review (by another writer) that begins like this...

"The most striking thing about the photographs of Frida Kahlo and her muralist husband, Diego Rivera, currently on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute is how much Kahlo looks like her self-portraits."

I'm I the only one going...

Duh!

The current issue of the Washington City Paper has one of the best articles about an artist that I have ever read in the Washington press.

The article is by John Metcalfe and it is about Manon Cleary, in my opinion, not only the best artist in the Washington area, but perhaps the most powerful realist brush in the nation.

Manon is represented locally by Addison/Ripley Fine Art and in Baltimore by Light Street Gallery and her life and work read like an artist's life should read - including all the suffering and destruction that goes along with being a creative genius.

John Metcalfe has done a terrific job in re-creating the lifestyle and the life led by Cleary, although I wish the article had included some images of Cleary's artwork.

Let this be the first call for a Manon Cleary retrospective at either the Hirshhorn Museum or the Corcoran.

It is long overdue for one of those two Washington museums to give a well-deserved show to Washington's best-known and most talented artist.

Jeff Bloom has a great new online resource for Greater Washington area photographers. It is DC Photo Scene and it is a really great resource for what's going on our area about or for photography.

I've just been told some great news. There is a committee which is planning an Art-O-Matic for 2004! The official Art-O-Matic website has some info about it.

The Art-O-Matic 2004 Steering Committee has a BLOG here.

Art-O-Matic is without a doubt the single greatest art event that happens in Washington, DC. Nothing comes close to it in visual power and impact.

For information about future Art-O-Matic events, artists should sign up here.

The 2004 Steering Committe has some very talented and well-versed-in-the-DC art scene names.

People such as artists Richard Dana, Judy Jashinsky, Rima Schulkind, Andres Tremols and others as well as collector Philip Barlow and art activist George Koch.

I cannot say enough good things about Art-O-Matic. My review of Art-O-Matic 2002 can be read online here and a second review of that same show can be read here.

If you'd like to be a part of Art-O-Matic 2004, as an artist, performer, or volunteer, check out the information on the Art-O-Matic 2004 Get Involved page.

The long awaited and often-protested against, Gunther von Hagens exhibition “Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" finally makes its U.S. debut in Los Angeles as part of a notorious world tour that started in 1996. The exhibition is at the California Science Center.

Initially intended to teach people about the human skeletal, cardiovascular and other systems, the exhibit includes 25 bodies that have undergone a process called “plastination” in which body fluids are replaced with clear, pliable plastic. It has become an art show, rather than just a science show and somehow pushed aside the YBAs less horrific attempts to do the same with animals.

According to the article, during exhibit stops in Asia and Europe, about 6,000 people have signed papers donating their bodies to von Hagens' institute for possible plastination.

Pushing figurative art even further. Just when one thinks that representational art cannot be coaxed into producing anything "new." And as we all know, "new" is what seduces art critics into auto-thinking "good."

When does a Biennale become a scam?

Read this.

Thanks to Arts Scuttlebutt, without a doubt one of the best online resources in the world for artists, where you can post questions about just about anything dealing with the visual arts and you'll get experienced responses.

Today is the first Friday of the month and thus the Dupont Circle Galleries will be having their monthly extended hours from 6-8 PM.

See ya there!

Congratulations to (formerly from Miss.) Reston, Virginia photographer James W. Bailey, who just won the Albert J. Turbessi Award this past Sunday for his photograph, “Woman at the Tomb,” at the 47th Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art, which was juried by Donald Kuspit.

Congratulations to Gaithersburg, Maryland artist Chum Ngek, who is one of 12 artists to receive the 2004 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

On five consecutive Thursday evenings this summer, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and its Museum Store are hosting extended hours until 8 pm.

Free programs include something for everyone -- artist talks, "Hot Nights Jazz," lectures, tours, family activities and after-hours films. For Hirshhorn Hot Nights updates, visit the Museum's website.

Success as an Artist Seminar offered on August 8, 2004.

Almost as soon as we opened our first gallery in Georgetown in 1996, artists began pouring in seeking representation. This continues to this day, and between visits, emails, packages in the mail, etc. we generally receive around 600-800 inquiries a year.

Because we obviously cannot represent or sell the work of such a huge number of artists, a lot of good, talented artists are turned away, after we have recommended follow on steps on what to do. However, in our first few months, Catriona soon discovered that she was spending most of her of time with emerging artists discussing many of the same things over and over, which generally consisted of giving out career advice about such things as gallery representation, contracts, grants, competitions, resumes, etc.

This was not only time consuming with scheduled appointments, but many unscheduled visits caused her to spend several hours a day just meeting with artists and essentially passing out the same information, over and over.

Then her mother came out with a brilliant idea: Why not come up with a structured, formal seminar for emerging artists to pass out this information as well as other important information. Not theory, not review of artwork, but practical advice, usable handouts and a forum to answer questions all at once.

We held our first seminar in 1999 – it was supposed to run for four hours but it ran for seven. So eventually we changed it to a full day, seven hour seminar, and have now presented it to over 1,000 artists and art administrators from nearly every Mid Atlantic state – with attendees coming from as far north as New York and as far south as South Carolina.

It has been spectacularly successful in offering practical business advice to the emerging artist on many areas not covered by any art school curriculum that we know of. The information, advice and details taught at the seminar are not based on theory, but on actual practical experience and hands-on effects. That’s why it has been so successful!

In its seven hour format, the seminar covers a wide range of structured issues including:

1. Materials
Buying materials – strategies for lowering your costs, where and how to get it, etc.

2. Presentation – How to properly present your artwork including Conservation issues, Archival Matting and Framing, Longevity of materials, a discussion on Limited editions, signing and numbering, Prints vs. Reproduction, discussion on Iris Prints (Pros and Cons).

3. Creating a resume - Strategy for building your art resume, including how to write one, what should be in it, presentation, etc.

4. Juried Shows – An Insider's view and strategy to get in the competitions.

5. How to take slides and photographs of your artwork

6. Selling your art – A variety of avenues to actually selling your artwork, including fine arts festivals, corporate acquisitions, galleries, public arts, etc.

7. Creating a Body of Works

8. How to write a news release

9. Publicity – How to get in newspapers, magazines, etc. Plus handouts on email and addresses of newspaper critics, writers, etc.

10. Galleries – Discussion on area galleries including Vanity Galleries, Co-Operatives, Commercial Galleries, Non-profit Art spaces, etc.

11. How to approach a gallery – Realities of the business, Contracts, Gallery/Artist Relationship, Agents.

12. Outdoor Art Festivals – Discussion and advice on how to sell outwork at fine arts festivals, which to do, which to avoid, etc.

13. Resources - Display systems and tents, best juried shows and ones to avoid.

14. Accepting Credit cards – How to set up your art business.

15. Grants – Discussion on how to get grants in DC, Regional and National, including handouts on who and where and when.

16. Alternative Marketing - Cable TV, Local media

17. Internet – How to build your website at no cost, how to establish a wide and diverse Internet presence.

The seminar has been a spectacular success, and the feedback from artists can be read online at here and we continue to receive tremendous positive feedback on the practical success that this seminar has meant for those who have taken it.

The seminar lasts for seven hours and is now offered twice a year. It costs $80 and the next one is scheduled for August 8, from noon to 7 PM at our Bethesda gallery. Interested artists can read more details or print a registration form online at www.thefrasergallery.com/seminars.html or just call Catriona at 301/718-9651.

The seminar is held at the Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, in Bethesda. The gallery is one block from the Bethesda Metro stop on the Red Line. Ample free parking is also available.

Job Opportunity for Photographer...

The Associated Press seeks a Photo Editor responsible for working with photographers, photo editors,news editors to improve and guide the Washington, DC., photo report. This position will be responsible for planning, organizing and executing coverage of major news and sporting events. Photoshop and computer skills necessary.

Contact:
John E. Hall/ Assistant Bureau Chief/Photo
2021 K st. NW
Washington, DC. 20006
202-776-9511
jhall@ap.org

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Call for Artists...

Deadline: Friday, July 30, 2004

Alexandria Festival For the Arts: Regional Artist Juried Exhibition. Open to all artists living or working in Northern Virginia working in all media. Exhibition Dates: September 11 and September 12, 2004, as part of the national Alexandria Festival for the Arts. Juror: Peter Dubeau, Associate Dean, Division of Continuing Studies, Maryland Institute College of Art, former Director of School 33, Baltimore, MD.

Cash awards available. Postmark Deadline for Submissions: Friday, July 30. Entry fee: $15 for slides or JPEG digital images of up to three (3) works. For prospectus, please e-mail: regionalartist@hotmail.com or call 703-838-4565 x 6.

Tomorrow is the long awaited opening of the Ana Mendieta retrospective at the Whitney in New York.

Organized and curated by our own Olga Viso, the energetic Deputy Director of the Hirshhorn, the show will be on view in New York from July 1 – September 19, 2004 and then it will travel to the Hirshhorn.

Ana Mendieta was a Pedro Pan child and her interest in exploring the female body and its social and political implications through performances, sculptures, and “actions” has a tremendous impact, which although clearly evident, has not truly been recognized - hopefully this exhibition will plant Mendieta very firmly as one of the last century's most influential (and under recognized artists).

This show is a survey of fifteen years of this exiled Cuban artist’s career, and it includes the well-known Silueta Series, made in Iowa and Mexico from 1973 to 1980, as well as Mendieta’s sculptures and installations of the early 1980s.

Look for Hollywood to "discover" the spectacular life led by Mendieta and her even more spectacular death. Mendieta fell from a window of her 34th-floor Greenwich Village apartment where she lived with her husband, the sculptor Carl Andre. He was charged with but eventually acquitted of her murder.

Leslie Cahmi wrote a really good article about Mendieta in the Sunday New York Times. Read it here - at BookofJoe.

Joe Barbaccia points out an interesting story in today's Post.

Creative minds do create in many different avenues and forms.

Thanks to AJ...

The Democratization of Cultural Criticism by George Cotkin is a must read.

"If literary criticism is marked by vicious prose and petty bickering, then art criticism exists without firm judgments... The state of cultural criticism today, in the view of many, is debilitated, perhaps even moribund... our present generation of cultural critics, arriving after the assault of postmodernism and the increasingly widespread commercialization of culture, has been cast adrift, without any firm basis for judgments... Critics today, it is also claimed, are too cozy behind the ivied walls of academe, content to employ a prose style that is decipherable only to a handful of the cognoscenti."

And does this sound familiar in reference to a couple of our local art scribes?

"Today the complaint is that literary culture lacks civility. We live in an age of commercialism and spectacle. Writers seek the limelight, and one way to bask in it is to publish reviews that scorch the landscape..."

Aaaah! The power of the Internet...

A few days ago I commented on a striking photo on the front page of the NY Times by someone named Jae Hyun Seok.

DCARTNEWS reader Sarah Schumacher was nice enough to drop me a note with the information that Seok is South Korean. He was held in a Chinese prison for 14 months while reporting on North Korean refugees.

This is an interesting story about him, and his stuff is online here.

Thanks Sarah!

It's official now.

Arts-related businesses make up 4.3 percent of all the companies in the United States, and employ almost 3 million people, according to this study commissioned by Americans for the Arts that I received a few days ago.

The study is the most detailed account yet of their economic impact on our daily life. The New York metropolitan area (including Northern NJ, CT and PA) ranks No. 1 nationally in arts-related businesses, with nearly 55,000. Our area, as expected, ranks fourth, after LA and San Francisco Bay Area, but ahead of Chicago.

So what we in the trenches have been hollering about for years has been now empirically quantified. We have one of the top art scenes in the nation here and yet we are (at least in the visual arts) woefully ignored by the mainstream press.

In fact, according to this article in the Washington Post written as a result of the study, our area art related non-profits employs more people than the legal profession - now that's a shocker!

The DC area nonprofit arts industry provides $1.24 billion in direct expenditures and supports nearly 26,000 full-time jobs and is responsible for nearly $896 million in personal income for area residents.

What makes this study even more important, is the simple fact that our area is perhaps the smallest (in terms of population) of any of the top 20 areas. So that means to me that we then have the highest concentration, per capita, of these cultural assets.

When will the Washington Post and the Washington Times (not to mention any of our local TV stations) get this point? Here's the list:

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX Atlanta Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO San Diego Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI Phoenix-Mesa, AZ Cleveland-Akron, OH Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL St. Louis, MO-IL

54,895 48,862 21,232 16,360 16,261 14,202 13,060 12,138 11,328 10,834 10,567 9,209 9,166 7,221 6,886 6,791 6,007 4,870 4,406 4,294

Opportunity for artists...

The City of Greenbelt sponsors an annual, juried art and craft fair in early December. Media typically include paintings and prints, photography, ceramics, glass, jewelry, clothing, quilts, furniture, and holiday crafts. All work must be hand-made by the exhibitor and of professional quality.

Their next show will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4 and Sunday, Dec. 5, 2004. Contact John Norden at 301-397-2208 or jnorden@ci.greenbelt.md.us to request an application. Apply at your earliest convenience for best chances of inclusion. Artists are selected on a rolling basis from January through October based on artistic merit, originality and other factors. To be considered for an exhibition, please forward the following materials to Nicole DeWald, Arts Coordinator, using the contact information provided above:
1) Letter of introduction commenting on your work and your concept(s) for a visually and conceptually unified exhibition
2) Images of your work (no limit). Please send slides, photographs, or digital images in jpeg format
3) Artist’s resume
4) Proposal for related workshop for youth, teens, or adults (optional but desirable)
5) Self-addressed, stamped, padded envelope for return of your images, if desired. Images will not be returned otherwise.

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Deadline July 15

Rockville Arts Place 2005 Call for Entries. Rockville Arts Place is accepting exhibition proposals for its 2005 schedule. Thematic and media-based exhibitions will cover all media. Special category for ceramic artist entries for a clay exhibition, February 20 - March 26. Group and individual entries accepted. Work must have been completed in the last three years.

The entry fee is $25. Rockville Arts Place is a membership organization that serves artists with exhibition opportunities, professional development programs, and master workshops. Visit their website to download a 2005 Call for Entries or contact Shelly Brunner at gallery@rockvilleartsplace.org / (301) 309-6900.

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Deadline August 2, 5pm

BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown announces 2005 Call to Artists. Executive director Nancy E. Petrisko recently announced an invitation for artists to submit slides and proposals for artwork to be displayed in BRCA's exhibition gallery in 2005. The call is open to individual artists or artist groups with original work only and covers exhibits in the gallery from January through December 2005.

A jury of local art experts will select works for approximately 10 exhibits of five weeks each. Most exhibits feature solo artists, but some may include more than one artist, based on the judgment of the jurors. The application deadline is August 2, 2004 at 5pm. An application fee of $25 is required.

To receive an application, call 301.528.2260 or write info@blackrockcenter.org. Artists will be notified and exhibits scheduled in September 2004. For information about the 2004 gallery exhibits, call BlackRock Center for the Arts at 301.528.2260 or visit their website. BlackRock Center for the Arts is located at 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, Maryland, near the intersection of Middlebrook Rd. and Route 118 (Germantown Rd.).

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Deadline August 6

VSA Arts and Volkswagen of America, Inc. have launched a call for entries to identify promising young artists with disabilities. This year's theme, "Driving Force," challenges artists to consider what motivates and inspires creativity.

The program's organizers are interested in both representational and abstract work. Artwork may illustrate actual aspects of the artist's inspiration, such as the environment, myth, or personal discoveries. Abstract work that relates to the artist's feelings or emotions is also encouraged. Work may also reflect the experience of living with a disability and its role in shaping or transforming motivations. Fifteen finalists will be awarded a total of $30,000 in cash awards, distributed as follows: a $10,000 grand prize, a $5,000 first prize, a $3,000 second prize, and twelve awards of excellence in the amount of $1,000.

Selected artwork will be included as part of an exhibit in Washington, D.C., during October 2004 that will then tour throughout the United States for the following two years. Art must be an original work that has been completed in the last three years. Eligible media include paintings and drawings, fine art prints, photography, and two-dimensional mixed media.

The program is open to young artists, ages 16 to 25, living in the United States who have a physical, cognitive, or mental disability. (For more information about disabilities that apply, visit: http://www.vsarts.org/resources/general/dag/ ) Complete program and application information is available on the VSA arts Web site: http://www.vsarts.org/programs/vw/

The Bethesda Artist Market is currently accepting applications for the Bethesda Artist Markets scheduled for September 12 and October 10, 2004. Click here for am application and details. I have done two of the three markets staged so far and have sold quite a few pieces. On the average I would say about four to five thousand people have been coming to the Artist Market and that number is growing!

Affordable Housing for Artists...

The Mount Rainier Artist Lofts will open in January 2005!

The Mount Rainier Artist Lofts will provide 44-units of affordable housing for artists and their families adding to the growing revitalization efforts of the Route One Corridor in the Prince George's County Gateway Arts District.

For details, contact:

Angela Blocker
Program Officer, Property Development
Gateway CDC
P.O. Box 306
Mount Rainier, MD 20712
301-864-3860 x 3
301-779-6747 fax
Email: angela@gateway-cdc.org

Bad things galleries do to art collectors...

Our area, like most major metropolitan areas, is peppered with stores that have the word "gallery" in their business name, but are very much far removed from what one would consider a true art gallery.

You will always find them in high traffic areas; main thoroughfare streets where "real" galleries could never afford the rent. You also often find them in malls.

I am speaking of the places that sell mass produced decorative works, either by Kinkade wannabes, Spanish-surnamed painters and worse still, the following scam:

Some of Picasso's children inherited many of the plates used by Picasso to create his etchings. Since them, some of those plates have been printed ad nauseum by the current owners and are sold around the world as Picasso prints.

And then, to make matters worse, some of the plates are signed "Picasso" by his offspring owner, who is (of course) technically also surnamed Picasso.

The sales pitch, which is not technically illegal, but certainly unethical, goes something like this:

"This is a real Picasso etching, printed from the original plate and it is signed."

Note that they never state who signed the print.

Hapless buyer purchases the print for a pretty good chunk of change, takes it home and brags to his friends about his signed Picasso.

This will be a hell of a mess for the Antiques Road Show experts to detangle in a couple of hundred years.

And don't even get me started on the great Dali art fraud.

The Washington Post's online site has created a pretty good web portal to access the writing and video reports of Blake Gopnik, its eloquent and opinionated Chief Art Critic. The portal is here.

Why does the Post force Gopnik to use "Washington Post Staff Writer" in his byline? Why not Chief Art Critic, since that is his title?

In fact, it seems all Post writers use/have to use the same "Washington Post Staff Writer" byline description. Bet'cha it's some sort of union thing.

Boring...

The Elizabeth Roberts Gallery hosts three photographers through July 17: David Smith, Dan Schwartz and Colin Montgomery. The exhibition of these three different photographers really works together, as they all seem to be interested in color and form, principally Schwartz, who photographs Washington scenes and then manipulates them in the computer.

Montgomery, who is originally from the DC area but lives in New York and will soon attend Yale to get his MFA, focuses on several new planned communities in Hong Kong. These vast centers are enormous megalopolises designed to absorb the city’s vast population. Their size and the brutal Chinese variation of Corbusian high modernism, combined with Montgomery’s keen eye and elegant composition, combine to deliver strangely attractive photographs, which somehow cease to be about buildings and people, and move onto the realm of color and form.

David Smith uses a small portable camera to take spontaneous images of New York City public spaces, where he lives. In this sense, Smith joins the ranks of artists who have been described as “urban realists.” However, Smith does differ from the “typical” urban realists’ emphasis on delivering a modern Ashcan view of New York, with information-filled images, by doing exactly the opposite!

He focuses on blank brick walls, windowless buildings, reflective surfaces and patterns of color and texture that Gotham offers to his perceptive eyes in countless variations. In doing so, this urban realist has pushed the definition of that genre, by bringing to our attention objects of seeming inconsequence in a way that makes them into strange surfaces of beauty and color.

Bad things artists do to galleries...

This just happened to a Washington, DC gallery:

A person who has a very good professional career is also an artist and approached a local gallery asking to be considered for a show. The gallery owner liked the work and offered the artist a show.

That gallery then sent the artist a contract.

Nearly a year later, a few days before the opening - once all the invitations and publicity have been done - the artist sends the gallery an email stating that the artist thinks that the gallery's 50% commission is outrageous and unethical (the standard commission by DC area commercial fine arts venues is 50% by the way - a few non profits are 40% and by the way, some NYC galleries are as high as 70%).

The gallery is also somewhat at fault here, as they should been in better commmunication with the artist and ensured that the contract was well understood and signed and agreed upon before the last minute.

The day of the opening night, the artist shows up with the work, including several pieces that are not for sale. The gallery informs the artist that in order to pay the rent, the gallery must sell work. A verbal fight follows, and finally an agreement of sorts is agreed upon - but never actually written down. On opening night, some work is sold.

The next day the artist shows up complaining that her work has been sold.

The exasperated gallery owner cuts the artist a check for the 50% commission and asks that the artist remove all their work from the gallery and never approach them again.

The artist takes the check and leaves - probably thinking evil thoughts about the gallery. The gallery is now faced with an empty gallery.

A true story...

Sigh...

The current issue of the Washington City Paper has some really spectacular photographs by one of Washington's best photographers mascarading as a photojournalist: Pilar Vergara.

And still on the same line of thoughts... there's a great photo by someone named Jae Hyun Seok on the front page of the New York Times as part of this article.

The photo shows South Korean troops dismantling a wall of loudspeakers that had been used to broadcast propoganda across the DMZ to North Korea and their mad, Elvis-hairdo'ed leader. The photo brought to mind a striking - antithesis and in-reverse sort of version of the famous Joe Rosenthal photo later immortalized in the USMC War Memorial, which is by the way, one of my favorite memorials in our area.

J.T. Kirkland writes a really good piece about Sally Mann's beautiful show at the Corcoran in Thinking About Art. It is passionate and explosive writing and a refreshing approach to discussing an art show. And if you haven't seen Mann's show - do not miss it!

Call for Artists...

DCAC has a call for artists. The D.C. Arts Center, founded in 1989, is a nonprofit arts space dedicated to promoting the freshest most under-recognized artists in the Washington metropolitan area.

Please send 8-10 slides or a CD of images, along with a resume, artist statement, and a stamped return envelope (for slide return) to:

Karey Kesser, gallery manager
D.C. Arts Center
2438 18th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009

A Visual Arts Commitee made up of selected curators, the gallery manager, and the director of DCAC will work together to review the slides.

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DCAC 13th Annual 1460 Wall Mountables Show
July 16-August 22
Opening Reception: July 16, 7:00pm

1460 Wall Mountables is one of my favorite open art shows in the Washington area and a chance for anyone to exhibit in one of Washington's most respected non profit art spaces!

How does it work? Purchase a 2-foot by 2-foot area in the DCAC gallery and make the best use of it possible by hanging your work, wall sculpture, etc.

The details: Works can be hung on July 14th and 15th from 3:00 to 8:00 and July 16th from 3:00 to 6:00. There are no reservations and spaces are granted on a first come, first serve basis. Anyone who becomes a member will receive three free spaces and up to two more for $5 each.

Current or renewing members receive one free space and up to four more at $5 each. Non-member price is $10 per square, with a maximum of five squares per artists.

Artists must bring all necessary supplies to mount work on wall (i.e. hammers, picture hangers, ect.) Collectors will be on hand to purchase works that are available for sale, and a $100 cash prize will be granted for "Best Use of Space".

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Also...

The Bedrock Bar Seeking Artwork

The Bedrock Bar is a new alternative art space located in the center of DC's pulsating Adam's Morgan neighborhood. In addition to billiards and bar, Bedrock has an exhibit space and is looking for new art to display. If interested, please contact DCAC.

My son Callum gave me this book for Father's Day. Does that kid know his Virgo dad or what!

Jessica Dawson sends a cosa nostra goodbye kiss to Troyer Gallery (which is closing) in today's Galleries column in the Post (halfway through the column).

This is the last paragraph in the review:

"Like much of the work shown at Troyer in recent years, the show is unremarkable. And the same can be said for most all of Troyer's Dupont Circle neighbors. There is a market for the kind of work Troyer, and her colleagues, have sold. Yet Dupont Circle needs more exhibitions that stimulate and advance contemporary art practice. I'm hopeful that Irvine will lead the way."

I have known Jessica Dawson on a professional capacity for several years (ever since she was a freelancer for the Washington City Paper), and I respect her as a writer and as a person. In the past I have both criticized her writing and critical opinions and also applauded it when deserved (in my opinion). This BLOG has ample evidence of both.

At the improbable risk of not ever getting reviewed by her again, let me say that I find it absolutely astounding and depressing that she has used the very little print space that the Washington Post gives for reviewing our area's art galleries to paint "most all of Troyer's Dupont Circle neighbors," with a single negative and undeserved brushstroke.

It is her clear right as a critic to express her opinion about Troyer's last show, and we all know that criticism without teeth is useless.

However.

There are many different art galleries around Dupont Circle. On a month-to-month basis, the more reputable amongst them, manage to present their own individual discourses in the difficult business of offering artwork to the public. And on a month-to-month schedule dealing with the difficult issues of running a type of cultural business in a metropolitan area where the visual fine arts are nowhere near the top of the interest list of any of our area's mainstream media sources, and because of that, our general public. The "chicken and the egg" syndrome is rampant in this last issue; no interest from the media equals no interest (read awareness or knowledge) from the pubic.

Difficult issues that are frustrating and invisible to most people who just "visit" galleries. The goal of a good art gallery is not just to stimulate and advance contemporary art practice. That is an important part of a reputable gallery's business ethic - but it is just a member of a much more difficult and heroic set of goals, which also include paying artists on time and paying the rent, the electricity, the advertising, the catering, etc.

And because most of these galleries are independently owned small businesses, none of them are eligible for grants, which is a proven way for art non-profits to raise financial funds to pay their directors a salary, and also pay their monthly bills, while affording them the luxury of stimulating and advancing contemporary art practice in the eyes of some, without the urgent and delicate balancing act of also trying to sell the work. And that is why a city's cultural tapestry is made up of commercial independent fine arts galleries, non profit art spaces and other alternative art venues such as libraries, restaurants, etc.

But...

The independent fine arts gallery that manages to present art shows that try to advance and stimulate contemporary art practice (and there are many in our area), while at the same time managing to maintain a reputable exhibition program, plus ensuring that the artists get paid (first priority), then the rent, plus all the other expenses, and still survive for a few years, deserves to be recognized as a distinct voice in the cultural tapestry that makes up our area's art scene. Dismissing most of them in one sentence does a huge disservice to that same cultural tapestry.

Slate has a really funny compilation of cartoons inspired by Pres. Clinton's record breaking biography.

Thanks to photographer James W. Bailey for this great tip:

Miss Digital World is the first ever virtual beauty contest, strictly for the most beautiful and intriguing virtual models made using the most advanced 3D graphics tools.

Seeing how Madison Avenue has corrupted our view of what women are supposed to look like (gaunt and with endless legs), it will be interesting to see what "normal" people (although one could make the case that digital geeks are far from normal) come up with to deliver a digital beauty.

You can preview some of the entries here. So far the German entry Erin looks like she can kick anyone's ass.

Exhibition opportunities

Art Director represents two alternative venues in NW Washington D.C.

One is a gallery in 14th street, and the other is a restaurant to be newly opened around 13th and U street in NW). They are looking for artists of all mediums for exhibition. Shows hang for approximately 2 months at a time. They are presently planning for shows for the upcoming year (July 2004-july 2005). Commissions range from 30% (restaurant) - 40% (gallery).

Please send 2-D images of work, bios, statements, reviews, and other supporting materials to:
BP - Art Director, Suite 101
1349 Wallach Place, NW
Washington, D.C., 20009

For more info, please email Brian Petro or call 202.270.7352

Congrats to Prescott Moore Lassman, whose photograph "Domesticated Animals" won Second Prize in the 2004 SoHo Photo National Photography Competition, which was juried by independent art critic Lyle Rexer.

"Girl With Activity Book", another of his photos, as been selected for the cover of Antietam Review, a literary and photography magazine published annually by the Washington County Arts Council. His photo "Black Goggles" is currently our group photography exhibition "Contemporary Photography."

Art scam...

For artists and galleries who have online websites where your work can be ordered: Beware of a scam that has been going on for a while, in which you'll get an email from someone wanting to order your art and they will pay you with a credit card.

The scam artists usually want the work shipped to Nigeria (have also seen it from Indonesia) and you to also charge the shipping fees and custom duties to the credit card).

The cards, of course, are stolen, but will show up OK for a day or two after you receive their email order.

To try to defeat international credit card orders scams, you should ask them to fax you or email you a JPG of the front and back of their card showing their true name. Then check with your bank.

Fusebox Gallery is hosting a benefit for Transformer Gallery on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 from 7 – 10 PM.

Hors d'oeuvres generously provided by Perry's Restaurant. Wine and beer generously provided by Buck's Fishing and Camping. Music generously provided by DJs Yellow Fever and the Punani Sound System (ESL Music). Invite design generously provided by kaze design.

Fusebox is at 1412 14th Street, NW, WDC

Attendance is $50 per person to be paid at the door (checks or cash, please).

Silent auction bidding will take place from 7-9pm. Auction sales will be announced at 9pm. Check and cash sales only. All works sold at the auction are to be taken that night.

Participating artists include: Gabriel Abrantes, Brian Balderston, Alex Blau, Laura Carton, Chan Chao, Frank Day, Mary Early, Jason Falchook, Adam Fowler, Carole Greenwood, Jason Gubbiotti, Ryan Hackett, James Huckenpahler, Erick Jackson, Judy Jashinsky, George Jenne, Jae Ko, Pepa Leon, Mimi Masse, Maggie Michael, William Newman, Piero Passacantando, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Lucian Perkins, Paul Roth, Jose Ruiz (winner of the 2003 Fraser Gallery Young Artist Award), David Simmons, Dan Steinhilber, Champ Taylor, Trish Tillman, Ian Whitmore, Catherine Yelloz and Jason Zimmerman.

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And talking about the success of silent auctions, Joe Barbaccia sent me this interesting article on the subject published last Sunday in the Philly Inky.

Just in! (thanks to ArtsJournal)

The woman depicted as the Mona Lisa was a Spaniard!

There's a very good and interesting new voice in the art BLOGsphere in the Washington area: J.T. Kirkland.

His new BLOG is Thinking About Art and it adds to the critical discourse of the arts in our region.

Welcome to J.T.!

For Leo Villareal’s second solo show at Conner Contemporary, gallery owner Leigh Conner has completely sealed off her rectangular gallery space in neutral paper, essentially gift-wrapping all the sources of outside light in order to deliver the best possible viewing atmosphere for Villareal’s sculpture exhibition.

And although a bit disorienting at first – in the sense that one first thinks (at least I did) that the gallery was closed or between shows – it sets a perfect viewing stage for an artist who is having a well-deserved meteoric rise and attention in the rarified atmosphere of high art.

Conner’s preparation of her space continues as one opens the door and enters the gallery, to be immediately confronted by Horizon, a 24 inch installation of tubes of light.

Floating away from the gallery’s main wall, they are starkly and severely displayed, allowing for perfect viewing and the thinking required to arrive at a full understanding of the artist’s multi faceted skill set in creating this and all the other sculptures in the show.

In creating Horizon, by the necessities of the art genre that he is slowly but surely re-inventing, Villareal must master not only the creative assemblage of the piece itself, but obviously must also possess significant technical skill to deliver the color messages that is one of the end goals of this piece. This is important, very important in fact, as contemporary art continues to “re-discover” a once ignored talent: technical skill.

And the description of the technical skill required to deliver this elegant, minimalist work is dizzying! Let me try.

Each of the nine plexiglass tubes of light is filled with red, green and blue light emitting diodes (or LEDs – the same LEDS that make up your PC’s plasma screen or your Gameboy screen, etc.). Horizons' diodes are each individually modulated, each capable of producing over 16 million colors.

How the colors shift and change are dictated by software created by Villareal, using a set of autonomous software agents that are constantly traveling through the software rules within a matrix, encountering each other, creating new rules, and reacting to different situations. If this all sounds like you need a Master’s degree in Computer Science or a Doctorate in Geekdom, then it does. Autonomous software agents are now an invisible and common part of our daily life; either in data mining for Google, or adapting and learning and pushing us towards full automation of common, but difficult events.

Or in Villareal’s case: Creating a nearly inexhaustible and ever refreshing display of the art of color and form.

And because we are visual creatures, our common minds are enthralled, entertained, hypnotized and fascinated by the play of the light – ever changing, and creating new impressions: video games, organic, space, stark, warm, rich.

But the “art” is not just in the light movement, or the set of 16 million possible colors, or the eloquent delivery vehicle worthy of a Marfa installation. It is all that and more.

The key to truly understanding and enjoying (and recognizing) Villareal’s contribution to contemporary art, is to realize that this digital sculptor’s chisel and hammer are the autonomous software agents that he created and which now deliver for their creator, the work that he claims in his name.

And Villareal’s nearly infinite digital atelier never tires, and is always delighted to take a new path, try a new combination of colors, deliver a new visual sensation. Tireless, efficient and blissfully ignorant of the effect (positive or negative) that their color and form displays elicit from the viewer.

Digitalism gets a powerful push in this show and Leo Villareal and his digital atelier are doing the shoving, in countless directions at once.

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Leo Villareal is at Conner Contemporary until June 26. The gallery is at 1730 Connecticut Avenue, NW (Second floor). Phone is 202/588-8750.

For photographers...

Deadline June 27, 2004

Want to have your photographs viewed by over 500,000 people? New Photography is looking for high quality, exciting work to exhibit in the photography galleries of the Millard Sheets Gallery at the L.A. County Fair. Each year more than 500,000 people view this exhibition with some of the finest examples of contemporary photography. A panel of 4 jurors will award a total of $5000 in prizes. Download a prospectus and registration form online at this website or send a SASE to:
New Photography Competition
Fairplex
Box 2250
Pomona CA 91769

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Opportunity for artists...

Deadline July 1, 2004

National Juried Art Exhibition - Will's Creek Survey - Saville Gallery.

Exhibit Sept 2 - Oct 8, 2004. Awards: Best of Show:$1000, $4000+ in additional awards. Juror is Elizabeth Thomas, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Carnegie Museum of Art.

Two slides:$25. For entry form and prospectus contact:
Allegany Arts Council
52 Baltimore St
Cumberland MD 21502

or call 301-777-2787 or visit their website

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For glass sculptors...

Deadline: August 5, 2004

2nd Annual Eugene Glass School Drinking Glass Juried Art Glass Competition, $1,000 Award for Best-of-Show, $3,250 in additional awards with five categories.

Slides, CD (jpg), or artwork must be postmarked by August 5, 2004. Maximum 5 entries - $10 per entry, 3/ $25, 4/$35, 5/$40. For details and entry forms: download here or e-mail drinkingglass@eugeneglassschool.org, call 541-342-2959, or send a SASE to:
Eugene Glass School
575 Wilson St
Eugene OR 97402

A delayed but deserved well done! to Simmie Knox, a Washington area artist who was chosen to deliver the official Clinton portrait.

Interesting to note that none of the area newspapers art critics has written anything about Knox, although regular staff writers have written several pieces and even the mighty New York Times.

Yet our area's otherwise vociferous art critics remain silent... perhaps because Knox is an area artist? I wonder if the portrait artist was from New York, or LA?

Congrats Simmie - well deserved!

Following a record number of entries, four artists have been short-listed for the BP Portrait Award 2004, one of Britain's most prestigious and lucrative art prizes.

As discussed here, our own National Portrait Gallery, once it re-opens, will begin its own American Portrait Prize award on a yearly basis.

A couple of years ago, Zygimantas Augustinas, a terrific European painter that we've represented since 1997, won the Second Prize at the BP Portrait Award, and his career skyrocketed in Europe. Hopefully an American Portrait Prize award will have similar impact on the American artist who wins it.

Today is the third Friday of the month, and thus the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown (MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish) will have their opening nights, catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant. Starts at 6 PM. Free and open to all.

See ya there!

Louis Jacobson reviews the Contemporary Photography show at Fraser Bethesda in this week's City Paper and Bidisha Banerjee reviews Leo Villareal at Conner Contemporary Art.

Tyler Green with some excellent points on the center of the art world and lack thereof...

A first report on this week's Boardwalk Arts Festival in Virginia Beach.

Kristen Hileman, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's Assistant Curator for Contemporary Art has just finished jurying the 2004 Georgetown International Art Competition and has selected these artists to exhibit in the show.

Eight of the 21 artists selected are from the area. The rest are from various other states and Europe.

Blake Gopnik reviews the Gabriel Orozco photography show at the Hirshhorn in today's Post.

Unfortunately, this Gopnik review only occasionally lives up to the usual high standards of his writing and lectures. Many of his observations take a much more standard, hackneyed tack. In many of his descriptions and comments on the show, Gopnik prowls the newsprint page and gives us built-in, unaltered moments of epiphany, just as common art scribes have done for about a century.

(Above paragraph has a mirror cousin in Gopnik's review).... fun with Blake and Lenny.

Here's another interesting insight into the mind of this brilliant critic in describing why some of Orozco's photos are not good:

"All of them are striking images, and that's what makes them fail."

So a striking image (and they are striking according to Blake because "these pictures are striking because they point back at well-established notions of what now constitutes an arty picture") is a failure as a good photograph?

Am I the only one who is confused here?

The Sandra Ramos exhibition that just ended yesterday (and her US solo debut) was our most successful exhibition ever.

We had visitors who came to see the show from as far as Europe and South America, and nearly all purchases were made by out-of-towners, although a couple of DC-based collectors did acquire a few major pieces and somewhat restored my faith in Washington art collectors.

We're also working on three separate museum acquisitions. More to come as soon as they are announced.

The show was also a three-peat as far as local reviews, as Jessica Dawson reviewed in the Post, Joanna Shaw-Eagle reviewed it for the Times, and Lou Jacobson reviewed it for the City Paper. Other reviews/articles included a review in Art Cuba, a small review in Cuba Now Magazine, and also reviewed in CubaSi Cultura magazine, and this bit in Art & Antiques.

A New York art forgery story always makes for interesting reading.

Gallery Slye has a Spring Gallery Party & Silent Auction this coming Saturday, June 26th from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.

For those three hours only they will be auctioning off works by Washington, DC artists: Allison Aboud, Eileen Corrigan, Dale Hunt, Joren Lindholm, Isabel Manalo, Marc Pekala, Wayne Peterson and Hilary Stewart.

More details here and RSVP to Catherine Slye at 202/306-0122

Job Opportunity

McLean Project for the Arts seeks Exhibitions Director to curate and implement exhibitions of contemporary art from the mid-Atlantic region and develop adult educational programming. Five years experience, masters degree in the arts or equivalent experience, excellent oral and written communications skills, self-starter, team player, working knowledge of word processing, email, digital media files (MAC desktop).

Start Sept. 1, 2004. Submit cover letter, resume and portfolio of past exhibitions by June 30:

Nancy Perry, Executive Director
McLean Project for the Arts
1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101
703-790-1953, nperry@mpaart.org
Hours: 28-32 hours a week
Salary range: $28,000-32,000 based on experience

Market 5 Gallery is hosting its 30th Anniversary Exhibition and this is an exhibition of artists selected by Market 5 Gallery's patrons.

In September of 2003, Market 5 Gallery celebrated its 30th Anniversary with an "all hung" exhibition. Guests at the opening reception were invited to select three artists for a group exhibition in 2004.

By popular demand, Elisa McKay, Marguerite Beck-Rex, and Joseph Harrison Snyder were awarded the exhibition.

Market 5 Gallery is located at 7th & North Carolina Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20003, in the North Hall of Historic Eastern Market.

Contact: Camille Mosley-Pasley at 202/581-4114 or here.

In addition to dozens of great art galleries in our area, we are also lucky to have many alternative spaces that still put up terrific art exhibitions. Here are some new shows going up in some of these places:

May-July 31, 2004: Group Show
Common Grounds' Art Exhibit Highlights Work of GMU Artists in CROSS+POLLINATION: art from a shared space

The selection and arrangement of paintings and digital work by five artists from George Mason University explores the intentional and subliminal exchange, adaptation and transmutation of ideas by individuals creating art in a shared environment.
Featuring Natalie Guerrieri, Lisa McCarty, Susan Noyes, Lara Oliveira, and Jennifer Sarkilahti.

At The Common Grounds Coffee and Tea House 3211 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201 703.312.0427

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June 19th- July 19th, 2004: Group Show
FOCUS: Jesse Cohen, Frederic Neumann, Denise Odell, Justin Orndorff, and Andrea Paipa.

This is a group exhibition investigating colors and forms through the use of photography creating new views of everyday objects, still life compositions and urban landscapes.
Opening Reception: Friday, June 18th, 10-11:30pm

Exhibition Hours: Monday - Saturday 10am - 9pm, Sunday 11am - 7pm
Location: 3019 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007

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June 21-25, 2004: Group Show
Redmont Associates present Two Artists: Judy Hintz Cox and Norman A. Krasnegor.

Hours: 10AM - 5PM, at the Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009.

Reception with the artists - Monday, June 21, 5 -8PM. Proportion of sales donated to AED. For information contact Redmont Associates at Redmontart@comcast.net or 703 620-2647.

Tomorrow is the third Thursday of the month, so the 7th Street area art galleries have their extended hours.

And on Friday, the Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown have their new shows and openings from 6-9 PM.

We will have a two person show by John Jacobsmeyer and Margaret McCann.

Jacobsmeyer, who lives and has a studio in Brooklyn, and teaches in Manhattan, has exhibited twice with us. His first show was reviewed by Ferdinand Protzman in the Washington Post and his second show was also reviewed by Jessica Dawson in the Post a couple of years later.

This will be McCann's debut in the DC area.

See you there!

A delayed but well-deserved good bye to Washington area artist Noche Crist, who passed away a few days ago.

Tomorrow and until Sunday is the Boardwalk Art Festival in Virginia Beach.

This show is one of the oldest (now in its 49th year) and most competitive outdoor art festivals in the nation. Over 800,000 people from all over the country and overseas will visit the show, which has around 500 artists displaying their art on the new Virginia Beach Boardwalk.

The show also has around $30,000 in prizes and the jurors for this year's show are Dr. Jonathan Binstock from the Corcoran, Michael O'Sullivan from the Washington Post and Chawky Frenn from George Mason University's art faculty.

The Alexandria Commission for the Arts has issued a call for artists to design a new image for the upcoming Alexandria Festival of the Arts to be held September 11 & 12, 2004.

The winning image will be featured on posters and collateral materials publicizing the event. It will also emblazon t-shirts which will be sold at the Festival with proceeds to benefit the Alexandria Commission for the Arts.

Compensation to the winning artist will be $500 and entries must be received by July 12, 2004. Entries may be submitted by mail to the Commission’s offices or by e-mail to AlexandriaCommissisonfortheArts@verizon.net.

The image should be presented in 8 1/2 x 11” format. Concept statements and examples of multiple image applications are encouraged. Individuals may submit up to three unique designs. Name and contact information should be attached to every entry. Entries will be judged on quality and sophistication of expression, conceptual development, typography (if and where applicable) and flexibility of application.

The Alexandria Commission for the Arts reserves the right to alter or excerpt all entries, and design may be reproduced for multiple uses.

Where's Waldo?..... Mix in Green, Dawson, Nikki Lee, Numark, Fusebox, Whitmore, Wilson.... Oy Vey! A bit like Trump wanting to copyright "You're fired!" Or.... "painting is dead."

Just saw The Chronicles of Riddick - Very entertaining! Vin Diesel is really good in it... Does anybody know if Diesel's first name is actually Vehicle Identification Number Diesel? Cough... cough...

Opportunities for artists...

Deadline: July 31, 2004.

The Ruth Chenven Foundation awards up to $1,500 to U.S. crafts artists engaged in or planning a project. For more information, send a SASE to: Ruth Chenven Foundation, 7505 Jackson Ave., Tacoma Park, MD 20912.

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Deadline: July 2, 2004.

Maryland Federation of Art 4th Annual National Landscape Exhibition.

Exhibition scheduled Sept. 10-Oct. 10. Entry fee: $25 for up to 2 slides; $5 for each additional. To request a prospectus, send a SASE to: Dept. 1 MFA Circle Gallery, Box 1866, Annapolis, MD 21404.

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Deadline: September 1, 2004.
Now Accepting Applications for Professional Art Exhibits for Dumbarton Concert Gallery's 2004-2005 Season. The Dumbarton Concert Series, located in historic Dumbarton Church in Georgetown, is accepting applications from DC, MD, and VA artists for the 2004-2005 season.

The Concert Gallery has shown the work of hundreds of outstanding Washington-area artists since its inception in 1981. The artist's opening occurs in conjunction with a one-night concert performance. The exhibit stays up for an average of one week, during which time the gallery is open by appointment. Artists are invited to submit slides either independently or as part of a group. Decisions are made by a jury. Eight shows are installed, October through April. The gallery administration may scedule interviews with finalists prior to final decisions on submissions.

Submission Requirements: Ten to twenty slides in plastic sleeves to include:
1. Name address, phone, email, and curriculum vitae.
2. Dimensions, price, and medium of each piece (if slides aren't the actual pieces that will be hung, they must be an accurate representation thereof).
3. SASE for return of materials.

Mail to: Eric Westbrook, 2325 42nd Street, NW #419, Washington DC 20007.

Additional questions? Call Eric Westbrook at 202 965-0281. The Concert Gallery takes a 25 percent commission. Exhibits are up for an average of one week, with most attendance taking place the night of the concert.

In case you missed it, there was a beautiful review of the Sally Mann show at the Corcoran in the Post last Sunday.

It was written by Henry Allen, the Post's Pulitzer-winning art critic.

The exhibit "Sally Mann: What Remains," featuring more than 150 photographs, will be at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, New York Avenue and 17th Street NW, through Sept. 6. It is beautifully curated by Philip Brookman. The gallery is open every day except Tuesday; hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sally Mann will be discussing her work next June 24 at the Corcoran. In this very special evening, Ms. Mann speaks, with slides, about her work, including At Twelve and Immediate Family, and her latest exhibition, What Remains. Philip Brookman, Corcoran Senior Curator, Photography and Media Arts, and curator of the show, introduces the artist. The event is sold out!

Blake Gopnik's piece in the Post about the Panda Public Art Project has created an interesting debate. Tony Gittens, Executive Director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, responds to Gopnik's piece here.

Letters to the Editor from other readers, blasting or praising Blake, can be read here.

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The Washington Post gives our "Contemporary Photography" exhibition in Bethesda a Hot Pick in today's paper. The show features photography by Hugh Shurley, Viktor Koen, Nate Larson, Heidi Marston, Prescott Lassman, Elena Volkov, Joyce Tenneson, Cirenaica Moreira, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Grace Weston, Rachel Scheron, Elsa Mora, Deborah Nofret Marrero, John DeFabbio, Jan Saudek and others.

You read it here first:

Dr. Carolyn Carr, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery told me last night that the National Portrait Gallery will soon announce a national portrait competition, held yearly and open to American artists. Unlike the annual BP Portrait Prize Award in Britain, this Portrait Prize will be open to US artists of all ages.

A Dupont Circle gallerist tells me that the former building where Gallery K was located will soon become a high end furniture store. Too bad; we were all hoping that somehow a "new" Gallery K will emerge from the death of its owners.

Another Dupont Circle gallerist tells me that rents around the renovated 14th Street neighborhood have skyrocketed and some gallery moves there have been cancelled as a result.

And yet a third gallerist passes that longtime dealer Sally Troyer will be closing her gallery after this current show.

Washington Post art critic Michael O'Sullivan returns to the Post's Weekend section to review galleries and museums. O'Sullivan had been reviewing movies for a few months.

Heard in the offices of the WCP: Former WCP Arts Editor and critic Glenn Dixon will no longer be writing art reviews for the WCP. Apparently Dixon is busy with other commitments. Hopefully the WCP will find someone to replace Dixon and who will go beyond the two or three museums and four galleries that he usually covered. The WCP's arts coverage, under the guidance of Leonard Roberge, has been doing a consistently outstanding job of covering the arts around town. Interested art critic freelancers should read the guidelines here and then start writing about art!

A viewpoint of the unlikely (and definately surprising) Reagan legacy to the arts can be read here. He brought the NEA funding to an all-time high.

Lou Jacobson comes through with a great review of the Sandra Ramos show in the Washington City Paper.

Want to get your artwork into major museums? Photographer Tracy Lee passes this cool story on just how to do that.

Jessica Dawson really gets what Sandra Ramos is all about in this very good review in today's Washington Post.

Last night we took down Tim Tate's exhibition from the Bethesda gallery - once again Tate delivered a spectacular show following his solo debut last year in Georgetown with a nearly sold out show.

The Sandra Ramos exhibit currently in Georgetown has been also spectacularly successful, and will be reviewed tomorrow in the Washington Post and also in the Washington City Paper.

This Friday is the second Friday of the month and thus the Bethesda Art Walk.

Seventeen galleries and spaces participate from 6-9 PM with a free minibus to take art aficionados around the various spaces. We will host about twenty photographers from around the area, nation, Europe and Latin America. Among the photographers are Joyce Tenneson, Jan Saudek, Deborah Nofret, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Elena Volkov and many others.

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This coming Sunday is the Bethesda Artists' Market, which has rapidly been expanding. Now in it's third showing, the market will feature the work of about 40 area artists set up around the gallery in Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue. Unfortunately I won't be there participating as I am doing ar art fair away from the area. But I'll be at the next one on July 11.

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A couple of years ago we tried working with Nikki S. Lee's gallery in New York to bring her photography to the Washington area, but couldn't make it happen. However, Cheryl Numark has and her beautiful new gallery will host Lee's debut in the DC area. She's hosting a party/special event to kick-off Nikki S. Lee's exhibition, titled "Parts & Projects," and DJ Stylus will be spinning Caribbean, Latin and African music at Numark Gallery on June 11 from 6:30 to 9 PM.

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And for nearly three years we had been also working with Sally Mann's dealer, also in New York to bring Sally Mann's new work to the DC area at the same time as her Corcoran exhibition, which is titled "What Remains" and has been curated by Philip Brookman and promises to be one of the power photograhphy shows of the year.

Then the New York gallery director we had been working with decided to have a family, and (I think) she moved to France and everything dropped through the cracks in the interim. Luckily for Washington area Sally Mann fans, Hemphill Fine Arts in Georgetown will be showcasing Mann's work in a show titled "Last Measure" which opens this Thursday with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

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And tonite I am escorting legendary photographer Lida Moser to a reception at the Phillips Collection, where some of her work is on display as part of the Aaron Siskind: New Relationships in Photography exhibition. A portrait of Siskind by Moser is in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery and a portrait of Moser, by Alice Neel is in the permanent collection of the Met in New York.

The thief who stole the life sized statute from the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival (see my May 26 entry) has been caught, according to WTOP News.

Washington Sculpture Center (WSC) Opens.

The WSC will be bringing new creative resources and cultural energy to the Washington Area.

The Washington Sculpture Center (WSC) announces the grand opening of its sculpture studios in Washington, DC on Saturday, June 19, 2004 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The public is welcome to visit the facility at 1338 Half Street SE (located between "N" & "O" Streets SE, two blocks south of the Navy Yard Green Line Metro Station) and watch demonstrations in a variety of sculptural techniques. This is a free event, everyone is welcome and refreshments will be served. Instructors will be on hand to answer questions about their work and about WSC.

The Washington Sculpture Center is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that promotes:
- The teaching of sculpture including glass, metal, and stone to all levels of students so that they may develop their creative potential.
- The placement of sculptures in public spaces in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

The WSC was founded in 2003 by Patricia Ghiglino, a businesswoman and Reinaldo Lopez, artist. The WSC, a one-of-a-kind resource in Washington, offers instruction for beginner through advanced students, taught by local artists, in the following specialties:

· Flamework (bead making, glass blowing, and sculptural work -- Lisa St. Martin, Elizabeth Mears, instructors)
· Mosaics (Gene Sterud, instructor)
· Stained Glass (Jimmy Powers, instructor)
· Blacksmithing (George Anderton, instructor)
· Stone Carving (Reinaldo Lopez, instructor)
· Bronze Casting and mold making (Patrick Birge, instructor)

There will be a drawing for a free class for those who come to the opening June 19 and leave their business card and e-mail address. Winner will be notified June 21, 2004, by e-mail and his/her name will be posted on the website. For more information on the Washington Sculpture Center (WSC), visit their website at: www.dcsculpture.org.

Opportunity for lesbian artists...

Astraea Visual Arts Fund to recognize contemporary lesbian artists.

Deadline: June 11, 2004.

The Astraea Visual Arts Fund recognizes the work of contemporary lesbian artists by providing support to those who show artistic merit and whose art/perspective reflect a commitment to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice's mission and efforts to promote lesbian visibility and social justice. The fund was established by the Astraea Visual Arts Project in 2002. The project sponsors events and educational panels and commissions renowned lesbian artists to create limited edition prints to benefit Astraea's work.

This year Astraea will give two $2,500 cash awards to lesbian visual artists. Slides of original works of art will be accepted in the following categories only: sculpture, painting in any medium, print, drawing, work on paper, and mixed media. Documentary photography is not eligible unless it is part of a more extended process.

Applicants must be U.S. residents. Students currently enrolled in an arts degree granting program or its equivalent at the time of application are not eligible to apply. See the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Web site (noted below) for complete eligibility information and application guidelines visit this website.

Super busy week!

Through the week I have to mat and frame about twenty pieces for a show I'm doing this coming weekend.

This Tuesday we have a small closing reception for Tim Tate's spectacularly successful show in Bethesda.

This Thursday I will be presenting an abbreviated version of the Success as an Artist seminar at the VSA International Arts Festival, taking place at multiple locations in Washington D.C., June 9 - 12 and coinciding with VSA arts' celebration of its 30th anniversary.

Later that evening, at 7 PM, I will be moderating a panel at the Art League in Alexandria. The panel will discuss art and self portraits. Panel members are Dr. Carolyn Carr, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, National Portrait Gallery, Michael O'Sullivan, art critic from the Washington Post, and Prof. Chawky Frenn, perhaps our area's most celebrated self-portrait-obsessed artist.

And Friday is the Bethesda Art Walk and we will have a photography group show surveying work by contemporary photographers from the US and abroad. The show includes work by Joyce Tenneson, Jan Saudek, Martha Maria Perez Bravo, Deborah Nofret Marrero, Viktor Koen (his "Drone" is pictured), Elsa Mora, Cirenaica Moreira and many more.

This ought to be fun...

The First ever International Nude Art Expo is taking place (of all places) in Washington, DC!

Date: Aug 20 - 22, 2004

The Expo is at the new Washington Convention Center and the sponsor has a call for artists!

This expo is opened to all artists, sculptors, photographers, and galleries, etc depicting the nude art form. Visit their website at www.nudeartexpo.org.

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2004.

For more info contact the sponsors at:
Studio 15
3415 Windom Road
Brentwood, MD 20722
Phone: 301- 864- 0700
e-mail: expo@studio15art.com

While I was in California, The Washington City Paper published a review of Tim Tate's current exhibition, which ends June 8.

Annette Polan, Associate Professor at the Corcoran College of Art and a well known portrait painter is gathering together a group of artists to pay tribute to the American soldiers, sailors, aircrews and Marines who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.

Inspired by "Faces of the Fallen," photographs of U.S. casualties published periodically in the Washington Post, Annette passes that she wants a meaningful memorial to the sons, daughters, husbands and wives lost in this war.

As a veteran, I also believe that this is a touching way to honor those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation.

These faces of America will be portrayed by a group of 100 artists – some well known, others still students. Each artist will contribute about 10 portraits. The finished work, drawings, paintings and collages on 6"x 8" canvasses will be exhibited in Washington in late October. The images have been assigned randomly to the artists according to the day on which the casualty occurred.

A website is currently being established so that families of these heroes can post stories and also view finished portraits.

For more info contact Annette Polan at apolan@starpower.net or 202.537.2908

Heading back home today.... will resume posting upon return.

I'm still in San Diego, but don't forget that this coming Friday is the Dupont Circle Galleries extended hours, with most galleries open from 6-8 PM and most artists present as well. Go support our galleries and artists!

Arrived in San Diego extraordinarily late, due to weather issues at Philadelpia. On the flights here I read Thomas Cahill's most excellent book How The Irish Saved Civilization.

I'm heading to California tomorrow... will post from the Left Coast as I am bringing the faithful laptop.

No excuse for this.