(e)merge now accepting applications

(e)merge, the new, DC-based art fair focused on emerging artists and galleries with emerging art, just announced that it is now accepting applications from galleries, nonprofits and artists without gallery representation.

The Fair will take place September 22-25, 2011, at the Rubell family's Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington, DC.

Applications are available on (e)merge's Web site and the deadline to apply is Monday, May 2nd and acceptances will be sent out by early June.

It is clear to me that this is a prime opportunity for unrepresented DMV area artists (well... any unrepresented artist!). In fact, my advice to every single one of you who is not represented by a gallery and who thinks that their work merits to be examined and vetted, is simple: do not miss this golden opportunity.

Why?

As an experienced art fair participant, art fair visitor, art fair rejectee, and art fair observer, I know that this fair model is a new model. This is something new... the goal here, as implied by the cool fair title with the even cooler parenthesis around the (e) - I must find out whose brilliant idea that was - is to put the loupe on galleries who show emerging artists and on unrepresented artists.

What is the ultimate goal? I would guess that at least a partial goal would be to expose (maybe (e)xpose?) the huge numbers of highly talented and original artists out there whom are unrepresented and who may do well with the right gallery.

I am such a fan of this novel idea. Remember when I curated "Seven" for the WPA in 2005? That was one of my goals as well, and one that in my not so humble opinion I succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

I selected 66 artists for "Seven" - the vast majority of whom had never (or rarely) exhibited in the DMV - I then took my then fellow gallerists in personal tours of the huge exhibitions in the seven galleries of the Warehouse complex... by my last count, about a dozen then unrepresented artists found gallery representation because of that show, including a couple which arguably have become the art star of their respective galleries.

Of course, I scored the biggest hit of them all... I found my wife and the love of my life because of that show...

See what can happen when you mix good people, good thinkers, and good ideas with art?

No one ever did this before

I've invented some new descriptors...

Spitoidal Glucosoids is what I call whatever substance seems to always clog up one of the two basin drains in my bathroom.

According to Google, that combo of words (as a descriptor) does not exist at all in Al Gore's internet.

From now on, whenever some geek types Spitoidal Glucosoids into Google (or any other search engine) it will only come here!

The Lenster just invented Google Word Searchartism....

Who'd thunk it? The Beatles were wrong!

Weekend duties

Tomorrow night: Meet the various artists selected for the Strathmore Fine Artist in Residence Program Mentorship. Those artists are:

Minna Philips (drawing/installation)

Wilmer Wilson IV (mixed media/installation)

Brittany Sims (painting)

Solomon Slyce (photography)

Saturday & Sunday: Review the work by the 43 artists from all over the USA and Scotland who have applied to the Torpedo Factory Art Center's Visiting Artists Program of one, two, or three-month residencies between June 1 and August 31, 2011 - then select about a dozen for the residencies.

Tonight: Mirror art at ARTiculate Gallery

There's a cool upcoming exhibition opening tonight at VSA's ARTiculate Gallery. The show, "Reflections" was inspired by local artist Bob Benson and his work at the American Visionary Art Museum.

Benson worked with the artists in the ARTiculate Program (which provides artistic and vocational training to youth and adults with special needs) to create "mirror art" using glass-cutting techniques in a variety of styles, and the artists have created a unique body of work.

The opening will take place tonight Thursday, March 10th between 5:30 and 7:30pm at the ARTiculate Gallery, located at 1100 16th St NW. The reception will be free, open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

WCP's last word on Fraser Gallery closing

For Catriona Fraser, the Fraser Gallery’s decade-and-a-half run in Georgetown and Bethesda ended on a simple note: “Nobody was buying any artwork from me.”

Case in point: the 10th Annual International Photography Competition, one of the gallery’s best-known feature exhibitions, which just closed at Fraser’s remaining outpost in downtown Bethesda.

The work is affordable, with most of it priced under $500. The work has been seen: The opening reception, Fraser says, was “heaving with people.” And the work is good: Washington City Paper called the exhibit “impressive.”

Yet Fraser did not make a single sale. And so on March 1, following several Bethesda galleries that have recently met the same fate, Fraser Gallery announced it is closing at the end of the month.

Read the article by Kriston Capps and Lou Jacobson here.

Update: Here's the whole text of my email to the CP in response to their request for input:

When my then wife Catriona and I opened the first Fraser Gallery in 1996 in Georgetown, our first two shows almost sold out, we got a huge article in the Washington Post, and I recall Kate and I saying, "WOW, this is gonna be easy."

It wasn't and as we learned, building an art gallery required not only an immense amount of hard work, but also realizing that it is a labor of love, and that more often than not, your finances are getting by (if you're lucky) by the skin of your teeth. Our mantra always was: "the artists get paid first, then the bills."

Catriona was 24 years old when we opened Fraser in Georgetown in 1996; perhaps the youngest ever gallery co-owner in DC history, and she applied herself to the task of co-running Fraser gallery with a ferocity and gusto that was a key ingredient to Fraser's success over the next 15 years.

In my opinion we established a very distinct gallery presence from day one. When we announced that we would focus on contemporary realism - which we described back then as "realism with a bite" - and photography, every one told us that we'd be closed within a year, and that first year, in spite of the great success of those two initial shows, was very tough and more often than not we were using our financial backers (Mr. Visa and Mr. Mastercard) to pay the artists and the gallery's bills.

But a presence we did establish, and we'd get reviewed 4-5 a year in the Post and 1-2 a year in the Times and it seems like every other month in the City Paper (ahhhh... the good ole days), and in spite of the fact that we stayed tightly focused on our gallery focus, we kept doing better and better each year, and continued to argue against the "norm" that only the almost 100-year-old genre of abstraction was "contemporary" for a cutting edge gallery. What abstraction was instead, we felt, was "safe" and perhaps even easier to sell. Try looking at a Chawky Frenn painting for a while - hard to sell, but deserving of a two-page spread review in the New York Times.

We also began to add focus and presence to a whole new set of local artists. Both Erik Sandberg and Andrew Wodzianski (now well-known DMV artists) received their first solo shows at Fraser, while both of them were still MFA students. And Tim Tate's first solo show (which sold out) was also at Fraser... where he went on to have multiple solos over the years.

We also focused a lot of time on photography, and "rediscovered" Lida Moser's wonderful archives of her amazing photography from the past 60 years. Other noted photographers such as Maxwell MacKenzie, Joyce Tenneson, etc. also had multiple solos at Fraser.

A decade ago, almost by accident we decided to put together a show focusing on Cuban artists, and as result eventually we brought to the DC area some of the best contemporary Cuban artists in the world, usually giving them their first solo shows in the US or DC and placing many of them in US museums.

Fraser was also a leading online pioneer, and to this day has the most extensive online presence of any DMV gallery, with nearly 15 years of archived shows and artwork. As I recall, when we opened in 1996, we were only one of 2-3 DC galleries with a website! A few years later we became one of the charter dealers for Sotheby's during their online ventures and by 2001 we were the second largest Sotheby's online dealer in the world. A lot of DMV artists (including myself) owe their secondary market record to that joint venture between Fraser and Sotheby's.

When the art fairs came into vogue, Fraser was also one of the first galleries to start doing them, perhaps only after the now-closed Fusebox Gallery. To this day Fraser brings its artists to fairs in New York, Boston and Miami, still one of less than 5-6 DMV galleries that take the huge financial risk of doing an art fair.

I left Fraser in 2006 and Catriona has been running the gallery alone since then. For reasons that only she knows, we haven't spoken since, even though we had remained partners until the day of my last show at Fraser in August of 2006 (which the City Paper covered in a huge article). I don't know her reasons for closing the gallery, but I wish her the best in her future endeavors.

This is a huge loss for the cultural tapestry of the DMV art scene. Fraser, for all intents and purposes, was the only remaining art star in Bethesda, as other galleries have been closing in the last few years. The opening of the Bethesda gallery in 2002 made us feel like we had accomplished what no one else had ever done successfully in DC: run two galleries at once, which we did until 2005 for three glorious years of 24 shows a year to organize, curate, hang and publicize.

With the loss of Fraser, Bethesda also loses a champion in the visual arts. It was through the hard work and influence of Fraser Gallery that the Trawick Prize and the Bethesda Painting Awards were created; still the two largest individual art awards in the region. It was through the hard work and influence of the Fraser Gallery that the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival - the highest ranked outdoor fine arts show in Maryland and one of the top 100 such shows in the nation - was created.

And with the loss of Fraser, and ins spite of critics always trying to tell a gallerist how to do his/her business, the sharpest eye in representational art with a bite and social commentary goes away.

Ten years of my life don't go away, because the memories of all the great art, all the great artists, and all the great openings (the DMV will definitely miss that famous Fraser sangria) will live with me forever.

Call me if you'd like to chat about anything else...

Cheers,

Lenny

This coming Saturday, March 12, "Material World" opens at artdc Gallery in Hyattsville

The group show, curated by Stephen Boocks, deals with artistic media & how it relates to the artist's work - why does the artist choose that medium to make their artwork? Does the material support the work or does it get in the way? Do all elements work in concert with each other? And how do they achieve their own balance?

A number of familiar DMV artists are featured - from the 100 Washington, DC Artists book: Marie Ringwald & Michael Janis and from the Sondheim Prize shortlist - JT Kirkland and Hamiltonian Projects Fellow Katherine Mann.

Also featured are the very talented paper artist Sherrill Gross and painter Matthew Langley.

Material World
artdc Gallery at The Lustine Center
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, Maryland 20781

Opening Reception Saturday, March 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. Two artists talks will be held: Michael Janis and Marie Ringwald on Saturday, March 19, and Matt Langley on Saturday, April 2.

Click here to jump to the gallery website.

DCist Exposed

One of the most awesome photography shows of the year, the fifth annual DCist Exposed Photography Show will be at Long View Gallery, running March 15 to 27, 2011.

Out of over 1,000 individual entries, 43 winning images were selected by a panel of judges to be included in this year's DCist Exposed exhibit.

According to the organizers, this year's opening reception "will be twice as awesome, since we’re holding twice as many: Tuesday, March 15, and Wednesday, March 16 from 6 to 10 p.m." This year’s sponsor is Yuengling (America's oldest brewery and makers of the gorgeous Black & Tan beer), and they will provide a selection of their beers, including their Lager, Light Lager, Bock spring seasonal, and the hoppy Lord Chesterfield Ale and DJ Sequoia is back to spin tunes. Wine, soft drinks and hors d’oeuvres will also be provided. Tickets are $10 in advance at Eventbrite, with limited $15 tickets at the door.

To celebrate their 5th anniversary, DCist and Ten Miles Square have produced a special edition magazine featuring the winning photographs from all five years. The issue can be purchased online at MagCloud for $27.50, which comes with a digital version, or at Long View Gallery during the receptions for $25.

Long View Gallery is located at 1234 9th St. NW, just a few blocks from the Mt. Vernon/Convention Center Metro. All photographs displayed at DCist Exposed will be for sale at prices well below traditional gallery shows to encourage new art patrons. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: April 11, 2011 (4 pm)

McLean Project for the Arts has a call out for Strictly Painting 8, which will be juried this year by Civilian Art Project's Jayme McClellan.

Details and entry forms here.

The more things change...

"At the height of the Washington Color School's popularity, Washington and New York art elites inhabited the same circles. Reed recalls meeting the abstract painter Robert Motherwell at an opening. Motherwell was married to Frankenthaler but was accompanied by Lisa Fonssagrives, the world's first supermodel, who was married to iconic photographer Irving Penn. "He moved in great feminine circles," Reed says.

But financial success eluded the artists. The Jefferson Place Gallery that supported so much of the Color School's work closed in 1975. The '80s were a bitter period for Washington art dealers, but the pressures on Reed did not change much for the worse. "It was always difficult. I have to sell. It's curious. I'm just about poverty level. Here I am this famous artist," Reed says.

He doesn't say whether the spotlight would have shined on Washington longer had a collector base emerged to support its painters."

The more they stay the same... Kriston Capps has an excellent piece on Paul Reed, the last of the Washington Color School painters; read it here.

Critical mass

A critical mass is about to occur between many art organizations.

Target Gallery, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, is sponsoring an outdoor exhibition of artist-made nests created by local arts groups. The event will take place just outside of Washington, DC at the Torpedo Factory Art Center along the waterfront of the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria from Sunday, April 10 through Sunday, May 15, 2011.

The goal is to inspire people to look more closely at their own habitat. Coinciding with Earth Day and Mother’s Day, they hope to increase environmental awareness and encourage care for the planet that we all call home. They will also highlight Habitat’s work for building decent and affordable homes.

All nests will be composed primarily of natural renewable resources like leaves, twigs and driftwood, as well as recycled or re-purposed materials. The intent is to do no harm to the natural environment or wildlife, and everything will be removed at the end of the exhibition. Nest sites will include docks, decks, tree stumps, outcroppings of rock, and selected trees.

Free maps will guide visitors on a nest spotting walking tour, along the waterfront, through a park, into the Torpedo Factory and ending at Target Gallery, where the exhibition Nest can be seen.

What Does Home Mean to You? The public will be invited to participate in the building of a large community nest installed on the main floor of the Torpedo Factory, right outside the Target Gallery. They will provide long strips of paper for the public to answer the question “What does home mean to you?”

They will then be invited to weave their paper into the nest structure. The strips of paper will be for sale for $1 with all proceeds going to benefit the Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia.

To learn more, or donate to fund this project and make it a reality, visit this link.

American Contemporary Art magazine

The current issue of the magazine is out and I have a two page spread on pages 28-29 which cover a few key DMV area shows. Read it online here.

Little Havana Drinks

They don't call it Little Havana for nothing.... the last time that I was in Miami for the MIA Art Fair in January, I dropped by a local bodega for some pastelitos and a medianoche sandwich, and when I opened the cooler to get a cold drink I was amazed by the selection being presented:


Check out the "Cuba Herbal Energy Drink" can... heee heee... only in Miami...

More on Fraser Gallery closing

Jordan Edwards in the Gazette has some more insights into the recent and shocking announcement that one of the DMV's major art galleries, Fraser Gallery will close.

Read it all here. Just as I predicted, in a smart move, the owner will continue to do art fairs as a private online dealer.

I wish her the best.

Lenny-o Video

From the recent awards ceremony at Gallery West...

Mirror art at ARTiculate Gallery

There's a cool upcoming exhibition opening at VSA's ARTiculate Gallery. The show, "Reflections" was inspired by local artist Bob Benson and his work at the American Visionary Art Museum.

Benson worked with the artists in the ARTiculate Program (which provides artistic and vocational training to youth and adults with special needs) to create "mirror art" using glass-cutting techniques in a variety of styles, and the artists have created a unique body of work.

The opening will take place on Thursday, March 10th between 5:30 and 7:30pm at the ARTiculate Gallery, located at 1100 16th St NW. The reception will be free, open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

Postconceptualism: The Malleable Object at UMD


The Opening Reception of Postconceptualism: The Malleable Object is on Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. They also welcome your presence at the Panel Discussion with Artists & Curator on Thursday, Mar. 17 beginning at 6:00 pm.

The Stamp Gallery is located on the first floor of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union-Center for Campus Life, at the University of Maryland, College Park. The gallery is free and open to the public Mondays-Thursdays 10:00am – 8:00pm; Fridays 10:00am – 6:00am, and Saturdays 11:00am – 5:00pm. For more information visit the gallery’s website or call (301) 314-8493.

Lest we forget

"Their struggle is your struggle," he told the ballroom crowd of former Marines and local business people. "If anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service, and not support the cause for which they fight - our country - these people are lying to themselves. . . . More important, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to this nation."

Kelly is the most senior U.S. military officer to lose a son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan. He was giving voice to a growing concern among soldiers and Marines: The American public is largely unaware of the price its military pays to fight the United States' distant conflicts. Less than 1 percent of the population serves in uniform at a time when the country is engaged in one of the longest periods of sustained combat in its history.

Read this moving piece by Greg Jaffe in the WaPo.

DC Art Map

I just checked the DC Art Map over at artdc.org and it keeps growing by leaps and bounds.

Check it out here and add your info to it.

Wave of arrests

With an eye on what's going on in the Islamic nations, and the oncoming demise of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya's (Lybia's full name) nasty dictator, the nasty dictators in our own continent are not taking any chances.

According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, more than 390 pro-democracy activists were arrested by the bloody Castro regime in February 2011.

In other words, 390 arrests were identified and documented in one-month alone. There may have been many more unknown arrests.

It's clear the Castro brothers are not taking any chances that this spark of rebellion against heavy-handed governments may spread to their 52-year-old reign in Cuba.

DeBerardinis Shoes

Visual artist and sometimes contributor Rosetta DeBerardinis will launch her first line of hand-painted shoes and accessories on April 15th at Lucinda Gallery in Federal Hill in Baltimore.

We wish Rosetta much success with her new line.

Lucinda Gallery is located at:

929 South Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21230-4037
(410) 727-2782

Erotica 2011

Wanna do something different tonight? Here is the schedule of activities for MOCADC's Erotica 2011 show.

Fri Mar 4 Opening Reception (6 pm to to whenever)
- Live Tattoos by Artist Redz
- Tattoo & Piercing Contest
- Body Painting - Audience Participation

Fri Mar 18 Galleries 1054 Open House 6 to 10 pm

Fri Mar 25 DMV Nude (Sponsored by DMVIFF)
- Call to reserve space 202.342.6230

Fri Apr 1 Closing Party - 6 pm to whenever
- Body Painting Demo - 2 models - 6:30
- Models Perform Geture Poses on stage under Blacklight - 7:30
- Body Painting - Audience Participation

Tonight in Philly: Little Treasures – Big Rewards

The role of small works of art has, in modern culture, been delegated to the “minor works” category. They become overlooked, poorly appreciated and frequently labeled as good choices for a holiday show to generate a few sales. They have also been the subject of shows where size is all that matters, i.e. all works will be postcard size, measure 12”x12”, etc. Historically, the role of small works has been very different. The Mona Lisa is perfectly sized for a good holiday show, as is Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” Many of Rembrandt’s great portraits would also qualify, and the finest works ever done by Rubens would neatly fit into a child’s knapsack. The creation of small works for many artists has been a device where the improbable becomes possible, an idea is tried or a risk is easily taken.

“Little Treasures – Big Rewards”assembles a group of artists all deliberately working in the small format. For Elizabeth Bisbing, the diminutive scale is her forte, where her collages take on the grandeur of Renaissance masters. For others, such as Vivian Wolovitz, whose large works easily command the viewer in any gallery space, in recent time she has found a rich and varied voice in the pocket size, creating a deep space for the gravity of her painted atmosphere. Alex Queral continues to push the envelope incorporating recycled phone books. Ross Bonfanti utilizes concrete to warm the heart and surprise the senses. Susan B. Howard combines the political with the fanciful, sending a powerful message in a seemingly sweet package. Craig Cully reminds us of the Dutch master Franz Hals with his dazzling Hershey candies, while Caleb Weintraub demonstrates that the sweet world of contemporary children is a troubled place due to the modern obsession with war game technology. Frank Hyder demonstrates the experimental arena of the small works with examples from his perdido and rhythm series. F. Lennox Campello brings us his relentless salsa seasoned social commentaries, invigorating pencil and paper into a sword and shield bent on righting injustice wherever it is found.

In “Little Treasures – Big Rewards,”Projects introduces Canadian realist, Matthew Schofield, working in a diminutive scale using images from his childhood experiences. Zoe Spiliotis makes a debut with a formal spin on geometric linear explosive abstractions. Debra Van Tuinen from Portland, Oregon, serves up sensuous sky-like images made in encaustic that appear to be mixed with air. Projects also introduces Marcelo Suaznabar, a Bolivian artist currently living in Toronto, whose surrealistic vision presents a world where nothing is as it should be but often is more appealing than how things are. Amy Orr arrives for the first time at Projects with her imaginative up-cycled transformations, while E. Sherman Hayman returns with selections from her coffin series, loaded with meaning and too good to bury. This group exhibition puts the emphasis on the rewards, not the ruler, and packs a real punch.

“Little Treasures – Big Rewards”will be on display at Projects Gallery in Philadelphia from March 4 - 26, 2011. There will also be an artist’s reception First Friday March 4th from 5 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Geez

Just found out that there is a "Real Housewives of Miami" show now... and that the three Cuban ladies in the cast are already making my peeps look bad.

That's Alexia Echevarria, one of the Cubans in the TV show and (I'm told) known in Miami as the Cuban Barbie.

Ay Dios Mio!

Ruth Trevarrow this Sunday

Painter Ruth Trevarrow "dares us to see the lush beauty in bare bones, with a collection of powerful shapes and lines distilled from skeletal remains."

Please join her at the beautiful Athenaeum in Old Town Alexandria for the opening reception on Sunday, March 6 from 4 to 6 pm.


On Sunday, March 20 at 4 pm, Trevarrow will be joined by scientists from the Smithsonian Institution to discuss the relationship between her art and the bone collections that inspired the works in the exhibit.

I think that this artist is one of great "undiscovered" jewels in the DMV. Don't miss this show.

Major DMV Gallery to close

Have heard from a couple of artists that a major DMV area gallery, which has been around for almost two decades has announced to them that it will close its physical location.

As this gallery is one of the few DMV galleries that does the major art fairs, I suspect that they will now just become an online dealer and simply continue to do the art fairs.

Update: I think that I broke this story, but Lou Jacobson confirms it in the Washington City Paper... Fraser Gallery will close.

Update 2: Heather over at DCist gets the credit for breaking the story... see it here.

Update 3: artdc has an interesting string of artists' comments about Fraser closing; read them here.

Opportunity for Artists

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 2, 2011
NOTIFICATION DATE: May 23, 2011
EXHIBITION DATES: June 22, 2011 - August 21, 2011
OPENING RECEPTION: June 24, 2011, 6 to 9 PM

PLANNING PROCESS: Drawings and Finished Works at Arlington Arts Center.

Juror: Helen Allen, former creator and Executive Director of PULSE Art Fairs, former Executive Director of Ramsay Art Fairs, and current partner for the upcoming (e)merge art fair in Washington DC.

PLANNING PROCESS is a juried drawing show with a difference: All of the drawings selected for inclusion must be studies created in preparation for finished artworks.

Winning studies will be shown alongside finished pieces in a variety of media: A sculptor or a painter could show sketches alongside finished objects . . . a video artist could show storyboards alongside video . . . an installation artist could show plans alongside photos documenting a finished project--or a recreation of that project onsite.

Artists can submit images of up to three projects, and four preparatory drawings per finished project. The juror will pick as many projects from a given artist as she likes, and as few or as many studies connected to each project that she would like to feature.

BOTTOM LINE:

- This show is open to cutting edge contemporary artists working in any/all media, and who live or work in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, or Pennsylvania.
- You may submit images of up to THREE PROJECTS: Up to four images of preparatory drawings may be submitted for each project; submit one JPEG of each finished 2-D work; up to TWO JPEGs of 3-D works; and MPEGs no longer than five minutes for video works.

Application here.

Armory Week in NYC

The Armory fair starts tomorrow in NYC, and this year an ever growing number of satellite fairs tag along, including a first for Brooklyn!

It's a little puzzling to some why it seems like (in the US) art fairs only tend to be successful in Miami and New York - and the best evidence of that is the growing number of satellite fairs which tag along Art Basel Miami Beach in Florida and Armory in NYC.

Moving Image, a fair dedicated to video, makes its debut this year, and it is offering free admission! The fair is co-founded by Edward Winkelman of Winkleman Gallery and Penny Pilkington and Wendy Olsoff of PPOW Gallery, continuing the trend of gallerists starting their own art fairs.

DMV galleries are mostly staying home this year, but Conner Contemporary is at the Armory show itself, and Civilian is at Scope, while Richmond's ADA and Norfolk's Mayer Fine Arts are in other satellite fairs.

Deborah Kahn at the WSS

The Washington Studio School will present a drawing exhibition of work by Deborah Kahn. The show will be on view March 21 to April 23.

Join them Friday, March 25 for Events with the Artist:

Workshop*: 2pm-4pm

Slide Lecture: 5pm-6pm

Reception: 6pm-8pm

Registration is required for workshop ($55). Register here. Space is limited, sign-up early! Slide lecture and reception are FREE.

RSVP kindly appreciated to 202-234-3030 or admin@washingtonstudioschool.org. Deborah Kahn's paintings will be also on view this spring at the Bowery Gallery in NYC from April 26 through May 21.

DC artist John Grazier pops in

 Hello,

I just experimented with a new marketing tool:  two youtube videos.  One, to sell a 40"X60" painting of an apple, "Big Apple," the 'hook' of the video being photos of New York and a soundtrack of music from the 1940s and 1960s, -- and as you must know, New York being called the big apple.  This video is about five minutes long, "Big Apple, New York, New York."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrJnzEo7Pik

The second is a video montage of about twenty drawings and paintings, with a chamber music soundtrack, "Years of Dreams in Minutes," less than two minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQZ5dMY0dA

I am sending this email to all recipients in my list of contacts.  If you receive a duplicate of an earlier email, I apologize.

I have posted two videos about my paintings on youtube.

It is best to click on the hyperlinks instead of the youtube icons at the bottom of the page; then select full screen

Also, if you don't already know, I have a new website, www.grazierart.com.

John

John is one of the most talented artists in our region - a true master of drawing and painting! 

On Strike from the Huffington Post

Just received the below from Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Editor of ArtScene / Visual Art Source

When ArtScene and Visual Art Source was invited to become a Huffington Post blogger last year I, as publisher and editor of both publications, understood that the company paid nothing. We surveyed our writers’ reactions to assess their willingness to have their material reposted there for no additional pay. Visual Art Source, ArtScene and art ltd. (http://www.visualartsource.com) form an umbrella art publishing company that is actually quite large by the standards of our very specialized field. The tens of thousands of readers and online users that we boast, however, are miniscule compared to the 26 million visitors per month that the Huffington Post currently draws.

Yet we are now going on strike. For now, at least, no more content from us will appear on the Huffington Post.

And just like the corporate titans of the American Right, it would come as no surprise if Ms Huffington, whom I am certain has a good heart and only the best intentions, were to assume the obvious position: Who needs these people anyway? They are not even employees.

Nonetheless, we shall remain on strike until these two demands are met. First, a pay schedule must be proposed and steps initiated to implement it for all contributing writers and bloggers. Second, paid promotional material must no longer be posted alongside editorial content; a press release or exhibition catalogue essay is fundamentally different from editorial content and must be either segregated and indicated as such, or not published at all.

I am also calling upon all others now contributing free content, particularly original content to the Huffington Post to also join us in this strike.

We think it is incumbent upon the many writers and bloggers to form a negotiating partnership with Huffington/AOL in order to pursue these and other important matters so as to professionalize this relationship. It is not entirely Ms Huffington’s fault that so many talented professionals have been willing to accept the company’s terms on an “in kind” basis. Surely most do so in the hopes of achieving their own fame and fortune thanks to the great exposure that Huffington Post potentially offers. Unfortunately, such participants are only complicit in a relationship that fails the ethical smell test. And those who are already nationally known figures who will never need to be concerned about pay scales, shame on you, you should know better.

It is unethical to expect trained and qualified professionals to contribute quality content for nothing. It is unethical to cannibalize the investment of other organizations who bear the cost of compensation and other overhead without payment for the usage of their content. It is extremely unethical to not merely blur but eradicate the distinction between the independent and informed voice of news and opinion and the voice of a shill.

None of this is illegal, only unethical and oh so very hypocritical, so Ms Huffington if you insist do carry on, by all means. However we are taking this action, with the full knowledge of our contributing writers and editors, in the belief that your better angels will enable you to do the right thing. We stand ready to provide whatever helpful input we can.

For further information please contact Bill Lasarow, Publisher and Co-Editor of ArtScene / Visual Art Source, (213) 482-4724, artscene@artscenecal.com / billl@visualartsource.com

Tonight: Select's Curators Talk



Tonight is one of the The Washington Project for the Arts' (WPA) big events of the year, as their Annual Art Auction Exhibition and Gala, SELECT kicks into high gear tonight with the Curators' View event from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

At the Curators' View, each Select curator will present and discuss their exhibition selections. In addition, WPA's prized Alice Denney Award will be presented by Robert Lehrman to Washington-based artist William Christenberry for his support of WPA and sustained commitment to the DC arts community.

Then Saturday, March 12, 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the organization's well-known arts gala that includes a curated silent auction of more than 100 contemporary works by top contemporary artists, formal dinner, and performance art.

The events will be held at 700 Sixth Street, an Akridge-managed property, in northwest Washington on top of Chinatown; it is expected to draw over 500 art enthusiasts. You can see the selected works online here.

Meet Joel D’Orazio tomorrow

Art chairs, sculpture and abstract painting by architect turned painter/sculptor Joel D’Orazio. New as a Zenith Gallery artist, D’Orazio will be featured in a solo show, Listen to Me, at the Gallery at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, curated by Zenith Gallery.

The show opened on February 7 and will remain on display through May 13, with a “Meet the Artist” Reception on Wednesday, March 2, 5:30pm to 8:00pm.

Blake Gopnik busts the NYT!

Ahhh... did the grey old lady get caught ripping off an artist? .... and who may have caught the NYT?

Applause for the Gopnikmeister!

Read about it here.

But as Blake points out towards the end of the piece... there is no real copyright issue here... if you copy Dali's La persistència de la memòria then you have broken the law.

But if you paint your own melting watch, then you've just stood on the shoulders of a giant.

Still.... bravo Gopnik!

Sunday Funnies (ahem) Stamps


I know I'm gonna get killed for this, but here I discussed when I detected possible pornography in the American stamp issue of Sunday Funnies, and here I broke out one of the first two possibly sexualized panels (yay!) in our sexy nation's stamps history.

But as Tery Gilliam predicted in his groundbreaking film Brazil, all of you are too chicken to come forward (other than the dozen plus emails I've received... offline) to "see" the Onanist issue here.

Wait till tomorrow for me to tell you what Odie The Onanist is doing.

Antonia Ramis Miguel at Watergate

Spanish-born artist Antonia Ramis Miguel has a show coming (March 5th - April 2nd, 2011) at The Watergate Gallery in DC.

The Reception is this Saturday, March 5th 6-8pm and there's an Artist talk on Tuesday, March 15th at 6pm.

Antonia Ramis Miguel was born in Spain in 1963 and has been painting since childhood. She studied with Edgardo and Alceu Ribeiro, students of the renowned constructivist Joaquin Torres-Garcia. In this exhibition Antonia Ramis Miguel continues with her approach to Constructivist art. Her oil paintings combine the strength of structured line, color and abstraction creating a dramatic visual effect that arranges the parts of a subject into a whole. She spent several years studying the techniques of, among others, Rubens, Sargent, Velazquez and Vermeer. Miguel spent four years painting and teaching in Washington D.C. before moving to London where her palette was influenced by the greys of the sky and bricks of the buildings. The influence of her native Spain, particularly the use of saturated color, is however still visible in her work. She has shown her work in individual and collective exhibitions in her native Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria and the United States.

500 children, 500 cameras, 500 moments

Photojournalist Ramzi Haidar launched the project Glimpse (Lahza in Arabic) to bring together photographers, journalists and artists with children ages 5-12 in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The children worked with these volunteers for one year to learn the basics of photography. The images they produced with their cameras are entirely their own, giving them a power to reveal a reality rarely seen. Large scale photos and books about the project are on display at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery.

At the The Jerusalem Fund Gallery (2425 Virginia Ave. NW, Washington DC 20037). From March 11– April 8, 2011 with an Opening reception on Friday March 11, 6-8 PM.

A Bissel Smaller

I was raised in Brooklyn, and all my early jobs were working in the stores and delis around Pitkin and Belmont Avenues in Brooklyn. I've also spent several months living and exploring Israel.

Why am I talking about this? Because I think those life experiences give me a solid background in opining about Jewish delis, and in my opinion, the DMV's Parkway Deli is amongst the best on this planet.

Not only do they make excellent Jewish fare, but I also like that no matter when you get there on a weekend there's always a huge line (I'm not sure why I like this, but it is reassuring), and that the crowd is so diverse, covering all four races and countless ethnicities; clearly the quality of the food draws all hungry facets of mankind.

Yesterday I ordered my usual: matzoh ball soup and the deli twins (a mound of corned beef and a mound of pastrami on two onion rolls with a side). My wife ordered a large salad and a side of spinach (that's why she's a fideo).

When the delicious soup arrived, I noticed that they had a new set of serving dishes; more modern and square; I even complimented the waiter on how cool they looked.

As I began to eat my soup and my wife her salad, we both noticed something: the new dishes were quite a bit smaller than the old dinnerware! I'm not talking 10% smaller, but maybe 25 - 35% smaller.

Feh! And I will admit that the old soup sizes were quite generous, and the deli twins were the same size, but it kinda bummed me out a little that my favorite dish in the whole joint is now a lot less soup for the same amount of sheckels.

PS - If you are a carrot cake buff (like I am), The Parkway Deli has one of the best carrot cakes in this Universe.

Cudlin in the WaPo

Just read Jeffry's most excellent (although I disagree with his closing paragraph) review of the Picasso show at VMFA.

For some reason, there's no link online yet, but it is a huge review about the 20th century's most important artist.

One Picasso relationship that is seldom explored when the illuminati discuss Picasso's African influences is the very direct influence that one of Picasso's young friends' artwork had upon the Malaga-born master (and viceversa)

I'm referring to Wifredo Lam, the Afro-Chinese Cuban-born painter who became one of Picasso's best friends when Lam arrived in Paris in the late 30s and whose focus on African imagery (according to Lam anyway) received a lot of admiration and attention from Pablo The P.

Cudlin goes yard with this review; and kudos to VMFA for bringing this spectacular show to the Mid Atlantic.

See Alex Nyerges, Director of the VMFA, talk about this show:

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies between June 1 and August 31, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria, Virginia is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, cast and stained glass, and sculpture. The Torpedo Factory is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art – allowing the public an opportunity to share in the excitement and fascination of the creative process.

The projects undertaken by Visiting Artists for this self-directed, creative residency must be compatible with available working studio spaces and facilities.

Visiting Artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work.

Finalists will be selected by yours truly. There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap.

Tonight in Norfolk

Several DMV area artists, such as Tim Tate, Andrew Wodzianski and yours truly are in MFA's Winter show. The reception is February 26, from 7-9PM.

MFA is easily and by far (in my clearly subjective opinion, but easily checked out), Norfolk's top fine arts gallery, with a gorgeous location on the city's waterfront.

Mayer Fine Art
333 Waterside Drive
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 803-4749

Porno Stamps? Odie, what are you doing?


Perhaps I'm a big fan of hidden clues and messages in artwork. I do this all the time in my own work - hide clues, figures, words, etc. in the shadowing or lines, etc. - and I'm always looking at visual imagery from a "hidden image" perspective. I'd love to say that it comes from a cool artsy background, but in reality it stems from the whole scandal of the subliminal nudes claimed to be hidden in the ice cubes of some commercials when I was a teen.

Today I bought some stamps, including two sheets of the new Sunday Funnies stamps recently issued by the US Post Office. When I looked at them for the first time, a couple of things in two of the panels jumped at me and I did a double take.

I don't want to plant any further ideas in your head, so just look at the Garfield panel above and then take a closer look at Odie with the perspective of looking for something sexual hidden in plain sight through the magic of lines and shapes.

More on Odie and what I see him doing tomorrow... but now I'll decipher Archie for you.

Archie and Betty Looking for a Ménage à trois?



And nu? Look at the way that Archie and Betty are both looking at Veronica; not at each other. And then there are two hearts popping out of Betty's head as she stares dreamily at bad, rich girl Veronica.

Veronica smiles coyly, eyes closed, but her hand shows the hand signal for "swing."

Now look at the little blue "bar codes" underneath the three characters' arms; if you break that to binary code (notice that there are "fat" and "thin" lines or "zeroes" and "ones") then it breaks to 11010011, which is this character: Ó

Accent on the "O" - Text for the Big "O"?

It gets better; If you translate 11010011 to base64, then you get this penis emoticon character: 0w==

Fun with American stamps and The Lenster...

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: April 30, 2011.

Call for Entries: The Graceful Envelope Contest - Artists everywhere are invited to participate in the 2011 Graceful Envelope Contest, conducted by the Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild under the sponsorship of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

There is no entry fee.

This year's theme is "Time Flies," so design an envelope that explores good times, quality time, the times of our lives, time travel, or any other idea you have time to develop.

Address the envelope artistically to:

The Graceful Envelope Contest
Washington Calligraphers Guild
P.O. Box 3688
Merrifield, VA 22116

This is the contest's 17th year. The Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum created and administered it until delegating responsibility to the Washington Calligraphers Guild in 2001. The National Association of Letter Carriers exhibits the winners, which are also exhibited online at www.calligraphersguild.org. The complete Call for Entries (including categories for children) is posted on the Washington Calligraphers Guild website or you may contact contest coordinator Lorraine Swerdloff at swerdloff@gmail.com.

Sunday Funnies: Porno Stamps?

Don't shoot the messenger, but am I the only one who sees a little too much in the new Sunday Funnies stamp set from the US Post Office?


Has some stamp-designing-artist at the USPS pulled a fast one on the ole Post Office?

Study the stamps and later on tonight or tomorrow I will reveal what I see, to see if you see what I see...

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies (June, July and/or August, 2011). The TFAC (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria VA is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. The TFAC is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art.

Visiting artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work. Finalists will be selected by yours truly.

There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap. Send questions to: vap@torpedofactory.org.

Rousseau on Winslow

Winslow, whose career spans decades in the Washington, D.C., metro area, has been widely recognized as among the best around, and he just keeps getting better. His art continues to show tendencies toward exploring unusual perspectives, themes of memory and references to art history. However, in this recent work, autobiographical themes play a dominant role in ways that result in images that are both dreamlike and intense.

Read the full review here. John Winslow's work is on view in the King Street Gallery of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Arts Center in downtown Silver Spring.

Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Annual Call

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

Open call for Washington, D.C. area (the ole DMV) metro area artists for Torpedo Factory Art Center’s 2011 annual jury for artist members. Drop off date: February 28, 2011. The Torpedo Factory's annual jury will be held February 28 - March 3, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory houses more than 165 artists in combination studio/gallery space. The application form and submission requirements are available on their website www.torpedofactory.org/jury. Accepting submissions by emerging and established artists in all media.

Direct inquiries to Michele Hoben at mphoben@aol.com.

Postconceptualism: The Malleable Object at UMD


The Opening Reception of Postconceptualism: The Malleable Object is on Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. They also welcome your presence at the Panel Discussion with Artists & Curator on Thursday, Mar. 17 beginning at 6:00 pm.

The Stamp Gallery is located on the first floor of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union-Center for Campus Life, at the University of Maryland, College Park. The gallery is free and open to the public Mondays-Thursdays 10:00am – 8:00pm; Fridays 10:00am – 6:00am, and Saturdays 11:00am – 5:00pm. For more information visit the gallery’s website or call (301) 314-8493.

TBD: D for Downsize

Six months after its debut, the TBD news website is losing most of its work force and will retool as an arts and entertainment niche site.

Arlington-based Allbritton Communications Co. — which also owns television station WJLA, the ABC affiliate in Washington — launched TBD in August with plans to aggressively cover local news in the region.

Initial plans called for a staff of about 50 journalists. But TBD editor Erik Wemple said that Wednesday's restructuring will reduce TBD staff from about two dozen to about eight staffers.

Read it all here and read editor Erik Wemple's thoughts here.

Facebook scares

I don't know why, but my Facebook profile always had this scary picture as part of the ads to the right of the profile. I write "had", because as soon as I clicked on the ad in order to get the below image for this post, it no longer shows up trying to sell me stuff to grow huge muscles.

These are supposed to be "smart ads" that learn about the person (me) and then try to show them ads that they think the person will like. They are the main, and only reason that Facebook is apparently worth $25 billion dollars.

I have news for whoever designs the logic that learns to make these "smart" ads: you're really fucking up when it comes to me.

I can clearly and honestly tell you that I don't want to look like Mal'akh (a.k.a. Zachary Solomon, the estranged son of Peter Solomon in Dan Brown's impossible to put down thriller The Lost Symbol, easily the best ever fictional (I think) literary work set in Washington, DC).

If you haven't read the book and love weird, slightly historical thrillers which teach you a lot about DC's buildings and architectural historical provenance, buy one here.

Carlos Hathcock

Today is the anniversary of the death of USMC legend Carlos Hathcock. To get called a "legend" in the USMC takes a lot of legend-making, and few Marines are more legendary than Hathcock, perhaps the American most deserving of the Medal of Honor who was never awarded that medal (he declined being recommended for it).

We salute you Gunny!

Over in Norfolk

Several DMV area artists, such as Tim Tate, Andrew Wodzianski and yours truly are in MFA's Winter show. The reception is February 26, from 7-9PM.

Mayer Fine Art
333 Waterside Drive
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 803-4749

Get your free copy

Jonathan Fisher tells you how to get your free copy of The Folly (the DMV's new literary arts magazine) here.

Worn Magazine Mixer


Worn Magazine's third issue is on its way... In the meantime, join Worn Magazine for their second industry mixer to connect with fellow photography and fashion entrepreneurs living and working in the DC-metro area.

* When: Wednesday, March 2nd from 6 – 8pm
* Where: The Gibson, 2nd Floor | 2009 14th St. NW
* Tickets: Available for $5 on EventBrite

Virginia Pastel Society being organized

A new artists' group for Virginia and area pastel artists is being organized and for now, they have secured a room at the Sully District Police Substation in
Chantilly. It is very near I-66, Rt. 28, and Rt. 50 in Western Fairfax County.

They will meet on the fourth Tuesday monthly at 10am. The first meeting will be
March 22. They "want to gather people to possibly expand this to include other locations, plein air, etc..."

For details contact Bonnie Ferguson Butler at skyvine@yahoo.com - please put "Virginia Pastels" in the subject line of the email.

Bachelor Prediction

Like millions of husbands in America, every Monday night I (we) watch ABC's The Bachelor, and tonight's show (still on the air as I write this) essentially gives away the ending.

Let me hereby predict that Brad will pick Seattle's breathtaking Chantal to marry him, although my predictions have a lot to do with the bachelor's inch-deep character as they relate with all the newly discovered Chantalian bennies: a lot of Samolians in the deal.

Remember who called it first.

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies (June, July and/or August, 2011). The TFAC (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria VA is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. The TFAC is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art.

Visiting artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work. Finalists will be selected by yours truly.

There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap. Send questions to: vap@torpedofactory.org.

Wendy Navarro Public Talk: Tonight!

Monday, February 21, 7:00pm - Free! Sponsored by Washington Project for the Arts and Foreign Policy in Focus -- at Busboys and Poets at 5th & K.

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) and Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) are excited to announce a public talk with Wendy Navarro, an independent art critic and curator currently based in Barcelona, Spain. Since the mid 1990s, Navarro has been an active curator at the Visual Art Development Center (CDAV) in Havana, Cuba, while working as an editor of the magazine ArteCubano, and lecturing about Cuban contemporary art at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) and Havana University. The public talk is free and will take place on Monday, February 21 at Busboys and Poets at 5th and K.

About the Curator: Wendy Navarro's curatorial practice focuses on establishing links between the work of artists from different latitudes. Recent exhibitions include Collective Utopia, Casa América Cataluña, Barcelona; Asalto al Cielo: Insular Strategies of Cuban Videoart, LOOP Video Art Fair, Barcelona; Heteronimous: oneself's others: Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid and Correspondence, VIII Havana Biennial. She also has collaborated with institutions including the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community; Hardcore Contemporary Art Space, Miami; Gallery TAIK, Berlin-Helsinski; Gallery Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona and The Center for Contemporary Culture (CCCB), Barcelona.

Navarro has published extensively in catalogues and magazines such as ArtNexus; SalonKritik; ABC de ARCO; Revista Atlántica de las Artes CAAM and participated in several symposiums related to Latin American art including International Forum of Latin American Art, Arco Art Fair, Madrid; Latin American Dialogues, Patrimonio Cultural y Artístico of the Generalitat Valenciana; Multiculturalims, Institutions and Relationships North- South, 10 Havana Biennial; and Workshop of Carlos Garaicoa, Professional School of Fine Arts, Complutense University, Madrid, among others.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 31, 2011

Call for Entries: Open to all artists 18 years or older working or living in Virginia, Maryland, DC, Delaware, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia.

To Enter: Each entry requires an on-line application through Juried Art Services.

Exhibition Theme: “BITE: identity and humor” asks artists to use irony, sarcasm, and wit to shed light on issues of personal struggle in mainstream society. Artists are asked to create and share work that challenges historical, societal, and cultural norms that dictate expectations of who we are supposed to be. The selected work does not have to be “funny” as much as insightful. The work will be juried by DMV artist Jefferson Pinder.

Full Prospectus: detailing Acceptable Works, Entry fees, and Special Instructions located here

GreaterRestonArtsCenter
Reston Town Center
12001 Market Street
Suite #103
Reston, VA 20190
703.471.9242
fax 703.471.0952

White stuff

We're in the Poconos for the long weekend and woke up this AM to a lot of powdery snow... fun!

Opportunity for Artists

When: March 29, 2011.

Out of Order is the Maryland Art Place's Annual free-hung Benefit Exhibition, Silent Auction and Party!

Silent Auction and Gala: Friday, April 1st, 8 – 11pm. Join them for a fantastic evening of great art, music, food, and an open beer & wine bar.

Hanging Dates and Times: March 29, 7am – midnight. All Artists are invited to participate. During the One Day Only, Do‐It‐Yourself installation, March 29, 7am – midnight, each participating artist hangs one original piece in the MAP galleries. For submission guidelines, please visit MAP’s website www.mdartplace.org. Note: Artists are asked to support MAP by paying $10 to participate in Out of Order. Each participating artist receives one free ticket to the April 1 event.

Participation: There is a $10 participation fee to hang artwork in Out of Order. As a participating artist, you will be given one complimentary ticket to the gala on April 9th. ($40 value!). Proceeds will be split 50/50 between the artist and MAP.

How to Get Tickets: Purchase Tickets Online: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/156249
Current MAP Members must call to reserve their tickets. New or renewing members must join MAP by March 24 to receive complimentary ticket(s) to the event. Artist/Student/Individual members receive 1 Free Ticket; higher membership levels receive 2 Free Tickets. No tickets are mailed; names of ticket holders are held at the door.

For More Details: access their website: www.mdartplace.org or call 410-962-8565.

Edwards on Katie Dell Kaufman

The Gazette's Jordan Edwards has a mini review of Katie Dell Kaufman's works at the current BlackRock exhibition.

Read it here.

Katie Dell Kaufman, Richard Dana and the NIH Camera Club through Feb. 26 at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown. Call 301-528-2260 or visit www.blackrockcenter.org.

Claudia Rousseau on Kirk Waldroff

By Claudia Rousseau

I just went to see Kirk Waldroff’s new work at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery. Entitled “Untold Fables” this work is both magical and inspiring. It was completely ignored by the Gazette writer who published a “pre-review” of the work of Waldroff’s co-exhibitor, Levon Jamgochian before the exhibit opened. While the latter’s sculpture is of mild interest, Waldroff’s pieces are far more compelling and varied, unlike the monotonous sameness of Jamgochian’s prints. Yet, the Art Gallery didn’t even publish a checklist of his works in the exhibit, a fact that is difficult to understand.

Waldroff’s contribution to the Glenview exhibit include prints and wooden constructions that hold cast glass panels, that is, glass sculptures that have a print image on them—a technique that Waldroff will be teaching at the Washington Glass School on Saturday afternoons in April. They are created using a revolutionary kiln-casting process so that each is a unique reproduction of a carved woodblock (the kind originally created for wood-cut prints). These are set into wooden cabinets, or deep wooden boxes. There’s even a marvelous headboard with two inset glass panels topping a queen-sized bed right in the gallery. On the opposite wall are prints on paper from the same block that made the glass panels. Many of these glass/wood boxes are illuminated, but I imagine they would be effective set against a natural light source as well, or placed where they receive sun or lamplight. The warm light coming into the mansion gives them a nice glow. There are also a number of carved and painted wood panels presented as paintings rather than wood blocks.

The subjects here emerge from the titles, titles of stories that only exist in the works themselves, but which conjure memories of stories that we might have read somewhere in the past, or that were read to us. Titles like Theodulus and the Egret or The Wrens and the Badger conjure ancient fables. And the images are simple, but enough to stimulate the imagination. There are no right answers here. The viewer is encouraged to write them from his/her own trove of memories and ideas. Children (and their parents) will love it.

Kirk Waldroff “Untold Fables” through March 1, 2011
Glenview Mansion Art Gallery at Rockville Center Civic Center Park
602 Edmonston Drive
Rockville, MD 20851
Mon., Wed., Fri. 9 AM-4:30PM, Tues/Thurs, 9AM-9PM
240-314-8682 or 240-314-8660 for information or to confirm hours.
www.rockvillemd.gov/arts

Correction: According to Julie Farrell, Director of the Glenview Mansion Gallery, as many as 70 programs including checklists of the work of both Levon Jamgochian and Kirk Waldroff were, in fact, printed for the exhibit. In addition, the Gazette Newspapers in Montgomery County published a specific mention of the Waldroff exhibit in the "Montgomery Hot Tickets" on February 9, 2011. The article was titled "Mythic Media".

Back to oils

When I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, most of my "training" was focused on painting, and for the first decade or so after I graduated I concentrated on painting.

Most of those paintings were sold while I lived in Europe, and when I returned to the USA in 1992, I stopped painting and focused strictly on drawing. The only works on canvas that I've done during those years didn't really involve the use of the brush, as these pieces were and are mostly an intensive amount of taping and paint application.

I recently received a complimentary try-out set of Cobra Water Mixable Oil paints, with a note from Royal Talens, the manufacturer, asking me to try them out for them. I put it off for a while, but after scoring some amazing prices in a variety of substrates at Plaza, I took brush back to hand and painted my first new representational paintings in years.

These Cobra paints are amazing by the way; the facility with which one can mix them with water, and the resulting ease of not having to have mineral spirits around is worth a try alone, and I highly recommend them and intend to get a full set of them soonest.

I was stunned as to how much I had forgotten in the intervening non-brush-painting years, and it will certainly be an interesting road to regain the facility that I once had with the brush. In any event, below are my first three finished new oil paintings. They are all oil on masonite. The imagery is familiar in two of them, and returns to my Eve and The Lilith themes.

Persephone. Oil on masonite. 7 x 5 inches, c. 2011

Eve Running Away from Eden. Oil on Masonite. 5 x 5 inches, c. 2011.

The Lilith Running Away from Eden. Oil on Masonite. 7 x 5 inches, c. 2011.