Opportunities for artists...

Deadline August 15,2004

Portland Art Gallery Accepting Submissions for Latin American Art Exhibit (10/1-12/12). The Latin American Arts and Cultures Council of Oregon and the Belinki and DuPrey Gallery are presenting an art exhibition celebrating Oregon's Latin American cultural heritage. Featuring traditional arts (textiles, ceramics, folk art, etc.) and fine contemporary art by Latino/Hispanic/Latin American or artists of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry from Latin American countries, this exhibit will provide a visual accompaniment to other community events celebrating Latin American art and culture.
Belinki and DuPrey Gallery
1224 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205
503.227.1242, email: erin@belinkiandduprey.com.

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Deadline August 15, 2004.

Public Art Project: The NC Zoo – North Carolina is seeking qualifications from artists or teams led by a professional artist for a large-scale sculpture that promotes renewable energy. This is an opportunity to design a participatory, kinetic work driven by the technology of renewable, "green" energy generation for an exterior setting. Up to 3 artists will each receive a $500 honorarium to visit the sites for an interview and proposal presentation. Project budget - $73,000 inclusive of artist fee, engineering, fabrication, installation and other associated costs. For more information contact Ellen Greer at ellen.greer@ncmail.net or 336.879.7450 or see this website.

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Deadline August 15,2004

15th Northwest Annual: Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) – Washington state. From Oct 9-Nov 20 CoCA presents the 2004 Northwest Annual, a juried exhibition now in it's fifteenth year, which is open to all professional artists residing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Northwest Annual is an opportunity for artists to gain regional and national exposure and serves as a vital showcase for experimental work and emerging talent. CoCA is accepting submissions for the following media: painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, works on paper, and video. The juror for the CoCA's 2004 is visual artist Ken Lum. Prospectus and entry form can be found at this website, or email jim@cocaseattle.org.

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Deadline August 9,2004
Audubon Artists 62nd Annual National All-Juried Exhibition – NY. Sep 18-Oct 8, 2004. Salmagundi Club. Aquamedia, graphics, oil, pastel, and sculpture. Awards: over $12,000. Art lecture by Robert Gamblin on Oct 3, 12:30-1:30 pm. For prospectus, send SASE to:
Raymond Olivere
1431 Lexington Ave, #11D
New York, NY 10128

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Deadline August 21, 2004 - Pastel Society of New Mexico 13th National Juried Exhibition – NM. November 5-21. Expo New Mexico (Fairgrounds). 80% pastel. Judge: Richard McKinley. Awards: $5,000 in merchandise and cash. Entry fee: $25/3 members, $30/3 nonmembers, maximum 3 slides. For prospectus, send #10 SASE to:
PSNM-B
PO Box 3571
Albuquerque, NM 87190-3571

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Deadline: September 20, 2004

Allied Artists of America 91st Annual Open Exhibition - NJ. Nov 13-30, 2004. National Arts Club. All artists. Oil, watercolor, acrylic, casein, pastel, graphics, sculpture. Awards: $16,000 cash, medals. 20% commission. For prospectus, send SASE to:
R. Yanow
12 Korwell Circle
West Orange, NJ 07052

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Deadline August 25, 2004

2004 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition: Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University – AR. Delta National Small Prints Exhibition: Oct 21 - Nov 19, 2004. Juror: Shelley R. Langdale, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Full color catalog of all work in the exhibition. Several purchase awards, sales encouraged. For a prospectus send SASE to:
2004 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition
Bradbury Gallery
Fowler Center
PO Box 2339
State University, AR 72467
Or email: dnspe@astate.edu

Wanna have fun with Egyptian Hieroglyphics?

The New York Times has a story on an idea for a pension trust for artists that I discussed here last May.

Read the NYT story here.

Jobs in the Arts...

Executive Director: Mystic Arts Center, Connecticut.

The Mystic Arts Center, founded in 1913, is a non-profit art exhibition and educational organization, which seeks an Executive Director. Working in partnership with the Board, the Executive Director will provide leadership and direction to the Center, oversee the daily operations, facilitate the long-range strategic plan, serve as the professional spokesperson for the organization, recruit and manage membership and oversee the budget.

This full-time position directs a staff of 10 and is located on waterfront property with a 10,000 square foot facility. Qualifications: A bachelor's degree and at least five years of senior level experience, ideally in a non-profit environment. Proven budget management, fund-raising and computer experience desired.

For more information please visit their website here.

Salary: Competitive. Submit resume and cover letter to:
Search Committee
Mystic Arts Center
9 Water Street
Mystic, Connecticut 06355

or email to: mysticartssearch@aol.com

Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. Secondsight is committed to supporting photographers at every stage of their careers, from students to professionals.

Their next meeting is July 30. Their guest speaker is Bernis von zur Muehlen.

Bernis is a widely respected pioneer of male nude photography and her work has been exhibited in numerous museum exhibitions throughout the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Delaware Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Additionally, her work has been published in many anthologies of male nude photography including Women Photograph Men, Women See Men, The Male Nude in Photography and Male Bodies: A Photographic History of the Nude.

Contact Secondsight here.

Read this artist's experience in copyright image fraud.

Anna L. Conti is a Bay Area artist who discovered that her artwork was being downloaded from her site, copied and being then sold on Ebay.

I am on travel this week, so the posts will probably come at odd times during the day, so check often!

Last Friday, Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator for Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn Museum, awarded the Best in Show for the VIII Georgetown International Juried Art Competition to area artist Andrew Devlin. Quite an accomplishment, as Hileman reviewed nearly 1,000 submissions from all over the world, and then selected around 20 for the exhibition.

Devlin will have a solo show in our Georgetown gallery next year as part of the award package.

The Georgetown 3rd Friday openings at Canal Square were packed last Friday - one of the better opening nights in years. There was even quite a bit of media present, including (incredibly enough) some New York City press, I guess out for a visit to the galleries in the provinces.

One of the great joys of writing about art in the Greater Washington area is the discovery once in a while of an exhibition that, unexpectedly in most cases, just takes your breath away with its impact, presence and lingering ability to elicit thoughts and responses long after you’ve left the gallery.
 
In this case, the gallery is Target Gallery, inside the Torpedo Factory, and the exhibition is “In 2Words: Numbers,” a national exhibition juried by Washington firebrand curator Sarah Tanguy.
 
Let me show my cards early: This is the best Target Gallery, show that I’ve ever seen in the twelve years that I have been regularly covering the Greater Washington visual art scene for newspapers and magazines.
 
A bit about the premise for the show: “In 2Words: Numbers” is the first of a pair of national exhibitions that focus on the use of digits, mathematics and formulas in contemporary art. The second exhibition (titled “In2Words: Words”), juried by Krystyna Wasserman, Curator of Book Arts at the National Museum of Women in the Arts opens July 24, 2004.
 
The employment of digits, mathematics and formulas as the driving and unifying theme in the show appealed to me through a couple of sensory inputs – the first as an artist, and the second as a Mathematician. As an undergraduate student at the University of Washington in beautiful Seattle I managed to graduate with a double degree: one in Art and one in Mathematics - odd uh?
 
Anyway, the sixteen artists selected by Tanguy all managed to create artwork that cleverly manage to revolve about this rather unusual theme. In a group show, any group show, there are usually standouts, weak entries and a majority of forgettable artwork in the majority. In mathematical terms, the first two would be the out layers and the rest the median.
 
In this case, I can honest find few out layers – simply because the quality and cleverness and creative thought employed in nearly every entry surpasses most expectations. But let’s discuss some of them.
 
Judith Larsen, a photographer from Cambridge, Massachusetts has three digital photographs on exhibit. In all three instances, Larsen has a female figure that has been decorated with numbers and formulas, like a modern digital Pictish princess. At first one would think that this may be a heavy handed way to crack open the door to “fit” the competition’s theme. And yet, Larsen disarms that negative pre-impression by the marriage of the mathematical tattoos with interesting poses by the model coupled with an unusual digital color palette. The combination of numbers, formulas, poses and colors all add up unexpectedly to deliver quite interesting photographs.
 
Still in the realm of photography, but pushing the envelope a bit more, at least as far as the receiving medium, is Jayson Taylor from Hays, Kansas. Taylor’s “Running Thoughts” combines silk, muslin, and etched aluminum – all coupled with a photo transfer process – to produce a visually interesting work that requires the manual lifting of the silk or muslin to get to the various stages of the actual photograph. Combining a series of numerical finite layers with interaction from the viewer has given Taylor a huge advantage in probably being the most creative of all the interpreters of the theme selected by Tanguy.
 
On the floor of the gallery, there’s an unusual and visually entertaining piece by New Yorker Frank Raczkowski (with a sign letting you know that it is OK to step on it – carefully). Titled “Point Five,” it is made of rubber, steel and level vials all aligned to look like one of those floor mats made up of old tires. He is what art BLOGger Tyler Green would dub a "Wal-Martist." I like this piece partially because of the inner tension that it creates in inviting me to step on it.
 
Step on artwork?
 
Geez… we’re not even supposed to touch it, right? But Raczkowski must be pretty sure of his construction to ask us to step on it (carefully). But Frank, what about all those little level vials, filled with that strange yellowish fluid with the bubble in the middle (what is that stuff?). No thanks – but it works wonderfully in making me look at the work, study it, praise it and avoid stepping on it. Congratulations, you pass.
 
At the risk of being verbose about Mr. Raczkowski, his second entry on display is made up of 148 digital prints of someone’s skin, prickling with short stubble hair. We’re told in the catalog that there are 75,080 counted hairs.
 
OK, now I am interested. First of all, what part of the anatomy has Raczkowski photographed, sometimes it looks strangely sexual, other times it looks like maybe a shaved animal skin (a pig?), and others a made up alien landscape. Eventually the dutiful gallery assistant or gallery director Claire Huschle will tell you that they are photos of Raczkowski’s shaved head.
 
Even after this information is disclosed I am having trouble pinpointing any of the 148 prints, arranged salon style in a corner of the gallery space, to anything resembling a human landscape on anyone’s head. I am even having more trouble comprehending why anyone would want to count all the hairs – but someone did (or is telling us they did) and I sort of like that in a mathematical way.
 
As Tanguy eloquently describes in her juror’s statement, “[in this show] process is paramount… As intimations become revelations, the works transform us from passive recipients to active explorers.”

I believe Raczkowski and I ain't even beginning to think to count the hairs - but I was tempted!

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The show is on display until July 18, 2004. Target Gallery is the national exhibition space of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, displaying artwork in all media from artists across the United States and abroad. Located on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Target is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm and other times by appointment. Contact the gallery at (703) 838-4565, ext. 4.

Call for Artists...

The League of Reston Artists (LRA) has a Call for Artists for the upcoming Annual Judged Fine Arts Exhibition at the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey.

$300 in award monies will be presented at the opening reception by this year’s judge, Libby Stevens. This call for entry is limited to a maximum of two framed works of fine art from each artist. The entry fee is $15 for LRA members and $20 for non-members. The call for entry form can be downloaded from the LRA’s web site at this website. Send completed entry form to the LRA, POB 2513, Reston, VA 20195, or present the completed form at the door during drop-off of the works of art.

Artists who are interested in submitting work for this exhibition are advised that they must deliver or have their work delivered in person to the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, on Friday, July 30, from 10:00 - 11:00 am. Works must be appropriately framed for hanging per the printed framing standards on the call for entry form and suitable for display in a public building.

Tyler Green's interesting online discussion with Village Voice art critic Jerry Saltz, plus Saltz's article in Artnet.com plus Nate Lippet's article in Seattle's The Stanger magazine (thanks AJ) have made me think about our local art critics, local media and the effect of art criticism on our galleries, artists, etc.
 
I am not sure about NYC or LA or Chicago, or even wonderful and beautiful Seattle, but after putting up well over 100 shows between the two galleries since 1996, plus reviewing another couple of hundred or so for magazines and newspapers and radio, and having been at the receiving end of many, many reviews, I have the following observations, purely from the perspective of an independent commercial fine arts gallery. 

(i)  A Washington, DC review has practically zero effect on gallery sales. In almost ten years of selling artwrok in the DC area, I cannot recall a single sale that took place solely because of a review in any of our local media. I can and do recall several major sales that took place because of a review of David FeBland in Art in America magazine, but even that collector (from Princeton, NJ) was attracted to the image in the review and became interested in the artist as a result of it - not the review itself. 

(ii)  A Washington, DC review has very small effect on increasing traffic to the gallery. This is still surprising to me. In fact, I would place the following types of mentions in our local press in order of increasing foot traffic to come and see the show. Most surprising of all is the fact that I have noticed, that a mention on the Post's Weekend section in the first page "Our Picks" column drives more traffic (in fact exponentially higher) than any other media mention anywhere. Also of interest, a little mini-review or mention in the Post's freebie newspaper (the Express) will also bring in more people to the gallery than a proper review in the Post! Anyway here's my listing of possible local media mentions in order of traffic augmentation:

1. Washington Post Weekend Section "Our Picks"
2. Washington Post Express mention
3. Washington City Paper Major Review
4. Washington City Paper City Lights Small Review
5. Washington Post Sunday Source mention
6. Washington Post Style "Galleries" review
7. Washington Times review
8. WETA Around Town "Best Bet"
9. Georgetowner review
10. Gazette review

I've left out radio and TV because they are so rare to obtain. In the few rare times that we've received either radio or TV coverage, it has created huge interest in the exhibitions. Too bad it happens so seldom.
 
(iii) From a purely professional and artistic perspective, a review in the local press can have a huge impact on an artist's development and career. In fact, a review in the Washington Post or the Washington Times - simply because of the fact that they are (in a provincial sense) "national newspapers" can and does deliver a very significant punch to an artist's career and resume. In that sense, a major review in the Post or Times, and to a lesser extent the WCP, can and does become an important marker in an artist's career.
 
I've seen this time and time again. It may take months or years to "see" the effect - but it is there and it is a profound footprint in any artist's (or gallery) ability to establish a presence.
 
Changing the subject a bit...
 
I believe that art criticism should have teeth - why not! In fact, the sharper the better!
 
What I cannot stand is lukewarm criticism: If you like a show, then be passionate about it! If you dislike it, then destroy it! Like this totally brutalizing review  of these two artists a while back, or like Blake Gopnik's total destruction of J. Seward Johnson.

That's the way to write about something that you don't like! Not a half-assed, lukewarm criticism where three quarters of the piece is a bio of the artist, and the other quarter describes the art.

But if art criticism should have teeth; it should also have passion to jump in and really, really like something and tell us why.

I cannot recall the last time that I read a local art critic write something along the lines of "this is a spectacular show" or "this is one of the best fill-in-the-blank that I've ever seen" - you get my point?

It does take cojones to write a negative review of a local artist, someone that you may run into later. And it is true that often the victim takes it personally. Or the host...

A few years ago I wrote this small piece for some local papers (it was also eventually picked up by the Washington Post). Soon afterwards I was getting hate phone calls and emails from Twombly fans and even from the NGA. In fact, after that piece, I have never been invited to another NGA opening since!

More later... super busy with the Georgetown gallery opening tonite - we have a really good show juried by Kristen Hileman, Asst. Curator for Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn. She selected about 20 artists from over 1,000 entries received from all over the world.
 
Opening is from 6-9 PM and catered by the Sea Catch. The three other Canal Square galleries will also have new shows and will be open from 6-9 PM.
 
See ya there!

Jeffry Cudlin has a really eloquent and intelligent review of the Jim Dine show at the NGA in the current edition of the Washington City Paper.  Go get a copy of the WCP and read it or read it online here.

Here is a really intelligent and elegantly written observation (in my opinion):

"But one begins to sense a failure of nerve, a need to apologize for indulgences. In Owl, Rome (1997), swirls and puddles of shellac mixed with sand saturate the paper and stain it a range of dull ochres. A crumpled rag of the same color is glued to the upper third of the longish sheet of paper. Both this brazen non sequitur and the chaotic vigorousness of Dine’s treatment of the owl’s body feel like a guilty justification for the comparatively precious head sitting predictably atop it."

I dropped by the Torpedo Factory today to see the show at Target Gallery curated by Sarah Tanguy. More on that later, but for now let me tell you that this is the best show that I've seen at Target in the last ten years. It is quite extraordinary the number of really unique works that Tanguy managed to assemble from a juried show perspective.

More on that later, as I will review it for OTC.

Also while at the Factory, I saw some artwork (shown to me by her proud mom) by a 15-year-old girl, completely self-taught, and whose work left me absolutely stunned.

Her name is Jenny Davis, and like I said, she is 15, and she decided to start trying watercolors, and has produced a handful of watercolors (which as any artist knows, is the most technically demanding of any of the painting arts) that simply take your breath away with their technical eloquence for such a young, untrained child. Add to that an immediate sense of composition, and a built in ability to "see" and we have a budding star in the making.

I immediately invited her mom to have Jenny participate in our coming Summer Group Show in Bethesda!

That's how impressed I was by this prowess.

On the way out, I ran into artist Susan Makara and asked her if she's seen Tanya Davis daughter's work. Susan just whistled in admiration and said a wise "I know!"

Jerry Saltz has a must read piece about art critics, dealers and artists at Artnet.com.  And thanks to Arts Journal - Here's another great piece about and by art critics: Assume The Position by Nate Lippens.

Jessica Dawson has several mini reviews in today's Post.

Art Jobs...

Job offers at CUDC

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC), a non-profit dedicated to engaging artists and cultural organizations in community development and revitalization efforts.

The following jobs are available: Program Manager, Gallery Associate Gallery Associate: This hourly, entry-level position will coordinate the Gallery at Flashpoint. The ideal candidate will also coordinate the 7th Street Arts District's 3rd Thursday event. 3rd Thursday offers an extended evening of contemporary art exhibitions an artist-guided gallery crawl.

Program Manager: This full-time, management position will have primary responsibility for coordinating services to artists and arts organizations including the incubator program at Flashpoint.

How to apply: To apply, submit a resume with cover letter to:
Cultural Development Corporation Program Manager Search
or
Gallery Associate Search
916 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

Email: culturaldevcorp@culturaldc.org

Jeff Blum has a few interesting and enlightening comments about our current photograhy show in Bethesda and discusses James W. Bailey's destruction of his negatives to create the finished photo.

Jesse Cohen has a new DC-centric arts BLOG at Art DC. Welcome to the BLOGsphere! The more we chat, discuss, agree, fight over DC area art issues, the better!

Welcome Jesse!

Just in!



The DC council has approved $40 million for the Gehry addition to the Corcoran.

According to the info, the Council of the District of Columbia voted yesterday to authorize $40 million in tax increment financing (TIF) in the form of a Note to support the additions and renovations the Corcoran.

So Washington's first Origami building will soon be a reality. Now let's begin to hear the complaining and bitching begin.

We have announced the next date for our highly successful "Success as an Artist" Seminar." The next seminar will be hosted at Fraser Gallery Bethesda on Sunday, August 8, 2004 from 12-7 PM.

The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by nearly 2,000 artists and arts professionals from all over the Mid Atlantic is designed to deliver information, data and proven tactics to allow artists to develop and sustain a career in the fine arts. The seminar costs $80 and is limited to around 50 people. For more details please visit this website.

Fraser Gallery Bethesda is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, Bethesda, MD 20814, one block north of the Bethesda Metro Stop. You can contact the gallery at 301/718-9651 or via email at info@thefrasergallery.com.

Tomorrow is the 3rd Thursday of the month, so the 7th Street area galleries have their extended hours. Click here for details.

And Friday is the 3rd Friday, so the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown will have their new show openings. MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish. Catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant. From 6-9 PM. The Canal Square is at 31st Street NW and M Street in Georgetown.

Last night I took legendary photographer Lida Moser to a concert hosted by the The Folklore Society of Greater Washington.

It featured Bara Grimsdottir and Chris Foster. Foster is a singer of English traditional pub ballads while Grimsdottir is perhaps the world's best known singer of Icelandic saga and folk songs.

Public Art Call for Artists...

Deadline August 6, 2004

The City of San Jose, California has a call for artists for work on several capital improvement projects. They include a new police and fire facilities which include a public art component.

The anticipated public art budgets for two of the training facilities is $200,000 each for two training facilities and $1 million for a police substation. These budgets include design, fabrication, installation, and all costs associated with the public art.

Criteria: Aesthetic merit of past projects; appropriateness of artwork medium and artistic concepts as they relate to the project’s goals and setting; experience, success and interest in creating public artworks in collaboration with architects, design teams, and community members.

Contact: Brooke Jones, Office of Cultural Affairs - Public Art Program, 365 S. Market St., San José, CA 95113.

Grants for DC Area artists...

Deadline September 15, 2004.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant 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 grants@baderfund.org

Grants and Awards for Maryland artists...

Deadline July 29, 2004.

Individual Artist Awards: Choreography, Music Composition, Playwriting, Poetry, Visual Arts: Crafts, Photography, Installation, Sculpture.

The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards are grants awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence. A limited number of awards of $1,000, $3,000, and $6,000 are offered each year.

All work will be judged anonymously by out-of-state jurors whose decisions are based solely on artistic merit, as demonstrated in work completed after July 29, 2001.

Individuals who are Maryland residents, 18 years of age or older, may apply. Students currently enrolled in a degree program, and collaborating artists are not eligible to apply.

Application guidelines and forms are online here or call 410-767-6555 for more information.

(Next year’s categories: Fiction, Media, Solo Dance Performance, Solo Instrumental Performance, Solo Vocal Performance, Visual Arts: Painting, Works on Paper, New and Emerging Genre).

Opportunity for Artists...

Kensington Park Senior Living, is looking for artists to exhibit their artwork for a month. The artist will have a social hour to talk and demonstrate their art/talent and an article about the artist will be published in their monthly newsletter. If you are interested, please contact Kathy Ward, Therapeutic Recreation Director at 301-946-7700 or by e-mail at kward@Kensingtonretirement.com.

Kensington Park Senior Living
3620 Littledale Rd.
Kensington, MD 20895

A really nice profile in Art Times of Cuban-American painter Gabriela Dellosso, represented locally by us.

In case you missed it, last Thursday Leslie Walker had an article in the Washington Post discussing Art.com.

It is worth reading.

Founded a decade ago by two college students, art.com now employs 200 people working in a warehouse in Raleigh, NC, and its owners have apparently decided to branch into the original art, as so far art.com had concentrated on posters and reproductions.

Artists can display 16 original works on Art.com for free. People who want to buy the artwork then must negotiate directly with the artist through an e-mail link that Art.com provides.

Artists can also choose to pay $50 a year to display up to 96 images.

With five million visitors a month, and such low cost or free options, and with zero commission, I think that it is certainly worth a try!

Congratulations to Terry Teachout, who has been nominated to serve on the National Council on the Arts, the civilian panel that advises the NEA and its chairman, Dana Gioia.

Opportunities for artists...

Deadline: October 25, 2004.

Coker College's Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery is reviewing slides (all media) for solo shows 2005/06 season.

Ten slides, resume, and SASE by 10/25/04 to:
Larry Merriman
Coker College
300 East College Ave
Hartsville SC 29550

Slides returned late December. For a prospectus send SASE, or request it from lmerriman@coker.edu

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Deadline: August 3, 2004.

Texas Artists Museum - Art Competition 10th Annual Gulf Coast National Juried Art Competition.

Open to anyone 18+ living in the USA. 2-D artwork only, no photography. Slides due August 3, 2004. Has an entry fee.

For prospectus send SASE to:
Texas Artists Museum
3501 Cultural Center Drive
Port Arthur TX 77642

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Deadline: August 2, 2004

2004 Hoyt Art Center's Mid Atlantic Juried Art Show. Juror is Peter Plagens, Art Critic, Newsweek Magazine.

Entries are restricted to artists 21+ and living in the Mid Atlantic region of the United State (PA, OH, NY, NJ, MD, DE, VA, W. VA, and Washington DC).

All media will be considered with the following exceptions: No video or installations. There is a non refundable $25.00 entry fee for up to two works (3 works for Hoyt members) and an additional $5.00 fee for each additional work.

Exhibition Dates: Oct 5 - Nov 15, 2004. For a Prospectus send a
SASE to:
Bob Karstadt
Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts
124 E Leasure Ave
New Castle PA 16101

or call 724-652-2882 or email hoytprograms@hoytartcenter.org

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Deadline: September 3, 2004

The 20th Annual National Juried Contemporary Art Exhibition.

Juror: Tina Kukielski, Contemporary Art Curatorial Dept, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Cash awards/exhibition opportunities. Painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography and mixed media. Send SASE for
prospectus to:

The Barrett Art Center
55 Noxon St
Poughkeepsie NY 12601

Or call 845-471-2550

There are a couple of new art galleries in the area. In Baltimore (thanks J.T) Billy Coulbert is in the process of opening Cubicle 10, and in Bethesda, the Ozmosis Gallery just opened last month.

Ozmosis Gallery focuses on abstract and non-objective works. Each month the gallery presents a new exhibition with an opening reception on the second Friday of the month. The opening receptions are from 6-9pm and are free and open to the public as well as being a stop on Bethesda’s Art Walk trolley route.

Currently on exhibition are paintings by Michaele Harrington to be followed in August by Elizabeth Terra.

Sunday is the Bethesda Artist's Market. The market runs from 10am-5:30pm in the Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue. Nearly 30 local and regional artists will display and sell their original fine art and fine craft.

See ya there!

There's a Catholic school playground joke that goes like this:

A well dressed man approaches a woman, and after chatting her up a bit, asks her: "Will you have sex with me for one million dollars?"

"Yeah!" responds the woman.

"How about five bucks?" then asks the guy.

"Five bucks!," says the woman full of indignation, "What do you think I am?"

"We both know what you are," says the man, "We're just trying to arrive at a price."

In New York artist Andrea Fraser's case, it was $20,000.

Brilliant!

Prediction: Live sex as high art will be next.

John Perrault has a beautiful review and stories about Ana Mendieta and the Mendieta retrospective at the Whitney. Perrault knew Mendieta intimately, as he was a former teacher and friend.

Today's New York Times also has a review of the show by Holland Cotter. This second review, in my opinion, misses the point a bit, as it relies on the old art critic's crutch of writing mostly a biography about the artist to fluff up the review and add words.

An earlier New York Times review by Lesli Cahmi can be read here.

The show comes to Washington later this year at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Tonite is the Bethesda Art Walk, with around fifteen art venues and galleries participating. The shuttle bus route is available online here.

And this coming Sunday is the Bethesda Artist Market. The market runs from 10am-5:30pm in the Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue. Nearly 30 local and regional artists will display and sell their original fine art and fine craft.

Free parking is available in the Wisconsin/Cheltenham garage. The event is also accessible by the Bethesda Metro station. Artists interested in participating in future events should download the entry form which is due July 23.

The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, located just south of Eastern Market at 545 7th Street, is a thirty-two year old organization building community through the arts with year-round classes, exhibits, and programs.

They are currently working with thirteen Capitol Hill restaurants on an upcoming benefit event, The Flavor of Capitol Hill: A Dining Event for the Arts. The event is planned for Thursday, July 15th with two restaurants participating on Saturday, July 17th.

To learn more about this event call Jen Carr at (202) 547-6839 or visit The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop's website.

Jessica Dawson has a really excellent review of Nikki S. Lee's show of photographs of herself at Numark Gallery.

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.!