Things that I notice...

A few days ago, my amazing athlete wife, who twice represented the US in world competitions, and was once ranked fifth in the world, and was twice the Maryland state Triathlon champion, decided out of the blue to run a half marathon.

So on Sunday she ran the Parks Half Marathon, which starts in Rockville and ends in Bethesda. Even though she hasn't competed in over a decade, she still managed to beat her predicted time by almost nine minutes and finish in the top 10% of runners..

But that's not why I'm posting this.

Over the years of both running and (more recently) waiting at the finish line for my wife, I have perfected the art of people watching, or in this case, of runner watching.

I have noticed a new, unique class of runners, that I must comment on, but first a little side story.

Anderson and I get the the finish area (corner of Elm and 47th Street), and it's pretty crowded, but I noticed about half a block of sidewalk on the inside line that's all empty, and thus we walk over some orange cones and stand there to cheer the runners and wait for mommy.

A race official comes over and warns me that the owner of the house behind me has been coming out and shooing people away from "her sidewalk."

I thank him and shrug my shoulders. After all, this is the People's Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, and last I've heard, everyone (except David Gregory and apparently this lady) knows that public sidewalks are public property.

Surely enough, soon a nice lady comes out of her huge dacha and asks me politely to get off her sidewalk.

I look at her, sensing that a learning moment for this otherwise Bethesda progressive... cough, cough... is about to take place.

"This is a public sidewalk," I say, also nicely, and pointing to the sidewalk areas that extend beyond the facade of her huge, massive house.

"It's in front of my house," she responds.

"That is obvious to the most causal observer... so it's that park," I note, pointing to the park across the street, "But it is still a public park... and so is this sidewalk..."

"Please get off my sidewalk," she re-affirms, her face full of indignation.

"No," I say, and then add, "Are you aware that it is probably some sort of misdemeanor to claim and usurp public property as your private property?" I say nicely to her. She looks a little puzzled.

"Maybe I should get a nice policeman and ask him if it is some sort of an offense for a citizen to try to kick another citizen out of public property." I start looking around.

She looks a little concerned, and I can tell that my use of the word "citizen" has kicked some dust in her Bolshevik brain... but then she turns around and leaves in a huff... probably returning to her favorite MSNBC show.

Immediately several other citizens, until then crowded in the other side of the orange cones, begin migrating onto "her sidewalk."

Back to my initial observation about runners.

Over the last few years I have detected a whole new "class" of runners whom:

(a) don't usually "look" like serious runners (gaunt, and sunburned, and wearing alien-looking sunglasses, and really expensive running shoes that always look new, because they only run 500 miles per shoe set before replacing them - I know this) and

(b) come to these organized races looking like they're getting ready for WWIII.

They have the most amazing and latest Under Armour outfits: compression socks, glow in the dark running shoes, Batbelts with ten pounds of super-Astronaut food stuff in all kinds of compartments, water camels on their backs, Ipods strapped to their upper arms, really expensive watches that can pinpoint your location on planet Earth within inches, etc.

They looks like dressed down Borgs on PT day!

Funny thing is that the winners of these races are usually long-legged, sleek, beautiful African runners in tiny running shorts, regular running shoes and little else!

Just sayin'

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this scam artist:

From:	Alison McCoy (a.mccoy009@yahoo.com)
Sent:	Mon 9/09/13 10:26 AM
To:	lennycampello@hotmail.com (lennycampello@hotmail.com)

Hello,

My name is Alison McCoy.  I found your profile on the internet. I am interested in purchasing an artwork from you for the decoration of my guest room at my new residence in Munich, Germany. Would appreciate if you can send me few pictures of the works you have available for sale so that I can make an easy choice of mine. Better still, send me a web link where I can have a view of your recent works.

I look forward to read back from you.

Thanks.

Alison.

36 STUDIOS - PART 2 (Charm City Edition)

Remember when Mera Rubell kick started a sudden new interest in DC area artists with her studio visits? If not, read all about it here.

Anyway - it's all about to happen again in B'more!

Mera Rubell, co-founder of the Rubell Family Collection and co-owner of the  Capitol Skyline Hotel and the Lord Baltimore Hotel, will be conducting studio visits of Baltimore-area artists in a 36-hour marathon session from 6:00 am Saturday, October 26 through 6:00 pm Sunday, October 27, 2013.

Ms. Rubell will be conducting the studio visits in her role as a curator for SELECT 2014, Washington Project for the Arts' 33rd annual art auction exhibition, taking place at Artisphere in Rosslyn, VA from February 27 through March 21, 2014. (Artwork will be available for purchase the night of the SELECT gala, March 22, 2014. Check WPA's website next month for details.) Rubell, who is based in Miami and New York, but frequently visits Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD for 36-hour periods to visit her hotel properties, is known for her passion for contemporary art and her deep commitment to artists. Since the family's acquisition of the Lord Baltimore Hotel in the spring of 2013, Rubell has been increasingly interested in the vibrant Baltimore art scene and engaging with artists there.

In 2009, Rubell and WPA Executive Director, Lisa Gold, conducted a similar studio visit marathon when Rubell participated as a curator for WPA's 2010 auction exhibition, selecting works by 16 artists from the DC region and generating a substantial buzz in the art community. While 36 straight hours of looking at artwork may be considered extreme by some people, Ms. Rubell and her husband, Don, often conduct brief, intense studio visits during their collecting trips to China or Europe, so this project is just business as usual for the Rubells.

"We are thrilled that Mera is set on exploring and discovering the artists of Baltimore, " says Lisa Gold, who will again be accompanying Ms. Rubell on her studio visit marathon. "I was so impressed with Mera's focus and intensity during the entire duration of our last adventure. I'm sure she'll bring it all back to Baltimore so these artists better have their game on!"

Artists will be invited to sign up for a studio visit appointment via an open call. Any practicing artist with a studio in the Baltimore area (inside I-695) can submit their name, contact information, studio address, and website URL to WPA through the WPA website by midnight on October 1 to be entered into a lottery for studio visits. 36 artists will be selected and their studios plotted on a map which will be used to determine appointment times beginning at 6:00 am on Saturday, October 26. From these visits, Rubell will select 12-15 artists whose work will be included in the SELECT exhibition and art auction gala.

Reporters interested in joining a portion of the 36 Studios tour may contact Lisa Gold at lgold@wpadc.org to make arrangements. For more information about 36 Studios, SELECT 2014: WPA Art Auction Exhibition and Gala, or Washington Project for the Arts, please contact Blair Murphy, Program Director, at 202-234-7103 x1 or bmurphy@wpadc.org.

At Gallery Har Shalom...

Gallery Har Shalom announces the opening of "The Power of Color,"  an exhibit that includes acrylic paintings by Alexandria artist Ana Elisa Benavent, blown glass by Bethesda artist Jane Callen, fiber art by Bethesda artist Floris Flam, and photography by Richard Paul Weiblinger of Laurel, MD.

Benavent (www.anaelisabenavent.com) explains that she paints emotions in colors.  In her words, " . . . large fields of colors start talking to and playing with each other, layer over layer . . . ."   She exhibits at The Art League Gallery at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria and at Foundry Gallery in Washington, DC.

Callen (www.ncagg.org/gallery/callen) blows glass in clean shapes inspired by nature's colors.  Her intention is "to maintain a beginner's heart and mind: open, no assumptions except love."   She blows glass at Glen Echo Park and has also studied at DC Glassworks/Sculpture Studios and Corning Museum of Glass.

Flam (www.florisflam.com) enjoys using a wide range of fabrics and quilting threads and often incorporates her own dyed and painted fabric. She discovered the world of art quilts in 1986 and, since 1991, has studied design and technique at workshops at the Quilt/Surface Design Symposium in Columbus, OH.

Weiblinger (www.weiblingerphotography.smugmug.com) prefers images with chromatic strength and notes that photography allows him to "pursue the art of transforming everyday objects into images that progress from 'everyday' to art."  A self-taught photographer, his work has been shown in numerous juried exhibits and included in magazines such as Smithsonian Zoogoer and Audubon Naturalist.

Gallery Har Shalom, located at Congregation Har Shalom, 11510 Falls Road, Potomac, MD

Opening Reception: Sunday, September 22, 2013, 11am - 1 pm
Exhibit dates:  Through Monday, October 28, 2013
Call for hours and directions:  301-299-7087

For further information and directions to Gallery Har Shalom, please call the Har Shalom office at 301-299-7087.

Enough...

Ladies and gentlemen, enough with dictatorships, with the last dictatorship of the Americas. Stop supporting the Castro government. Enough. Whomever supports the Castro government dirties their hands with blood.

-- Carlos Rafael Jorge Jimenez, Cuban doctor exiled in Brazil, during a presentation to Brazil's Congress, 9/4/13

Opportunity for Artists

EMULSION - The First Annual East City Art Regional Juried Show

Prizes
$1,250 First Place Prize
$750 Second Place Prize
$500 Third Place Prize
Entry Fee
An entry fee of $35 made out to East City Art Media LLC is required
The entry fee must accompany the application for it to be considered complete.
Location
Gallery O on H located at 1354 H Street NE in the heart of the Atlas Entertainment District
Exhibition Dates
Opening Reception Saturday November 9, 2013
Exhibition on view from November 9, 2013 through January 14, 2014
Juror
Lauren Gentile
Contact
For all inquiries please direct emails to editor@eastcityart.com

EMULSION
This call for entry is open to all residents of the Washington-Baltimore combined statistical metropolitan area as defined by the US Census. This is an opportunity for artists from the central Mid-Atlantic to showcase the extraordinary diversity in regional contemporary art.

An emulsion combines two seemingly incompatible ingredients to produce a third yet entirely new substance.  In this spirit, East City Art’s EMULSION seeks to combine the culturally different yet geographically close regions of Washington and Baltimore and to combine a wide array of art forms and mediums from two-dimensional work to performance based pieces.

East City Art envisions EMULSION as an annual event that will exhibit the brightest talent from the Mid-Atlantic region.  We expect EMULSION to grow over time to include more entries, an increase in prize money and visibility beyond the Mid-Atlantic to the national and international level.

Download the prospectus here.

Important Dates

• September 9, 2013 – Deadline for entries (must be postmarked by that date)
• September 27, 2013 – Notification of accepted artists completed
• October 5, 2013 – Last day to respond to notification
• October 7, 3013 – Acceptance list published on East City Art
• October 26-27, 2013– Artwork delivered to gallery
• November 2-3, 2013 – Work Installed by East City Art and Gallery O on H staff
• November 9, 2013 – Show opens to the public
• January 17, 2014 – Exhibition closes
• January 18-19, 2014 – De-installation/Artist Pick-up artwork

And the Trawick winner is...

Congratulations to Gary Kachadourian from Baltimore, winner of the 2013 Trawick Prize and who breaks my string of predictions but continues an established Trawick tradition of Baltimoreans doing well in the Prize competition! Well done!

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the top four prize winners on Friday evening during the exhibition’s opening. Gary Kachadourian from Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Adam Hager from Washington, D.C. was named second place and given $2,000 and Mariah Anne Johnson from Washington, D.C. was bestowed third place and received $1,000.

2013 Trawick Prize Finalists

Lauren Adams - Baltimore, MD

Selin Balci - Annapolis, MD

Travis Childers - Fairfax, VA

Adam Hager - Washington, D.C.

Mariah Anne Johnson - Washington, D.C.

Gary Kachadourian - Baltimore, MD

Kate Kretz - Colesville, MD

Caitlin Teal Price - Washington, D.C

The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, from Sept. 4-28, 2013. The public opening reception was held Friday, Sept. 13 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

Entries were juried by Cynthia Connelly, Visual Arts Curator at Artisphere in Arlington, VA; Alexander Heilner, Associate Dean of Design and Media Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore; and Vesela Sretenović, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

The Trawick Prize was established in 2003 by Carol Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda. She is the past Chair of both the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and Bethesda Urban Partnership, and also the Founder of the Bethesda Painting Awards. In 2007, Ms. Trawick founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation to assist heath and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County.

The Trawick Prize is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $126,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of over 100 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Clever, 2003; David Page, 2004; Jiha Moon, 2005; James Rieck, 2006; Jo Smail, 2007; Maggie Michael, 2008; Rene Trevino, 2009; Sara Pomerance, 2010; Mia Feuer, 2011 and Lillian Bayley Hoover in 2012.

For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

Xerox copy install by Gary Kachadoriuan

Sculptures by Adam Hager

Installation by Mariah Anne Johnson

Fall for the Arts at AU

American University's Fall for the Arts will bring neighbors, students, faculty, and friends together through art. The visual exhibition opened at the Katzen a couple of days ago.

The day will feature an afternoon of dynamic Courses and Workshops including orchestral conducting, the history of audio recording, a playwriting class, and a discussion of the role of interruption as a catalyst for art, to name just a few. Classes suitable for children are so noted in the descriptions. 

Surprise performances will pop up when you least expect them. The day will conclude with an early evening cocktail reception in the Katzen Arts Center and a Live Art Auction featuring local artists. 

The event is open to the public and an invitation is extended to local residents, patrons of the arts, parents of AU students, and the entire AU community.

Check out the details, the artists, and the terrific artwork here. 

There's an amazing Alan Feltus that someone will get for a steal! Also check out this gorgeous Tim Tate!

You can register here.

Ira Tattelman's Gaming opens Tonight!

Gaming is an interactive installation by Ira Tattelman that takes place in the Capitol Skyline Hotel Lounge, 10 I Street, SW.

 

The installation directly invites visitors to participate in the work by playing games on boards created by the artist on the wall in the space, referencing the games commonly played in bars. Instructions for eight games and the necessary pieces to play them will be provided. Participants are also encouraged to invent their own games using the boards and other game supplies made available as part of the installation.

Opening:  Friday Night, September 6 from 6-8pm

Location:  Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 I Street, SW
Exhibit:   August 31 through September 29 - part of Washington Project for the Arts Hothouse series

Opening next week

40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE
September 12 – November 2, 2013
Opening Reception September 12, 6-9pm, free and open to the public 

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) is pleased to present 40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE, from September 12 through November 2, 2013. A retrospective exhibition marking GRACE’s 40th anniversary, 40 for 40 celebrates the organization’s continuous engagement with contemporary art in the metro D.C. area since its founding in 1974. The show will feature a selection of forty artists who have exhibited at GRACE, or have been closely involved with the organization, over the course of the past four decades. 

Launching the 2013-14 exhibition season and the Greater Reston Arts Center’s 40th year of operations, 40 for 40 will feature works in a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, glass, and ceramics, the exhibition will celebrate the variety and quality of work that has been exhibited at GRACE since its inception. 

Speaking about the exhibition, Curator of Exhibitions Holly Koons McCullough said, “This show highlights the impact the Greater Reston Arts Center has had within the regional artistic community. Some of the artists on view in 40 for 40 literally founded the institution. Others had exhibitions here that would become important milestones in their careers. Still others exhibited works that have come to define GRACE’s unreserved embrace of contemporary art in this region, in all its diversity and vigor.” 

40 for 40 will present works by some of the pioneers of the institution, including Brenda Belfield, Judith Forst, Joan Kelly, and Connie Slack. These artists held positions on GRACE’s staff and board, and helped to develop the organization’s overarching mission of engaging and educating the community in contemporary visual art. 

Other works on view reflect GRACE’s more recent exhibition history, such as a luminous Mylar sculpture by Rebecca Kamen, a site-specific ceramic installation by Elizabeth Kendall, and cerebral wood-based sculptures by Foon Sham and Evan Reed. Together with works by the other noted contemporary artists featured in 40 for 40, these pieces reflect the broad-minded, progressive nature of GRACE’s exhibitions, particularly since the institution relocated to its current site in Reston Town Center in 2006.

“We are thrilled to be able to highlight the rich and vibrant history of the Greater Reston Arts Center,” notes Executive Director Damian Sinclair. “For over forty years the work of this organization has been central to the cultural growth in our region and we look forward to being a leader of the artistic community in the next forty years.” 

Most of the works in the exhibition are available for sale, and many of the artists are donating 50% of sale proceeds back to GRACE in recognition of the organization’s anniversary and in support of its future. 

Artists Represented in 40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE 

John Adams, Ann Barbieri, Joanne Bauer, Brenda Belfield, Ed Bisese, F. Lennox Campello, Michael Cantwell, Dickson Carroll, Travis Childers, Ellen Cornett, Laura Edwards, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Judith Forst, Heidi Fowler, Suzi Fox, Rik Freeman, Rebecca Kamen, Joan Kelly, Elizabeth Kendall, J.T. Kirkland, Craig Kraft, Robert Lobe, Dalya Luttwak, Carolina Mayorga, David Meyer, Marco Rando, Matt Ravenstahl, Evan Reed, Pam Rogers, Dana Ann Scheurer, Eveleen Severn-Sass, Foon Sham, Connie Slack, Robert Straight, Tim Tate, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Mary LaRue Wells, Millicent Young, and Andrew Zimmerman.

Public Programs:
Opening Reception
Thursday, September 12, 6-9pm. Free and open to the public.
40th Anniversary Family Day
40 for 40 public celebration and family day
Sunday, September 5, 2-5pm. Free and open to public.

Facebook's new terms of service and your pics...

Effective today (September 5th, 2013) Facebook has put into effect new Terms of Service and privacy policies that radically and significantly increase Facebook’s power to use your content and identity.

“The new Facebook Terms of Use have been modified to allow the company to sell virtually anything that is uploaded to the service, including all your photos, your identity and your data. Facebook has explicitly removed the privacy protection from the commercialization rights.”

Details here and good Q's and A's here.

New director for Clarice Smith

Effective October 1, Martin Wollesen will be the new executive director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park. An arts administrator at the University of California, San Diego, "he is known for developing innovative arts programs to involve students and the community. Wollesen plans to bring the same inventiveness to his new job as executive director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center that he did to his previous job in California."

Susie Farr, who is retiring after 14 years as executive director at Clarice Smith, was appointed to the Maryland State Arts Council in July of this year.  

Wollesen will be working with the UMD School of Music and also the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. He will also be overseeing the visiting artists’ program, raising funds and finding new ways to connect students and the public to the arts at the University of Maryland. 

Welcome to the DMV!

Wanna go to an opening Saturday?

28th annual Mayor's Arts Awards

Mayor Vincent C. Gray today joined the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in announcing the 30 finalists of the 28th annual Mayor's Arts Awards. The Awards are the highest honors conferred by the District of Columbia in recognition of artistic excellence and service. This year's finalists demonstrate the wide range of talent the District of Columbia arts community has to offer. Finalists were chosen by the Mayor's Arts Awards Advisory Jury comprised of prominent members of the District's arts community with expertise in dance, music, theatre, literary arts, visual arts, arts service and arts education.

The nominees in our areas of interest are:

Outstanding Emerging Artist
Caitlin Teal Price
Brian Grundstrom
Tommy Taylor, Jr.
Luis Peralta


Outstanding Service to the Arts
Carla Perlo
Washington Project for the Arts
DC Arts and Humanities Ed. Coll.
DC Shorts
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
BloomBars

La Llorona

"La Llorona"
Charcoal, conte and embedded electronics
Framed to 25 x 31 inches

This is the word that we heard...

L’Shana Tova...

(e)merge art fair announces galleries and artists

The (e)merge art fair returns for a third year with the 2013 edition featuring an international roster of 80 exhibitors presenting works by 150 artists from 30 countries. 

Exhibitors will show new works in painting, sculpture, video, performance, installation, and other media.

For four days, the public is welcome to view a carefully curated selection of emerging art at the Capitol Skyline Hotel, exhibited on three levels inside the hotel and throughout the hotel's grounds and public spaces.

GALLERY PLATFORM > galleries and non-profit art spaces:

AUSTRIA: Bäckerstrasse 4 , Vienna | BELGIUM: NOMAD, Brussels | FRANCE: galerie bruno massa, Paris | GERMANY: Blink Media Art, Frankfurt / ROCKELMANN&, Berlin | ITALY: metroquadro, Rivoli | THE NETHERLANDS: Amstel Gallery, Amsterdam | SWITZERLAND: Aureus Contemporary, Basel | U.K.: Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London / Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne | U.S.A.: Alida Anderson Art Projects, Washington, DMV / Animals + Fire, Washington, DC / C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD / Charles Krauss/Reporting Fine Art, Washington, DC / CONNERSMITH., Washington, DC / DCCAH, Washington, DC / Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC / Gallery A, Richmond, VA / Gallery C, Raleigh, NC / Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, MD / Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington, DC / Julian Navarro Projects, Long Island City, NY / Pleasant Plains Workshop, Washington, DC / Present Company, Brooklyn, NY / Print/Collect, Baltimore, MD / Segal Projects, Los Angeles, CA / slow, Chicago, IL / sophiajacob, Baltimore, MD / Transformer, Washington, DC / Victori Contemporary, New York, NY / Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC

ARTIST PLATFORM > independent artists:

Joey Alzamora, Washington, DC | Benjamin Andrew, Baltimore, MD | Selin Balci, Istanbul, Turkey / Annapolis, MD | Holly Bass, Washington, DC | Tiffaney Bishop, Ferny Creek, Australia | Catherine Borg, Baltimore, MD | Alex Braden, Arlington, VA | Mandy Cano Villalobos, Grand Rapids, MI | Karla Caprali, Belem, Brazil / Miami, FL | Maya Ciarrocchi, New York, NY | Julie Combal, Brooklyn, NY | Nancy Daly, Baltimore, MD | Brian Davis, Woodbridge, VA | Imani Dennison, Washington, DC | Patrick Donovan, San Francisco, CA | Double A Projects, Brooklyn, NY | Dave Eassa, Baltimore, MD | free[space]collective, Washington, DC | Max Gomes, São Paulo, Brazil | Tristan Hamel, Helsinki, Finland | Jesse Harrod, Toronto, Canada / Harrisonburg, VA | Linda Hesh, Alexandria, VA | Markus Hofer, Vienna, Austria | Jihyun Hong, Seoul, Korea / Baltimore, MD | Monica Jahan Bose, Bangladesh / Washington, DC | Benjamin Jones, Northampton, PA | Magnolia Laurie, Baltimore, MD | Kirsty Little, Chevy Chase, MD | Raewyn Martyn, Oamaru, New Zealand / Richmond, VA | Lavar Munroe, Nassau, The Bahamas / Montgomery Village, MD | Nara Park, Seoul, South Korea / Baltimore, MD | Dan Perkins, Washington, DC | Thomas Petzwinkler, Washington, DC | Camden Place, Washington, DC | Flore de Preneuf, Louveciennes, France / Washington, DC | Nick Primo, Baltimore, MD | Sean Naropa Robinson, Washington, DC | Christto Sanz + Andrew Weir, Doha, Qatar | Danielle Scruggs, Washington, DC | Judith Seligson, Alexandria, VA | Paul Shortt, Washington, DC | Alette Simmons-Jimenez, Miami, FL | Sophia Sobers, Budd Lake, NJ | Eduardo Terranova, Cali, Colombia / New York, NY | Borjana Ventzislavova, Sofia, Bulgaria / Vienna, Austria | Adam Void + Chelsea Ragan, Asheville, NC | Daniel Wilson, Nova Scotia, Canada / Brooklyn, NY | Andrew Wodzianski, Washington, DC

FAIR HOURS AND ADMISSION
Thursday, October 3
5pm – 7pm / (e)merge VIP & Press Preview. By invitation only.
7pm – 9pm / OPENING NIGHT PREVIEW
9pm - 11pm / Concert by the Pool with MIAMOUNA YOUSSEF (live set) and John Thornley of U.S. Royalty (DJ set)
Admission is $35 advance purchase, $50 at the door.

To purchase tickets: CLICK HERE.

Friday, October 4: 12pm – 7pm
Students with valid ID free: 12pm – 3pm
Saturday, October 5: 12pm – 7pm
Sunday, October 6: 12pm – 5pm

Daily admission is $15; $10 for Seniors and Students with valid ID.

www.emergeartfair.com

Location:
Capitol Skyline Hotel
10 “I” Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024

For tomorrow...

L’Shana Tova to all readers celebrating Rosh Hashanah...

The Wikipediafication of Fine Art

And this is the wonder that Wikipedia and its contributors and donors gives us: a richness of topic and visual cues to lead us down a myriad of paths instead of one-note shocker headline images. The fine art coming out in the next 20 years will be richer and hopefully more insightful than the instant sight-cues of recent decades. 

(Via) This interesting piece is by Glendon Mellow... check it out here.

Who's gonna win the Trawick?

Here are the Trawick Prize Short Listed artists...

Lauren Adams - Baltimore, MD

Selin Balci - Annapolis, MD

Travis Childers - Fairfax, VA

Adam Hager - Washington, D.C.

Mariah Anne Johnson - Washington, D.C.

Gary Kachadourian - Baltimore, MD

Kate Kretz - Colesville, MD

This year is a tough call, made tougher by the fact that the Trawick has progressively become more competitive each year; congrats to all the artists!

My favorite artist in this lot, and by far the one with the most exposure, experience and artistic DNA is Kate Kretz (remember when one of her paintings achieved worldwide attention a few years ago?).

Kretz should win this prize, and if she was picked by whoever was the "big mouth" (BM) from among the three jurors, then she will win. If I was one of this jurors, because I am a big mouth myself, then Kretz would definitely win.

But the fact that there are a couple (or three actually) of artists with very similar artistic interests in this lot, it seems to indicate to me that the BM was the "chooser" of those two and her own artistic agenda pushes more that way - if I'm correct, then Kretz was backed by the only artist in the panel.... who possibly also backed Mariah Anne Johnson.

UMD graduate Selin Balci's fascinating work gives me the impression of making her a  "juror's artist" (check out her CV here and see how many high profile juried shows have selected her amazing work recently) and I'm gonna predict that she wins this prize.

The show is at Gallery B (the former Fraser Gallery space in Bethesda) and I am told that the prize announcement will be September 16 - the show runs through Sept. 28.

AOM Fred almost here!

Artomatic Frederick opens on September 4...

New photographic discovery...

As some of you know, for years I have been researching on the history of Roberto Estalella, who at age 24 in 1935 made his debut with the Washington Senators.

While everyone knows (and the world owes a huge debt to) that Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the Major Leagues, what many people do not know, is that he was not the first man of African descent to play in the modern Major Leagues - Estalella was.

While white Cuban players had been playing in the Major Leagues for decades prior to Estalella's debut with the Senators, "Tarzan", as the American press nicknamed him, was the first Cuban player who managed to "pass" the color test by being identified as a "Cuban" rather than as a black man. This is but one of many examples of the embarrassing and erroneous American tendency to use race, ethnicity and national origin interchangeably.

Cuban newspapers of the period had a good time discussing the fact that while everyone in Cuba "knew" about Estalella's racial background, he was such a good player that Clark Griffith's Senators were quite happy to look the other way, cough, cough and pretend that the handsome half black, half white third baseman was "white"; after all, the many Cuban players who preceded him had blended in perfectly fine into the all white Major Leagues. A Cincinatti newspaper even described a couple of them who played for the Reds in 1910 as "two of the purest bars of Castille soap that ever floated to these shores."

But back to Estalella, I've just come across the below picture, which is possibly the earliest known photo of Estalella in Washington.

We see Estalella in uniform shaking the hand of the Cuban consul in Washington. To his left is Joe Cambria, the Italian-born agent who signed Estalella (and over 400 other Cuban baseball players) to play professional baseball in the US; to Cambria's left is Clark Griffith, owner of the Senators.

Who knows what private suffering and insults in baseball's harsh racial climate of the 30s, 40s and 50s this powerful man endured in his many years in professional baseball, and like Robinson, was forced to bite his lip and look the other way?

That's also Estalella to the right.

We tip our hat to this unsung hero.

Later I will tell you about Manuel "Chino" Hidalgo, quite possibly the first baseball player of Asian ancestry to play professional baseball in the US.

This is Che

Below is a recent work depicting the mass-murdering racist psychopath known as Ernesto Guevara de La Serna Lynch... this piece will be part of "The Art of Political Change" show that opens at MOCA DC on September 14.

The image is appropriately ripped off from a Commie photographer and reinterpreted in the context of the truth.

My goal is to try to change the way that people who do not know about the real Che Guevara perceive him. Would you wear a T-Shirt with this man's face on it? Only if it says "MURDERER" written across it.

Comunista comemierda.

This is Che
Charcoal, conte and embedded electronics on paper
24 x 20 inches

This is Che (Detail)

This is Che (Detail)

This is Che (Detail)

Heineken Mural Project DC