Congratulations

To DC area artists Dan Steinhilber and Yuriko Yamaguchi, who have been selected as recipients of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant Program Awards for 2005.

Both artists are represented by Numark Gallery.

Fred Ognibene's Top Ten

Fred Ognibene is one of our area's best-known art collectors and below is his list for the top ten 2005 visual art exhibitions:

1. Gina Brocker, Photographs from the Series ‘The Donovans and Other Settled Travelers’ at Irvine Contemporary
2. Ian Whitmore, Mirror, Mirror at Fusebox
3. Dan Steinhilber at Numark
4. Linn Meyers, Current at G Fine Art
5. Jiha Moon, Symbioland at Curator's Office
6. Barbara Probst at G Fine Art
7. Scott Treleaven at Conner Contemporary
8. Patrick Wilson at Fusebox and at Suzanne Vielmeter Gallery in Culver City (Los Angeles)
9. Visual Music at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
10. Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition, Photographs and Mannerist Prints at the Guggenheim Museum, NYC

Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the second annual Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition honoring four selected painters with $14,000 in prize monies. Deadline for slide submission is Tuesday, January 31, 2006. Up to eight finalists will be invited to display their work from June 7 – July 12, 2006 in downtown Bethesda at our Fraser Gallery.

The competition will be juried by Janis Goodman, Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art & Design and the visual arts reviewer for WETA's Around Town; Ron Johnson, Assistant Professor of Painting at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Barry Nemett, Chair of the Painting Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after January 31, 1976 will also be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition.

Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

The Bethesda Painting Awards was established by local business owner Carol Trawick in 2005, who continues to be a beacon of light and a great example as a small business woman who puts her money where her mouth is. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 20 years in downtown Bethesda. She is Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize, which has already launched several area artists' careers. Ms. Trawick is the owner of an Information Technology company in Bethesda, Trawick & Associates.

My business partner, Catriona Fraser, an award-winning photographer, curator and juror, is the non-voting Chair of the Bethesda Painting Awards. Ms. Fraser has directed the Fraser Gallery, with locations in Bethesda, MD and Washington, D.C. since 1996. Ms. Fraser is also the Chair of The Trawick Prize and Director of the highly acclaimed Bethesda Fine Arts Festival.

The inaugural Bethesda Painting Awards were held in June 2005. Joe Kabriel from Annapolis, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; John Aquilino of Rockville, MD was named second place and was given $2,000; Dominique Samyn-Werbrouck of Alexandria, VA was awarded third place and received $1,000 and the “Young Artist” award of $1,000 was given to Catherine Lees of Baltimore, MD.

For a complete submission form, please call 301/215-6660, visit www.bethesda.org or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Airborne today and heading back home... more later.

Kirkland's Top Ten

J.T. Kirkland is the wood dude and Thinking About Art blogger. His top ten visual art shows of the year are here and also summarized below:

1. Andre Kertesz @ National Gallery of Art (DC)
2. Dan Flavin: A Retrospective @ National Gallery of Art (DC)
3. Cy Twombly Installation at Philadelphia Museum of Art
4. Linn Meyers @ G Fine Art (DC) and Margaret Thatcher Projects (NYC)
5. Bruce Nauman - Raw Materials @ Tate Modern Turbine Hall (London)
6. Logical Conclusions: 40 Years of Rule-Based Art @ Pace Wildenstein (NYC)
7. Shelley Spector @ Painted Bride Art Center (Philly)
8. Jiha Moon: Symbioland @ Curator's Office (DC)
9. David Ryan @ Numark (DC)
10. J.T. Kirkland: Studies in Organic Minimalism @ University of Phoenix (VA)

Honorable Mentions
William Betts @ Thomas Werner Gallery (NYC)
Barbara Probst @ G Fine Art (DC)
Scott Treleaven @ Conner Contemporary (DC)
Sam Gilliam's retrospective at The Corcoran Gallery of Art (DC)

Bailey's Top Ten

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey... herewith the Reverend's top 10 visual somethings for 2005. Whatever you do in life, don't ever piss Bailey off:

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey’s Top Ten 2005 Metro Washington, D.C. Area Friendly Fire Art Attacks

But first…

"That Ole’ Time Religion Postmodern Art Healing Touch"

A radio ministry of the Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire

Presents

A new and improved version of an ancient story handed down from generation to generation in the Great State of Mississippi.

Oh, brothers and sisters, turn off all the electric lights in your home, light your Hoodoo candle, and gather around the radio in fellowship. While raising your right hand up high to shake hands with Jesus, slowly reach out with your left hand and touch the back of that glorious machine. Are you feeling the divine heat of the spiritual energy radiating from those cosmic radio tubes?

People get ready because the Lord has a special message that He’s asked Brother James to share with you tonight...

Once upon a time...

A French deconstructionist professor confined to a wheelchair — who was on loan from the Sorbonne to the art department at the University of Mississippi — entered a juke joint just outside of Itta Bena, Mississippi, and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The professor sat down, intently surveyed the patrons, and was shocked to realize he recognized one:

“Excusez-moi madame, but tis that the Jesus Christ sitting over there?” he asked the waitress.

The waitress nodded “yes,” so the professor told her to give Jesus a cup of coffee, “with my greatest pleasure.”

Now the next customer to come in was another French art professor/marketing director with a severely hunched back — a hard core postmodernist on loan from the international marketing department of Air France to the art department at Mississippi State University. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked for a social construct of a meaningless cup of relativist hot tea.

All of a sudden this professor’s eyes nearly bugged out when he surveyed the restaurant:

“Excusez-moi madame, tis that a social construct of ‘the Jesus Christ’ symbol sitting over there in that imaginary word ‘chair’ that we commonly refer to as ‘a chair’?” he asked the waitress.

The waitress again nodded, “yes,” and the second French professor said to give the “unreal Jesus” an “unreal cup” of “relativist hot tea, with great respect as my special treat,” as he emphasized the quotes around his words by making air quote marks with his fingers.

Now the third customer to come into the juke joint was a not so terribly famous big-fish-in-a-small-goldfish-bowl local Mississippi born and bred redneck artist who was dramatically limping on crutches accompanied by a loudly self-proclaimed agony for all to hear. He clumsily and noisily hobbled on over to a booth, after nearly knocking all the other tables over, sat down with much commotion and hollered out in his sexiest drawl, “Hey der, sweet thang! How's ‘bout pushin’ ya hot buns on ova hare n’ brang wit ya a tall cold glass of Coke wit lots of ice! Gotdam, girl! Just lookin’ at ya puts me on far, darlin’! Please hurry up wit dat Coke, baby, and come on ova hare and sit ya sweet cheeks down in ma lap. I think dat would help cool me on down, honey!"

Now after the Mississippi redneck artist finished loudly plopping his found-in-the-middle-of-the-parking-lot discarded can of Skoal chewing tobacco, assembled collection of borrowed-from-barfly-friends unfiltered cigarettes, shoplifted bottle of Jim Beam whiskey, and ripped-off from his doctor’s office pens, pencils, and drawing pad on his table, he also surveyed the juke joint, and his tongue nearly rolled out of his mouth on to the floor when he recognized what had drawn the attention of the two French art professors:

“Holy shit, Ruby!” he exclaimed to the waitress (who was also his ex-wife’s former lesbian girlfriend’s third cousin twice removed), "Is dat God's only boy sittin’ ova dare all by his lonesome self? I can’t believe dis shit, Ruby, but dat dude looks jest lack a young Elvis!"

Ruby the waitress once again nodded, “yes,” that it was indeed Jesus, so the Mississippi redneck artist said to give Jesus a cold glass of Coke, “on my bill, sweetheart, n’ ya know I’m good fer dat shit dis time, baby, you jest know I am!”

As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the French deconstructionist professor, touched him on his forehead and said, “Bless you my son. For your generosity and kindness, you are healed.” The professor suddenly felt the strength come back to his legs, got up and did a blues dance right out the door of the juke joint while joyfully proclaiming in plain spoken English the global virtues of American high energy CIA-approved-for-mass-capitalist-consumption white male dominated abstract expressionism and minimalism.

Jesus also passed by the hard core French postmodernist art director professor, touched him on his forehead and said, “Bless you my son. For your generosity and kindness, you are healed.” The professor suddenly felt his social construct of a screwed-up back straightening up, and he raised his hands high up toward the heavens, praised the Lord, and did a series of back flips out the door of the juke joint while cursing the writings of Michele Foucault and Jacques Derrida.

… then Jesus walked up to the Mississippi redneck artist.

But before Jesus could touch his forehead, the Mississippi redneck artist bolted out of his chair, backed-up in a heartbeat 10 feet away from Jesus (without the use of his crutches) and yelled out like a four-paw-trapped wild cat [writer’s note: that’s an old timer north Mississippi hunter’s slang expression for a critter that’s been trapped with its back up against the wall so tight by a gang of rabid hound dogs that all it know to do is scream as loud as possible for heavenly mercy] in an amateur veterinarian’s office that had just been cruelly inserted with angry water moccasin enema, “Now hold on jest a gotdam minute, son, don't you dare fuckin’ touch me! Hell, boy, I’m a gotdam artist! Can’t you see dat I wuz jest sittin’ at dis damn table mindin’ my own fuckin’ bidness?! I don’t need you to touch me, Jesus!”

“I apologize to you, my son. I meant you no harm. I also happen to love art. What kind of artist are you and what is it that you are working on with your pens, pencils, and drawing pad?” asked Jesus.

“Son, I’m a gotdam con artist and I WUZ workin’ on dis shitload of fuckin’ insurance paperwork dat my lawyer sent ova to me concernin’ my slip n’ fall at da Piggly-Wiggly in Jackson. Or at least I wuz workin’ on dat shit till you started fuckin’ wit me! But anyways, to ansa ya questions, dat lawyer of mine is a damn good art teacher, Jesus. He’s teachin’ me how to draw social security disability!”

---

And the winners are, in no particular order…

1. Best Fly-By Night “Curator” – Libby Lumpkin with OPTIONS 05. Thanks, Libby, for drifting into town in the middle of the night and offering an L.A. jet lag MFA-centric eulogy for the death of the D.C. avant garde. What a shame D.C.’s most radical art didn’t qualify for a proper burial spot at Arlington Cemetery. Surely the federal government must have had at least a postage stamp size piece of ground available that could have easily accommodated the microscopic size corpse of envelope-pushing art that you curatorially told us no longer exists in the nation’s capital. Of course, we all know there’s never really been a lot of avant garde art in the first place to be found in Washington, D.C., so we probably could have easily buried the entirety of the history of this body of work in one or two plots at most. I suppose, if push had come to shove during OPTIONS 05, we could have demanded the exhumation of a couple of bodies of unindicted war criminal generals from the Johnson and Nixon administrations to make room for a final decent resting spot for the collective body of D.C.’s cutting-edge art.

2. Best Shit Happens Street Art Project…Literally — Mark Jenkins for Fresh Shit. The sign of a truly great artistic genius is the sheer bold audacity to publicly embarrass one’s self, to stand out and above and beyond the lame crowd of sacrificial sycophant ass-kissing wannabe artist lambs, to risk complete utter flaming disastrous failure. Some think Mark did a Florida Everglades-style Value Jet landing with Fresh Shit. I’m not one of them. Mark injects a desperately needed sense of humor in today’s dry, boring, predictable, and pedantic art environment with his richly entertaining and thought-provoking work. 3-D street art is the future. Mark has given us a glimpse of what’s to come. And even if Fresh Shit was DOA in D.C., I’ll gladly take a non-FAA-approved Mark Jenkins’s crash and burn over a 1,000 artists at the airport in Chelsea doing TSA required check-in cartwheels for the approval of the international art press any day.

3. Best Art Review Published on a Metro D.C. Area Art Blog — "Ian Whitemore at Fusebox" by Kriston Capps of Grammarpolice.net. I disagree with 99.9 percent of what Kriston writes. His predictably tight-ass politics makes me want to toss my crazy vet uncle’s Vietnam War-era live hand grenade through my computer screen. But I love to read what he writes because I also can not stand to constantly sit in my car by myself in-taking exhaust pipe opinions with the windows rolled up that are too much in smell-sync with my own — although I do very much enjoy corresponding with Ted “The Unabomber” Kaczynski on mutual subjects of intense narrow-minded interest. Kriston’s art criticism soars when he dares to leave his Democratic National Committee anti-Bush talking points at home on the fax machine. His review of Ian Whitemore’s show is one of many such fine examples to be found on Grammarpolice.net. I want Kriston to know that when my right wing buddies at Opus Dei, the Masons and the Sons of Confederate Veterans finally exert some real control over this damn country by weeding out all these pissant neo-con Republicans, I’m gonna make sure that Kriston is given a pass on being locked up in one of the many very large and very PUBLIC — not secret — torture prison camps that we aim to set up across the nation to properly discipline all these out of control east coast liberal arts media sinners. Kriston will naturally have to change his name while on the lam in the new America we intend to found, but I’ll be happy to covertly fund his pirate art blog so he can continue to aggravate the hell out of me from an undisclosed location.

4. Best Pull-A-Wild-Hair-Cultural-Master-Plan-Idea-Out-Of-My-Ass by Blake Gopnik — Just days before David Levy, former President and CEO of the Corcoran, resigned and the Gehry titanium overcoat fantasy for the old Corcoran building imploded, the Washington Post, in a really bizarre move that I attribute to a rave party overflowing with homemade X that must have been held in the editorial offices the night before publication, published Blake’s wonderful idea for turning the Corcoran Gallery of Art into the National Museum of Easily Accessible Dumbass Tourist Snap-Shot Photographs. Thanks for this immensely entertaining read, Blake — we all look forward to your lengthy post-U.S.-withdrawal-of-troops-from-Iraq cultural master plan that will no doubt be published by the Washington Post just days before the invasion of what’s left of Iraq by a coalition of social realist troops from Iran, North Korea, and China.

5. Best Human Interest Story Published on a Metro D.C. Area Art Blog — [Special note: Fairness required that I eliminate myself and my insane Deep South stories for consideration in this competition.] Once I eliminated myself, there was no serious competition in this category. The hands-down favorite knee-slapping gut-wrenching laugh-out-loud-till-you-drop-dead story was F. Lennox Campello’s Tentacles (A man, an axe and a doctor: A tale of pain and art). Note to fellow national art bloggers: Look, we all enjoy your opinions, ideas, thoughts, suggestions, reviews, spin, rants, crying, whining, and neverending self-absorbed complaining about why you ain’t the big cheese in New York yet because the ignorant art powers that be have failed to grasp the genius of your earth-shattering originality and such, but take a lesson from Lenny and learn to open up more about who you really are if you really want to be a rich, famous, successful, and highly-collected artist. Know ye the #1 Intelligent Design Law of the Art Universe: People DON’T remember art, they remember PEOPLE. Hundreds of millions of people on this planet know who Picasso was, yet the tiniest fraction of those people have ever seen (or will ever see) an original Picasso painting in person. Picasso is known throughout the world, not because of his art, but because Picasso had a great story to tell. And it damn sure helps to have people remember you as an artist if you have a great story to tell, too. As my grandfather in Mississippi used to say, "You don’t have to be a great story teller to tell a great story." We need more and better stories being told on art blogs. Hell, if you don’t know any good stories, make one up. I do it all the time.

6. Best Young Female Photographer to Jump Out of the Sensual Frying Pan and Straight Into the Hot Erotic Oven — Samantha Wolov for her Anti-Porn series. Folks, this young lady is going places and in a hurry — if you’re a collector, place your bets now! It takes most artists a long long time to get their engines warmed up. Samantha started out on fire in a suped-up Camaro before she even had a legal license to drive. I predict within the next couple of years this hot photographer will be tooling around in D.C. in a Lamborghini that will make Cam’ron jealous – and, hopefully, unlike Cam’ron, Samantha will fork over the dead presidents for the bullet-proof model. Great art reminds us that the best things in life are sinless. At the top of that best things in life list is passion. Samantha’s passion for life compels her toward a portrayal of sinless sex in art. This is a message that this constipated country needs to see and hear every day. Why’s America so screwed-up? Because there simply aren’t enough people in America living passionate artistic lives that are willing to embrace a sinless aesthetic point of view about life. Samantha’s work will be relevant for years to come because America has a long ways to go in the sinless artist behavior department.

7. Best Young Male Artist With the Biggest Pair of Balls — It wasn’t even close this year people — his name is Borf. How in the world did this kid do what he did? While you and I were sleeping in our beds at night, maybe plotting our next Art Basel Miami art move, or clicking through the Fox news programs so we would have something to scream at Bush about (all you liberals know you love watching Bill O’Reilly, don’t you?! Sure you do…), or maybe downloading a video from our favorite porn site while our wives, husbands, girlfriends, or boyfriends slept, whatever, Borf was all over the damn place sticking his finger in the bespeckeled corrupt lobbyist liar eye of the most repressed buttoned-down corncob in the ass anal retentive city in the country…uh, with the possible exception of Salt Lake City, Utah. Just standing near his large Constitution Avenue exit sign tag earlier this year sent a shiver of arthritis through my knees. It also made me a bit queasy to stretch my neck up to look at it because I’m also somewhat terrified (being from a below sea level place like New Orleans) of being arrested by cops above ground level. Brothers and sisters, wake up and realize that we now live in a post-911 control-freak country run by a bunch of bi-party control-freaks who are propped-up by dual constituencies of control-freaks who have shown that they are more than willing to let Democratic and Republican assholes on both sides of the aisle assume total fucking control of almost every damn thing that people ought to be left alone to decide for themselves. Borf’s message is an irritating asinine disrespectful young punk middle finger to all these useless conniving lying political jerks and the control-freak idiots that vote for them. And all of them deserve it and more. God bless Borf for pointing his middle finger in the right direction.

8. Best Metro D.C. Area Artist Who Should Have Received a Whitney 2006 Biennial Invite — My nomination is Joseph Barbaccia. When I view (experience) Joseph’s art, I’m immediately reminded of how utterly useless and distracting it is to try and pen words to describe the experience of mind-enhancing mind-blowing and mind-altering art. Amy from The ARTery made a masterful attempt. I, however, am at a complete loss for words to describe Joseph’s art — but if I were forced to attempt to do so at gunpoint, the closest word would be “unworldly.” I have often imagined that if I were standing in the middle of a cornfield during a moonless night on my historic Bailey family property located way back yonder at the end of an abandoned gravel road in the piney hills of north central Mississippi, and if an alien space craft were to suddenly appear overhead and suck me up into its belly and transport my ass across inter-galactic space and time and then deposit me in the middle of their most respected cutting-edge contemporary art space, that I would wake up and find that I was surrounded by a host of mysterious, magical and sublime objects that strongly resemble Joseph’s work. Joseph’s mind, and his art (which in Joseph’s case is his mind), are from another planet. How I wish I had a star chart that showed me how to get there, because it’s a place I would love to live out the rest of my life. For now, I’ll have to wage war with my fellow humans fighting Beltway traffic to see Joseph’s work on planet Earth.

9. Best Upper-Middle Class White Girl Binge and Purge A Long Envious List of Encumbering Useless Stuff Except for Her Computer and Web Site Performance Art Project — Melissa Ichiuji for "Stripped." Thanks Melissa for reminding all of us lower class white artists who daily struggle to pay our unaffordable mortgages on our cracker box-size townhouses in this bullshit Northern Virginia real estate market just how valuable the little bit of shit we have is, how thankful we should be for having it and how strongly we should hold on to it…just in case we need to pawn it in order to pay our monthly home owner’s association dues. I will acknowledge that Melissa’s performance did in fact inspire me to sacrifice a few frivolous things in my own life: I don’t rent from Blockbuster anymore; I’m a Netflix man now. I’ve cut down from eating at the Silver Diner in Reston from five times a week to no more than two. But most importantly, I’ve completely cut out paying for over priced bottles of puffed-up bullshit wine produced in Northern Virginia; I’ve come back home to the real stuff from France. I will not, however, EVER agree to voluntarily cut my beautiful long locks that fully crown my head. Why? Because most dudes half my age have already slipped down the Nightmare on Bald Mountain – sorry, but I ain’t taking the chance that my hair may not grow back! "Stripped" offered an opportunity for an important dialogue in this class-in-denial community of Washington, D.C., about the last taboo subject of public conversation in America: class and its privileges in the upper spectrum. It’s too bad the Washington Post did not engage this conversation by allowing for a wide diversity of opinions to be published in response to their article about the performance and Melissa’s follow-up Op-Ed. I don’t know what her intent really was, but kudos to Melissa for putting the conversation on the table.

10. Best Erotic Female Photographer Who Photographs Herself and Graces Us with Those Beautiful Images on Her Art Blog — Tracy Lee for Angstbabe. Folks, Brother James encourages you to risk being fired from your day job by daring to daily drink from the libertine well of beauty that is Tracy’s vision. Do whatever you have to do to unfilter those overly sensitive corporate and government porn filters. Tech-savvy help is available at every Starbucks in the metro D.C. region. There are more overpaid easily tempted I-dare-you-to-do-it ego challenged techno-nerds in this area that would be happy to help you hack through supposedly impenetrable security systems to increase your viewing pleasure than there are Southern Baptists at a prostitution convention at the Bunny Ranch out in Nevada. The artist/humanist Joseph Bueys said "To make people free is the aim of art; therefore art for me is the science of freedom." Tracy offers free online Ph.D.s in the science of artistic freedom on her site. We should all be taking advantage of this opportunity to upgrade the educational lines on our resumes.

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey...

Faith Flannagan's Top 10

Faith Flannagan is both a collector, an arts activist and a well-known arts persona around our town(s). Herewith her top ten 2005 DC area visual art shows (Nepotista declaration: Faith passes that she's on the board of DCAC and has also purchased work by some of these artists and they are listed in no particular order):

· Mary Coble, Note to Self @ Conner Contemporary Art
· Mary Early, Sculpture @ Hemphill Fine Art
· Empire of Sighs @ Numark Gallery, curated by Andrea Pollan
· Dylan Scholinski, sent(2)mental @ Nevin Kelly
· Sean Scully, Wall of Light @ The Phillips Collection, curated by Stephen Bennett Phillips
· Noelle Tan, Latent @ District of Columbia Arts Center, curated by Paul Roth
· Kelly Towles, Underdog @ Adamson
· Visual Music @ Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
· Ian Whitmore, Mirror Mirror @ Fusebox
· Kehinde Wiley, White @ Conner Contemporary Art, curated by Scenic / Simon Watson

Worthy of Note:

· Blast @ G Fine Art, curated by Paul Brewer
· Found Sound, curated by Welmoed Laanstra
· Little Creatures @ Transformer Gallery
· Points of Departure @ District of Columbia Arts Center (Nathan Manuel and D. Billy), curated by Trish Tillman
· Traveling with Gulliver @ District of Columbia Arts Center (Alan Callander, Ian Jehle and Karen Joan Topping).

Boot Camp for Artists

On Sunday, February 26, 2006, we will present another one of our highly successful "Success as an Artist" Seminars. This next seminar will be jointly hosted with the good people from Art-O-Matic, and the Warehouse Theater, Café and Gallery, on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006 from 10:30-6PM, with lunch provided.

The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by over 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 (includes lunch) and is limited to 50 people. For more details please visit this website. For this seminar, sometimes called "Boot Camp for Artists" by the attendees, people as far as Arizona, California, New York and South Carolina have attended, including many, many university level art professionals.

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.

You can sign up for the seminar at 301/718-9651 (starting next week) or via email (immediately) at info@thefrasergallery.com. Hurry, as the 50 spaces usually book very quickly, and we already have a bunch of people signed up (they already were on a wait-list from the last time that the seminar was offered and sold out).

DCist Top 10

Well... really KC's reluctantly policed Top 10:

1. Mary Early, Sculpture at Hemphill Fine Arts
2. Kendall Buster, Model City at Fusebox
3. Ian Whitmore, Mirror, Mirror at Fusebox
4. Dan Steinhilber at Numark
5. Linn Meyers, Current at G Fine Art
6. Jiha Moon, symbioland at Curator's Office
7. Kelly Towles, Underdog at David Adamson
8. Julee Holcombe, Homo Bulla at Conner Contemporary
9. Molly Springfield at JET Artworks
10. Jason Zimmerman, Fair Game at Transformer

Bumming around

Little beats watching football on TV while lounging on the beach... still in eff-el-ay until the 5th anyway...

A great 2006 to all!

And thank you for more than a five fold increase in the number of daily visitors to DC Art News in 2005!

Now out to party!

Opportunity for Artists

Evolving Perceptions has been given 30 linear feet of space at Sprint/Nextel's headquarters in Reston, VA for 2007. The space is designed for art and they have been successful with our past three exhibitions.

If you are a local artist and would like to display your work there, then please just email Maryam Ovissi a few low res/small format images of your recent work. It's a great opportunity and great exposure - over 5000 people work in the buildings and walk through the gallery to get to the main lobby and restaurant.

Cudlin's Top Ten

The CP's art critic Jeffry Cudlin examines himself and then comes up with his top ten (actually eight) list for DC area art shows here.

His “Ten Shows I Didn’t Completely Savage”? or “Ten Shows That Very Nearly Rose to My Impossibly High Standards” or “Ten Shows a Nicer, Stupider Critic Might Have Liked?” are listed below:

1. “Blasts” at G Fine Art.
2. Ian Whitmore at Fusebox.
3. Kehinde Wiley at Conner Contemporary Art.
4. Jiha Moon’s “Symbioland” at Curator’s Office.
5. Ed Ruscha's retrospective at the National Gallery of Art.
6. Sam Gilliam's retrospective at The Corcoran Gallery of Art.
7. Found Sound (various).
8. Visual Music at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Opportunity for Artists

You still have a few days to get your entries in for this Artomatic opportunity for emerging artists. The Heliport Gallery in the vibrant Silver Spring area announces Aeromatic: Artomatic at the Heliport.

Who’s Eligible? Any Artomatic participant who has never shown in a commercial gallery.

Jurors: David Fogel, Director of the Silver Spring Gateway Project and manager of the Heliport and Nevin Kelly, owner of the Nevin Kelly Gallery on U Street in DC.

When: Entries due January 2, 2006; show will take place in February, 2006.

How: Send up to 3 jpeg images to David Fogel. Make sure to note title, size and medium and include your phone number. JPEGS are strongly preferred by the judges but if you absolutely can't manage an electronic entry, you may send up to three slides to:

David Fogel
Heliport Gallery
8001 Kennett Street, Suite 3
Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Slides must arrive by January 2, 2006.

Jacobson's Top Ten

The CP's photography critic comes up with his top ten photography shows of the year (actually nine). An abbreviated list is below, or read the full CP article here.

1. "André Kertész" at the National Gallery of Art.
2. "Burnversions" at the Reston Community Center.
3. "Gina Brocker: Photographs From the Series ‘The Donovans and Other Settled Travellers’ " at Irvine Contemporary.
4. “Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
5. “Noelle Tan: Latent” at the District of Columbia Arts Center.
6. “Lida Moser: 50 Years of Photographs” at Fraser Gallery Georgetown.
7. “Reflections of France” at the Kathleen Ewing Gallery.
8. “Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Trail in Modern Day,” at the Department of the Interior Museum.
9. “Barbara Probst: Exposures” at G Fine Art.

Airborne today and heading to La Florida to spend New Year's someplace sandy and warm... more later when I settle in...

And while I was gone, Alexandra Silverthorne had a few things to say about my current exhibition at Fraser Gallery Georgetown.

Read them here.

Barlow's Top Ten

Philip Barlow is easily one of DC's best known and more involved art collectors and an avid gallery goer who gets around to more galleries than many people who write about DC art and artists. Barlow advises that:

Below is my list of the top ten gallery shows from DC in 2005. This year seemed even more difficult than last year, I had an original list of about ten others shows. The list is in order.

Nepotista caveats: I am on the board of DCAC and I purchased work from some of these shows.

1. Barbara Probst “Exposures” – G Fine Art – (4/2/5 – 4/30/5)
2. Chip Richardson “Set” – Fusebox (11/5/5 – 12/17/5)
3. Linn Meyers “Current” – G Fine Art – (10/29/5 – 12/10/5)
4. Jiha Moon “symbioland” – Curator’s Office – (9/10/5 – 11/15/5)
5. Noelle Tan “Latent” – District of Columbia Arts Center – (4/8/5 – 5/15/5)
6. Andrea Way “New Works” – Marsha Mateyka Gallery – (2/19/5 – 3/26/5)
7. Teo Gonzales “Recent Work” – Irvine Contemporary – (4/22/5 – 5/28/5)
8. The Empire of Sighs – Numark Gallery – (9/16/5 – 10/29/5)
9. Mary Early “Sculpture” – Hemphill Fine Arts – (11/5/5 – 12/23/5)
10. Nooni Reatig “All Real, All Steel” – NNE Gallery – (4/28/5 – 6/15/5)

I also wanted to note a couple of photography exhibits that were great for letting us see some of the Washington art world's movers and shakers in their earlier years:

Mary Swift’s Washington: The Arts Scene, 1975 – 2000 – Flashpoint Gallery – (7/21/5 – 8/27/5)

Wrinkle Free – Viridian Restaurant – October 2005

Keep emailing me your Top Ten lists and I will publish them as time allows.

They're coming...


From yesterday's WaPo (and my posting a while back)

Fifty terrapin statues will soon appear on the streets of Washington and its suburbs in honor of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University of Maryland.

The 100-pound turtles -- like the panda, elephant and donkey statues displayed on city streets in recent summers -- will be decorated by local artists and auctioned next fall. The money will go to student scholarships.

Let the ranting and raving begin!

Poconos

Lack of posting due to a quick get-a-way to the Poconos, and heading to Florida tomorrow for the New Year's!

More later before I leave and sporadic posting from Florida.

What Your End-of-the-Year Top 10 List(s) Says About You

If you include more than three shows by artists who are also bloggers... then you must be a blogger too!

If more than six of the shows on your list are museum shows, then you have been seduced by our great DC area museums and need to get around more often.

If three or more of the shows on your list are from the same gallery or museum, then you're not getting around as much as you should before making lists.

If three or more of the shows on your list are from the same commercial gallery, then you are a hidden nepotista or a nepotista wannabe.

If all ten of your shows are from the same three or four spaces, then you don't have a clue.

If your list includes more than one show from a library or restaurant, then you're definately getting around more than I do, or you have no idea where the galleries are.

If your list only includes shows that were within walking distance of a Metro stop, then you don't have a car.

If list list includes more than one show in Bethesda, Reston, Rockville, Alexandria or Arlington, then you live in one of those areas.

If your list includes more than three embassy gallery shows, then you're going there mostly for the good food.

If your list only includes photography shows, then you are Louis Jacobson (photography critic for the City Paper).

If your list is based on which shows has the best food, then you are a grub.

If your list has more than three video shows, then you must be a Hirshhorn Museum or Whitney Biennial curator.

If all the shows on your list are by non Hispanic white male artists... well, you know what you are.

If your list does not include a single DC area show, then we know who you are.

Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad!

Christmas Art Wish List

1. For the WaPo to do as promised (I have the emails from the editors) and hire a second freelancer and return the Galleries column to its previous weekly format.

2. For most of our area's museum curators to realize that the Greater Washington, DC area is actually part of the United States of America, and for them to take a cab to a DC area art show or artist studio once in a while.

3. For the Corcoran to give Manon Cleary a retrospective.

4. For the Hirshhorn to give Joe Shannon a show.

5. For the Phillips Collection to give Lida Moser a retrospective.

6. For the WPA/C to find a permanent exhibition space somewhere in the city.

7. For Washingtonian magazine to add a regular gallery review column to its monthly format.

8. For one or two of our local TV stations to add one minute a week to their local news hour programs on the subject of area visual arts exhibitions.

9. For some of our area's huge corporations (AOL, Lockheed Martin, Giant Foods) to follow Carol Trawick's example.

10. For a lot of people to get their head out of their ass about the Christmas vs "Holiday Season" issue.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and everything else that says I wish all of you and yours a terrific good wish for everything on your life and your art. Keep creating!

O'Sullivan on PostSecret

The WaPo's Michael O'Sullivan checks in with an intelligent review of Frank Warren's PostSecret exhibition.

Read it here.

Public Art Calls

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities announces four Calls for Artists:

Deadline: February 17, 2006

14th Street Bridge Tenders' House Public Art Call for Artists: The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, in cooperation with the District Department of Transportation, is seeking an artist, or artist team, to create a permanent public artwork for the 14th Street Bridge Tenders' House. The 14th Street Bridge is the north space bridge crossing the Potomac River that brings vehicular traffic into the District of Columbia. The former drawbridge is the location of a vacant Bridge Tenders' House. Deadline: February 17, 2006. For more information and an application, please visit The Commission's website to download the Call for Artists and application, or call 202-724-5613.

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Deadline: February 17, 2006

Recreation Center Public Art Call for Artists: The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Department of Parks and Recreation are seeking artists to create a permanent public artwork for several newly or recently renovated recreation facilities in the District of Columbia. Deadline: February 17, 2006. For more information and an application, please visit their website to download their Call for Artists and application, or call 202-724-5613.

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Deadline: February 24, 2006

Art Bank Program Call for Artists: The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is purchasing artwork to be part of the District of Columbia's 2006 Art Bank Program. Works in the collection are owned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and loaned to other District Government agencies for display in public areas. Deadline: February 24, 2006. For more information and an application, please visit their website to download the Call for Artists and application, or call 202-724-5613.

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Deadline: February 24, 2006
Wilson Building Public Art Program Call for Artists: The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is currently accepting applications for the John A.Wilson Building Public Art Program. The historic District Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW now serves as the headquarters for the District of Columbia's Mayor and City Council. The works purchased through this call for artists are specifically designated for permanent installation in the Wilson Building. For more information and an application, please visit their website to download the Call for Artists and application,
or call 202-724-5613.

Nepotistas Rule

As we'll soon begin to read the top ten lists in everything, including the visual arts, from both the newsprint media and the online voices, the ever present spirit of nepotism and the "good-ole-boy/girl-network" shall once again raise its phoenixal (is that an adjective? I love the English language!) head, and some of us in the inside/outside will shake our heads knowing that A is a good friend and/or drinking buddy of B, or C's wife works at the blankety-blank newspaper, etc.

Not always, and not all... but there anyway.

But it seems to have bitten the NYT in the butt this year, at least when it comes to their 100 Notable Books of the Year list.

So listmakers: we're watching!

P.S. And you readers: Watch me too!

Bankrupt

WOW! This NYC gallery is in the hole $50 million samolians!

Read the article here (thanks AJ).

New art blog

New (new to me anyway) DC-based art blog: Matthew Langley.

Visit him often.

And Matthew has his end of year top ten list here.

Snail Art

The WaPo on Palimpsest at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Cornelius on the future of art criticism

...art blogs are the most fascinating aspect affecting the edifice of contemporary art discourse, especially in the area of future market impact...

So wrote to me the fair Kathryn Cornelius in commenting about the whole "Critic on Criticism" post.

Cornelius' thesis at Georgetown touched on this area, and it's actually quite an interesting read. The thesis is titled "Creative Entrepreneuship: The Business Art and Art Business of Contemporary Artist Collectives."

Read it here.

Mama Love

Camille Mosley-Pasley, one of Washington's most active and innovative photographers, is looking for more moms of color and babies for her Mama Love book.

If you or someone you know has a baby, please contact Camille by e-mail ASAP. She's scheduling appointments for December 23 & 30. There will be two more sessions in January. Go here for details.

PostSecret on TV

Just saw an interview and a long segment (over five minutes) on MSNBC on Frank Warren's PostSecret exhibit!

And the fair Amy Robach even hinted that she'd mail in a secret.

See the TV clip here. Scroll down to bottom of page; the link is under "The Situation" banner and it's titled Post card confessions.

JET to close in DC

JET Gallery on R Street has closed. Their news release reads in part:

This exhibition marks the final show at JET Artworks’ gallery in Washington, DC before moving to Chicago’s West Loop gallery district in the spring 2006. Owners Jamil Farshchi, Erin Houchen, and Thomas Robertello wish to thank the art audience of Washington for their enthusiastic support of JET artists. JET plans to reopen in its new location with Thomas Robertello as sole owner/director.

DC Art News wishes Thomas and the new gallery the best of luck in Chicago.

One closing - One opening

One young DC gallery has closed its doors unexpectedly (more on this later).

A brand new gallery, which I am told will be the largest gallery in the Greater Washington, DC region, will open soon (more on this later).

Opportunity for Artists

The Ellipse Arts Center and The Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran (WPA/C) present: Conversions. According to the press release, it is "An exhibition exploring spatial interpretations juried from three distinct points of view."

The Call: As their first collaboration, The Ellipse Arts Center and The Washington Projectfor the Arts\Corcoran are proud to present Conversions.

This exhibition will bejuried from digital images, slides, and site installation proposals by Sam Gilliam (established Washington, DC Artist), Dennis O'Neil (Director of Handprint Workshop International and teacher at the Corcoran College of Art & Design), and Heather & Tony Podesta (Internationally-known contemporary art collectors).

With this exhibition, The Ellipse Arts Center and the WPA\C hope to meld the distinct viewpoints of the jurors as well as offer submitting artists the opportunity to create site-specific installations. A $250 stipend will be awarded to all finalists who are selected to participate in Conversions.

Prospectus available here.

Critic on Criticism

Amy over at ARTery tipped me to a really interesting article by Jerry Salz on art criticism. Read that article here.

And Amy also notes that NYC gallerist and fellow blogger Edward Winkleman has responded and his response has created a whole series of interesting comments, with the usual anon attacks that seem to follow any art discussion, and the usual easily bruised writer who dishes it out with brutal gusto but can't take it when it bounces back, etc.

There are, however, otherwise some really good points in the comments.

The key issue to me?

Winkleman smartly notes that

With art, in New York City, there's no such guarantee you'll ever know [whether a critic liked a show], even when you know they saw it, even for the largest artists or most powerful galleries. If The New York Times, for example, on average, publishes 7 major reviews and two articles in each Friday edition, that totals about 470 reviews each year. The problem is there are more about 470 exhibitions per month*, meaning that more than 11/12ths of all exhibitions will not be reviewed in the Times. For the Village Voice, the number of reviews is fewer than half that. So if you are the lucky artist who gets a review, you've already beaten incredible odds. At that point, for the review to be unfavorable seems almost cruel.

Translate that into Washingtonese, and remember that the WaPo has only two gallery reviews a month, plus one in Weekend section every once in a while (and thank God for those!).

And, uh... the WaPo's Chief Art Critic is too good to write about DC area art galleries or DC artists on a regular basis (except to note when they are barely emerging).

So let's say... four gallery reviews a month (and yeah, I know once a month is the multiple mini-review day) at the WaPo.

And on any given month in the Greater Washington area there are (by the time you add the independent fine art galleries, the non profits, the embassy galleries and the cultural centers) around 100 different visual art shows to choose from.

And at least NYC has a whole bunch of newspapers, plus all the NYC-centric art mags, all the freebies, etc. to augment the NYT's coverage.

Other than the WaPo, we should be grateful that the City Paper covers as many shows as they do. But even adding the CP's coverage, the chance of an artist or show to be reviewed in print in our area is pretty slim.

As Larry David would say: "Pretty, pretty slim!"

So if we take Winkleman's point that "at that point, for the review to be unfavorable seems almost cruel" -- then we have some pretty f&^%$# cruel writers in the nation's capital area, don't we?

Art criticism should (in fact it must) have teeth; but it must also be even. When was it the last time that you read a published review around our area where the critic was really passionate about a show that she/he really liked?

Pretty, pretty cruel.

Kong

Last night I had dinner with that living legend known as Lida Moser, who was telling me stories about Alice Neel moving to Havana, after Neel married her first husband (who apparently was an art student in NYC and from a wealthy Cuban family). Neel related to Moser that she couldn't find women's shoes in Havana to fit her healthy Midwestern feet. I thought that was funny!

Afterwards, as I had received a couple of complimentary tickets to King King in the mail, I went to see the film, which was OK, but way too long and a bit annoying in a couple of areas.

The "lost island" scenes were terrific, and that was almost a movie by itself, but when Kong was fighting the Ty Rexes I glanced at my watch, and saw that it was already two hours gone by and I thought "Mmm... two hours gone and they haven't even got the monkey to Manhattan yet."

The movie also has an annoying effect of seeming like it was directed by three different people (the whole side story with the "Jimmy" character was lost on me), and even more annoying was the fact that the Anne Darrow character spends a ton of time running around a frozen New York in a negligee and she's apparently immune to the cold.

Other than that, the special effects were very good, the entire island scenes were outstanding (although the Kong fight scene with the Rexes took way too long, as did the dinosaur mass crash).

Curtis in MOMA

ANABA reveals that MOMA has recently acquired a Tony Curtis painting for its permanent collection.

Read it here.

Top Ten Lists

The end of the year is time for everyone to come up with their "Top Ten Lists" for nearly everything.

Email me yours for the top 10 art exhibitions in our area in 2005 and I'll post them here.

One Word Project

J.T. Kirkland, over at Thinking About Art, has been conducting a fascinating art project that he titles the One Word Project.

The project started here a while back, and so far about 40 artists have participated.

Essentially, here's the deal in Kirkland's owns words: "first, if I am not familiar with the artist's work I will want to review it (jpegs, Web site, maybe even a studio visit, etc). Once I get somewhat familiar with the work, I will communicate a single word that comes to mind about the art. I will ask that the artist write 100-500 words about the chosen word and what it means in their art. Because the "question" is so open ended, I think it will allow the artist much freedom to discuss their work and their thought processes. I would then like to publish the writing and a couple of examples of the artist's work on this site."

The One Word Project has been a terrific success, and Kirkland is planning to publish a book! See details on the book's progress here.

He's looking for more participants for a second project: The Artists' Interview Artists Project, and interested artists (and it is now open to all artists - not just area artists) should contact Kirkland at Thinking About Art.

Second Annual Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: January 31, 2006

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the second annual Bethesda Painting Awards. This is one of the nation's largest cash award painting prizes funded through the generosity of Carol Trawick.

Eight finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition during the month of June 2006 at the Fraser Gallery in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies.

Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a "Young Artist" whose birthday is after January 31, 1976 will be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C.

All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions.

Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25. For a complete application, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Urban Partnership
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Or visit this website or call 301/215-6660

Wanna go to a DeXmas Party?

Note: Party actually starts at 10PM not 8! Details here.

Secret Visit

Yesterday I snuck away from the Georgetown gallery and visited the PostSecret exhibition at the former Staples store on M Street.

The place was packed!

I cannot recall a gallery or non-blockbuster museum event in the DC area (ever) where -- after the opening night -- there are actually hundreds of people in the art venue, hypnotized by the work on display, as what I saw yesterday around 4PM at Frank Warren's exhibit.

I was almost as mesmerized by the intensity on the faces of the visitors, as they went from card to card, reading funny secrets, sad secrets, gross secrets, silly secrets, shared secrets. I made several circuits through the exhibition: the first to look through the cards; the second and third to look at the people reading the cards, and how they became part of the exhibit itself.

Warren has really tapped into something here, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person. And the WPA/C should be congratulated for bringing this spectacular event to the eyes and attention of Washingtonians; Kim Ward and her crew are really doing a spectacular job over at the WPA/C since Ward took over.

Whatever you do through January 8, 2006 - DO NOT MISS this exhibition, and bring people along with you.

And I sincerely hope that our area museum curators set aside their Washington apathy and also come and visit what is perhaps the greatest interactive public art project in the history of the genre.

Warren is making art history in our own backyard, and so I'm shouting to the Hirshhorn, to the SAM, to the NGA, and to the Corcoran: WAKE UP!

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Exhibition Information:
Location: 3307 M St. NW Washington DC (The former Georgetown Staples store)
Exhibition Dates: December 15, 2005 – January 8, 2006
Exhibition Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 6:00 – 10:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 2:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. or by appointment through WPA\C.

Text in Art

As most of you know, I've become very interested over the last year or so in art that works with, or incorporates text. In Seven, I dedicated an entire gallery room to a group of artists working with text in their work. Next year I am taking those artists to an exhibition at the new Greater Reston Arts Center, and I am working now to also do it in a Virginia museum after that.

And speaking of text in art, I've been hearing good things about the exhibition by Rose Folsom at The Mansion at Strathmore Hall.

Folsom's show was a Hot Pick of the Week by the Washington Times.

Rose Folsom is an amazing calligrapher who has migrated the art of writing towards the fine arts, period. She writes:

At age five I wanted so much to write that I pestered an older playmate into teaching me. When I was seven, I took apart a little paper umbrella to find a tiny roll of Japanese newspaper inside. As I unrolled it, the magical characters were clearly trying to tell me something, but what? I ran to my parents and was told that only a Japanese person could read what it said. I daydreamed about a little girl my age on the other side of the world who could read and understand the tantalizing text. How I longed to know what it said! Meanwhile, the angular characters, lined up like little soldiers, spoke to me of an exotic world that sparked my imagination. This began a life-long fascination with the written word.

And I am told that the show at Strathmore (which I plan to see next week) offers a show that provides evidence that her fascination has delivered a superb show. C.D. Tansey writes about it:

One thing that impresses itself on the viewer is that the writing is not immediately decipherable... It demands a closer look. There is an attempt to communicate something, but the "written paintings" ask the viewer to actively set out to decipher what is there. We are not the merely passive receivers of the words, but we are asked to participate in a conversation.

Already we are in a different realm than the everyday world of words, which, more and more, are crafted so as to be quickly read and understood. Words have in many cases been reduced in our age to a means to and end. Words are how we understand how to get something done - buying, selling, informing, or getting from one place to another. The more transparent words are, the more useful, seems to be the conventional wisdom.

Words here in this show become not a means to an end, but actually a nexus of mystery and relationship. Relationship is the key word here, because often there is a dialogue going on the painting - a dialogue between two voices. Sometimes the dialogue is humorous, as in "He Said, She Said"; but more often the dialogue points at something more poignant.

In the paintings entitled "Letter to," one can't help but think of Emily Dickinson's "Letters to the World," and implicit is the idea of a soul in an almost heroic attempt at bridging a divide - sending a letter to reach the shores of another soul, almost like a message in a bottle cast into the sea.

This is interesting because in the era of e-mails and instant messaging, it has become true that a hand-written letter has suddenly become a rarity. The hand-written letter in this day and age signals a special care and attention, and a reaching out of a special kind.

Another thought: Just as Emily Dickinson took the metric of the traditional Protestant hymn, and used it as a foundation for a completely original and personal artistic expression - these paintings use the traditional form of calligraphy, and, while staying true to that tradition, charge the writing, the words, with an utterly personal and original meaning.

Another thought: the Protestant "motto," "Sola Scriptura," is here being given a second look. Yes, these are words, but they are also images! From the Cattholic point of view, this makes complete sense, because after all the "Word became FLESH, and dwelt among us." In their being willed into a picture, into a substantiality (of sorts), these word-pictures are a symbol of God's own creative activity. The word is not an abstract thing, but is tied to personal meanings, and personal history, tied to the world, and, even more importantly, tied to God's own ongoing conversation with the world!

And that, finally is what is most powerful about the paintings. Without being too heavy-handed about it, they allude constantly to God's own wish to converse with us - a conversation in which we are not just passive recipients, but in which we must RESPOND. In that conversation, we are caught up in a love, which while essential to our fulfillment, is at the same time an ever-present mystery.

The exhibition goes through December 30, 2005.

Secondsight Meeting

The next Secondsight meeting will be held on Friday, January 27th at 6.30pm.

Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities.

The guest speaker for the January 27th Secondsight meeting is Paul Roth, Associate Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Paul Roth is responsible for the museum’s extensive collection of photographs and manages its active exhibition schedule. His areas of expertise are postwar American photography and the history of film.

Mr. Roth will be discussing a variety of issues, including "What makes a photograph 'fine art'"?

Please visit www.secondsightdc.com for more information.

Secondsight
PO Box 34405
Bethesda, MD 20827
www.secondsightdc.com
301/718-9651

Secrets

I missed the opening for PostSecret because of the bad weather and the fact that I was working till the last minute for my exhibit, but Alexandra Silverthorne didn't and she has great photos from the PostSecret opening here.

I'll be at the Georgetown gallery from noon until six PM today; come and say hi.

Articulation at Pyramid Atlantic

Recently I walked the frozen tundra of Georgia Avenue in order to visit some of the venues in Silver Spring’s December Art Walk. And the highlight of the walk was an amazing installation at Pyramid Atlantic.

Created by Francie Hester and a multitude of other persons, this collaborative installation (titled "Articulation") is a touching in memoriam for Diane Granat Yalowitz.

Diane Granat Yalowitz was a journalist and writer for Washingtonian Magazine, where she was a senior editor and writer covering immigration, medicine and counseling. She died last year at the age of 49.

I am not a big fan of installations; most of them are a waste of time and space. However, the installation at Pyramid Atlantic is simply amazing.

Under Hester’s direction, people and friends who knew Granat worked on a project to wrap about 20,000 paper clips with bits of paper from her publications. The paper clips were then linked and joined together to make strings that dangle from the ceiling of the vault inside Pyramid Atlantic.

The instant allegory, especially when touched, is that of rain or a tropical scene, especially since the installation also includes the accompanying music of percussionist Luis Garay, sung without words by Joan Phalen (I am told as dictated by the mystical Chassidic tradition of "nigun").

There’s also a hypnotizing element by Lisa Hill: a digital screen that dynamically shows the process of wrapping the paper clips. It reminded me of a code breaking computer attempting to decipher an encoded message. Hill noted that "words surfaced, then disappeared, then resurfaced," and on the computer screen, the words float in an out of the mystical digital surface of the screen.

This installation was one of the most moving examples of the genre that I have ever seen, and it made me reflect on the power of words and art, when married together by skilled artists delivering something new and memorable to the dialogue of that often maligned genre.

The exhibit at Pyramid Atlantic goes through December 23rd.

Tonight's the night

Working till the last minute for my yearly opening in Georgetown tonight from 6-9PM.

Just finished "American Justice," charcoal on Paper, 7 x 29 inches, and the original drawing is matted and framed under glass to 10x32 inches.


See the other drawings here.

Cajun Christmas

Cajun Christmas is private home as a public art project by Laura Elkins running through January 28, 2006.

Cajun Christmas is a seasonal work painted by Elkins as

"if the devastation of the floodwaters in New Orleans has extended to my house on Capitol Hill. This work uses the house as painting support and is the latest piece in HOME wRAP, a group of monumental paintings that addresses the politicization of private life and the demise of domesticity."

Orgasm Art

Rub here.

Annual Small Works at Multiple Exposures

One of my favorite photography galleries in the DMV area is Multiple Exposures (which used to be called Factory Photoworks). Located on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory, the gallery is home to some of the best photographers in our area, and certainly a treasure trove for photography collectors, as they usually have affordable (and excellent) work.

Kathleen Ewing, without a doubt one of the best fine arts photography experts in the world once wrote about this talented group: "Absorb the unique vision of these fourteen photographers. Through their eyes you will experience a moment in time, which you might not otherwise have seen. Enjoy their vision."

Their Annual Small Works show was juried by Kay Springwater (their monthly exhibitions are generally curated by invited jurors). Springwater selected 25 pieces for the exhibition, and from these my favorites were Link Nicoll’s amazing "Flying Baby," a spectacular image of a child cleverly photographed against a black background as if airborne. I also liked Colleen Henderson’s "Pamet Sound Blues," as well as a beautiful photo by Danny Conant, that amazing photographer who keeps re-inventing herself, titled "Yellow Roses," a pigmented print that exploits color as only a well versed photographer can do.

The exhibition runs through January 2, 2006.

Gray

The WaPo's Philip Kennicott has an interesting, if somewhat odd and out-of-place (for the WaPo that is) essay in today's paper.

Read The Bright Side of Gray here. (Kennicott would be in pure heaven if he lived in Seattle).

Panel on Homer

Renowned landscape artist Barbara Ernst Prey will be at the National Gallery of Art Sunday at 2:30 pm to speak on "The Watercolors of Winslow Homer."

Prey, who has a studio in Maine and lives on Long Island, joins Franklin Kelly, Curator of American and British Paintings at the National Gallery of Art and Judy Walsh, former National Gallery of Art Conservateur, in a Homer panel discussion.

Tapedude on On Tap

Read the article here.

Bloggers do art

DCist is kind enough to use one of my images to pick up on the fact that three DC area visual art Bloggers are having art shows this week.

Read DCist's Arts Agenda here.

Borf canned

WaPo reports on the Borf guilty plea.

"Under terms of the agreement with prosecutors, Tsombikos will have to pay $12,000 in restitution. He'll have to surrender just about anything he used to make graffiti, including stencils, spray paint and his computer.

And he'll have to do something that might be harder for him than jail time: remove graffiti. For 80 of the 200 hours of community service that he owes, Tsombikos must help rid the District of the sort of eyesores left by graffiti artists like him."

But this is the one that gets me:

"Tsombikos is scheduled to start classes next month at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, attorney Michael Madden told the judge.

So when the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessio Evangelista, asked the judge to order Tsombikos to stay out of the District until the sentencing, Madden was concerned.

"This is an open city," Madden said, noting the District's status as the nation's capital. And on a practical level, Tsombikos lives in its suburbs and has friends in the District, Madden said.

But Leibovitz was unimpressed, pointing out that the teenager had just pleaded guilty to a felony.

Between now and his sentencing, she said, Tsombikos is allowed to come to the District for classes and court but for nothing else.

And she kept in place an order banning him from carrying art supplies of any sort -- an order that Madden said would be an undue hardship given Tsombikos's studies.

Once again, the judge didn't give any ground.

'Go to school,' she told Tsombikos, 'but you can't carry supplies to and from.' "

I'm sorry... WHAT?

An art student in the United States of America has been forbidden from carrying art supplies to and from art school?

All this has Bailey fired up!

Mapping It

Rebecca Hinton has a most interesting map derived from US Census data showing the number art, entertainment, and recreation establishments (i.e. music venues, art galleries, cultural sites, for each U.S. state, according to the 2002 census (generalized)).

I would suspect that the census data would not include venues (such as libraries and restaurants, etc.) that also regularly display art as part of their daily business, since that's not their census code. And I bet that in DC's case, it also does not include the dozens and dozens of art galleries that are located inside the foreign embassies in our city, since those are not (technically) located inside the U.S. nor are they U.S. businesses.

Click on the map or go here, to see a larger map.



Well done Rebecca! You get an A+ from DC Art News!

Crawl

Last night I first had dinner (some excellent Dominican food) at Los Arrieros in Silver Spring and then saw the ArtDC fundraiser exhibit (where I bought a tiny watercolor by Patricia Hartnett), then I walked the frozen tundra of Georgia Avenue and dropped by Pyramid Atlantic to see the amazing Francie Hester collaborative installation "Articulation," in memoriam for Diane Granat Yalowitz.

Earlier on the day I also saw the two art shows up at the Art League in Alexandria and also visited the current photography show at Multiple Exposures and the current show at Target Gallery.

More on all those later, as I have a superbusy day today!

Opening this weekend

The Mitch Snyder Arts & Education Center, dedicated to providing homeless people access to education, computers and the arts, is holding an art opening this weekend, showcasing work done by homeless Washingtonians as well as local artists involved with the program.

They are seeking to raise awareness about homelessness, showcase the work of our artists, and raise funds for the Center.

The openings are Friday Dec. 16th, 5:30 – 7:30 pm and Saturday Dec. 17th, 12:00 – 2:00 pm. The openings feature recent artwork by Clive Turner, Qin Xi Lin & Lucy Umberger; a new exhibit: The Steps of Homelessness, which is a stairway display of poetry and artwork by residents of CCNV homeless shelter; new & used art sale to benefit the Arts Center, and music and refreshments.

Mitch Snyder Arts & Education Center
117 D St. NW, 2nd floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-393-1909 ext.300

DC Arts Commission Grants

Deadlines: January 18 and 20, 2006.

The New Media and Audio Program offers individual grants of up to $10,000 to artists and arts organizations for support of innovative New Media and Audio projects. Deadline: Jan 18, 2006.

There's also a "Folk Arts Mini Grants" of $1000.00 each. That deadline is January 18, 2006. The Folk & Traditional Arts Mini-Grant (FTA) offers quick response small-scaled grants up to $1,000 to artists and arts organizations practicing or supporting folk traditions.

For more info, go to this website and click on "Opportunities for Artists."

There's a "How to Apply" workshop at the Arts Commission on December 15th from 6 - 7 pm. (it is free). Call them for more info at 202-724-5613.