Opportunity for Artists

Deadline extended through Monday, June 28th

Call to Artists for the 4th Annual East of the River Exhibition at Honfleur Gallery.

Details here.

Battle of Bannockburn

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn (Blàr Allt a' Bhonnaich in Gaelic), which took place on the 24th of June, 1314.

This was an unexpected and significant Scottish victory against English aggression in the Wars of Scottish Independence against its larger and more powerful southern neighbor.

It is celebrated in the gorgeous Scottish National Anthem, "The Flower of Scotland."

"Painter of Light" arrested

Thomas Kinkade, the self-described “Painter of Light,” was arrested Friday night outside of Carmel on suspicion of drunk driving.

Read the details here.

DC Creates! Public Art Calls for Entry

Deadline: Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 7PM

All entries must be received by the deadline. This is not a postmark date.

Theme: District Identities Depictions of Washingtonian Life, Landscapes, and Cultural Legacies

The DC Arts Commission is seeking two and three-dimensional works including prints, drawings, mixed media compositions, paintings, photographs, ceramics, moveable sculptures, digital media, and video art. Special attention will be given to innovative and dynamic photography, to meet the strong demand for photographs amongst government agencies.

For assistance in preparing your application please attend the Workshop on Wednesday July 21st from 1-2PM and July 28th from 6-7:30PM at the DCCAH Office, 1371 Harvard Street, NW 20009. It is located 2 blocks south of the Columbia Heights Metro Station

Eligibility: This call is open to all artists who reside or maintain studio space in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. However, preference will be given to District residents.

Details here.

Wall Mountables return

The District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) has announced the return of 1460 Wall Mountables, DCAC’s annual open exhibition. On Wednesday, July 21 DCAC will open its doors at 3pm, beginning a three-day installation process during which artists can purchase up to four 2' x 2' spaces to hang their work.

Since the first Wall Mountables in 1990, the exhibition has become a celebrated summer tradition at DCAC. One of the center’s most important fundraising events, the open exhibition runs from July 23–August 29. On a personal note, I can tell you that since 1990 I've probably done this show 3-4 times, putting up all together about a dozen drawings in these shows and have always sold all of them.

Spaces sell on a first-come, first-serve basis. It’s not unusual to see returning participants lined up outside DCAC’s door by 2:30pm, patiently waiting for installation to begin with an eye towards grabbing the galleries prime wall space. All work is accepted from a wide range of media created by artists at various stages in their careers.

The exhibition provides a great opportunity for experimentation, as artists challenge themselves to make the most out of such limited space. The coveted $100 “Best Use of Space” prize is presented during the opening reception to the artist who makes the most innovative use of their 2’ x 2’ squares. Whether Wall Mountables is an artist’s first show, 59th show, or an opportunity to pull out canvases from their attic, 1460 Wall Mountables has spots ready to be filled.

General Guidelines
• Each 2' x 2' space is $15 for non-members (maximum 4 spaces)
• DCAC members receive one free space. Additional spaces are available for $10 each (maximum 4 spaces)
• Become a DCAC member at the event and receive four spaces for free! (regular membership starts at $30)
• Each piece must be 2' x 2' or smaller. Spaces may not be combined to accommodate larger pieces (larger pieces can be divided and placed in adjacent squares)
• All art must be wall mountable
• No painting or writing directly onto the wall
• No adhesive materials can be used for hanging (i.e.- spraymount, adhesive velcro, 2-sided tape or wallpaper glue)
• Artists must bring their own materials for hanging their work (hammer, nails, screws, wire)

District of Columbia Arts Center
2438 18th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.462.7833

The original Che



Image by Terry Ward, who tells me that it's around 500 W 22nd St. in NYC.

Gallery week: Good idea for DC galleries?

Last month saw the debut of New York’s Gallery Week in which 50 Manhattan dealers organised a smorgasbord of events, from book signings to performances and special late openings (7-10 May, p81). The idea is not new: Berlin has a similar weekend, (30 April-2 May, p81), as has Zurich (12-13 June). In the more traditional fields, London has long boasted an Asian Art Week in the autumn (4-13 November), while both London and New York see master drawings dealers putting on grouped events (3-9 July in London; 22-29 January 2011 in New York).

Read the whole Art Newspaper article here.

Hirst the gallerist

Damien Hirst is bidding to launch his first gallery, in Hyde Park. He and architect Mike Rundell have submitted plans to the Royal Parks to create a gallery space from an old munitions store.

Read the story here.

Art Basel: Where are the women?

A list of the artists whose work you are most likely to see at this year’s Art Basel, based on the number of galleries who are bringing pieces, is headed—perhaps unsurprisingly—by the prolific Andy Warhol, with works on show at 28 stands. Artists making work in the first half of the 20th century rank highly, including Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso, although the list is also speckled with 1960s conceptualists such as Sol LeWitt and Lawrence Weiner. But the top 40 most represented artists on show at the fair are all men

Read the Art Newspaper story here.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

Remember when I stumbled upon Alexa Meade's fabulous work and pointed all of you to it?

Well.. she's been picked up by Irvine Contemporary and has a show opening tomorrow, Saturday, June 19, with reception from 6-8PM.

This is but the beginning for this artist. Keep an eye on her.

Ariel Sigler

The criminal Castro dictatorship in Cuba has released Cuban political prisoner Ariel Sigler after seven years in jail for the high crime of demanding that human rights be respected in Cuba.

Sigler lost half his body weight in jail and was turned by Castro's jailers' beatings into a paraplegic, paralized from his waist down.

His body was broken and yet, his soul was never broken down.

The photo below, courtesy of Penultimos Dias, shows the brutal transformation Sigler went through in Castro's workers' paradise in 7 years in jails that haven't allowed Amnesty International to visit them in 30 years.


Puts a new face on the word "torture" and a new face on the word "hero."

War of 1812 Commemorative License Plate

Deadline: June 30, 2010.

The Washington, DC War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission invites Washington, D.C. visual artists and citizens to submit designs for a new War of 1812 Commemorative License Plate. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2010.

All the design submissions will be examined carefully by the Washington, D.C. War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission and the Division of Motor Vehicles. The first place winner design will appear on the commemorative tag and will receive $200.00 and the second and third place winners design will be displayed on the Commission’s website and print media along with the first price winner.

The new license plate competition will give citizens the opportunity to participate in the process for the first time,” said Chairman Acqunetta Anderson. “We want the new plate to be a positive representation of Washington, D.C. Submissions must be submitted via email For more information about Washington, D.C. license plates, visit the Washington, DC War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission’s Web site here.

All submissions must comply with provisions of this Application, and with the Commission’s guidelines, instructions, and directives issued to the Participant from time to time. For additional information, please contact the Commission at 202-722-1947 or via this very long email address: wdcwar1812@washingtondcwarof1812bicentennialcommission.org

Opportunity for photographers

Deadline: July 30, 2010.

The Nonprofit Village at the Washington School of Photography. Theme: This permanent exhibit will showcase the beauty and scope of the Washington, DC area, from macro images to landscapes. Open to residents of the DC metro area. Any photographic work is eligible: Traditional B&W and color; Digital; Alternative Processes; etc. Maximum dimension of any one side must be less than 36 inches. Slides/CDs - All photographs will be judged from slides or CDs (jpeg only, low res). Cash prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners. Opening reception for artists and guests September 24, 2010. Download a prospectus and find out more information about entry requirements here.

Boot on the throat of BP

Help!

I need a volunteer to help me with the editing and preparation of the manuscript for the 100 DC Artists book.

Lunch, or dinner or both, a free Campello drawing or etching, and my eternal gratitude is the payment form.

Drop me an email if you are available for a few hours this week or weekend. Send it to lenny @ lennycampello.com.

Wanna go to an opening this weekend?

Studio H's last exhibit of the Spring showing season is an exhibition titled "Derailed" by noted local graffiti artist Tim Conlon.

The image is of a model train on which Tim "writes."

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, my High School was actually in Queens, and I'd have to take the LL train and then switch to the number 7 to Queens. Overall that all took about and hour plus to get from my house to the school. Back in those days, the subway trains were covered from one end to the other in graffiti, even the windows! Every time the train arrived onto the station it was like a moving art show, except that in those days no one thought of the imagery as art.

The opening is June 19 from 6-9 PM.

Say what?

I tried to buy a photo the other day from the WaPo and I got this yesterday

Thank you for your interest in photographic reprints from The Washington Post and Pictopia.

Unfortunately, we cannot fulfill your request at this time for the following reason: The requested photograph is not available for sale due to copyright restrictions.

Thank you for your request to purchase Washington Post photos. Unfortunately Major League Baseball does not permit the selling of photographs of their athletes, events, stadiums or arenas.

Please visit our galleries again for other photos that may be of interest to you, and do not hesitate to make new requests in the future.

If you have any further questions about this, contact us. Please use your Request id# XXXXXXXXX in any correspondence with us.

Thank you,

Customer Service

The Pictopia Team
(800) 390-7269
customerservice@pictopia.com

So MLB owns the copyright for athletes, events, stadiums or arenas uh? How about drawings, paintings, etchings or any other form of fine art for the same? I think I will ask them.

Art & Soul Auction later this month

The 8th Annual Art & Soul Charity Auction 2010 is Friday, June 25, 2010 6:00 PM at The Music Center at Strathmore in Rockville, MD just past Bethesda. This is an important charity auction for the National Center for Children & Families (NCCF).

Join Honorary Co-Chairs Fox 5 News Anchor Allison Seymour and renowned jazz keyboardist, composer and producer Marcus Johnson, on Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6 p.m., for NCCF's 8th Annual Art & Soul Charity Auction at The Music Center at Strathmore.

The live auction will feature artwork created by youth from the Greentree Adolescent Program (GAP). The silent auction will feature Gifts from the Soul (non-art items) and juried artwork pieces from regional artists. In addition, guests will enjoy music by Sony recording artist Julia Nixon, the premiere of NCCF's new image, and the presentation of this year's Spirit of Humanitarian Awards.

Art & Soul Charity Auction tickets are $100 per person and can be purchased by contacting Heidi Coons, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at (301) 365-4480, extension 114 or click here to purchase online.

Proceeds from the evening benefit the completion of the Freddie Mac Foundation Youth Activities Center (YAC), NCCF’s sole cultural arts and recreational facility located on the Bethesda Campus.

What Pulse said...

For the third year in a row this is what the selection committee at the Pulse Art Fair Miami said to me:

Oh well... there are 24 other fairs to apply to... sigh.

Lisa MCCarthy is No. 5

Lisa McCarthy is Jessica Dawson's excellent choice in the Real Art D.C. thingie the WaPo is doing.

Judith Peck at Hillyer Art Space

Deanna Schwartzberg reviews the current show by Judith Peck at the International Art and Artists Hillyer Art Space in DC.

Judith Peck is both an artist and an intellectual. Her paintings are often generated by her abiding concern for social justice. Although she infuses her work with ideological content, it is in the exquisite execution of her subject, that we see not only the process of her mind, but her soul as well.

In her current exhibit, "Original Position", at the International Art and Artists Hillyer Art Space, June 4-26, 2010, it is a thought experiment by John Rawls that inspired the artist.

Rawls states that if we step behind a veil to cloak our knowledge of our individual abilities, social status and income, it might render us able to effectively consider the interests of all people, especially the least advantaged members of society.

Ms. Peck incorporates the concept of the veil in all of the portraits on display, each taking on a different aspect of the human condition, i.e. gender, passion, and conscience. Without prior knowledge of the artist's text, these paintings speak to us on a visceral level. Her portraits are drawn from live models and composites of the human face and appear to be lit from within. They are infused with a mysterious drama that captures the viewer's attention. On closer examination, we become transfixed in the subject's gaze. These subjects are never emotionally distant, their eyes penetrate and connect with the viewer's own, engaging our thoughts and connecting with our emotions.

On a recent trip to Boston, I viewed Rembrandt's "Self Portrait" in the Gardner Museum. I was enthralled with the delicacy of the painted surface, the fullness of his mouth, the rich textures of his hair and clothing, but most importantly, his eyes. Through his eyes I felt a knowing kinship with the sitter. What if Rembrandt were alive today? He would not only give us a window into the world around him, but into his own mind as well. As a modern artist, he might use his art to relate in visual terms the essence of his core beliefs and allow us as viewers to engage in a dialogue with him.

Judith Peck is a classically trained artist of infinite skill. Her work captivated me with a similar intimacy I found in the Rembrandt portrait, with the added benefit of symbolic imagery and metaphor that in the modern world serve to make the art both personal and timely.

About the author: Deanna Schwartzberg is an artist and painting instructor in the Washington area. She has taught painting at various venues including the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Vis Arts, and at the Art League School in the Torpedo Factory for over twenty years. She received a B.S. in Art Education from N.Y.U. and studied painting at the Art Student's League of New York with a student of Hans Hoffman. Deanna's work in painted paper assemblage and paintings on canvas deal with abstracting the human form.

Never too late to be discovered

An artist who rejected the call of the art market in his youth, and was discovered surrounded by a lifetime of unseen work when he was more than 100 years old, is to have his first museum exhibition this month.

Read Colin Gleadell's story on Stanley Lewis in the Telegraph here.

How the ChiComs know that Strasburg is pitching in Cleveland tonight

Congrats!

The Bethesda Painting Awards were announced last Friday (I never get any press releases from those folks anymore).

Nora Sturges of Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Katherine Mann of Washington, D.C. was named second place and was given $2,000, and Deborah Ellis of Alexandria, VA was awarded third place and received $1,000.

Nora Sturges holds an MFA in painting from Ohio University and is currently associate professor of art and head of painting at Towson University.

The show is on at the Fraser Gallery through June 26, 2010.

William Butler Yeats

Happy birthday to one of my favorite poets and a pretty good artist as well: William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), born on June 12, 1865 in Dublin, Ireland.

"A Poet to his beloved"
by: William Butler Yeats

Bring you with reverent hands
The books of my numberless dreams,
White woman that passion has worn
As the tide wears the dove-grey sands,
And with heart more old than the horn
That is brimmed from the pale fire of time:
White woman with numberless dreams,
I bring you my passionate rhyme.

Real Art D.C. Finalist Two: Jenny Yang

Jenny Yang's excellent photographs attracted Jessica Dawson's attention is she is the second Real Art D.C. selection. Read all about it here.

Book Report

As I noted a while back, I have been retained by Schiffer Publishing to edit and create a coffee table size art book titled “100 Washington, DC Artists” as part of their series on national artists.

The book will cover 100 key artists working in the Greater Washington, DC area which encompasses the District and surrounding suburban areas of Maryland and Virginia.

Like all Schiffer art books, this will be a high quality book which will be available nationally and online, as well as available locally at museum gift shops and local area bookstores. Each artist will have a two page spread, with 3-4 images of their work, a small head shot, and a 300 word essay about their work.

So far I've spent a lot of free time editing, cutting and pasting the captions to about 1,000 images for the book. On the good side, I am astounded as to the depth and breadth of artistic creativity in our area. Anyone who says that DC area art is traditional and/or conservative needs to take a look at the 21,000 slides in the collection of the WPA (as I did for "Seven") or to about 1,000 recent images of work by the top 100 artists in our region; then come talk to me about "traditional" and "conservative."



On the bad side, I can't believe how many artists can't follow simple directions such as "write this in the third person." I actually had a college professor ask me what the "3rd person" was. Don't even let me get started on how many variants of writing a caption there are out there. Just in case, the basic elements of a caption are: title of the artwork, year created, media, and size.

Back on the good side, I am honored to be working with such a talented and motley crew. The book will be available in the Spring of 2011; I've already entered into discussions with the publisher for a second book with another 100 DMV artists.

Talking about books: Scored another giant deal on multiple signed modern first editions to add to my collection! Sad when used book stores close though...

Mr. President, please do something...

Congrats!

To DC's Matt Sesow, whose new solo show with Access Gallery in Denver, Colorado, opens with 41 new paintings, yes 41, next Friday.

Meet the Artist Reception: Friday, June 18, 6:00 – 9:00 pm

Live Painting and Gallery Talk: Friday June 18, 12:00–4:00 pm

Family Art Day: Saturday June 19, 10:00–1:00 pm

First Friday Reception: July 2, 6:00 – 9:00 pm

Facebook campaigning

The CP's Jonathan L. Fischer picks up on the Facebook campaign to get the Hirshhorn to pay attention to DC video sculptor Tim Tate.

We can make this happen! Add your voice here!

Artisphere

Artisphere, the metropolitan-DC area’s newest cultural center, is set to open in Arlington on 10-10-10 with multiple venues, including: a 4,000 square foot ballroom space, a wi-fi lounge, a café, three distinct gallery spaces, as well as three flexible theater/performance spaces!

There are also three job openings as Artisphere is now accepting applications for the following positions:

1. New Media Curator ($43,804.80 - $72,425.60 Annually)
2. Program Director ($53,580.80 - $88,545.60 Annually)
3. Executive Director ($56,700.80 - $116,708.80 Annually).

There's also a call for exhibition proposals (due June 15). All proposals must be submitted via arlington.slideroom.com. You can download the proposal submission form here.

Working hard

Hard work always has a payoff for artists. And one of the DMV's hardest working artists is my good bud Tim Tate. The dude has has three openings coming next week alone!

- Swanson Reed Gallery, Louisville, KY. Opening on Friday evening, June 11.

- Fuller Museum, Brockton, Mass. Sunday afternoon, June 13. There's a 1pm lecture and a 2pm reception.

- Scope Art Basel, Switzerland with San Francisco's Micaela Gallery, June 15-20, 2010.

Join the Facebook group We want to see Tim Tate's video art work in the Hirshhorn Museum!! here.

Tomorrow: Grand Opening of new gallery in Loudoun

The Gateway Gallery is a new artists' owned and run cooperative gallery located in the Hill High Orchard Building, just west of Round Hill on Route 7 and certainly a landmark for western Loudoun.

The Grand Opening is Saturday, June 12 starting at 6PM and there will be demos from several of the 30 artist members. Look for the work of Suzanne Lago Arthur to stand out.

Tim Tate for the Hirshhorn Museum

This is a Facebook group dedicated to convincing the curatorial staff and acquisition committee of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden to finally purchase and exhibit some of the amazing video art pieces from Tim Tate.

My good friend Tim Tate is one of the most renowned award winning artists in this region. He works in self-contained video installations and projections.

Hirshhorn: Look in your own backyard for an artist making a huge impact internationally.

Hope they are listening! Check it out here.

Tate has three openings coming next week alone:

- Swanson Reed Gallery, Louisville, KY. Opening on Friday evening, June 11.

- Fuller Museum, Brockton, Mass. Sunday afternoon, June 13. There's a 1pm lecture with Fo Wilson and a 2pm reception.
...
- Scope Art Basel, Switzerland with San Francisco's Micaela Gallery, June 15-20, 2010.

Opportunity for Printmakers

Deadline: August 9, 2010

The 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints is the ninth competitive national exhibition organized by the University of Richmond Museums. Open to all forms of prints, the exhibition is presented as a celebration and examination of contemporary printmaking by artists throughout the United States. The Harnett Biennial will be on view from October 21 to December 5, 2010, in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art.

The juror of this biennial is Laura Kruger, Curator of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York.

The deadline for submission is August 9, 2010. The exhibition is open to all artists residing in the United States. Entries must be in the category of printmaking using any traditional and/or experimental techniques and media. Eligible entries include prints on paper using, but not limited to, such media as intaglio, relief, planographic, stencil, monotype, and digital processes (no giclée reproductions are allowed). Photographs on paper are eligible. Prints must have been completed in the last two years.

The entry form can be downloaded from the University of Richmond Museums website here, or requested by email at museums@richmond.edu. A hard copy is available at the museums or can be mailed upon request by calling 804-287-6424.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow

Tomorrow is the opening of the work by the selected finalists for the $14,000 Bethesda Painting Awards. The selected finalists will display their work through June 26, 2010 in downtown Bethesda at the Fraser Gallery. The opening exhibition of the Bethesda Painting Awards winners is on Friday, June 11th from 6-9pm held in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Many of the finalists and winners will be on hand to discuss their work.

The Bethesda Painting Awards is downtown Bethesda's annual juried art competition that exclusively honors painters from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Congrats to all the finalists!

Deborah Addison Coburn, Rockville, MD
Sheila Blake, Takoma Park, MD
Deborah Ellis, Alexandria, VA
James Halloran, Arlington, VA
Katherine Mann, Washington, D.C.
Lindsay McCulloch, Chevy Chase, MD
Michele Montalbano, Burke, VA
Carol Phifer, Fredericksburg, VA
Nora Sturges, Baltimore, MD

PostSecreting all over the world

I think that by now even the most neocon art critics and jaded art observers around this town realize that the greatest and largest cooperative art project in the history of the world is my good friend Frank Warren's ongoing and ever-growing PostSecret.

There will be PostSecret events in the Fall of 2010 in California, Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Mexico, Canada and many more places.

See the full tour schedule with dates and locations soon by following PostSecret on Facebook.

By the way, I think that Warren's immense global art project belongs in the next Whitney Biennial.

Art Basel pass

If anybody wants a couple of complimentary VIP passes to Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, which entitle you to also get into most of the satellite art fairs, drop me an email. First come, first served!

Put me in coach...

WOW! What an amazing debut by the Nats' Stephen Strasburg yesterday! I have a nickname for him and his lightning bolts: Thor!... click on cartoon below for a better view.

Centerfield - John Fogerty

Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We're born again, there's new grass on the field.
A-roundin' third, and headed for home, it's a brown-eyed handsome man;
Anyone can understand the way I feel.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watchin' it from the bench;
You know I took some lumps when the Mighty Casey struck out.
So Say Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio;
Don't say "it ain't so", you know the time is now.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Yeah! I got it, I got it!

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;
You know I think it's time to give this game a ride.
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all - a moment in the sun;
(pop) It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.
Yeah!

Wanna go to a gallery happy hour tomorrow?


With around 100 or so folks attending the opening and more than half the work already sold, Ellen Cornett's Juxtapositions at Studio His already a hit show. There will be a happy hour event tomorrow, June 10 from 6-8PM; go check out this show!

Coming to a gallery near you this fall

First Campello gallery exhibition in DC area in 4 years!

Next Sept 20 - Oct. 15 I will be having my first substantial exhibition in the DC area in four years. The show will be at the School of Art & Design at Montgomery College's King Street Gallery, located in the beautiful Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center at 930 King Street in the Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus.

There will be all new drawings in my constant exploration of using the human figure to deliver social, historical, satirical, mythological and political messages. The show also includes work by the immensely talented Johanna Mueller, who was one of my top picks from the last Artomatic and whom I predict will steal the show, as well as Leah Frankel and Leslie Shellow, both of whom are new artists to me.

The show is curated by Dr. Claudia Rousseau and is:

An exhibit of works on paper depicting mythical themes, or themes connoting transformations—mythical, magical or organic.

The exhibit will include prints, drawings and installation works employing paper with wax and other media.

The opening is Thursday, September 23, 5:00 – 7:30 pm. I expect to see all of you there to make me look good...

Saatchi answers

The Daily Beast has been asking ubercollector Charles Saatchi some interesting questions...

Do you think artists are more intelligent than other people?

I have always been hesitant about visiting artists’ studios, and discovering that work I have admired has been made by someone nitwitted. This can be disconcerting if you believe an artist paints with his brains, not with his hands.

Read them here and you can send Sattchi your own question by emailing them to editorial@thedailybeast.com.

Art Dealers Association of Greater Washington

The Art Dealers Association of Greater Washington has a beautiful and comprehensive new website. If you live in the DC area or are planning a visit to the nation's Capital City be sure to check their site for excellent information about what is happening in the commercial art galleries of the DMV.

Wanna go to a Reston opening tomorrow?

Then join Michelle Norris for a glass of wine and appetizers at The Hyatt Regency Reston - Market St. Grill in the Reston Town Center to celebrate the opening of her new show, "The Good Earth" on Monday, June 7th, 5-7pm.

New gallery in Loudoun

The Gateway Gallery is a new artists' owned and run cooperative gallery located in the Hill High Orchard Building, just west of Round Hill on Route 7 and certainly a landmark for western Loudoun.

The Grand Opening is Saturday, June 12 starting at 6PM and there will be demos from several of the 30 artist members. Look for the work of Suzanne Lago Arthur to stand out.

The more galleries in our area the better!

Ben Ferry Opens Today

Ben Ferry opens today at Hillyer Art Space, (the show goes from June 4 – 26th). The opening reception is Friday June 4th 6-9pm. Below is a review of the show by Bruce McKaig:

Ben Ferry at Hillyer Art Space
By Bruce McKaig

What is a piece of art supposed to do? Change the fiber of existence? Look good in a living room? Bare the artist’s soul, thereby rousing ours? Provide something clever (or not) to post on Facebook? Depict, decry or distract from injustice? Give curators something to do?

Shadow Shark. Oil on canvas by Ben Ferry
Ben Ferry’s art crystallizes personal, cultural, and sociopolitical realms in a frank and self-effacing way, resulting in a well-rounded body of work that neither exploits nor avoids personal history or cultural trends. This is not a “something for everyone” approach. The layered ingredients are well proportioned, well thought-out, an executed synthesis of himself and his historical and current context, an autobiography where he stays out of the way.

When I asked Ben to talk about his work, he took us past the room stacked with watercolors and paintings, onto a front porch, gestured to the surrounding houses and said, “This is where it started. Five years ago, as I looked at the light hitting these homes, the shadow of my house on the wooden slats of the neighbor’s, a dog that hangs out with me.”

As Ben unwrapped the watercolors for this exhibition, speaking about the pieces, about his process, it became clear that his art and his life are intricately related. He is not self-absorbed so the work is about his surroundings, built from how he observes and interacts with his surroundings. In Shadow Shark, the home is his (current) neighbor’s house, the shadow is of his own home, the stenciled bust is “one of, if not my most favorite movie characters of all time, Robert Shaw playing Quinn, from the movie ‘Jaws’. I grew up around watermen and waterfowlers. A lot of my childhood memories are of characters that resembled him. Names like Leonard Broadwater, Burt Hickman, John Poke.... names you couldn't make up. They just fit the face and the place perfectly.”

Most of Ben’s watercolors and oil paintings are similar blends of past and present, of personal and cultural. In some works, the cultural is pop (block buster movies), sometimes historical (fairy tales). In other works it acquires a political stance. In Pigeons and Bombers, the strutting birds are comically and frighteningly reminiscent of German marching soldiers, body language that is also seen in Comrades, this time a rooster and a pig. Politics is always on Ben’s mind, from living in the nation’s capitol for many years, and from his childhood where he learned early on that he would have to develop a voice or go unnoticed.


Comrades. Oil on canvas by Ben Ferry.
Developing that voice through his art has involved several academic experiences. His degree from George Washington University (MFA 2001) came with classical training and craft skills. He appreciates the talent his teachers shared (Brad Stevens, “Color does not come naturally.”), but was uncomfortable being deconstructed by others. “You lose your own voice when you follow convention.” As a teacher at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, he learned a lot from his students, what they liked, what young people think a piece of art is supposed to do.

The stenciled images on the watercolors and paintings clearly reference graffiti (he is a fan of Banksy). He thinks of it as process vs. product: Spending so much time finishing the classical part of the piece, then so much time prepping the stencil, then, in a few seconds, the stenciled info is layered on and the work is done. He let several months lapse before applying the first stencil over a “finished” painting. Though he hesitated, he finally attacked with stencil because, “You can’t change the idea just because it isn’t guaranteed to work.”

He found the transition from watercolor to oil paint intimidating, fatiguing. He would show the watercolors and people would ask, “When will you do the paintings?” He searches for both a compressed sense of space and some depth of field, testing himself to see if he can learn. He does not work en plein air; he works from photographs in his studio, which has an interesting historical link. Henry Fox Talbot (British, 1800-1877), one of the pioneers of photography, was himself a painter and he invented a photo process as a means to “get” his sketches in the field and have the photographs with him in the studio to paint. Talbot described photography as “the pencil of nature.”

Amidst the personal and cultural, there is also the whimsical and humorous. Swimmers at Malcom X, Rapunzel, MacMansion, are all clearly fabricated scenes, but the juxtapositions are visibly credible. In Ben’s words, “It fits but it is also funky.” This is reminiscent of another artist, Jerry Uelsmann (photographer, American, b.1934). Uelsmann’s fabricated images, initially in the darkroom now at the computer, are fantastical scenes, not so much real or unreal as they are stubbornly plausible.


McMansion. Oil on canvas by Ben Ferry
This is Ben’s first solo exhibition. It is the result of years of work, starting with the mental willpower to accept change and start in a new direction. Because of back problems, he abandoned pursuit of professional sports and turned his attention to the world of art. His definition of success? “Always get better, play on a bigger stage.” As this exhibition goes up, he is already thinking of his next explorations: people, figures, made up environments, staged scenes, costumes. Will the new works retain the blend of personal and cultural?

Ben’s art does not definitively explain what a piece of art is supposed to do. For that matter, as an artist myself, and a Gemini as well, I don’t want an answer as much as I want the debate. Ben’s art, blending the individual with the communal, layering classic craft with abrupt juxtapositions, tacking the historical on to the contemporary, does provide one thought on the goal of art: Engage without preaching.

For information about Ben Ferry: www.benferry.com

For information about Hillyer Art Space: www.artsandartists.org/hillyer.html

For information about the author: www.brucemckaig.com

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 12, 2010

City Gallery, a new gallery in the growing Atlas Theater neighborhood of Washington, is pleased to announce their first annual DC Metropolitan Area Juried exhibition. The exhibition is open to Washington Metro area artists, 18 years of age or older.

The juror for the show will be Jack Rasmussen, Director of the American University Museum.

Artists working in oil, acrylics, watercolors, photography, ceramics, glass, sculpture and mixed media are invited to submit up to 3 pieces for consideration.

Entries should be submitted on CD and postmarked no later than July 12, 2010. The exhibition opens Saturday, August 7th and will be on display at the gallery through August 28th.

An opening reception for the artists will be held on August 7th from 6-9 pm.

For more information, and to download the prospectus and entry form, please visit their website at www.citygallerydc.com or send an e-mail to info@citygallerydc.com

Opportunity for Maryland sculptors

Deadline: August 4, 2010.

The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Individual Artist Awards (IAA) are grants awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence.

The process is administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF). Artists are required to apply for these grants through the CueRate online application system. Details here.

Tomorrow: Objectified at Honfleur

OBJECTIFIED: The domestication of the industrial opens tomorrow at Honfleur Gallery with an opening reception starting at 6:30pm.

Isn't about time that you crossed the river and checked out this terrific gallery?

Got Facebook?

Then click here to vote for Anderson as the YoBaby

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?


Judith Peck is an amazing DC area painter and her show opens Friday at Hillyer Art Space, which is in the alley right in the back of the Phillips Collection.

This is a very talented painter with a good eye for the psychological hook of realism. The reception starts at 5PM.

Grant Time!

Click here for details.

Wanna go to an Alexandria opening tomorrow?

Linda Hesh's short video “In the Garden” has been chosen to be part of “Female Shorts: Film and Video Showcase” taking place at the Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA. This four day festival celebrates cinematic works by women in the arts from across the country and is a participant in “Minds Wide Open”, a Virginia initiative to highlight female artists.

The opening reception will take place on the evening of Thursday, June 3rd from 6-7pm in the Art League Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. The event will then continue in the Target Gallery from 7-9pm. Ten of the 22 selected film makers will have their works shown each followed by a brief discussion. The juror, Sydney-Chanele Dawkins, will lead the event.

The showcase will continue on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 4-6, with continuous showings of the 22 selected films in the Target Gallery starting at 10am each day until the evening event.

Opening Reception Thursday June 3rd 6-9 pm.

Festival all day showings Friday June 4 – Sunday June 6 Plus special evening screenings.

Award Evening and closing showing Sunday, June 6.

Artists Present and Screening their Work for the Opening evening Thursday, June 3rd:

In The Garden - Linda Hesh - Alexandria, VA - Experimental - 1min 48sec
Miriam's Song - Shabnam Piryaei - New York, NY - Narrative - 4min 20sec
Somebody's Son - Holly Villaire - Yonkers, NY - Experimental - 8min 23sec
Can She Be Saved? - Yasmin Shiraz - Chantilly, VA - Documentary - 27min 31 sec
A Hammer fell in Jerusalem: Anathem - Lori Bowen - Sarasota, FL - Narrative
Friday Night Fright - Ashley Maria - Los Angeles, CA - Narrative – 6min
Little Girl - Elizabeth Tolson - Fairfax, VA - Experimental - 1min 24sec
Let's Dance! - Anna Tsouhlarakis - Washington, DC - Experimental – 15min
You're Not Alone - Arlette Thomas-Fletcher - Reistertown, MD - Narrative - 3min
Trip To The Planetarium - Stephanie Batailler - New York, NY - Animation – 23min

For a full list of the Daily Schedule and Evening Special Showings, go to this website.

Artists' websites: Vincent Gallegos

This guy is just out of control! Vincent Gallegos is one of the best humans armed with a camera around our region.

Check out his images here

Jeffry Cudlin: BY REQUEST


OK... OK... work with me here... this is really cool.

Let's start with my good bud Jeffry Cudlin doing a set of performances this Friday where the very tall Mr. Cudlin dances in various DC art galleries (Conner, G Fine, Curator's Office, Hemphill, Irvine, and either Project 4 or Civilian), trying to get the directors to dance with him - that alone is worth tagging along to see Martin Irvine or George Hemphill doing the tango with Cudlin). He will be dressed the way he is in the PR photo above (by Josh Cogan) -- i.e., tucked, taped, and wearing a gold string bikini and go go boots. Video of it will be in the show.

Then Jason Horowitz is working on a 23' long, 8' tall photo for the show that I think we will all find interesting and will "make people at the opening uncomfortable."

Somewhere along the way Cudlin is doing a photo shoot with the highly talented and creative Victoria F. Gaitán that involves "realistic fake boobs (not like the ones in the PR) and a severed pig's head."

What is all this Mr. Campello? Just read the release:

This June, the ideal Washington, DC art show will take over Flashpoint Gallery. Artist, curator, and critic Jeffry Cudlin has engineered a celebrity-obsessed exhibition that purports to reveal in excruciating detail what collectors, critics, and museum administrators think area artists should be making.

For BY REQUEST, Cudlin approached seven DC art world luminaries and asked each to fill out a 20 page survey. Questions were all multiple choice, and attempted to uncover everything from preferences regarding paint handling techniques; to opinions about museum “fluff” shows and art blogs; to each patron’s personality type. Pink Line Project founder Philippa Hughes; blogger and critic Tyler Green; The Phillips Collection director Dorothy Kosinski; Irvine Contemporary gallery director Martin Irvine; National Portrait Gallery Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings Anne Collins Goodyear; collector and curator Henry Thaggert; and uber-collector Tony Podesta all agreed to play along.

Once the surveys were completed, Cudlin recruited an atelier of seven area artists working in a variety of media and styles. Torkwase Dyson, Victoria F. Gaitán, Jason Horowitz, Jenny Sidhu Mullins, Cory Oberndorfer, Kerry Skarbakka, and Trevor Young all accepted commissions from Cudlin to create personalized pieces based on the survey data.

There was one small catch: Cudlin insisted that he be depicted in every work of art, thereby inflating his own importance in brokering all of these transactions, and transforming himself into the show’s biggest celebrity. The resulting images are at times outlandish, featuring Cudlin cross-dressing, holding a severed pig’s head, and even sporting a pair of fake latex breasts, courtesy of an FX makeup artist.

In BY REQUEST, Cudlin plays with the notion—popular with many contemporary artists and theorists—that the chief content of art is social. If art ultimately depends on exchanges of information, capital, and power, then simply examining the agendas of people in positions of authority should tell us all we need to know about why art looks and works the way it does right now.

All of the finished pieces in the show will be assigned numeric scores by the seven patrons for whom they are intended. Critics need not second guess: the gallery will include informational displays of facts and figures indicating whether the patrons regard these works as successes or failures. BY REQUEST offers the promise of complete transparency for the DC art world and, perhaps, a model for other artists desperate to become relevant.

Sounds amazing uh? I'm really looking forward to this but I remember that the last Washington guy who promised "transparency" has really disappointed me lately; it's a good thing that I know that Cudlin won't.

Plug the damned hole!

Wanna go to a gallery opening this week?



Anna U. Davis opens at Longview Gallery on Thursday, June 3, 2010 from 6:30pm - 9:30pm. The show goes through July 1st, 2010.

NEA Considering Re-Instating Individual Artists' Grants

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman told the Denver Post that he is considering reinstating endowment grants to individual artists. If he succeeds, the move would be a landmark political moment.

Read the story here.

Trescott on the Corcoran's director

"Greenhalgh said the Corcoran, under his tenure, not only had to repair its physical plant but also relationships with Washington's donor and arts communities, which began to look at it as troubled rather than innovative.

"The Washington public is not the shyest in the world. One received advice from all over about what should happen," he said. "This place had to be systematically fixed. We had to think about the roof. The college numbers had been flat for a generation. So many galleries had been turned over to storage." The cost of needed repairs was estimated to be $40 million at one time.

By August, Greenhalgh said, all of the galleries will be reopened, the permanent collection reinstalled, a suite for contemporary art established and a new initiative, called NOW, created to showcase emerging contemporary artists."

Read the Washington Post story here.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the exhibition program for the new NOW initiative. I hope that it surprises me in a good way. My past experience with what current museum curators' consider "emerging artists" and what the rest of the art world considers "emerging artists" are way different.

It didn't use to be that way. In the past, museum curators used to take chances.

Way back in the 80s, when the Whitney Museum gave some American artists their first ever museum exhibition, that was a great definition (for me) of what a museum can do for a true emerging artist. I won't even mention the names.

So for Sarah Newman or whoever at the Corcoran is putting together (or has already put together) the NOW exhibition schedule: if the artists who are being selected for NOW have already had a museum exhibition, then you're too late and they have already emerged.

Work harder and seek out the truly emerging artists that are making a name for themselves all over the place and not just New York and haven't yet had a single museum show, like someone did for Gerhardt Richter in the 80s.

I can think of a few names right off the top of my head and it's not even my job.

Just plug the damned hole!

Corcoran looking for a new director (again)

The director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Paul Greenhalgh, has announced that he will resign on June 1 to become director of the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia. His move is the latest in a series of major changes that have taken place in the D.C. art scene in recent months.

Details here.

Nine Months Old!


Anderson Lennox Campello, better known around here as "Little Junes" (for "Little Junior") is nine months old today. He is everything but little though... already tight in 12 month old clothes.

Relentless Continuity 2010 to be destroyed

This is the last weekend to see Relentless Continuity 2010, a site specific Drawing by John M. Adams at the Adam Lister Gallery in Fairfax, VA. The drawing will be destroyed late afternoon, May 30, 2010 by the artist.

A site specific drawing is created on location, for that specific location. Typically, they only last for the duration of the exhibition, and are destroyed when the exhibition is over.

Adam Lister Gallery
Old Town Fairfax Village Plaza
3950 University Drive
Fairfax VA 22030
*gallery entrance on North St. between University Dr. and Chain Bridge Rd.
(across from Panera and next door to Asian Bistro)

Artists' Websites: Heather Evans Smith

Check out the gorgeous photographs of North Carolina photographer Heather Evans Smith.

Ken Salazar and BP

Art & Soul Auction

The 8th Annual Art & Soul Charity Auction 2010 is Friday, June 25, 2010 6:00 PM at The Music Center at Strathmore in Rockville, MD just past Bethesda. This is an important charity auction for the National Center for Children & Families (NCCF).

Join Honorary Co-Chairs Fox 5 News Anchor Allison Seymour and renowned jazz keyboardist, composer and producer Marcus Johnson, on Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6 p.m., for NCCF's 8th Annual Art & Soul Charity Auction at The Music Center at Strathmore.

The live auction will feature artwork created by youth from the Greentree Adolescent Program (GAP). The silent auction will feature Gifts from the Soul (non-art items) and juried artwork pieces from regional artists. In addition, guests will enjoy music by Sony recording artist Julia Nixon, the premiere of NCCF's new image, and the presentation of this year's Spirit of Humanitarian Awards.

Art & Soul Charity Auction tickets are $100 per person and can be purchased by contacting Heidi Coons, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at (301) 365-4480, extension 114 or click here to purchase online.

Proceeds from the evening benefit the completion of the Freddie Mac Foundation Youth Activities Center (YAC), NCCF’s sole cultural arts and recreational facility located on the Bethesda Campus.

Pornography or Art?

Police have visited an exhibition of works by the late Irish photographer Bob Carlos Clarke at London’s Little Black Galleryafter the explicit sexual images on display provoked complaints from local residents. Police inspector Sean Flynn visited the gallery on Chelsea’s Park Walk after resident lodged a formal complaint to Kensington and Chelsea council, claiming that the images in the gallery’s windows were pornographic. The works will be on show until 5 June.

After inspecting the two works in question, Flynn said: “My assessment is that Whip Girl [2000] is acceptable, but I have some concerns about Tite Street [1990]. [It] appears to show a man having rear entry sex with a woman who is bent double and not wearing any knickers. Of course, this is not the appropriate place to have a debate about art versus pornography. It is my assessment that Tite Street should not be able to be clearly viewed from the street.”


Staying up: Bob Carlos Clarke's Tite Street, 1990 (c) The Estate of Bob Carlos Clarke
The Little Black Gallery is not the only establishment currently displaying Carlos Clarke’s work. Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White owns the largest single collection of the controversial photographer’s work, and more than 30 of his large-scale images are prominently displayed in the chef’s restaurant Wheeler’s of St James’s. The explicit subject matter of the works has received a far more welcome reception here than in formerly bohemian Chelsea. Hostess Bea Jarrett told The Art Newspaper that not a single complaint about the photographs has been received in the two years since they have been on display. “I guess that says a lot about our clientele too,” she added.

Read the article in the Art Newspaper here.

When Museums say no

Art-museum officials love to talk of the important works they are given by donors—the Mary Cassatt painting, the Alexander Calder mobile, the collection of Edward Weston photographs—and that talk (they well know) encourages similar donations. Cultivating gifts is a large part of being a museum curator or director. But not all donations are equally welcome, and another part of the job is figuring out how to say "no, thank you."

Read this very cool article by Daniel Grant in the Wall Street Journal here.

I've had that experience with rather interesting results. For example, a while back I had a major art collector who was retiring down to Florida and she had quite a bit of artwork that she wished to donate to museums. Among her collection were several early Sandra Ramos' works, including possibly the largest Sandra Ramos painting in the United States and a very early piece.

Since Ramos is already in the collection of MoMa in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Thyssen-Bornemisza in Austria, and in quite a few University museums in the US, and considering how some people are always bitching about how some US museums are not "diverse" enough in its representation of women and ethnicities, I thought that a major gift like this would be a shoo-in for the Hirshhorn.

And thus I was very surprised when the Hirshhorn declined it very quickly, in spite of (in my opinion) the artists' pedigree and the museum's lack of any depth in the particular field that Ramos' works represents.


"Pecera" (Fish Tank) by Sandra Ramos
Oil on Distressed Muslim, circa 1997
65 x 76.75 inches (165 x 195 cm)
From there I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, thinking that VMFA would be a good logical alternative. I could have gone to the University of Virginia, which has a most excellent Cuban art collection, but I wanted to place her work on a new collection, as Ramos is already in the UVA collection.

When VMFA also declined it rather quickly, I was a little floored as well (and I'm even more floored now that I've learned from the WSJ article that they accept about 2/3 of all gifts offered), but this time I decided to go south quite a bit further and go for the easy out, and currently the piece is in the process of being acquired by the Miami Art Museum, which of course, demographically has an interest in this genre of work, so that was truly an easy pick.

But meanwhile both the Hirshhorn and VMFA could have added a significant work by a truly blue chip Cuban artist, whose presence has been cemented in the current difficult times of the brutal Cuban dictatorship as one of the few Cuban artists in the vanguard of questioning the stark realities of Cuban life, and whose stature, once the Castro brothers strangle hold on Cuba is broken, is almost certain to rise even higher.

Their loss.

Project Create tomorrow

McKaig on Steve Szabo at the Harmony Hall Regional Center

By Bruce McKaig

In an eloquent and poetic tour de force, these photographs from the Eastern shore and of boots stuck on barbed wire fence posts in Nebraska provide traces of human endeavor and ritual, traces in various stages of decay, on their way back to the natural elements. The abandoned state is not repellent. It is dignified. There is a Zen-like acceptance of this inevitable transformation. Szabo virtually speaks to viewers (maybe to himself) through these works, each one evenly repeating: Let it go.

This is not an exhibition of portraits, but it is an exploration of people, faceless folk who have left a mark – an object – to weather the elements, not really saying, “I was here,” so much as saying, “Now, I am somewhere else.” The works are all about the human venture to manifest in ritual and ceremony then move on, leaving a trace, an unprotected trace. There is nothing casual, disdainful or disrespectful about the abandoned trace. Tibetans traditionally perform sky burials, which involve abandoning the deceased on a platform to be devoured by vultures. No pyramid for royalty (and mass grave for the rest?), the surrender to nature is a final gesture of modesty, humility, and respect.

Instead of finality, these images explore continuity. Part detective, part archeologist, the artist Steve Szabo provides photographic traces of the traces, platinum prints that tell viewers Steve was there. In connecting viewers with these not-personally experienced signs of anonymous decisions, Szabo provides insight both into the worlds he explored and himself as an explorer.


Born in 1940, Steve Szabo was a native of Berwick, Pennsylvania and worked in the Pennsylvania steel mills. Though he attended Penn State University and the Art Center School of Design in LA, he was basically self-taught. He was employed at the Washington Post as a part time photo lab assistant in 1962, then staff photographer 1966-72.

In 1972, he took a 6-month leave of absence to get away from the hectic world of photojournalism to devote some time to photographing the landscape in Somerset County, MD. Instead of 6 months, he worked on the Eastern shore from 1971-1976 and produced the fine art platinum prints that became his first published book of photographs. In these photographs, the lingering traces of human presence and activities silently persist though the natural elements steadily attack and replace them.

Before beginning the abandoned boot series, he worked in DC, France, Scotland, Hungary, and Hawaii, producing several bodies of work and publishing additional books. In Hawaii, he photographed ruins of ancient temples, another angle on exploring the passing of time. At one point, he produced sets of multiple images, complementing the sense of place with a sense of time.

In 1990, Sazbo began photographing abandoned boots stuck on fence posts in Nebraska. The images of boots unmistakably evolved from previous series exploring traces of now-forgotten rituals (the ruins in Hawaii) and human presence succumbing to natural decay (Eastern shore images). However, the images of the abandoned boots take on a more private, personal quality. He never learned why the boots were there or if they were supposed to mean anything. He never explained why they fascinated him, maybe did not know himself. His enthusiasm and attentiveness to the isolated, weathered boots produced a body of work that, as a whole, have become traces not just of boots but of a man’s drive and curiosity to manifest and, before moving on, to leave a trace.

Stuart Diekmeyer, gallery director at Harmony Hall, worked with Szabo from 1998 until shortly before his death in 2000. In Stuart’s words:

Steve and I spent many weeks organizing and selecting images to print. Even though he could no longer manage a camera and photograph at the level he was accustomed too, I was always amazed and in awe at his uncanny ability to look deep into a photograph and make it come alive through words. He knew the story and every little detail about every photograph he had ever taken. Steve once told me, although he missed using a camera, this trip down memory lane was just as great. Whenever I returned to Steve with new prints to look at, especially images he had himself never printed, there was frequently a long period of reflection followed by a euphoric choice of words. In all matters [of] photography, Steve's passion never faltered

The exhibition was curated by Kathleen Ewing. In Kathleen’s words:

Seeing Steve Szabo's platinum photographs from his "Eastern Shore" series in 1975 was my introduction to fine art photography. I was intrigued by the combination of documentation and personal vision he conveyed in his images of the desolate rural Maryland Somerset County. From that beginning, I began to learn about the great history of photography and the masters like, P.H. Emerson, Walker Evans and so many others which had influenced Steve as he transitioned from a photojournalist at the Washington Post to a fine art photographer and teacher at the Corcoran School of Art.

The exhibition at Harmony Hall is significant on several levels. The photographs on view are from his first series as a fine art photographer, "The Eastern Shore" from 1971 to 1976 and his last series, "Icons of the Great Plains" dating from 1990 and 1991. It is fascinating to see where Steve began and where he ended his photographic career.


"International Truck, Frogeye, Maryland," from Steve Szabo's "Eastern Shore Series"
For the "Eastern Shore" series, Steve used a large format, 8x10 inch view camera to document the rural areas of Somerset County. It was a cumbersome task to carry the heavy camera and a strong tripod into the woods and fields to capture an image.

Steve's approach was to photograph the scene just as he found it; never making any changes or alterations. I'm sure he circled the abandoned International truck several times before he decided to let the window of the open car door frame the Ebenezer Baptist Church off in the distance.

Later, Steve seemed to think the image was too predictable and contrived. Personally, I felt it was a serendipitous moment and the framing of the church in the truck window greatly enhanced the image.

As well as years devoted to exploring art, Steve Szabo was also an art educator who influenced many a DC artist in his classrooms starting in 1979 (Diekmeyer was one of his students). Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992, he continued to teach until 1994 and passed away at home May 18, 2000.

This show is on through Through May 29th 2010. After the exhibition closes, the works can be seen by contacting Kathleen Ewing.

Harmony Hall Regional Center is located in Southern Prince George's County and offers classes in the visual and performing arts as well as exhibitions, concerts and performances.

For more information about the author, click here.

This summer: Alexa Meade at Irvine

Remember when I stumbled upon Alexa Meade's fabulous work and pointed all of you to it?

Well.. she's been picked up by Irvine Contemporary and has a show opening Saturday, June 19, with reception from 6-8PM.