Artist Journalists Panel

Artist Journalists

July 17, 1:30pm-3:30pm

Mt. Pleasant Public Library, Large Meeting Room

The evolving forms of news media have created a new kind of journalist: an expert in the field whose journalistic objectivity is sometimes suspect. What does it mean when artists are also arts journalists? 

Visit with four practitioners and share your thoughts about the role of expert opinion, independent opinion, and self-promotion in arts journalism.

Moderated by DC Arts Writing Fellow Jonelle Walker, this panel will feature:

• Lenny Campello – Artist, Art Critic, Art Dealer & Blogger, Daily Campello Art News
• JT Kirkland - Artist & Former Critic
• Jenn Larsen - Ringleader, Connectivity, dog & pony dc & Co-Founder, WeLoveDC.com
• John Stoltenberg - Senior Reviewer and Columnist, DC Metro Theatre Arts & Director of Communications, WSC Avant Bard

Large 2001 Campello at auction (super low starting bid)

This one is practically being given away! It's a rather large drawing too...

Adam and Eve
c. 2001 F. Lennox Campello
Charcoal on Paper

Bid for it here (starting bid $100)!

What It's Really Like to Let People Finger You in Public

Tess Koman interviews artist Milo Moire:

Milo Moiré, a Swiss artist and psychologist, has been performing controversial nude public art for years. In 2014, she rode a bus naked (painted with names of clothing items where they are supposed to go on a body) during Art Basel in Switzerland and stood naked outside an art museum in Cologne, Germany painting a white sheet red with paint-filled eggs stashed inside her vagina.

 Most recently, she paid homage to Valie Export's 1960s nudist work and asked people in London, Düsseldorf, and Amsterdam to touch her breasts and vagina, which were concealed in a large mirrored box with a hole in the middle. She recorded the interactions, and released a highly censored (yet still pretty NSFW) video of her being touched. Moiré spoke to Cosmopolitan.com about what it was like to have strangers finger her, the ground rules she laid for those who did, and why she'd rather not have the performance labeled as a feminist piece of art.

Read the interview in Cosmopolitan here. 

Her work reminds me of some of the early conceptual works (done over a decade ago) by our own Alessandra Torres, specifically the one where she lay naked in an incubator and let people touch her naked body.

First Show for Newly Juried Torpedo Factory Artist

One of the Torpedo Factory's newest artists, Richard Greenway, exhibits his paintings at The Associates Gallery (TAG) in his first solo show. The show runs from July 19 through August 14 in studio 311.

Decathect: a verb

The Associates' Gallery at the Torpedo Factory

105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA

Studio 311

July 19 – August 14

Open 7 days a week

Facebook censorship

As we have all read all over, Facebook was recently busted for censoring conservative views... but:

But conservatives are far from being the only people who feel wronged by Facebook. They’re simply the loudest. As someone who has followed the issue of online censorship by corporations for more than half a decade, I can say with certainty that this incident has received more attention than nearly any other. For years, activists of many stripes (including conservatives) have complained about the social media platform’s censorious ways. This year, we’ve seen complaints from groups from groups across nearly every walk of life. Here are ten recent examples.

Read the whole article by Jillian C. York here.

Happy Independence Day!

A happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans, with a special thought to all the men and women at sea serving in America's Navy! We've got your back!

Campello at auction

Check out this vintage 1995 framed drawing at auction... Click here to see details.  

This 1995 drawing was done from a photo on an old vintage postcard (as I recall).

Bid here.

Women in Love I
c. 1995 F. Lennox Campello
6x6.5 inches framed to 19x23 inches.

Mark Jenkins on local shows

Read the reviews in the WaPo here.

Alma Selimovic

Feeling Kinky? Come and check out Alma Selimovic's work at her studio in the Otis Street Art Project. 

She's there through Sunday or by appointment. Thank you ‪#‎MetroWeekly‬ for a great exposure. 

Check out her work at www.almaselimovic.com

Book Review: Artists of Sedona

I was introduced to the spectacular beauty of Sedona, Arizona by my wife about a decade ago. Over the years we've visited that spectacular area many times, and I've often written about it, focusing on its artists and many galleries.

Artists of Sedona(1930-1999), published in 2014 by Gene K. Garrison, is a warmly crafted homage to the many artists who helped to give that Red Rocks city a reputation in the fine arts.

The book is essentially a history book of the seeding, fertilization, and growth of the Sedona artistic community.

 It starts with two brothers, a gibbon, and a baby coyote roaring into the valley on a Harley motorcycle.

 It also pays homage to Egyptian immigrant Nassan Gobran, who can be said to be the father of the Sedona fine arts footprint, as he was the leading voice for the energy which re-focused Sedona as a fine arts town.

 We learn how an apple-packing barn became the Sedona Arts Center, and eventually the magnet for all of the city's art galleries. The first exhibition in that building (April 1961) was by none other than the respected and very famous impressionist Max Ernst and his wife Dorothy Tanning.

We also learn about the formation of the Cowboy Artists of America, and through Garrison's superbly delivered talkative style of writing, we are further educated into the lives, anecdotes, stories, achievements, failures of a variety of the key artists who flowed into the Red Rocks area, attracted not by New Age vortexes, but by the spectacular beauty of the area, and by the growing magnetism of a growing artistic community.

You can feel Garrison's love for the artists, for Sedona, and for its history, in each word lovingly delivered in this book. It is a perfect example of how an art history book can be crafted so that it not only cements the art history of a city, but also honors the artists who created it.

Things not to do

If you're an artist:

• Do not hand out your own personal business cards at your opening and/or an art fair where your work is being exhibited. What you should do is work it out with the gallery, and if agreed, make your own personal business cards that list the gallery (and not you) as the contact point.
• Do not start a relationship with a gallery without a contract or written agreement.
• Do not vary your prices from dealer to dealer, or city to city, etc. What you should do is to have an established process (via contract/written agreement) where it details what discounts (if any) are offered in cases of multiple buys, museum sales, etc.
• Do not have "art sales." This hurts your established price points.
• Do not have prices in your website, instead force interested collectors into communicating with you or your gallery. Make sure that you note your gallery representation in your website.

If you are a gallerist:

• Do not operate on a handshake; always have a contract or written agreement.
• Do not hide the names/address of buyers. All that accomplishes is that it tells the artist: "I don't trust you."
• Don't work out price issues on the fly. Work out pricing issues ahead of time to ensure that you and your artists are all clear on all possible scenarios.
• Don't skip on art insurance.
• Don't take too long to pay your artists (period should be specified in your written agreement/contract (such as "Artist will be paid within ___ days from the time that the artwork payment clears").

If you are an art collector:

• Don't undercut the gallery by "skipping" them and going directly to the artist.
• Don't trust art dealers/artists who offer prodigious discounts on the artwork - nearly always that means that the prices were inflated to start with.
• Don't be afraid to ask if the artwork is done to conservation standards.
• Don't call a painting a "picture."

The Lilith Plotting

The Lilith Plotting (Detail)

F. Lennox Campello c. 2016
14 x 38.5 inches
Charcoal and Conte on 300 weight paper

The Lilith Plotting
F. Lennox Campello c. 2016
14 x 38.5 inches
Charcoal and Conte on 300 weight paper

Silent Auction Fundraiser - Tonight!

A SILENT AUCTION EVENT FUNDRAISER

TONIGHT!
JUNE 28, 2016, 5:00- 9:30 pm

        AT THE WASHINGTON ETHICAL SOCIETY  MAP

7750 16th St NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20012

Silent Art Auction - Delectable Bites - Wine - Music and MUCH MORE!         FOOD PROVIDED BY "FRESH START CATERING, DC CENTRAL KITCHEN"   Ticket price is  $45   Order two tickets   $90          And there are sponsorship opportunities...  Read More About            For Tickets and information call 202-783-8005   202-783-2963

Honorary Chairperson, Ward 4 Councilman, Brandon Todd. Councilman Todd previously worked in the Council office of The Honorable Muriel Bowser, Mayor of the District of Columbia.

Ron Nessen, former White House Press Secretary will be Master of Ceremony.
Mr. Nessen also served NBC News as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War.

ZCAF to Introduce Two New Programs!

Summer 2016 "Adult Hands' on Workshops" 

For DC young adults ages 18-24 

This educational program is being hosted by DC Arts Studios, 

A Ward 4 Art Non-Profit. 

Fall 2016 "After-School Hands' On Workshops" 

For DCPS teens ages 13-18

Through a ZCAF Partnership with District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)/DCPS Out-of-School-Time-Programs Office (OSTP).

The HOW DCPS after-school program is a series of career-focused arts classes are being Hosted Through a ZCAF Partnership with Columbia Heights Educational Complex (CHEC).

Both HOW programs have been endorsed by the DC Office of Employment Services/Youth Programs Office, whose mission is to provide Employment Services for residents ages 14-24. 

HOW is designed to encourage teens (ages 13-18) to develop career-focused skills, with a focus on careers in the arts, and will emphasize "soft skills" such as: healthy risk-taking, appropriate self-expression, time management, teamwork, and effective communication in a 60-hour program wherein participants develop a portfolio. ZCAF is an approved. "Out of School Time Program Provider" for DCPS. ZCAF maintains a site partnership with Columbia Heights Educational Complex (CHEC). Our HOW for DCPS students has been endorsed and funded (in part) by the DC Office of Employment Services/ Youth Programs Office.  HOW curriculum is be aligned with both the National Core Visual Arts Education Standards and the DCPS Arts Curriculum Standards and Cornerstones. 

Adult HOW is designed to get young adults (ages 18-24) on the path towards becoming an established, professional artist. Adult HOW is a 90-hour program, being hosted by the DC Art Studios, through a partnership we have with this Ward 4 non-profit. Adult HOW is funded (in part) by the DC Office of Employment Services. It too features a 60-hour portfolio development component that emphasizes the same concepts as the teen program, but expands the learning and includes many 30 hours of Arts Career Counseling, devoted specifically to getting participants jobs, apprenticeships, internships, and/or acceptance into an art school.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

In a world inundated with a bewildering array of messages and meanings, an arts education also helps young people explore, understand, accept, and use ambiguity and subjectivity. In art as in life, there is often no clear or "right" answer to questions that are nonetheless worth pursuing. Such nuanced thinking is in high demand on the job site, and employers value an employee who is capable of understanding 'why' beyond simply, robotically following instructions and completing tasks mindlessly. Such workers are valued for their ability to communicate, to learn, and to problem-solve. 

ZCAF fosters alliances between artists, businesses, and government agencies such as: District of Columbia Commission for the
Arts and Humanities, the District of Columbia Public Schools/Out of School Time Programs, and the
District of Columbia Office of Youth Programs, Department of Employment Services 

Opportunity for Artists

The Nude Figure will present a survey of contemporary responses to the nude to illuminate resonances between traditions of imagining the figure and the artist’s personal experience. The theme of mirroring is a metaphor for the persistence of the nude as a theme in art and our shared visual understandings of the body. Entries are being accepted in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, fiber, glass and mixed media.

 

Jurors Paul DuSold, instructor at the Woodmere Art Museum and Fleisher Art Memorial, and Scott Noel, professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, look to assemble a survey of contemporary responses to the nude to illuminate resonances between traditions of imagining the figure and the artist’s personal experience.

Details here.  Please contact Karen Louise Fay, Director of Special Projects with any additional questions: karenlouise@wayneart.org

AWARDS

$3,000+ in prizes

 

KEY DATES

Exhibition dates: October 16 - November 19, 2016

                Digital entry deadline: September 9, midnight CST ($45 fee)

                Extended digital entry deadline: September 12, midnight EST ($65 fee)

                Notification of accepted/declined work: September 19

                Artist reception: October 16, 3:00 - 5:00 pm

                Painting lecture with jurors: October 22, 1:00 - 2:30 pm

                Workshop with Paul DuSold: October 29 & 30, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm           

                Workshop with Scott Noel: November 5 & 6, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm       

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: September 15, 2016


The CDS/Honickman First Book Prize is a prize is given to North American photographers pursuing work of creative or social importance. The winner receives $3,000, publication of a book of photography, a solo exhibit, and inclusion in the Archive of Documentary Arts in Duke University's Rubenstein Library.


Submissions accepted June 15 to September 15, 2016. Entry fee.


Details: http://firstbookprizephoto.com

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: June 28, 2016


This juried exhibition invites explores issues of the theme “Peep Show.” The juror is Kate Kunau, who is the Associate Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. Originally, peep shows were images viewed through a barrier revealing titillating glimpses of the human body. Images of the body, in part or whole, close up, from a distance, in all styles and media are welcome.


Details: 319-431-2669 OR http://www.blackearthgallery.com/links.php?353411#.VyZfV4-cHF8

The Lenster in the news

His piece in the exhibit is made from a newspaper dated July 4, 1976, and has as its central focus the island of Cuba. 

Campello told CNS that if he had stayed in Cuba, his art would be controlled by the government there because it dictates everything, including what constitutes art work. "It would have been my work with an approval stamp by some bureaucrat in the communist dictatorship," he said. The artwork was his proposal for admission to the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, where he studied.  

A newer piece by Campello in the exhibit is titled "Running Towards Freedom (Heading to the New American Embassy)," showing a young Cuban girl running away from her country to freedom. 

"She has left everything behind, naked, and there is nothing but light in front of her and she is leaving all the darkness behind," he said.

Read the whole article by Ana Franco-Guzman in the Boston Pilot about the Looking Glass: Artists Immigrant to Washington exhibit at the Katzen Museum here. By the way, that collage (see below), which was part of The Andres Fernandez Collection in New Jersey, has been gifted to American University!

Isla Balsera (Happy Bicentennial America - Wishing We Were There)
1976 by F. Lennox Campello
Collage. 26x34 inches
Courtesy of Alida Anderson Art Projects

At the Altar

Here's my newest work... it will soon be heading to New York (unless you intercept it and buy it from the gallery now). The latest in my marriage of drawing and technology (in this case still digital photography from Google Images with some specific search parameters).  

Send me an email if you'd like to add it to your collection and I will put you in touch with the gallery.

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Young Photographer, Overwhelmed by the Diversity of Photography
Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronic Components
F. Lennox Campello. 19x38 inches, c. 2016

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline August 1, 2016.


The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is accepting proposals in all media for solo and group exhibitions for 2017-2018. A community art center on the Great Miami River in arts-driven downtown Hamilton, Ohio, the Fitton Center provides experiences in the arts through exhibitions, classes, performances and other events. Four galleries provide 2,600 square feet of space. Solo artists generally are asked to exhibit 10 – 30 works, depending on scale, media and available space. We also offer group shows of existing guilds or organizations and for individuals willing to be selected into a curated group.


For full requirements, please contact Cathy Mayhugh, mailto:cathy@fittoncenter.org or visit http://www.fittoncenter.org, click on Exhibitions and download the Exhibition Proposal Form. 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton OH 45011, (513) 863-8873 ext. 122.

Trawick Prize announces 2016 finalists

Award Winners to be Named during September Exhibit

 

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and the Bethesda Urban Partnership will showcase the work of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards eight finalists in a group exhibition. The exhibit will be on display August 31 – September 24, 2016, at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

2016 Trawick Prize Finalists

Lauren Frances Adams, Baltimore, MD

Cindy Cheng, Baltimore, MD

Leah Cooper, Baltimore, MD

Sarah Irvin, Springfield, VA

Dean Kessmann, Washington, D.C.

Ben Marcin, Baltimore, MD

Tony Shore, Baltimore, MD

William Wylie, Charlottesville, VA

 

The award winners will be announced on Wednesday, August 31, 2016. The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000.

The public opening reception will be held Friday, September 9 from 6-8pm. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

 

The 2016 Trawick Prize jury includes Stéphane Aquin, Chief Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Hasan Elahi, Associate Professor, Department of Art at University of Maryland and Rebecca Schoenthal, Curator of Exhibitions at The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia.

 

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 health 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 $192,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 130 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; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013; Neil Feather, 2014 and Jonathan Monaghan, 2015. 

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

Del Ray Artisans Indoor Art Supplies Yard Sale

Dates: June 27 - July 15, 2016 

 

Paints, crayons, papers...a real potpourri!  Gently used art supplies for you and for me!  Artists et al, take a look through your closets and art bins!  Gather those things you’ve been meaning to use but never do and donate them to Del Ray Artisans’ Indoor Art Supplies Yard Sale!

 

Please drop off your donations at Del Ray Artisans gallery on June 23 from 12-6pm, June 24 & 25 from 12-9pm, and June 26 from 12-6pm. Donations will also be accepted June 27 through July 9 a half-hour before (and immediately after) each Grown Ups Art Camp (GUAC) workshop. You can view the schedule of GUAC workshops (and sign up for a few!) at www.TheDelRayArtisans.org/GUAC

 

Come to shop the art supplies sale a half-hour before or immediately after a GUAC workshop. They will also host a “last chance” sale on Friday, July 15 from 12-3pm.  All proceeds support Del Ray Artisans, a non-profit, 501(c) (3) organization.

 

The gallery is handicap accessible. For questions on the art supplies sale, please contact Betsy Mead at egmead@gmail.com. For more information on Del Ray Artisans, please visit www.TheDelRayArtisans.org

Come to this opening tonight and get free artwork

You gotta come to this group show at American University’s Katzen Art Museum, since I am honored to be part of it... and there's free art involved... buah, ah, ah!


By the way, that gorgeous museum was built thanks to a major gift from Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen, he a brilliant collector of art who could teach lessons on how to collect; and she is a very talented artist with a refined eye for great artwork. 

The Katzen’s head honcho, Jack Rasmussen, continues to shame all other DMV museum directors and curators when it comes to them tending their own artistic back garden.

At the risk of repeating myself: most DMV museum curators would rather take a cab to Dulles Airport to fly to Berlin in order to visit an emerging artist’s studio than to take a cab to the Gateway Artists’ Studios, or to any area artists’ studios, to look at local artists.

Are you hearing me Stéphane Aquin? Taína Caragol? E. Carmen Ramos? Eleanor Jones Harvey?, etc. Learn to tend your own artistic back garden.


The show is titled The Looking Glass:  Artist Immigrants of Washington and it runs June 18–August 14, 2016. It is part of the amazing Alper Initiative for Washington Artists (if you don’t know what that it, and you are a DMV artist, you should! – contact the Katzen).

The opening is June 18 from 6-8PM. There will be plenty of adult beverages and munchies, and the artists will be there to talk about their work. And in a shameless act of free artwork distribution, I will be giving a free limited edition lithograph from a set of various lithos (you get to pick one) that I did in art school in the 1980s if you say: "Hi Lenny, where's my print?"

They are all signed and numbered in tiny editions... all circa 1977-1981.

The exhibition celebrates ten artists who left Latin America for many different reasons over the last sixty years – primarily for safety, freedom, and opportunity – and made their homes, and their artistic careers and contributions, in the Washington region. 

Ric Garcia, Los Santos, 2012.
Acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30.
Photo by Pete Duvall, Anything Photographic.

They include Joan Belmar and Juan Downey from Chile, Carolina Mayorga from Colombia, Ric Garcia, Jose Ygnacio Bermudez, and yours truly from Cuba, Muriel Hasbun from El Salvador, Frida Larios from El Salvador/Honduras, Irene Clouthier from Mexico, and Naul Ojeda from Uruguay. They brought with them artistic traditions that took root and bore fruit here in the United States.

See ya there! Don't forget to ask me for your free artwork!

Artapedia.com: Launch of new DC Arts writing website

Day Eight is preparing to launch an ambitious new arts blog, Artapedia.com, focused on the D.C. area. Kay Kendall, Chair of the DC Commission on the Arts, and Michael Kaiser, past-president of the Kennedy Center, will be honorary hosts for a free celebration and launch event (rsvp required) Tuesday June 21 5:30-7:00.

The site is launching as part of the DC Arts Writing Fellowship. 2016 D.C. Arts Writing Fellows Jonelle Walker and Michelle Goldchain will cover anything and everything local and artistic. The project was developed to increase coverage of the local arts community and is produced through support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Humanities DC, Brink Media, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and DCRE Residential.

In addition to writing coverage of arts and humanities activities the Fellows will facilitate a series of community events and receive structured and unstructured mentorship from journalists including Sarah Kaufman (Pulitzer 2010, chief dance critic Washington Post), Jeanette Catsoulis (Film critic, New York Times), and Maura Judkis (culture journalist, Washington Post.) 

Project Director Robert Bettmann said, “For centuries arts journalism has played a critical role in the practice and participation of the arts. With declines in quality coverage from the major news institutions publishers like Day Eight are trying to find new models.”

In celebration of launch of the Fellowship and website Day Eight will host a launch party Tuesday June 21 at BRINK (1516 U Street NW) from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; rsvp is required – space is limited.

For RSVP visit: http://www.evite.com/event/00FEL7XSSPRKDYBOYEPGF4KS4PJXKQ?gid=

About Arts Writing Fellow Jonelle Walker

Jonelle Walker is a 2016 DC Arts Writing Fellow with Day Eight. She is also a Theatre History and Performance Studies masters student at the University of Maryland, a freelance theatre writer, and the Artist-in-Residence and Literary Manager for Blind Pug Arts Collective. She earned her undergraduate degrees in Literature and Theatre Arts from American University in 2013.

About Arts Writing Fellow Michelle Goldchain

Michelle Goldchain is a Washington, D.C.-based writer and photographer who covers local news. She is currently one of the DC Arts Writing fellows with Day Eight. She is also Editor of Curbed DC, a real estate and development blog owned by Vox Media. Her works have been seen in Street Sense, Quill Magazine, Whurk Magazine, and Prince William Living Magazine.

About Arts Writing Fellowship Director Robert Bettmann

Robert Bettmann is an arts writer and editor based in Washington, D.C. He's founder of the arts magazine Bourgeon and the non-profit Day Eight. In the last year he's completed projects with funding from the DC Arts Commission and DC Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Robert is an artist himself, having transitioned into writing after a decade-long career as a performing artist. He trained on scholarship at the Washington Ballet and Alvin Ailey schools and performed modern dance and ballet. His book Somatic Ecology was published in 2009, and he is the editor of an arts anthology, Bourgeon: Fifty Artists Write About Their Work, published recently.

About Day Eight

The mission of Day Eight is to empower participation in the arts through the production, publication, and promotion of creative projects. The organization’s publication program includes the arts magazine Bourgeon, an annual arts writing competition for undergraduates, and the DC Arts Writing Fellowship. http://dayeight.org/

For additional information contact:

Robert Bettmann Robert@dayeight.org (202)210-2181 

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Annual Meeting/Party

Monday, June 27, 2016 at 7:00 PM 

Celebrating a year of Arts and Humanities in the District of Columbia.

Featuring performances and presentations by FY15 grant award recipients

Historic Lincoln Theatre

1215 U Street NW

Washington, DC 20009

Presentations and Performances by:Free Minds Book Club
Chloe Arnold and Maud Arnold
Sweater Set
Dana Flor
Spit Dat DC
CityDance
Washington Improv Theater
Levine Music
Story District
dog & pony dc
Hunt Laudi Studio

Admission is free, RSVPs are encouraged. RSVP here.

The Annual Meeting highlights the progress of the arts in 2015. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities staff and grantees present an overview of the previous year's work and an outline for the future to the general public.

Join us for our rooftop networking social immediately
following the annual meeting at

Lost Society
2001 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
8:00 pm -10:00 pm (RSVP here)

Beware of Sally Riding

From artist Carmen Tyrrell:

Last week I received a message at my gallery from Sally Riding offer to buy 2 of my art works but she can not pay PayPal and offered to send me a cheque. This is her message:

Sally Riding
To Carmen tyrrell
Jun 13 at 6:39 AM

Good Morning ,i just got an update from my Accountant that payment has been issued out to your name and address information you gave to me and you will surely received it this week Tuesday Wednesday.

Unfortunately my Accountant erroneously sent the wrong amount which is meant to be paid to another company,But never mind when you received the payment (CHEQUE) don't tear or return it,kindly deposit the Cheque into your bank account and it take 1-2 days to cleared in your bank account and will give you further instruction for the next step.

I can place additional order to complete it or ask for refund into our bank account details.

Please; Kindly read and understand the message and reply me immediately if you receive this message now.

Regards.
Rise.

Carmen notes that she didn't answer the message, as she knew that it was a scam... she then received a second email:

Sally Riding
To Carmen Tyrrell Today at 9:56
Hello,
I sent you a mail and concerning my finance manager erroneously sent the wrong amount to your name and address that you will surely received the payment in your mailbox or letterbox and you refused to reply back,because i have already contacted my bank manager concerning the payment and it take 1-5 days to cleared in your bank account and i will be glad if you can get back to me now,so that i can know the status of the payment,because it already sent out and you will surely received it by this week. 

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation,so Kindly look into your letter box or mail box starting from this week and get back to me immediately you received it and deposit the check in your bank account, also get back to me when you received the check and deposit the Bank Check.

Please; Kindly reply me immediately if you receive this message now
Regards.
Rise

The curious case of Western Union

Today I went to Western Union to send one of my daughters some moolah.


As I don't do this very often, I was somewhat taken back by the complexity of the process, once it involves a significant amount of money.


After, and only after, I handed off the clerk a few thousand bucks (not over or even close to $10K in case you are wondering - as I know that this has to be "reported"), she asks me for my Social Security number.


She then asks if my SSN was "issued in the United States?"


I'm not even sure what that question means, but I tell her yes...


She then asks me where was I born.


And then she asks what I do for a living.


She processes all of this into her computer and then tells me that I need to call a number and answer a few questions before my money is "released."


I call the number, and oddly enough for someone working telephonic Customer Service, the lady assisting me had one of the most atrocious accents that I've ever heard on the telephone.


This meant that I had to constantly ask her to repeat the multiple questions, which were rather personal and somewhat surprising.


Q: What did my daughter need the money for?


A: She's moving and I'm helping with the rent and deposit, etc.


Q: Will all of this money be used for the rent and deposit? How much is the rent?

Q: When was the last time that I saw my daughter?


I shit thee not!


After multiple repetitions because I could not understand the English from the nice Western Union phone lady with the "she sounds like she's speaking Finnish underwater" accent, I'm put on hold for 5-6 minutes.


After that I am told that the funds would be released once she shows up with two forms of ID. I guess that my name didn't pop up on any nefarious lists, which is a good thing because I am one solid US citizen with zip to hide.


Now, I understand that this is all probably related to suspicions of drug money, or related to the IRS wanting to know everything about cash transactions, etc., but it truly felt somewhat scary, which sucks, because all that I'm doing is sending my fucking daughter some money to help her move.

X-rated medieval doodles

X-rated medieval doodles reveal our ancestors had a sense of humor... read the CNN story here.