Artists' Websites: Emily Piccirillo
Glass prices
"Glass art is attracting more admirers and collectors today and gaining more attention as a fine art, as artists explore more with the medium. Meanwhile, prices for pieces are on the rise."Read this interesting article The Canadian Press.
Patsy Fleming at Foundry
I'm hearing that the Patsy Fleming show at Foundry Gallery in DC is doing something rare for a DC art show: selling like hot cakes... gangbusters... ah... selling really well with 18 paintings having found a new home on the walls of a collector.
The show closes Sunday, so if you can swing by, check out her work, and maybe buy one.
Listen
If you missed Heather and I yesterday at WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi show, you can hear it online here.
New York Comments
After you read this article by Sewell Chan in the NYT -- about the debut of “New York City Waterfalls,” Olafur Eliasson’s $15.5 million of temporary cascades around New York Harbor -- continue reading the few hundred comments about the work and price tag.
Opportunities for Photographers
Deadline: Friday, August 15, at 5:00pm.
The 2nd Annual Plein Air–Easton! Photography Contest is open to professional, amateur, and student photographers. All images must depict aspects of the 2008 Plein Air-Easton! Festival. Cash prizes will be awarded and selections will be displayed in a touring exhibit which will continue through the Plein Air–Easton! Competition and Arts Festival 2009.
Deadline for submissions is Friday, August 15, at 5:00pm.
Winners will be announced September 5, 2008, during First Friday Gallery Walk. For more information and contest guidelines click here or email dorbin@paragonlight.com or
call 410-820-7738.
2008 Talbot County Abstract Photography Contest and Exhibition
The 2008 Talbot County Abstract Photography Contest, held by Traces of Us Gallery – Fotografia de Arte and Hobby Horse Photography, is open to all photographers interested in capturing the beauty of Talbot County and downtown Easton from an abstract and contemporary viewpoint. Registration will be held on Sunday, July 20 at Traces of Us Gallery – Fotografia de Arte from 10:00am – 4:00pm and is free with a donation of nonperishable food item(s).
Participating photographers will be required to take their pictures in Talbot County on July 21 and July 22 and in downtown Easton on July 23 and July 24. Each artist must submit one image taken in each location.
An exhibition and sale of all competition photographs will run at the Traces of Us Gallery – Fotografia de Arte from July 26 through August 8. Hobby Horse Photography will exhibit and sell the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and honorable mentions from August 9 through September 1. For details click here.
On the air tonight at WRNR
I will be on the air around 6:30PM tonight on Annapolis' WRNR 103 FM in Michael Buckley's "Voices of the Chesapeake" show where I will be discussing the coming Plein AirEaston! event in beautiful Easton, Maryland.
If you've never been to Easton, you should seriously consider planning a trip anywhere from July 21-27, and witness as this beautiful seashore town becomes a magnet for thousands of art lovers and collectors as well as the nation's top plein air painters. Check it out here.
On the air today
On the air tomorrow
On the DC Arts Commission Director
Ethelbert Miller, one of the District's key arts personalities and a current DC Arts Commission commissioner pipes in with some good reflections on getting a new Executive Director. Read it here.
Grants for Artists
Deadline: July 31, 2008.
Awards up to $1,500 to visual and craft artists living and working in the U.S. Funds are to be used in the planning or a craft or visual arts project. Film projects are ineligible. For more information, send a SASE to:
The Ruth Chenven Foundation
7505 Jackson Avenue
Tacoma Park, MD 20912
Donate to this
The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts has a major arts fundraising event coming up called ARTcetera 2008.
ARTcetera is a biennial creative black-tie contemporary art auction created and supported by a unique partnership between the visual arts community and the AIDS Action Committee. Guests enjoy fine food and beverages and bid on more than three hundred fresh works by acclaimed local, national and international artists. An exciting live auction and two silent auctions present works in a variety of media, sizes, and styles.
To donate work you have to fill out this form by July 3rd, 2008. As far as shipping work to them, I am working a deal with them where they will take care of shipping of any artwork donated by artists through this blog; work must be shipped by the end of July. You can also choose to receive 25% of the auction price. They will also need an image of the work for the auction catalog. When you fill out the form, make sure to skip data items 13-16 and put "Courtesy of the Artist" in Question 12 unless your gallery or a collector is donating it.
So if you donate a piece, then drop me an email and also put the following in the donation form's box 18:
This work is being donated through a call to artists in Lenny Campello's "Daily Campello Art News" blog and will be shipped to ARTcetera after shipping arrangements have been finalized with Kevin Hudson.I plan to donate, and since donating artists get a ticket to the black tie gala, I may even swing by Boston to see how the auction goes. There is also a preview party for artists, donors and acquisition committee members happening on October 30 that artists will be invited to attend.
Resignations and Stepping Downs
Betsy Baker, editor of Art in America magazine since 1974, has resigned. Marcia Vetrocq, one of five senior editors, has become the new editor. Read the Lee Rosenbaum scoop here.
Also, Leonard Downie Jr., the longtime executive editor of The Washington Post, is stepping down in September. Read that bit of news here.
Living Without Them
Read the discussion on this Katzen Museum installation here. Comments welcomed!
The Washington Post's Critics Shame
Artomatic 2008 attracted a record-breaking 52,500 visitors as the Washington, D.C. area's homegrown arts extravaganza came to a triumphant close this month, setting new records and breaking new ground for artists in the region.
"Artomatic 2008 was a phenomenal event and it exceeded even our expectations," said Veronica Szalus, Artomatic president. "We are glad to be able to provide this opportunity for artists and to enrich the D.C. creative community."
In all, about 1,540 individual artists took part in Artomatic — also a new high. The total included 740 visual artists — such as painters, sculptors and photographers — who showed thousands of artworks. The event also included individual 800 performing artists, such as dancers, poets, theatre groups, drummers, comedians, fire troupes and musicians. Highlights of Artomatic 2008 included an art-themed fashion show, blood drive, art car foot race, marketplace, book signings and on-site tattoo parlor.
For the first time, Artomatic had a full schedule of free children's events every weekend, including popular workshops on mobile-making, Peeps dioramas, drawing and sculpting. More than 20 children's events were held, attracting hundreds of participants and budding artists.
Adult educational workshops and lectures were also held, focusing on topics such as art collecting and photography techniques. I participated in a couple of these...
And kudos to the Washington Post's Lavanya Ramanathan for providing most of the Post's scant critical coverage of the city's largest arts event.
How my good friend John Pancake, the Arts Editor of the Washington Post, can justify the fact that his two art critics can ignore the largest homegrown arts event in the city, is beyond me. As critical as I am of the WaPo's visual arts coverage, this apathy towards such a large event is beyond belief for even the Post, allegedly the world's second most influential newspaper.
Somewhere in the apathy is a mix of disdain for almost anything that smells of open, public, hands-free, artist-run, uncurated democratic event. The officers and shock troops of the contemporary salons cannot allow such an event to be a success.
Too bad that it is, even with their antipathy.
You reap what you sow; if you don't get it, you don't get it.
Update: John Pancake, the long time Arts Editor of the Washington Post is on the way out, as he took the recent set of buyout offerings from the WaPo administration.
George Carlin
I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.I'm really gonna miss that funny dude.
- George Carlin
Opportunity for DC Artists
Deadline: Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 5:30 pm
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) is purchasing artwork that captures archetypes of Washington DC. Subjects include specific neighborhoods, parks and circles, festivals, gathering places, or cultural events. Less obvious motifs include downtown redevelopment, restaurants, shops and businesses, work places, or Metro stations. Artists should consider a broad range of subject matter as long as the works have an unmistakable subject reflecting life in the District. Artists should also consider submitting images of Washington that depict the changing neighborhoods and the parts of the city that are disappearing. The Committee is very interested in depictions of all wards of the city. The collection serves to honor and embrace life in the District.
This opportunity is open to all artists who reside and have their studio in the District of Columbia.
For more information and to download the Call to Artist, please visit www.dcarts.dc.gov or to request an application in HTML format, email Beth Baldwin or call (202) 724-5613.
New Drawing
And in a huge development to my own artwork, color returns to it!
For years I painted in oils and watercolors and also did drawings... but around 1992-1993 all my artwork began to focus on just black and white drawings.
Not any more; color has returned to my artwork...
Congrats!
To B.G. Muhn, winner of the 2008 Bethesda Painting Awards.
Read the Washington Post review here. The show goes through July 5, 2008.
Scene from Bethesda has the story and images as well. See it here.
PMA Announces Interim CEO
Gerry Lenfest, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Philadelphia Museum of Art, yesterday announced the board’s unanimous vote to appoint Chief Operating Officer Gail Harrity as the Museum’s Interim Chief Executive Officer, and Associate Director of Collections Alice Beamesderfer as Interim Head of Curatorial Affairs.
These appointments, effective immediately, follow the unexpected death on June 1 of Anne d’Harnoncourt, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer. A selection committee co-chaired by Trustees Martha Morris and Keith Sachs will be organized in the coming weeks to search for a permanent successor.
Congrats!
To the winners of the 41st annual Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2008 exhibition, showcasing the talent, creativity and diversity of Pennsylvania's established and emerging artists. The exhibition opens to the public on Sunday, June 29, at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.
The exhibit includes 166 works of art which were selected from over 2,400 entries. This represents 160 artists from 28 counties.
The exhibition runs through Sept.21. For more information, visit this website.
Let's help Hizzoner
A few days ago I noted that Tony Gittens, the executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, announced a couple of days ago that he is leaving that post after 11 years.
Mayor Fenty will now appoint a new EA for the DCCAH and we're all hoping that it's not a typical politico nepotista appointment for the $110,000 a year job.
We're all hoping for someone who is qualified for this important job and who also cares deeply about the capital arts presence and its artists.
I have nominated George Koch, but I am curious to learn about other potential nominees out there, so feel free to post some comments with names of those who you think may be candidates.
Go hang your own artwork
"Wallmountables" is DCAC's Annual Open Exhibit - This year it will be from July 18 - August 31, with installation on July 16 3-8pm, July 17 3-8pm, July 18 3-6pm.
They divide the gallery into 2' x 2' squares and you take care of the rest.
Congrats!
To my good bud Jeffry Cudlin, who won First Place in the 13th annual AltWeekly Awards for his art criticism!
Now if Jeffry would only get back to writing a little...
Congrats!
To former Manassas, Virginia artist (now in Brooklyn) artist Allison Smith, who was recently awarded a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant.
Wanna go to a DC opening?
On June 20, from 6-8PM, Georgetown's Cross MacKenzie Ceramic Arts has an opening for the always fascinating theme of trompe l'oeil work, in this case by various artists.
Also take a look at the really good article in the current issue of American Craft magazine about Rebecca Cross MacKenzie and her DC gallery. Read it here.
Meet the dealers
I don't know who the dealers or curators lined up to do this are, but Baltimore's Creative Alliance, on June 22 is offering an opportunity for one-on-one interviews with curators and art dealers representing for-and-non-profit spaces in the region.
Learn what venues are looking for, get feedback on how your work is seen, and hone your presentation skills. Bring what you need to discuss your work (portfolio, artist statement, resume, etc.). Interviews are 15 min each, limited to 4 per artist, and scheduled on a first-come basis. Plan to wait for/between interviews. 2-6pm. $15, $10 mbrs.
Creative Alliance at The Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave
Baltimore, MD 21224
Email: staff@creativealliance.org
Phone: 410-276-1651
Website: www.creativealliance.org
Make Your Emergence!
In reference to my "Who are your notable emerging artist(s) in your town and area?" (Click here), you can also nominate yourself and put up your own website.
Go here, sign in (it's free) and give us a link to any artist website of your choice, including your own.
There may be more coming out of this, but at least you get another Google digital footprint out of it when collectors seek you out.
Let the drinking begin!
Reviews and comments here. For around six bucks it's already getting rave reviews!
Emerge already!
C'mon! Who are your notable emerging artist(s) in your town and area? I give you an opportunity to put a digital footprint for the website of your favorite emerging artist and you folks are hemming me up...
Go here, sign in (it's free) and give us a link to the website of your favorite emerging artist. Then maybe later we'll do a poll and see who emerges as the top 2-3 emerging artists around the nation to keep an eye on...
There may even be a prize or two coming down the road... trust me.
Congrats!
To Philly area artist Charles Burwell a new 2008 Pew Fellowships in the Arts recipient!
Mr. Burwell will receive a $60,000 Fellowship - an increase of $10,000 from previous years -and the largest such grants in the country from which individual artists can apply.
This year the awards went to artists working in folk and traditional arts, painting and playwriting, and were selected from a pool of 323 applicants.
"We are proud to continue Pew's long-standing commitment to the community of artists in Philadelphia and delighted to support this year's Pew Fellows in recognition of their exemplary contributions to the artistic vitality of our city and region," noted Marian Godfrey, Managing Director, Culture and Civic Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Burwell is represented in Philadelphia by the Bridgette Mayer Gallery.
The full list of award winners is here. Other visual artists in the list include Matthew Cox, Anne Seidman and Mauro Zamorra.
Congrats to all!
New Virginia Gallery
Ayr Hill Gallery will hold its Grand Opening Celebration on Friday, June 27, 2008, 5 PM to 8 PM, at 141 Church Street, NW, in Vienna, Virginia. Featured artists Armand Cabrera and Kathryn Ellis will attend the reception.
Canapés, confections, and conviviality will be served. To be included on the guest list, please send your name and mailing address to info@ayrhillgallery.com or call 703-938-3880; additional guests will be accommodated as space permits. Free and open to the public.
On the air next week
ICA drops admission cost
Beginning July 1, 2008, entry to Philly's Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) will be free to the public for the first time in its history. This unprecedented initiative was made possible by a generous gift from Glenn R. Fuhrman, who is an ICA Overseer and a contemporary art collector.
Museum Residency
Deadline: Postmarked by Monday, July 14, 2008
Applications are being accepted for three artist-in-residence positions at the Newark Museum Arts Workshop for the month of January 2009. The residency offers three artists the opportunity to use the Museum’s professional facilities for creating new work. A stipend will be paid to selected artists. This year because the Newark Museum is celebrating the 100th year of its founding, artists are being asked to submit proposals that relate to this milestone event.
How to Apply: First, there is no application form to fill out, references to seek or fees to pay. Please send 10 JPEG images at 300 dpi on a CD, or a video/film clip of five minutes or less of your current work along with resume, artist statement, residency proposal and SASE. Do please include a hardcopy list of your images and information about them and how or in what manner they should be viewed.
Stipend: Each artist receives a stipend of $1200.00. This includes artist acting as juror to select the next round of Newark Museum Resident Artists for 2010. In addition, in-kind material and technical support is supplied to each artist depending on project needs. Send application material to:
Stephen McKenzie
Manager
The Newark Museum
Arts Workshop for Adults
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102-3176
Email address: smckenzie@newarkmuseum.org
Call for 3D artists
Alexandria's Gallery West has a call for 3D artwork. Jurying will be from the artwork itself— no slides or CDs. Jury selection is Monday, July 7, 2008, between 11am – 6pm. The opening reception for selected works will be on Saturday, July 12, 5 – 8pm.
Download the entry form from their website.
Wanna go to a Germantown, MD opening?
Richard Vosseller's "Failure Is An Option" has an opening reception on June 21, 5:30 - 7:30 at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.
Emerging Artists
Having just returned from NYC, one of the side effects of the art fair phenomenon is the fact that through them many regional emerging artists are exposed to savvy art audiences in places like New York. Case in point is Norfolk's Sheila Giolitti, and last weekend was her first exposure to New York's art audiences and she sold about a dozen oil paintings!
Who are your notable emerging artist(s) in your town and area?
Go here, sign in (it's free) and give us a link to their website. Then maybe later we'll do a poll and see who emerges as the top 2-3 emerging artists around the nation to keep an eye on...
Richard Edson
Annie Adjchavanich returns to the DC area to present Richard Edson photographs from the series "Beyond the Valley of the Micro Bops."
Preview the show here.
The opening is Thursday, June 19, 8 - 11pm and the exhibition goes through June 29, 2008.
Jackie's Backroom Gallery
8081 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
Artomatic to close tomorrow
Washington, DC's Artomatic 2008 comes to a close Sunday, June 15 at 10 pm. If you've already been, go again. There's so much to see and do. I've made the rounds half a few times and each time I discover new art, great music and performances. Make sure you drop a few bucks in the Artomatic donation boxes to help with expenses.
Also, there's a Glass Art Tour of Artomatic, on Sunday, June 15 at 2pm. By popular demand, one more tour on the last day of Artomatic! Please meet in the lobby of Artomatic between 1:45pm-2pm for a guided glass tour of Artomatic. Join Washington Glass School artists Cheryl Derricotte, Sean Hennessey and others as they lead you directly to all the great glass on exhibit this year. You will then ride up together to the 11th floor to begin and walk down to the 4th floor so comfortable shoes are suggested. The tour will depart the lobby at 2pm and concludes by 3:30pm.
Derivative Composition
A while back I was honored to be one of three jurors for VSA's "Derivative Composition" juried exhibition at the Kennedy Center.
The Derivative Composition exhibition at the Kennedy Center will be installed this coming Monday. I’m told that it is one of the most ambitious and interesting exhibitions that VSA has produced to date.
The opening is scheduled for Thursday, June 26, beginning at 5 pm. Several of the artists (which come from all over the country) will be attending. In addition, they will host two exclusive performances:
Mark Wittig, from Oklahoma, will present the performance component of his installation, To Have Straights. The performance will emphasize the potential of the physical act as a learning tool.
The Skin, by artist Emily Eifler, will awaken and walk among guests. The textural, full body costume serves to represent a visual boundary that recalls a different, invisible boundary: disability
Steinhauer on the Affordable Art Fair
Artinfo.com's Jill Steinhauer reports on the Affordable Art Fair here.
The Affordable Art Fair New York is one of the least pretentious places to see high-quality international contemporary art in the city. The annual fair, now in its seventh edition, runs June 12–15 at the Altman Building and adjoining Metropolitan Pavilion, and with general admission priced at only $17, it’s cheaper than a trip to MoMA or the Guggenheim.Read the whole article here. From the reports that I gathered yesterday, almost all galleries were selling well.
An affordable art fair may sound amateurish to some, and the art on view here does range in quality, but the gallerists I spoke with yesterday had almost entirely positive things to say about the event, whose self-proclaimed mission is “to serve every kind of art enthusiast.” “This fair is much better than the Affordable Art Fairs in Australia,” said first-timer Peter Gant of Carlton, Australia–based Peter Gant Fine Art.
DC News
Tony Gittens, the executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, announced a couple of days ago that he is leaving that post after 11 years. Read the WaPo report here.
Memo to Mayor Fenty: Appoint George Koch to the job.
Silly-Matic
Artomatic's odd developments with respect to "the Collector" are chronicled here by the WaPo's Reliable Source.
Affordable Art Fair New York report
The press preview and collectors's night (on Wednesday night) was packed to the gills and the AAFNYC staff told me that it was the largest turnout they've ever had for an opening.
Loads of press people, including a lot of NYC art bloggers, and a significant number of young people drinking the free booze. In our booth, Sheila Giolitti was selling loads of her paintings on this preview night.
Today was the "real" first day of the fair, and when we got there at noon, there was a line of people waiting to get in. I made some quick sales almost immediately of Cirenaica Moreira photos, and Tim Tate's video reliquiaries (as they did the preview night) continued to attract people like moths to a light. At $8,000, they're at the top price scale for this level of art fairs.
Sheila Giolitti continued to sell well, and the anecdotal reports that I received from the other DC, MD and VA galleries in the fair sounded like they were all doing well.
The press was back today to our booth to discuss Cuban art and the state of art fairs; seems like trying to gather if the fair market at this "battle front" level is also putting on the brakes.
More tomorrow...
Fairing
At the Fair in NYC all week with my new Alida Anderson Art Projects venture... more later.
Videos, Movies, Animation & Art at the Whino
National Harbor's Art Whino & Art Outlet will partner up again for the FLIK Movie Festival & Interactive Exhibit.
For FLIK 2008, Art Outlet has partnered with the Art Whino Gallery to expand upon last year’s success by expanding the call out to all mediums of animation and experimental film. There will be more screenings, a larger venue, a coinciding interactive exhibit, and a licensing of the program to allow for screenings both locally and internationally – thus expanding exposure for the selected filmmakers.
Friday, June 21 from 6 – 8pm is the opening reception from 8pm – 12am. On Saturday the sked is as follows:
9am – 3pm Workshops
3pm – 6pm Interactive Exhibit open to the public
6pm – 8pm Reception
8pm – 12am Screening / Performance
On Sunday: 12pm – 6pm Exhibit open to public
She's So Articulate
At the Arlington Arts Center: Black Women Artists Reclaim the Narrative!
The week of November 15-22, 2008 will mark the launch of FotoWeek DC, the first annual gathering of a diverse and wide-ranging photography community in the nation’s capital, including photographers, museums, universities and all those involved in the profession across the metro D.C. area, including Virginia and Maryland. Unique among American cities, Washington, D.C. is a nexus of artistic, business, political and public sector energy, in which photography plays an integral role. FotoWeek DC seeks to bring together all photographers and imaging professionals from every discipline to join with the public in celebration of the medium.Details here. They were really keeping that event a "secret"! This is first heard for me and they've already got a whole series of events planned and an ass-kicking website and seems like almost every key art gallery in the Greater DC and DMV region is in the mix.
When Museum Guards Go Bad
A former Carnegie Museum of Art guard charged with vandalizing a $1.2 million painting simply "snapped" due to life's normal pressures, including impending fatherhood, his defense attorney said.Read the story here.
Fair State
Art Basel, the largest international fair of contemporary art, wound up Sunday after registering some major sales but with a suggestion that the overall market may be slowing in reaction to the world's financial turmoil.You can read the whole AP report here.
The show management's final report said the results were "outstanding" and that all participants "considered it a very good year," but it gave no overall sales figures.
Headlines were chiefly made by Roman Abramovich, the Russian multibillionaire and owner of Chelsea soccer club, who topped the list of collectors present.
Abramovich appeared to have stayed below his spending spree last month in New York, where he paid US$120 million (€77 million) at Sotheby's record-breaking auction, including US$86 million (€55 million) for the top lot, a Francis Bacon triptych.
In Basel, he bought one of Alberto Giacometti's elongated woman sculptures for a seemingly modest US$14 million (€9 million), according to The Art Newspaper's special Basel edition.
The sale of a Lucian Freud, "Girl in Attic Doorway," for US$12 million (€7.7 million) to an undisclosed buyer was also confirmed.
The organizers said their surveys showed that "all the exhibiting galleries were able to find buyers for their works."
The 300 participating galleries offered works by more than 2,000 artists, priced between a few thousand and millions of dollars.
It was left to the individual galleries to disclose sales, and many did not.
Despite the positive report of the organizers, the weekend edition of The Art Newspaper headlined, "Market keeps moving, but the brakes start to go on."
Florida Gallery Seeks Street Art
The 621 Gallery, a contemporary exhibition space in Tallahassee, FL, seeks entries for an exhibition dealing with contemporary street art scheduled for July 2009. They are interested in themes relating to contemporary street art including graffiti, murals, stenciling, and guerilla art. Send them a CD of images (at 300 dpi) of your work, your contact info (mailing address, phone, email), and a short statement (1 page maximum) on why you make what you make. Send materials to:
Street Art
c/o 621 Gallery
621 Industrial Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32310
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: July 1, 2008.
The Art Gallery at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington is accepting submission for exhibitions for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years. The gallery functions as a resource for students, educators, artists and the public-at-large. Submissions are limited to 2-D, 3-D and installation work. This is an open call, but preference will be given to proposals received by July 1, 2008. For more information, go to this website.
Art-In-Architecture Artist Registry
Deadline: July 31, 2009.
The GSA Art in Architecture Program commissions the nation's leading artists to create large-scale works of art for new federal buildings. These artworks enhance the civic meaning of federal architecture and showcase the vibrancy of American visual arts. Together, the art and architecture of federal buildings create a lasting cultural legacy for the people of the United States. For more information, go to this website.
Studio Visit
My studio visit with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is here. Read it and prepare to be impressed by this dynamo of an artist.
Gopnik on Transformer
The WaPo's Chief Art Critic does something that he rarely does: review a Washington, DC art gallery.
And Gopnik does a really good job in showing us what this show is all about, and in making us all wish that he did this more often.
Read it here.
Lorton Arts
Last month I juried the Lorton Arts Foundation exhibition at the University of Phoenix, Reston Campus. Below is a quick video of that exhibit.
Private Museums
Mr Margulies, who estimates he now owns around 4,500 works, is among the more respected of a growing group of collectors who choose to create independent spaces, rather than donating works to public museums, where it might stay in storage “for the first 15 years”, he said.Read Lindsay Pollock and Georgina Adam discuss why the rise of the private museum is rewriting the rules of the market - in the Art Newspaper here.
Art Fairs
Art Basel, one of the world's largest and oldest contemporary art fairs, opens to the public today; about 55,000 people will throng to it and its satellite events. Whether you consider the crowd lemmings or pilgrims may depend upon your bias -- and your bank account -- but one thing is certain: Fairs are a power shift in the art world. For good or ill, they are changing where you buy art, how you look at it, and even how artists make it.Alexandra Peers on art fairs at the WSJ. Read it here.
Early Look Video
Last night's opening of Early Look, an exhibition of undergraduate art students selected by me from various schools in the Mid Atlantic, opened at DC's Long View Gallery and below I have a quick video of the opening and artwork.
Come to the Early Look opening tonight
Drop by the Long View Gallery in DC today from 5-8PM for the opening reception of Early Look, my curated exhibition of some outstanding young artists from undergraduate programs along the Mid Atlantic.
You will see work by Moore College of Art & Design students Krista Rothwell, Erika Risko, Lauren Albert, Catherine Badger and Melanie Bergwall, Corcoran College of Art + Design student Marissa Valko, MICA student Anton Merbaum, American University student Caitlin Servillo, Virginia Commonwealth University student Deborah Shapiro, St. Mary’s College of Maryland student Jenny Davis, George Mason University students Aaron Miller, Ryan McCloy and Tanya Wilson, and West Chester University of Pennsylvania student Meghan Buozis.
The Long View Gallery is at 1302 9th ST NW, Washington, DC 20001 (202.232.4788) just a short walk from the Convention Center. This is an excellent opportunity for beginning collectors.
See ya there!
Lockheedian Christo
I have never seen these pictures or knew that we had gone this far to protect industrial and defense operations. During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant from Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.
Below is Lockheed before the camouflage was created:
And below are some amazing images after it was hidden away:
Grants for Maryland Artists
Deadline: July 31, 2008
The 2009 Maryland State Fellowship guidelines and applications are now available. The funding categories available for 2009 include:
Dance: Choreography
Music Composition (World, Classical and Non Classical)
Playwriting
Poetry
Visual Arts: Crafts
Visual Arts: Photography
Visual Arts: Sculpture
All applications must be submitted online. Applicants can click here to access the MSAC Individual Artists Fellowships Application. The deadline for 2009 applications is July 31, 2008.
Fallon & Rosof Curate
Philly's Northern Liberties neighborhood is rapidly developing (no pun intended) into one of my favorite areas - it reminds me a lot of Brooklyn when I was a kid.
And Northern Liberty's Projects Gallery today opens their collaboration with curators and uber art bloggers Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof in an exhibition simply titled ID.
This exhibition will put the gallery lights on a number of emerging Philadelphia artists united in pushing the boundaries of myth and persona in contemporary art. From what I know of the show so far, we will see video, performance, sculpture, and photography, as the exhibition explores "broad and self-focused concepts ranging from issues of applied identity to the id of the artist."
As Roberta and Libby put it, "the works are metaphorical in ways that come out of the core of who they are and what they see around them." Artists include:
Samantha Hill - Moore College of Art and Design
Andria Bibiloni and Carl Marin - Tyler School of Art
Jay Hardman, Alex Gartelmann, and Phil Jackson - The University of the Arts
Jamie Diamond, Katy Rose Glickman, and Sarah Zimmer - University of Pennsylvania
And Philadelphia-based artist Diedra Krieger from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
ID opens tonight with an artist reception from 5-8 p.m. and continues through July 26. There will be a performance of artist Samantha Hill’s “Black Iconography” at 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
More Congrats!
Kudos to Silver Spring artist Steve Resnick who was asked by the US State Department to create gifts for President Bush to give out while the Prez was visiting Israel.
Resnick created a six-sided glass "tzedakah" box. The box will be given to the state of Israel and put on permanent display in the Israel Museum.
Congratulations
Kudos to Bert GF Shankman of Olney, MD who had three of his photographs chosen for the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston. They were chosen by Anne Wilkes Tucker Chief Curator of Photography of the museum. This top notch museum has over 22,000 photos in its collection of photography which is the largest and easily amongst the finest in the country.
Bert will be having an Open Studio and Sale on June 7 and 8 from 12-5 PM where you may see the award winning photographs plus others,. Admission is free to this show and sale at his home gallery and open to the public. Call: 301-774-0655.
Top 20 Must-See US Museum Exhibitions for Summer 2008
According to MutualArt.com anyway:
· Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy (Dallas Museum of Art)
· Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.: Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
· Gilbert & George (Milwaukee Art Museum)
· Everything's Here: Jeff Koons and His Experience of Chicago (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago)
· The Baroque World of Fernando Botero (New Orleans Museum of Art)
· Calder Jewelry (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
· Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International (Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh)
· Frida Kahlo (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
· Louise Bourgeois (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City)
· Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe (Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City)
Good story!
The CP's Angela Valdez has a really interesting article on DC area ubercollector and museumeister Mitch Rales. Read it here.
Opportunity for DC Artists
Deadline: Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 5:30 pm
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) is purchasing artwork that captures archetypes of Washington DC. Subjects include specific neighborhoods, parks and circles, festivals, gathering places, or cultural events. Less obvious motifs include downtown redevelopment, restaurants, shops and businesses, work places, or Metro stations. Artists should consider a broad range of subject matter as long as the works have an unmistakable subject reflecting life in the District. Artists should also consider submitting images of Washington that depict the changing neighborhoods and the parts of the city that are disappearing. The Committee is very interested in depictions of all wards of the city. The collection serves to honor and embrace life in the District.
This opportunity is open to all artists who reside and have their studio in the District of Columbia.
For more information and to download the Call to Artist, please visit www.dcarts.dc.gov or to request an application in HTML format, email Beth Baldwin or call (202) 724-5613.
Open Studio in Baltimore
Our own Rosetta DeBerardinis will host an open studio on Saturday, June 7th; Time: 1-7 pm at:
School 33 Art Center
1427 Light Street
Studio #201
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Black Art
Months ago it drove me crazy when Washington Post writer Jacqueline Trescott described Jacob Lawrence a great "African American" artist and now it drives me even crazier when her Washington Post's colleague and that paper's chief art critic writes (in reviewing current shows by American artists Aaron Douglas and Jacob Lawrence in the nation's capital) that:
The surprise isn't that Douglas couldn't overcome all the obstacles there were to making the first fully convincing black art. It's that the young Lawrence, in his "Migration of the Negro," did."Black Art"????? Is there really such a genre? If there is, then haven't Africans been making "Black Art" for milennia?
10 Great Towns for Working Artists
10. Oil City, PennsylvaniaRead this excellent article by Kim Hall to discover the other nine cities here.
What makes it special: The birthplace of the oil industry and former headquarters of Standard Oil, Quaker State and Pennzoil, this northwestern Pennsylvania town is reinventing itself into a lively, committed arts community. With affordable Victorian homes and mixed-use properties (many under $50,000), theater, music, a branch campus of Clarion University, easy accessibility to art markets from Cleveland to Buffalo, and dozens of artists who have already claimed this small town as home, Oil City is one of the best deals on the market.
What it offers: 100 percent fixed-rate financing up to $150,000 on live-work space (when using First National Bank). This includes rehab costs, and mortgage insurance is waived. $7,500 toward down payment and closing costs on a residence through Venango County Affordable Housing (income guidelines apply). Plus there are opportunities for facade grants and loans, tax abatements for commercial properties and tax breaks for certain properties in the Historic District. Downtown studio space is available at $0.49 per square foot, with the first three months rent free.
“If you don’t move, you get fat”
The “If you don’t move, you get fat” campaign is found found in Hamburg and is creative genius of the German ad agency, Scholz & Friends, for the German Olympic Sport Federation. 
The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009
Enter the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009, sponsored by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Call for Entries in all visual arts media: June 2 – July 31, 2008. First prize: $25,000 and an opportunity for a commission to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
The competition and resulting exhibition will celebrate excellence and innovation, with a strong focus on the variety of portrait media used by artists today. The juried competition will result in an exhibition of approximately 60 of the finalists’ works. The National Portrait Gallery welcomes single figure, group, or self-portraits—from classical drawing and painting or hyperrealistic sculpture to large-scale photography to prints and new media. The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), a former Portrait Gallery volunteer whose generous gift has endowed this program.
To enter online, please visit this website.
Job in the Arts
Deadline: June 19, 2008.
Arlington County (Virginia) Government is looking to hire someone to "provide collection, project management and program support to the Public Art Program responsible for developing and implementing art projects at sites identified as priorities in Arlington County’s Public Art Master Plan."
Duties include: Perform annual site visits develop condition reports, coordinating maintenance and conservation of projects; Manage and update picture library and public art database, prepare PR materials; Oversee the delivery and installation of temporary and permanent public art projects and the removal of de-accessioned artworks or completed exhibitions; Coordinate meetings, selection panels, presentations, and dedication ceremonies; Represent Arlington at national and state conferences and create and give presentations for public meetings and internal lectures.
Requires related BA and one year experience in an arts, public arts or design related discipline. Prefer MA and previous public art administration experience. This is a flexible, 32 hr/week, benefit eligible position. Pays $19.36 - $32.01 hourly.
How to apply: An Arlington Internet application is required by the closing date of 6/19/08. You may also use your browser to go to www.arlingtonva.us/pers, click on COUNTY JOBS and scroll down to click on the job title from the alphabetical list. Email questions to pers@arlingtonva.us
Secrets
What you see below is Frank Warren holding the original container that he bought to hold the postcards that have now become over a quarter million secrets that his amazing worldwide PostSecret Art Project has generated.
The Funk Aesthetic
The Funk Aesthetic: Chocolate Coated, Freaky & Habit Forming, opens on June 4th – 29th at the H&F Fine Arts Gallery in Mount Rainier, MD, just outside the District lines.
Curated by Tonya Jordan with commentary by author Thomas T. Stanley, the exhibition presents "new art grounded in the aesthetic of Funk music of the mid-sixties to early eighties and features international and locally based artists visually interpreting the music form through various media."
There will be work by Aniekan, Pedro Bell, S. Ross Browne, Deadra Bryant, Miles Bumbray, K. Wesley E. Clark, Jamel Craig, Ronald 'Stozo' Edwards, Dejon N. Gee, Gary Johnson, Alexis Peskine, Akia 'Space Lady' Quander-Jordan, William Rhodes, Jerome Spinner, Katurah Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, and Tedra Wilson.
An opening reception will be held Saturday, June 7th, 5-8pm followed by a musical performance by Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind (featuring Bobby Hill, Thomas T. Stanley, and Chris Downing) and an after party with a special guest DJ at Artmosphere Café, 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, MD.
Public programs include a panel discussion the Funk movement and aesthetic on June 21st 4-6 PM and an artist talk/closing reception June 28th.
For more information visit www.hffinearts.com and/or www.musicovermind.org.
Jack Tom - Art Scammer
Remember this art scam email? Read it first...
And so he answered: This is his answer:
From: jack tom (tjacktom@hotmail.com)By the way... this is what's really at that address... and note that the phone number is a digit off... anyway, this is what I sent him back:
Sent: Tue 5/27/08 5:59 PM
To: F. Lennox Campello (lennycampello@hotmail.com)
Hello,
Thank for your fast response and i want you to know that i came across your store information via Google and here is what i will like to order for,
Lilith Birthing Demons
qty:1
"Expeditionary Service Test"
Acrylics on Paper, c. 1999
3 x .825 inches
qty:1
I will like you to get back to me with the total cost and the shipping cost.and here is address for you to the shipping cost via ups or fed ex.and please kindly get back to me if this items is in stock because i do not want any delay on this.
9 Marian Street
Killaria 2071
AUSTRALIA
Phone: 61 2 9498 6830
Do this on time so that i can be able to give you my credit card information and complete my order for me
Best Regards
jack tom.
From: F. Lennox Campello (lennycampello@hotmail.com)
Sent: Mon 6/02/08 9:52 PM
To: jack tom (tjacktom@hotmail.com)
G'day mate!
Jackie boy! Jackierooonie! The Jackie Tommeister!
Thanks for your order!
But before I ship it to you... I am very particular as to who owns my work. Can you please tell me if you have a family, as I do not like selling my work to single men, unless they are older or divorced?
So are you married? How old are you?
Also, did you attend school? Where? I'm very fussy about my work only hanging in educated homes.
I will have my studio assistant pack it for shipping to Australia as soon as you respond and send me payment details. A credit card or an international check is OK.
The Lenster...
PS - Also, is it true that toilets swirl backwards in Australia?
Artists' Talk: DC
Artists Novie Trump and Elizabeth Burger will discuss influences that led to their works currently on exhibit in "Immersed In The Natural World" at the Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts.
The discussion will occur Friday, June 6, from 5:30 - 8:00pm at 1632 U Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009. All are welcome to attend. This exhibit is up through June 27, 2008.
PMA Director dies
Anne d'Harnoncourt, 64, the formidable, high-spirited personification of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and an indefatigable advocate for the arts as central to the city's identity, died late Sunday night.Read the news report here.
AOM and AU
A big thank you to all of you who came by yesterday to my question-answering session at Artomatic... even after two hours, when the band kicked me offstage, people were asking questions!
Afterwards I went to the multiple openings at American University's gorgeous Katzen Arts Center, easily one of the most beautiful art spaces in the Mid Atlantic. There are some really interesting shows at the Katzen, none more bipolarly attractive than Joe Shannon and Noche Crist sharing the third floor of the Katzen.
Review coming on the Shannon-Crist coming together... let's just say that after seeing how those two most unlikely of art partners coupled together, I am now a believer that anything can happen... even a Obama-Clinton ticket!
Talk to me
Today, starting at 4PM at the Cabaret Stage in Artomatic, I will be having a discussion with artists about anything that you want to talk about: how to get affordable framing, how to get a review, how to price your art, how to expand your resume, the who's and what's of DC and Philly art galleries, website design, press, museums, copyright, contracts, artists' success stories and how they did it... anything and everything that you want to ask or talk about. Just ask questions... no fluff.
Time permitting, afterwards I will also be available to personally criticize and give you feedback on your work (bring thick skin). This is all free and open to anyone,not just AOM artists.
A lot of panels spend a lot of time talking and then at the end people have tons of questions, so this time we will start with questions and move on.
Remember, my stuff will take place at the Artomatic Cabaret Stage, 1st Floor instead of the Education Room. AOM is doing this in order to accommodate more people, so come early; it starts at 4PM.
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: July 1, 2008
Virginia's Arlington Arts Center seeks contemporary fine artists working in all media for solo exhibitions in their 2009 season. Ten to fifteen artists will be chosen to show in our seven separate galleries — or on our grounds, in the case of outdoor sculpture.
Jurors include: Anne Ellegood, Curator for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Philip Barlow, the tall and notable Washington, D.C., art collector.
Deadline for applications is July 1st; notifications will go out no later than September 30th, 2008. For more information and a prospectus, visit their website at www.arlingtonartscenter.org. Or send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to:
Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
Modern Love
Opening on June 27 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Modern Love celebrates "the stellar group of contemporary works of art donated to NMWA by prominent Washington-based collectors Heather and Tony Podesta."
The exhibition features more than 50 works by internationally-renowned artists such as Cathy de Monchaux, Candida Höfer, Elizabeth Turk, and Jane and Louise Wilson as well as others.
Early Look Peek
Here's another early peek at another student whose work I've selected for the "Early Look" student exhibition at the Long View Gallery in DC next month.
Her name is Catherine Badger and she's a graduating senior at Moore College of Art & Design in Philly.
Congrats!
To DC area artist and art critic John Blee, whose paintings open in a solo show in Paris, France's Jane Roberts Fine Arts on June 11, 2008. The show runs through 11 July 2008.
Gallery owner arrested
An East Hampton art gallery owner was led away in handcuffs Saturday after she refused to stop serving drinks at an opening bash for a celebrity photo exhibit.Read the story here.
Opportunity for Artists and Curators
The Arts Center of the Capital Region has a call for curatorial proposals and artists’s slides. Often there are specific thematic exhibitions called for in addition to an open call. The open call is used to support a slide registry for future curators, possible residency projects and one-person exhibitions for regional artists in the President’s Gallery. Artwork is called for in any and all media including installation and video. Selections are made by a committee.
Details here.
