Alchemical Vessels Opens Next Week

Opening April 4, 2014, the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery will host the return of Alchemical Vessels. 

Alchemical Vessels brings together 125 local artists and 20 invited curators for a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. Each artist will transform a simple ceramic bowl by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium, drawing inspiration from the bowl as a place of holding, open community, sacred space, and even the alchemical vessel. The show is an amazing grouping of Who's Who in the DMV art scene.

The ceramic bowl was selected as the fundamental element of the exhibition to symbolize creating a space where healing can take place—an idea at the heart of Smith Center's work and mission. Metaphorically speaking, Smith Center—the space and the work we do within our walls—resembles an alchemical vessel. People bring their everyday burdens, fears, and pains to us, and in this place of holding, we help transform those toxic elements into hope, light, wisdom and strength.

The Alchemical Vessels exhibition will open at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery on April 4th and run through May 16th, 2014, with the opening reception on Friday, April 4th, 7-9pm. The Alchemical Vessels Benefit will take place on Friday, May 2nd, with doors opening at 7pm. With a $125 Benefit-Vessel Contribution, guests will be admitted to the event and will select one of the 125 works on display to add to their own collections. 

For more information about the Alchemical Vessels 2014 Benefit, please visit www.smithcenter.org/benefit.

Artists: Eames Armstrong, Sardar Aziz, Karen Baer, Beth Baldwin, Michele Banks, Joseph Barbaccia, Carolyn Becker, Jessica Beels, Joan Belmar, Lori Anne Boocks, Anne Bouie, Amy Braden, Julia Brown, Karen O. Brown, Larry Brown, Amanda Burnham, Lenny Campello, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Mei Mei Chang, Peter Charles, Asma Chaudhary, Travis Childers, Eunmee Chung, Wesley Clark, Michael Corigliano, Sheila Crider, Candy Cummings, Anna U. Davis, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Tamara De Silva, Elsabe Dixon, Joel D'Orazio, David D'Orio, Chelsea S. Dobert-Kehn, Thomas Drymon, Nekisha Durrett, Victor Ekpuk, Laura Elkins, Dana Ellyn, Erica Benay Fallin, Felisa Federman, Jeremy Flick, Suzi Fox, Barbara Frank, Nancy Frankel, Shaunté Gates, Dawn Gavin, Bita Ghavami, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Melissa Glasser, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Sherill Anne Gross, John Grunwell, Nelson Gutierrez, Kristen Hayes, Eve Hennessa, Sean Hennessey, Linda Hesh, Matt Hollis, Leslie Holt, Jessica Hopkins, Karen Hubacher, Monica Jahan Bose, Barbara Johnson, Wayson R. Jones, J'Nell Jordan, Mila Kagan, Sumita Kim, Joan Konkel, Yar Koporulin, Walter Kravitz, Kate Kretz, Randall Lear, Heather Levy, Yue Li, Nathan Loda, Armando Lopez-Bircann, Laurel Lukaszewski, James Mahoney, J.J. McCracken, Donald McCray, Jayme Mclellen, Tendani Mpulubusi El, Komelia Okim, Amie Oliver, Luis Peralta, Michael Platt, Maryanne Pollock, Lynn Putney, Maria-Lana Queen, Beverly Ress, Kim Reyes, Glenn Richardson, Marie Ringwald, Amber Robles-Gordon, Pam Rogers, Lisa Rosenstein, Nicole Salimbene, Samantha Sethi, Matt Sesow, Amy Sherald, Shahin Shikhaliyev, Ellen Sinel, Casey Snyder, Susan Stacks, Dafna Steinberg, Jennifer Strunge, Lynn Sures, Lynn Sylvester, Ira Tattelman, Christine Buckton Tilman, Erwin Timmers, Ben Tolman, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Laurie Tylec, Michael Verdon, Jodi Walsh, Jenny Walton, Ellyn Weiss, Stephanie Williams, Audrey Wilson, Sharon Wolpoff, and Carmen C. Wong.

Curators: Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Educator, Philanthropist and Founder of D.C.'s Duke Ellington School for the Arts | Jarvis DuBois, Independent Curator and Principal at J. DuBois Arts | Monica Jahan Bose, Artist and Activist | Anne L'Ecuyer, Arts Management Faculty at American University | Camille Mosley-Pasley, Photographer and Principal at Pasley Place Photography | B.G. Muhn, Professor of Art, Georgetown University | Michael O'Sullivan, Art Critic for The Washington Post | Dr. Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., NIH Physician, Fine Art Collector and; Past Board Chair, Washington Project for the Arts | Michael Platt, Artist and Professor at Howard University | Jennifer Riddell, Writer and Interpretive Projects Manager at the National Gallery of Art | Adah Rose, Principal at Adah Rose Gallery | Laura Roulet, Independent Curator and Writer | Molly Ruppert, Artist and Gallery Director at the Warehouse Theater | Terry Scott, Cultural Organizer and Independent Curator | Judy J. Sherman, Art Consultant and Principal at j. fine art | Thomas Stanley, Professor at George Mason University | Nuzhat Sultan, Independent Curator | Tim Tate, Artist and Co-Director of Washington Glass School | R.L. Tillman, Artist, Teacher and Curator | Dolly Vehlow, Fine Art Collector and Principal at Gallery O on H 

Planning Committee: Helen Frederick, Deborah Lesser, Wendy Miller, PhD, Kim Schelling, Timothy Schelling, and Ellyn Weiss.

Airborne

Airborne today and heading to the Left Coast, where I will be part of a an anonymous international panel selecting visual artists for a well-known fine arts award.

6AM flight from BWI: That sucks!

Wanna go to a super cool opening tomorrow?

Where: 1429 Iris St., NW Washington, DC 20012-1409
When: March 7-April 26, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 8, 2:00-6:30 PM, 2014 and Sunday March 9, 2:00-4:00pm
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday 12-6 pm any other times by appointment

36 years, where has the time gone, hundreds of art shows, 1000’s of clients, vast new technologies in the art world. The artists’ still knock my socks off and creativity is thriving. How Washington and the world have changed. The artists keep on creating and astounding us at every turn. Art is more important than ever in this media over exposed world. That the artists can come up with an original thought and execute it in an original way fascinates me and keeps me enthusiastic and dedicated to the artists, my clients, Washington and the art world. Come celebrate with us and experience art, art and more art. The entire Zenith Family thanks you all for keeping us in business for all of these years.

                                               Gallery Owner, director and artist, Margery E. Goldberg

Lists of Artists: Kim Abraham, Lenny Campello Renee DuRocher, Eric Ehlenberger, Estella
Fransbergen, Robert Freeman, Julie & Ken Girardini, Margery E. Goldberg, Stephen Hansen,
Christine Hayman, Philip Hazard, David Hubbard, Robert Jackson, Katie Dell Kaufman, Peter
Kephart, Susan Klebanoff, Joan Konkel, Chris Malone, Joey Manlapaz, Michela Mansuino, Donna
McCullough, Davis Morton, Carol Newmyer, Tom Noll, Fernando Roman, Sica, Ellen Sinel, Paula Stern, Bradley Stevens, Cassie Taggart, Tim Tate, Marci Wolf-Hubbard, Paul Martin Wolff, Joyce Zipperer and more.

Zenith Gallery est. 1978

Celebrating 36 Years in the Nation’s Capital

1429 Iris St., NW, Washington DC 20012-1409

202-783-2963 www.zenithgallery.com art@zenithgallery.com

Dr. Jane Chu nominated to be NEA head honcho

Last month President B.H. Obama nominated a new candidate to be confirmed as the Chair for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Dr. Jane Chu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kauffman Center of Kansas City, MO.
 
President Obama said, “Jane’s lifelong passion for the arts and her background in philanthropy have made her a powerful advocate for artists and arts education in Kansas City.  She knows firsthand how art can open minds, transform lives and revitalize communities, and believes deeply in the importance of the arts to our national culture.  I’m proud to nominate her as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.”
 
When confirmed, Dr. Chu will fill an NEA post that has been vacant since the 2012 resignation of Rocco Landesman.

Important tax news for Maryland artists

As a social liberal and a fiscal conservative who tries not to be seduced by either left wing nuts or the vast right wing conspiracy, it is ironic to me how in the one-party, tax-crazy Soviet Socialist Republic of Maryland, the Maryland Arts & Entertainment Districts (A&E), offers tax-related incentives that "attract and support artists, arts organizations and other creative enterprises within 22 creative places in 15 counties across the state."

So they "offer tax-related incentives" - that's Orwellian speak for tax cuts/breaks, but you can't say that, because that means something Republicanish, cough, cough. Don't get me wrong - this is a great idea and it generally works...

At a March 13 Senate Hearing, A&E District advocates will testify in support of HB-1516 (Economic Development – Arts and Entertainment Districts – Qualifying Residing Artists), a bill that would exempt qualifying artists from paying taxes on proceeds from the sale of artwork not only within the A&E District in which the artist resides and created the work, but within any of Maryland’s 22 Designated A&E Districts.

By expanding on the established definition of a “Qualified Residing Artist,” it is expected that the passage of the bill would stimulate investment, encourage revitalization of underutilized properties, increase economic impact and promote local tourism.

UMBC selects public art finalists

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) joined the MSAC in announcing the names of three finalists selected to create a public art installation outside of the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building (PAHB). A national call was issued for the $397,000 commission.

The three finalists — Barbara Grygutis, Thomas Sayre and the collaborative Mags Harries and Lajos Héder — have previously created works of large-scale public art and were selected based on the merit of past work and the proposed vision for UMBC.

“The artists have had a month to create a site-specific design concept that supports a year-round destination where people can gather, sit, reflect and engage with each other in an outdoor setting,” says Lucas Cowan, public art program director at the MSAC.

UMBC partnered with the MSAC for guidance on commissioning the public art project. The Maryland Public Art Initiative (MPAI), signed into law last year, requires state-funded construction or major renovation projects to include a public art component. 

The University invited the MSAC to add its expertise to this highly visible public art project, and expects the project to be completed by August 2014.

Under the Influence

Opening on March 21, 2014, Under the Influence, curated by Kaitlin Filley and Ashley Wilson promises to be a very cool "back to the future" show.

Spread out between two locations, within the Catholic University community (Salve Regina Gallery, 620 Michigan Ave, NE, W, DC 20064, Victor L Selman Community Gallery, 3305 8th St, NE, W, DC 20017) , the show will serve as a catalyst for discussion and engagement with the legacy of the Washington Color School, and the effect on current artists in Washington, D.C. The show will feature the works of Jeffry Cudlin, Bill Hill, Ryan Carr Johnson, Barbara Januszkiewicz, Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, Meg Mitchell, Robin Rose, and Samuel Scharf. 

Running through April 12, the show wil also feature a curator tour on closing day at 2:00 pm.

WHAT:  Under the Influence

RECEPTION: Friday, March 21, 2014 6:00 – 8:00 pm

SHOW DATES: March 21 – April 12, 2014

CURATOR’S TALK: April 12, 2014 2:00 pm

WHERE: Salve Regina Gallery, 620 Michigan Ave, NE, W, DC 20064
Victor L Selman Community Gallery, 3305 8th St, NE, W, DC 20017

I've seen this movie before...

One of my really deep personal interests is history... man I love history!

It's one of those things that I've always done good well in school and as a result I have incorporated that interest many, many, many times in my own artwork.

It is a nerdish thing I realize... to some anyway....  I read history as if they were novels, and of course...

You know where I'm going next: "He who does not learn from history is bound to repeat it" or something like that, goes the saying...

And is it me? ... or does the Russian invasion of the Ukraine seem a little familiar, from a historical perspective? Nikolai Kondratiev's famous "wave theory" (which is unfortunately usually just applied to economics, when it can actually be applied to almost anything such as art trends, history's cycles, etc.)... easily predicts what will happen next here... But first a little things that seems to have repeated itself rather recently...

• We have a former European evil superpower that a handful of years ago was taken apart and embarrassed by the West. They've since re-invented themselves on a fervent nationalistic fever.
• The Socialist dictator of that nation uses that embarrassment as a potent drive to not only stay in power (15 years so far), but also to convince the West that all is fine, while driving the flames of nationalism and craftily rearming and building its war machine.
• He then "tests" the will of the West by annexing large chunks of its neighbor, as Russia did to Georgia in 2008. Lots of verbal threats from the West lead to nothing.
• He then begins persecuting a segment of his nation's population... In Russia's case its gay citizens... And anyone who disagrees with Putin, and I would not be surprised if Jews are blamed next for something (or everything)... most probably the failure of the Russian economy, which will happen when the West imposes sanctions.
• He then hosts an Olympic game... As a showcase of national pride.
• He then invades yet another neighboring country under the pretext of protecting ethnic Russian citizens within its borders. 

Now... I expect that the West will react by trying to appease Putin, and someone will have to play the part of Neville Chamberlain in order for this unbelievable performance to reach its inevitable conclusion.

We've seen this movie and some of us know how it ends... Kondratiev must be laughing somewhere and Poland is getting a little nervous while France is probably already drafting a surrender treaty... cough, cough.. I was only serious.

Get ready to batten down the hatches!

Craig Kraft at VisArts

Craig Kraft, owner and founder of Craig Kraft Studio in Washington, DC, will unveil his new series of work Markings: Graffiti from the Ground Zero Blues Club, at an exhibition at the VisArts Center in Rockville, Maryland from March 5 - April 20, 2014.


“The exhibition marks the culmination of over a year's work exploring a new subject matter in a new style,” says Craig Kraft, internationally known light sculptor. “The inspiration for my work is based on the excitement of discovering the unknown, or unrecognized; such as the power of the graffiti at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi.”

Curated by Claudia Rousseau, PhD, Professor of Art History, School of Art + Design at Montgomery College, Markings: Graffiti from the Ground Zero Blues Club, uses found graffiti and neon light to create an artistic expression that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Traveling last year to see the Ground Zero Blues Club firsthand, Kraft took thousands of photos of the graffiti covered walls, furnishings, ceilings and windows. From these he selected certain images—for him, “the most poignant”—and had them digitally printed on 3’ x 2’ matte enhanced paper and later mounted on wood. The artist has attached painted and scratched neon tubing to their surfaces, as he has said, "to highlight, deconstruct and reinvent the original images.”

Rousseau states, “The graffiti that Craig Kraft found at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, is heroic in its extent, density, and history. Layer upon layer of it covers every inch of its interior. It depicts a full range of human emotion in words, signs, signatures, and graphic renderings of figures and animals accomplished over decades of repetitive marking.”

“Kraft’s neon additions to photographed sections of the graffiti at Ground Zero give prominence to certain of these marks. A deliberate inversion or counter gesture, therefore, of Kraft’s neon tubes, being three- dimensional and, of course, lit, take precedence over everything beneath them,” she adds. “His intervention further brings attention to the graphic forms of the writing itself that now takes a certain priority over the significance of those messages. As works of artistic appropriation, the series transforms and transfers the ‘found graffiti’ on the walls of the Ground Zero Blues Club into new and complex juxtapositions of form and content in the changed environment of the art gallery.”

"Much like Bruce Nauman and other contemporary artists who have worked with light, Kraft treats the medium as both tangible (the glass tubes), and intangible (the light), conveying both its materiality as sculpture and its transparency in abstract form. The very flexibility of the medium has allowed the artist a range of possibilities from very minimal abstract compositions to his extremely complex Unintentional Drawings of 2010, also in this exhibit. His Ground Zero pieces are an exciting continuation in his exploratory trajectory."

36th Years on a Creative Journey

Where: 1429 Iris St., NW Washington, DC 20012-1409
When: March 7-April 26, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 8, 2:00-6:30 PM, 2014 and Sunday March 9, 2:00-4:00pm
Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday 12-6 pm any other times by appointment

36 years, where has the time gone, hundreds of art shows, 1000’s of clients, vast new technologies in the art world. The artists’ still knock my socks off and creativity is thriving. How Washington and the world have changed. The artists keep on creating and astounding us at every turn. Art is more important than ever in this media over exposed world. That the artists can come up with an original thought and execute it in an original way fascinates me and keeps me enthusiastic and dedicated to the artists, my clients, Washington and the art world. Come celebrate with us and experience art, art and more art. The entire Zenith Family thanks you all for keeping us in business for all of these years.

                                               Gallery Owner, director and artist, Margery E. Goldberg

Lists of Artists: Kim Abraham, Lenny Campello Renee DuRocher, Eric Ehlenberger, Estella
Fransbergen, Robert Freeman, Julie & Ken Girardini, Margery E. Goldberg, Stephen Hansen,
Christine Hayman, Philip Hazard, David Hubbard, Robert Jackson, Katie Dell Kaufman, Peter
Kephart, Susan Klebanoff, Joan Konkel, Chris Malone, Joey Manlapaz, Michela Mansuino, Donna
McCullough, Davis Morton, Carol Newmyer, Tom Noll, Fernando Roman, Sica, Ellen Sinel, Paula Stern, Bradley Stevens, Cassie Taggart, Tim Tate, Marci Wolf-Hubbard, Paul Martin Wolff, Joyce Zipperer and more.

Zenith Gallery est. 1978

Celebrating 36 Years in the Nation’s Capital

1429 Iris St., NW, Washington DC 20012-1409

202-783-2963 www.zenithgallery.com art@zenithgallery.com 

Dubya gets an art show

Good for him!

The nation's 43rd president will be showing off his new painting hobby at his presidential library in Dallas starting in April, library officials announced Tuesday.

The exhibit is called "The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy," and the show sounds as if it will feature paintings other than the ones Bush made depicting himself in the bathtub and in the shower, which a hacker obtained and blasted all over the Web last year.

"The exhibit will feature more than two dozen never-before-exhibited portraits painted by President Bush," the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum said in its Tuesday announcement. "Portraits will be accompanied by artifacts, photographs, and personal reflections to help illustrate the stories of relationships formed on the world stage."

Details here.

Rousseau on the Studio Art Faculty of Montgomery College

Capitol Arts Network, the Washington area’s fastest-growing organization for professional and emerging artists, will explore the impact of “significant encounters” on artists and their work during March, with an exhibition produced by studio art faculty members at Montgomery College.

“For this exhibit, we have defined a ‘critical contact’ as an encounter that has had a significant impact on an artist,” said Claudia Rousseau, Montgomery College.  “Such encounters might be with a place, a book, a person, a particularly galvanizing moment. The exhibit could also be a consideration of critical encounters between or among species, cultures, technologies, economies, natural elements and many other things.”

The March show opens on March 3rd with a First Friday opening reception on Friday, March. 7, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Capitol Arts Network’s Urban By Nature Gallery at 12276 Wilkins Avenue in Rockville.  The exhibit runs through the end of the month.

 “The variety of approaches among the 22 participants in this exhibit is extensive,” Rousseau said.  “Among the most prominent subthemes are memories of certain places and the ways in which contacts with those places have had a lasting impact. This can be seen, for example, in the ceramics of Vidya Vijayasekharan, who also relates the theme to the globalization of things once limited to a small part of the world.” 

“From a very different part of the world, Megan Van Wagoner’s Standing Production recalls her childhood in the American Midwest.  Judy Stone’s installation titled Transmission also carries memory of a pivotal trip to Mexico,” she said.  “Another subtheme concerns specific contacts with a person or persons.  Perhaps most striking in this group are the works of Kate Kretz for whom the birth of her daughter had a significant impact.”  

“The often silent interaction between men in India is the point of contact for Daniel Venne.  The theme of exploration, whether physical or emotional is also the key for a group of artists including painter Wil Brunner,” she continued.

“Critical contacts between elements of nature are also a common theme, as in the photographs of Mary Staley and Grace Graham. Yet, perhaps the most compelling results of setting out this theme are the numerous interpretations of it in terms of the contact of the self with inner self or introspective examinations, as evidenced in the work of exhibit participants David Carter and Michaele Harrington.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Capitol Arts Network’s Rockville headquarters features studio space for more than 70 working artists artists plus classrooms, work and meeting areas and gallery and exhibition space where artists can work individually or side-by-side in a collaborative community setting. The center is conveniently located near Rockville’s Twinbook Metro station, in Montgomery County’s developing “Twinbrook Arts Zone,” which also includes the home of the Washington School of Photography.

Dulce Pinzon in Rolling Stone magazine

The amazing Dulce Pinzon is not only Mexico's leading young photographer, but also a very nice and cool lady... as this current interview in Rolling Stone magazine showcases!

See her work here.

Next fair in New York

We will be at the Affordable Art Fair in New York, April 2-6 at the Metropolitan Pavillion - come visit in booth I.28.

We will once again feature the work of DMV artists Jodi Walsh, Anne Marchand and introduce the work of DMV painter Georgia Nassikas.

"Moving On" by Jodi Wash

Ceramic on Panel

30X27 inches

The power of Pause

I know this is bad of me, but I can't help myself from taking a pic when I hit pause and some cool, weird expression is captured by the merciless power of the pause button --- 

Poor Meredith Vieira... it's your turn... cough, cough...

A little Art Wynwood mention...

Hey! I got another little line for my bibliography!

See: http://travelbig.com/2014/02/art-wynwood-festival-continues-to-thrive-in-its-third-year/

Shame the dude got me and Simon Monk a little mixed up ---- I only WISH that I could paint that well!

Vermeulen in NYC

My good bud and uber-talented DMV area artist Tim Vermeulen has a show in New York's George Billis Gallery and the HuffPost has a cool interview...

Tim Vermeulen's recent paintings -- on view at the George Billis Gallery, New York through March 15th -- are awkwardly confessional: just as the artist intends.

Strong autobiographical, psychological and spiritual elements charge his seemingly modest paintings with considerable narrative power.

 Details here...

Copywrong????

Recently, three studies have been published suggesting copyright law may have some detrimental affects on creation of new artistic works.

Details here...

Frida Kahlo from Art School...

This Frida Kahlo collage was done in 1978 when I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art as part of a special collage class under the legendary Jacob Lawrence... It is the only piece of my own artwork that hangs in my house... All the collage paper (torn from an art magazine) has references to Kahlo's life in one way or another...

President Obama apologizes to me!

Well... technically to all of us... cough, cough...

Hi Lenny,

I am pleased to share the following breaking news.

President Obama issued a personal, hand-written apology for his self-described “glib” remark that he made on January 30^th, concerning the pursuit of art history degrees and jobs at a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin. The apology, which was recently made public, was addressed specifically to University of Texas at Austin Professor Ann Collins Johns after she submitted a comment through the White House website. Every day, we see the power of advocacy in making a difference. Thanks to citizen-advocates like Professor Collins Johns and the 5,300 Arts Action Fund advocates who signed our online petition to the President, our collective voices were heard.

Please know that Americans for the Arts Action Fund sent its petition to the White House with our special thanks to the President for issuing his apology. We also underscored our request for him to meet with arts and economic policy experts, representing both the nonprofit and for-profit arts industries, to brief him on the untapped potential of these industries to help improve the economic growth, jobs creation, and trade surplus of the United States.

Thank you for your involvement in the Americans for the Arts Action Fund.

Keep advocating,

Nina Ozlu Tunceli
Executive Director

From the Corcoran

Just got the following today - later I may post some internal emails from two of the players involved (GWU has really good OFM going on, so folks there are somewhat uneasy in "sharing", so I don't have anything from GWU...) on this subject that gives an "insider's view" as to some of the politics involved in this (I think) somewhat positive move...

Dear Corcoran Community, 

Following the long period of investigation pursued by our Board, I have wonderful news to report.  The Corcoran Gallery of Art and Corcoran College of Art and Design, the National Gallery of Art, and the George Washington University (GW) today are announcing a proposed collaboration that would safeguard and increase access to the Corcoran's iconic collection as a resource for the public in Washington, DC; maintain the historic Corcoran building as the renovated showplace for an important new program of exhibitions of modern and contemporary art; and strengthen and elevate the Corcoran College and its programs. The collaboration would raise the stature of arts education in the District and expand the benefits, services, and interdisciplinary opportunities that both the National Gallery of Art and GW provide to students, museum-goers, and the Washington community.

Our three institutions are now entering a working period to set the definitive terms of a collaboration, under which the Corcoran College of Art and Design would become a part of the George Washington University. GW would operate the College, maintain its distinct identity, and assume ownership of, and responsibility for, the Corcoran building.  The National Gallery of Art would organize and present exhibitions of modern and contemporary art within the building under the name Corcoran Contemporary, National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery would also maintain and program a Corcoran Legacy Gallery within the building, displaying a selection of works from the collection that are closely identified with the 17th Street landmark. These and other works of the Corcoran collection would become the responsibility of the National Gallery of Art. Works accessioned by the National Gallery would bear the credit line "Corcoran Collection."  For works not accessioned by the National Gallery, the Corcoran, in consultation with the National Gallery, will develop a distribution policy and program.

As you know, this proposed arrangement among three prominent Washington, DC, institutions comes as the culmination of a five-year effort by the Corcoran's Board of Trustees to preserve the 17th Street building as both a museum space and a home for the College and to ensure the future of the Corcoran collection as a treasure accessible to all. Due to the challenges faced by the Corcoran, our Board has sought to achieve these goals by exploring collaborations with other cultural and educational institutions.

I want you to know that this coalition among our three institutions will open important new possibilities for Washington, DC.  The Corcoran's great cultural, educational, and civic resources, which are at the heart of this city, will not only remain in Washington but will become stronger, more exciting, and more widely accessible, in a way that stays centered on the Corcoran's dedication to art and mission of encouraging American genius and opens the galleries to all for free. We are deeply grateful for the bold imagination of the boards of all three institutions for working to make this outcome possible.

Our partner institutions are as thrilled as we are:

"All of us at the National Gallery of Art are excited at the prospect of working with the Corcoran and George Washington University in a unique collaboration that ensures the Corcoran legacy, keeps the core collection in the nation's capital and offers great opportunities for exhibitions of contemporary art and programming," said Earl A. Powell III, Director, National Gallery of Art.  

"The George Washington University will work with the Corcoran to create a world-class arts education program in close affiliation with the National Gallery of Art.  Such a program, situated in this iconic Washington landmark, will offer unparalleled opportunities for students and scholars, and provide a powerful new focus for the arts in the heart of the nation's capital," said GW President Steven Knapp. 

The terms stipulate that the Corcoran would continue as a non-profit organization, committed to its original mission, "Dedicated to Art and Encouraging American Genius," and continuing its 145-year history of pursuing and supporting new art and new ideas. The Corcoran would support the National Gallery of Art's and GW's stewardship of the Corcoran name and legacy, consult with and provide advice to the National Gallery and GW on programs and interconnected activities, and promote the important role of contemporary art and artists in provoking new thinking and realizing exciting new cultural initiatives.

Thank you so much for seeing this through with us. At this exceptional moment, we need your support and words of encouragement as never before.  The Corcoran's legacy is an incredible gift that will now stay in Washington, DC in perpetuity thanks to you and your unwavering support.

All best,

Peggy Loar
Interim Director and President
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran College of Art and Design

Weird snow

This morning, as I was once again shoveling snow from my driveway, both my neighbor and I commented that his was the oddest, weirdest looking snow either one of us had ever seen.

It looked like fake Hollywood snow.... Like someone had taken a million pounds of white styrofoam and shredded it into little, tiny, fluffy balls.

Bethesda Painting Awards

Submissions must be received by Monday, February 21, 2014. 

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the seventh annual Bethesda Painting Awards. 

Up to nine finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition during the month of June at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies. Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a “Young Artist” whose birthday is after February 21, 1984 may be awarded $1,000. 

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

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

Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibit. Each artist must submit 5 slides, application and a non-refundable fee of $25. Digital entries will be accepted on DC in JPG, GIF or PNG format. 

For a complete application, please visit www.bethesda.org, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814 

Or call 301-215-6660 x117. The 2014 Bethesda Painting Awards exhibition will be held June 4-28 at Gallery B.


The 2014 competition will be juried by Carrie Patterson, Paul Ryan and Judy Southerland.


Carrie Patterson is an Associate Professor of Art at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from James Madison University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from The University of Pennsylvania. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and in Bogota, Colombia. Patterson has received a Seedling Painting Award for her work from The Leeway Foundation for the Arts and a Virginia Governor’s Fellowship to The Virginia Center for Creative Arts in 2003. Over the past 10 years, her work has been selected for exhibition by prominent painters such as Sean Scully, Bill Jensen, John Walker, Graham Nickson and Barbara Grossman.

Paul Ryan is a Professor of Art in the Department of Art and Art History at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, VA. He is also a painter, an art critic and the director of Hunt Gallery, the college’s art gallery. Paul has a Master of Fine Art in Painting from the Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Art in English from Principia College. Paul has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Virginia and in Ithaca, NY, and at the University of South Carolina. Paul has been a contributing editor for Art Papers Magazine since 1990. Since 1989, he has contributed to Art Papers Magazine, Sculpture Magazine, Artlies Magazine and the New Art Examiner. He is represented by Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, VA, and his paintings are in numerous public, corporate and private collections.

Judy Southerland is an artist and adjunct faculty at the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, D.C. She has recently exhibited at School 33 Art Center in Baltimore, MD; the Anthenaeum, Alexandria, VA; Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA; Miami University, Middletown, OH; The Arts Club of Washington and Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C.; McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE; and College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD. Judy received a 2011 Individual Artist Fellowship from the D.C. Commission of the Arts and Humanities, and curatorial projects include Fresh Perspectives and Hillyer Art Space. Southerland received a Master of Fine Art in Painting from American University and a Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Auburn University. Along with teaching painting,

Last day for Art Wynwood

That very cool sculpture by DMV artist Michael Enn Sirvet found a home in Miami yesterday at the Art Wynwood Art Fair... Today is the last day of the fair... 

Da booth!

That's the entrance to our booth at Art Wynwood in Miami...mostly video pieces by several DMV area artists....

Cool video sculptures by Sean Hennessey and Tim Tate and light sculptures by Novie Trump, and ahh... sculpture sculptures by Michael Enn Sirvet...

This has been going on for a while

Even while I was in Art School we were aware of the "painting factories" in Asia - mostly in China - where assembly line painting has been pumping millions of paintings on canvas to the rest of the world for decades.

It was only a matter of time before the power of the new technologies introduced a new angle and offer a "painting" on the cheap.

Instapainting, a YC-backed company launching this morning, turns any photo into a hand-painted piece on canvas for under $100 bucks.

If you’ve ever tried to have something like this done before, you probably know: this exists. A few companies have been doing the whole photo-into-art thing for years. Where Instapainting thinks they have them beat, however, is in pricing and speed.

Details here...

Art Wynwood report

On VIP night on Thursday I am told that the fair brought in about 7000 people, which is what many fairs get in total!

Then, Audrey Wilson not only broke the ice by selling one of her wonderful works, but then she sold two of my drawings.... I'm dying to be there!

Friday saw multiple sales of sculptures by Elissa Farrow-Savos, and also multiple sales of video pieces by Tim Tate and sales of two of my drawings!

Snow (ice really) Blues...

And so around mid morning today, the ice plows from the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County finally shows up and one come through and cleans our street of snow (mostly) and at same time manages to build a four foot wall of ice in front of all driveway... Feh!



But what can one do, right? It's part of the process...

By the late afternoon I had finally managed to take down my wall of ice and also helped a couple of elderly neighbors take down their ice walls....
 
Later in the afternoon.... The snow plow returns for a second pass and rebuilds all walls of ice in front of all driveways...

Down in Miami

While we're all here freezing in the snow... the Alida Anderson Art Projects, LLC crew is down in Miami setting up for Art Wynwood, and I hear that Audrey Wilson even had time for a tan... Feh!

2014 Richmond Mural Project

10 Muralists.  2 Weeks.  20+ Murals throughout the City of Richmond

Art Whino returns to Richmond, VA for the third installment of the Richmond Mural Project.  After completing 48 murals during the last edition of the mural project, Art Whino will work with eight to twelve  of the top muralists from around the world  to curate another round of  murals. 

Last year brought an incredible amount of press coverage and the  murals made it on top lists such as Buzzfeed, which ranked the Etam Cru  mural #3 Best Street art in the world of 2013. Bringing Richmond a  sampling of the great variety of mural work worldwide, just as in past years, the selection of artists will feature a dynamic range of styles  and subject matter which creates a unique experience for visitors,  providing a glimpse into a worldwide movement in one city.  The creation  of another 20 murals this year will bring the number to over 68  throughout the city, further establishing the Richmond Mural Project.  This edition will continue to build Richmond’s reputation as a go to  destination for murals that incite exploration of the city through  weekend visits that result in the discovery of the city Richmond itself,  with its neighborhoods, businesses, and culture, as visitors hunt for  the next mural.

MISSION: The Richmond Mural Project is a yearly event with the goal of creating over 100 murals by world renown talent in the first 5 years  alone. The recurrence and solidification of the project throughout this  time will establish Richmond as a landmark destination for  internationally recognized murals and will create exposure for the city,  establishing it as a premier art destination. By concentrating a large  number of murals throughout the city the project will increase tourism  and will bring the much needed “Feet on the Street” which will help  local business thrive.  Along with this mission there are many  additional benefits that these murals will bring to the city of  Richmond.  These murals will serve as positive catalysts for change by specifically placing them in areas that are in disrepair. These  environments include neighborhoods with abandoned buildings and low foot  traffic, areas with high crime, and newly developed areas in need of  identity.

Dates: June 16th- June 27th
Muralist begin painting the week of June 16th and will finish their
murals by June 27th

Mural Locations: Various Locations
Map will be released soon by their media partner Gungho Guide

Reception: June 21st with their Cultural Partner RVA MAGAZINE
More Details To Be Announced Soon!

Full Information about the Richmond Mural project
http://artwhino.com/2014richmondmuralproject

More evidence of the wake effect

Followers of this blog are familiar with all the writing that I've done over the years about the aggregated effects of doing art fairs... And how what I have coined as the "wake effect" of the art fair is perhaps the single most important reason why artists must participate in art fairs....

And here's another example... This time sent in by my good bud and DMV artist J.T. Kirkland...

A gallerist who was exhibiting at Scope Miami 2012 saw my work in my NYC gallery's booth and it caught their eye. They followed my work for the next year and decided that their interest stuck and they wanted to represent me. They reached out, we talked on the phone and over email, and in January we finalized all the details. 

I sent them about 40 pieces representing works on wood, canvas and paper from the past 6-7 years. We're doing a big show in October and hopefully a couple of art fairs. The gallery is in New Orleans (www.guthriecontemporary.com). 

So over a year after the fair, I got a big bite. Who knows who else is thinking about my work right now? I believe in the wake effect!!

Spotlight on Wellesley College

In case you have missed it... there is an art controversy in Wellesley College over this statue of a sleepwalking man in his underwear by artist Tony Matelli.

A realistic-looking statue of a man sleepwalking in his underwear near the center of Wellesley College has created a stir among the women on campus, especially as more than 100 students at the all-women’s college signed a petition asking administrators to remove it.

 And now, Sarah Mahmood, Editor-at-Large, Wellesley College has written this piece for the HuffPost that calls for the removal of the piece.

She writes:

We don't want the statue moved because we're prim and proper prudes, but because we'd rather avoid looking at a creepy, potentially triggering sculpture on our way to class. Would you want that sculpture in your backyard for the next five months?

I'm already lost... "triggering sculpture?" what does that mean? The answer comes a few paragraphs later, which is not only a fail for structuring the article, but also surprising, considering the source is an editor.

Apparently there's a petition to remove the work of art, and we learn from the petition that:

"This highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space."

 That answers my "trigger" question, but it does not answer the stupifying (and well-documented in this blog) and never-ending string of art censorship issues that continue to astound me.

At least Sarah Mahmood (in years to come) can claim the excuse of youth in her over-reaction on the wrong side of this issue, but the lesson here for her, and for all of those whose opinion aligns with her, is simple: "Art censorship is NEVER the answer."

My kudos to the Director of the Davis Museum and the President of Wellesley College for sticking to their principles and declaring that they have no intention of removing the statue until July 20, the duration of Matelli's exhibit.

Putin's gonna be pissed!

All I'm saying is that someone was heading to Siberia a few minutes after this happened...

Cough, cough...