Raye Leith in “Blueprints”

The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center will open a solo exhibit the works of artist Raye Leith in her show, Blueprints, on display in the Forum and Passage galleries from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, Sept. 11.

An artist’s reception is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.
Leith has been painting and drawing the human figure for five decades. She is fueled by a basic desire for connection and communication. Leith is an eclectic artist who also has experience in theatre design.

“In these drawings I call ‘Blueprints,’ I’ve interwoven larger-than-life portraits with miniature cityscapes and expansive landscapes,” Leith explained. “I’ve skewed the portraits to express a sense of gravitational disorientation, and I’ve juxtaposed them with soaring expanses and apocalyptic disasters. Minute detailing in the pocket spaces between human forms creates unexpected shifts of spatial perspective.”

Leith’s individual portraits that will be on display in the Passage Gallery are developed from her weekly model studies. “I do the drawings on Lanaquarelle 300lb paper using indigo- and ivory-colored NuPastels. I’ve favored these pastels for three years for the unique way the crystalline dust absorbs and refracts light to create an especially rich and deep blue,” she said. “For me this blue is soulful — spiritual and expansive. It also brings to mind an earlier age of architectural blueprints and cyanotype photography, two media with which I feel a kinship.”

The Forum Gallery is on the first level of the Schlesinger Center, and the Passage Gallery is on the second floor outside of the Margaret W. & Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery. The galleries are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and during events in the concert hall.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund

Deadline is September 15, 2016 (postmark date)


Call for grant applications. The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund invites grant applications from visual artists who are aged 40 years and over and who live within 150 miles of Washington, DC. Artists working in performance, video, and film are not eligible for Bader Fund grants.


To download an application form, visit the Bader Fund website. In 2015, the Bader Fund awarded nine grants totaling $135,000.


Details: 202-288-4608 or http://www.baderfund.org or grants@baderfund.org.

Pink a Cherry Blossom Fantasy

DMV artist Liliane Bloom is working on a joyous installation entitled "Pink a Cherry Blossom Fantasy" that is opening Dec 2nd in Rockville.

Check it out at the link

http://www.lilianeblom.com/pink-a-cherry-blossom-fantasy/

Art as Politics at Touchstone

Touchstone Gallery’s timely exhibition, Art as Politics, puts together something that is such a Washingtonian art genre: political art! Artists from across the nation who want their visual arts opinion to be heard along with the current two rather unlikable characters running in the 2016 election cycle.


"The fact that there is a lot riding on this election is the understatement of the century,” says juror and hard-working DC gallerist Jayme McLellan, “And the pressing--perhaps crushing--social problems plaguing the United States are brought to the forefront by the artists in this national juried exhibition at Touchstone called ART AS POLITICS. Gun violence, immigration, border walls, climate change, homelessness, racism, #BlackLivesMatter, rape, women’s rights, net neutrality, the psychology of candidates and elected leaders including Hillary, The Donald, Bernie, Obama, and more– it’s all in here.“ 


McLellan selected 127 works from the several hundred submitted. It’s an all media show including wall pieces, video installations and sculpture. Artwork for the exhibition will be traveling to D.C. from California, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Maine, Ohio, Iowa and many other states.

“Art represents the time and epoch in which it was created,” McLellan continues, “and if artists are the antenna of the masses, this exhibition reveals much about our present moment.  It contains a broad swath of talent and reflects a collective social consciousness that is telling and sometimes hard to endure.  As a whole, the exhibition can produce anxiety, some is downright hard to look at, but there is also beauty in there, and hope.  The show paints a picture of what it means to be in this melting pot of America right now.  For better or worse, this is our shared reality.  And as art gatherings build community, it is our chance to dialogue together as we move into the future.”


Touchstone’s August exhibits include both Art as Politics in the main gallery and Touchstone Member’s Summer Sampler Summer Sampler works in the Annex gallery. At the Opening Reception on August 5, 6 - 8:30pm prizes will be awarded to three of the participating artists.


The artists selected by McLellan are:


MARY ELLEN (M'EL) ABRECHT, MICHAEL AUGER, BE/CAUSE - COLLABORATION BETWEEN ROSSANA JERAN AND MARTIN DIGGS,GINNY BAUGHMAN, RON BECKHAM, MARY BISHOP, STEPHEN BORKO, JILL BRANTLEY, KELLY BURKE, TAYLOR CALLERY, AUGUSTINE CHAVEZ, CHRISTOPHER CHINN, KATHRYN CIRINCIONE, JOHN H. CLARKE, MISTY M. COLE, K. M. COPHAM, JIM DESSICINO, EILEEN DOUGHTY, JULIA DZIKIEWICZ, JOHN FIGURA, MICHAEL FISCHERKELLER, CONSTANCE FLERES, FUENTES, RIC GARCIA, KEVIN GRASS, TRISHA GUPTA, AMANDA MARIE HARNER, KRISTEN VICTORIA HARNER, E. SHERMAN HAYMAN, DAN HILDT, ERIN HOFFMAN, MICHAEL PATRICK HOLT, LORRI HONEYCUTT, MARCUS HOWELL, ROBERT S. HUNTER, ED HUTCHINS, JINNY ISSEROW, JUDY JASHINSKY, R. JAY  JAY JOHNSON, TIMOTHY JOHNSON, ERIC JOHNSTON, GLEN KESSLER, SALOMON KHAMMI, HALLIE KROST, MICHAEL LANG, JEFF LASSAHN, AMANI LEWIS, ASHLEY LLANES, GEORGE LORIO, SHELLEY LOWENSTEIN, PATRICK A. LUBER, ROSEMARY LUCKETT, BONNIE MACALLISTER, CATHERINE C. MARTIN, PENNY MATEER, PETE MCCUTCHEN, IAN MCDERMOTT, MARLA MCLEAN, REBECCA MCNEELY, MIKE MCSORLEY, CHARLES MENDEZ, RAM - RASHAD ALI MUHAMMAD, DAVID NELSON, KASEY OBOYLE, MARY OTT, SANDI PARKER, GAIL PEAN, JAMES PENFIELD, JOHN PUNSALAN, MICHAEL RICHISON, FEDERICO A. RUIZ, CINDY SACKS, MEG SCHAAP, STEPHEN SCHIFF, JENNIFER L. SCHMIDT, DAVE SEILER, TOM SEMMES, ALI ONUR SENGUL, JANATHEL SHAW, ANNE H. SHIELDS, JAMES SHUMATE, JANOS SOMOGYI, MAUREEN SQUIRES, ANN STODDARD, BYRON TAYLOR, DORRI THYDEN, PATRICIA TURNER, SHAUN VAN STEYN, ANDRE VELOUX, RUBÉN ALEJANDRO LEBRÓN VILLEGAS, NAOMI VOGELS, CATHY WILKIN, CLARE WINSLOW, JENNY WU.


Touchstone Gallery

901 New York Ave NW

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 347-2787

The Veterans Administration and art spending

“Yet, in the midst of these horrific failings the VA managed to spend $20 million on high-end art over the last ten years—with $16 million spent during the Obama years,” Andrzejewski said.

Sigh... bully the artsy kid when the VA sucks from top to bottom... Read the piece here. 

Pittsburgh visuals

We're in Pittsbugh, which surprisingly enough, at least to me, seems to be quite a cool city, in fact a small city with an enviable big town feel, and bridges everywhere.

We're here because the Professor is presenting some paper on the Arts in Special Education at a conference here... but since our hotel is next to the Convention Center, and since we saw some cool costumed geeks walking around the area, Little Junes and I sniffed it out and discovered that the ReplayFX Convention is going on at the Center.

Also going on at the joint was a Hillary Clinton rally, and by noon all the Clintonites, and all the protesters were already lining up. It occurred to me that there might develop some interesting photographic visuals once all the Bernistas, Clintonistas, and assorted protest-everything left wingnuts mixed it up with light saber wielding Star Warriors, Trekkies, and Mario characters... cough, cough.

Review in the WaPo

The WaPo's Mark Jenkins reviews the current shows at The Katzen Museum at American University, including The Looking Glass: Artist Immigrants of Washington, in which I am honored to participate.

Read the review here.

Airborne

Heading to Pittsburgh for the weekend...  DCA flight delayed for three hours!

Call for Artists

UNITED in Passion and Pride.

September 10 - October 22, 2016

 

39th Street Gallery/Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Ave. Brentwood, MD 20722 (Second floor, 39th Street entrance)

This call for visual art is in response to the mass shooting that took the lives of 49 people at the Pulse Night Club, a gay bar in Orlando Florida, in the early morning hours of June 12, 2016.  We are deeply saddened by this attack on the LGBTQ Community and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the people we lost. This tragedy is multi-layered and as such, this call is open to your interpretation of the title and theme. All artists are encouraged to enter work.

The 39th Street Gallery is located in Brentwood Maryland, a quarter mile from the Washington DC Line, in the heart of the Gateway Arts District. The Gateway Arts District strives to be a diverse community that is inclusive to all.

 

Please submit up to 3 pieces (both 2-D and 3-D works will be considered),

Entry Requirements:

1.) All submissions must be sent electronically to be considered.

2.) Images should be submitted in JPEG format, ideally 4" x 6"image size

3.) Any selected work MUST BE READY to Hang, Any pieces selected that arrives not ready to hang will be returned to artist upon delivery

4.) Work should not exceed 60" in any one dimension.

5.) Number and Label all images with the artist's last name and title in the JPEG file (Example: 01_Jones_Untitled.jpeg

6.) Include a corresponding image list with JPEG file name, artwork title, medium, year, size, and price.

 

All work needs to be hand delivered or shipped at the artists expense including prepaid return shipping.  

 

The gallery will not take any commission on sales from this exhibition.

 

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE - Important Dates:

September 10 - October 22, 2016 -- exhibition dates

August  12-- deadline to apply

August 19 -- notifications of acceptance

August 20-27-- shipped artwork to arrive at the gallery
August 27, from 12-3PM -- hand delivered artwork to arrive at the gallery (or by appointment)

September 10, 5 pm - 8 pm -- opening reception

October 22 -- last day of the show

October 23- 27- artwork pick up and shipping (pick up at gallery by appointment)

 

Jurors:

1. John Paradiso, Artist, Curator of Programs, 39th Street Gallery

2. Margaret Boozer, Artist, Founder of Red Dirt Studio

3. Tom Hill, Artist, Senior Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration

For more information please write or call John Paradiso, 202-487-8458. Email: artprograms@gatewaycdc.org

John Paradiso

39th Street Gallery

Gateway Arts Center/CDC

Curator of Programming 

202-487-8458

Lori Katz at the AAFNYC

Lori Katz
Wall of Squares
55” x 45” x 2.5"

Stoneware with slips, underglaze, glaze, and mixed media including high-temperature wire,
oil paint, cold wax, metal leaf

You will be able to see this piece and many others works by Katz in New York at the coming Affordable Art Fair.

This Friday: Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program Visual Arts Exhibition

 

Opening Reception

Friday, July 29, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

RSVP here.

DC Commission on Arts and Humanities
200 I (Eye) Street, SE
Main Gallery
Washington, DC 20003

Exhibition closes August 31

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

200 I (Eye) Street SE, Washington DC

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities presents a  visual arts exhibition featuring some of the District's finest visual artists applying for the FY 2017 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP). Each artist has submitted a piece that represents their body of work and artistic perspective. This exhibition captures the broad scope of the District's dynamic art scene and provides an opportunity for the artists to express their visions directly to the panel of peer reviewers evaluating their applications and to the public

Opportunities for Artists

Non-DCCAH Calls for Artists (lifted from the DCCAH website:

• Center for Fine Art Photography, Deadline is July 27, 2016

• BWI Marshall Art and Exhibits, Deadline is July 29, 2016

• Anacostia Arts Center, Deadline is August 1, 2016

• Events DC, Deadline is August 1, 2016

• Linus Galleries, Deadline is August 3, 2016

• Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Deadline is August 10, 2016

• Hera Gallery, Deadline is August 12, 2016

• City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs, Deadline is August 14, 2016

• Linus Galleries, Deadline is August 17, 2016

• Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Deadline is August 18, 2016

• National Opera Center America, Deadline is August 31, 2016

• Digital Fabrication Residency, Deadline is September 1, 2016

• Greater Denton Arts Council, Deadline is September 30, 2016

• Strathmore, Deadline is September 30, 2016

Washington Area Visual Artists Registry

From Bill Roseberry:

Dear D.C. Artists,

I am in the very initial stages of compiling an historical comprehensive registry of Washington Area Visual Artists from pre-1800's to the present.

Besides names and dates, I wish to focus particularly on studio locations in and around the D.C. Metropolitan area, the neighborhoods they lived and worked, and other cultural and educational affiliations artists had or participated in.

I understand that this will be a very large project. But it is my wish that with enough individual responses and support I can demonstrate the need for institution support and funding in desire to create a larger centrally-located, interactive database with links to individual artists archives.

It simply seems to me that we need a shift in the balance the focus of research and funding in the arts from the end-product (objects on display and in collections) to the artist and his or her active community and primary means of moral and creative support.

To this end I have created this short survey to fill out and return:
https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdQBHw5oMN8wNmxn…/viewform…

Please feel free to copy and share the form to as many D.C area artists (including former and current art students) you know and have contact with and ask them to return it. The more responses there are the better likelihood we can revive and reinvigorate the culture of artists in D.C. to fill the cracks and holes in the shared legacy that we've all contributed to create.

If you have ideas and suggestions please email me at bill.roseberry@gmail.com

I would very much appreciate your feedback.

If you know of a deceased artist and can enter the following information please feel free to do so on a separate form.

Also visit and invite artist friends to visit https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonDCAreaArtistsHistorical…/ for updates.

Thank you.

Review of Alma Thomas

Thomas, who died in 1978, at the age of eighty-six, was a junior-high-school art teacher in Washington, D.C., whose own paintings were modernist and sophisticated but of no special note until she retired from teaching, in 1960, and took up color-intensive abstraction.

Read Peter Schjeldahl's review here.

Call for Artists: Shockoe Artspace

Shockoe Artspace’s mission is to provide a vital platform for both student, emerging and professional artists from local and regional backgrounds as well as international. 

We are looking to promote a diverse array of works and exhibitions. Furthermore we exist to cultivate community through various forms and outlets that will deeply impact our city. We think it is vital to generate new and relevant dialogue surrounding the arts of all kinds that stimulates growth in the artist and increases interest and appreciation from patrons and supporters.
Through a diverse array of exhibitions, forums, and open critiques, we hope to extend the already flourishing artistic foundation and culture here in Shockoe Bottom and Richmond as a whole.

Submissions:

Artist submissions are welcomed. Submissions will be reviewed several times a year. If upon review, we have further interest, we will be in touch with you directly. Artists should include a C.V., and artist statement, along with a personal web address and or 5 to 10 jpeg images with captions. Submissions must be emailed to submissions@shockoeartspace.com.

Art Scam Alert!!!

This scam alert came from a mutant con artist attempting to rip off artists - the email is revd.henry@gmail.com: 

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this rip off mutant!

From: Aaron Cooper (aaroncooper425@yahoo.com)
Sent: Thu 7/21/16 5:46 PM
Hello,
I am making inquiry if you sell and ship international, specifically to our location here in New Zealand and also do you accept card payment?..In addition, I will appreciate if you return to me by email with your price list.
I had a look on your website already and you have a very good collection on there.
Looking forward to your quick response.
Aaron Cooper

Opportunity for artists of LA area African ancestry

Deadline: August 15, 2016
Fee: $15

Through the Emerging Artists Program, MoAD (The Museum of the African Diaspora) is committed to providing local LA artists the opportunities to generate and exhibit work reflecting the cultural and artistic richness of the African Diaspora... Bummer that it's just artists from the City of Angels...

The EAP is a call for artists to submit a solo exhibition proposal of their work. Competitive proposals will present innovative artwork to activate the salon space. 

This multipurpose space is the heart of the museum where they hold public programs, education workshops, and events. 

Four final artists will be selected. Each artist will have a 2 month solo show as part of the Emerging Artists Program to display their work in a solo exhibition.

We will hold two information sessions to review the application process and to answer any questions. These sessions will be held on June 1st and June 29th at 6pm in the MoAD salon and include a gallery tour.

Selected artists will be notified on August 31, 2016, after which artists will then work with the exhibitions team at the museum and have 2 months to finalize and prepare work.

JT Kirkland at Shockoe Artspace

Shockoe Artspace is hosting a gigantic exhibition in Richmond titled Space within, Space without; it is a large scale exhibition of new and recent work from my good bud (and former legendary DMV art blogger)  J.T. Kirkland. The show  surveys the visual developments of his dually minimalist and expansive paintings, and it's on through September 16, 2016.




Kirkland resides in Sterling, Virginia and has an extensive exhibition record, including several exhibitions along the East Coast in 2016.



Kirkland notes that...

Over the past six years I’ve created a series of paintings called Subspace, which most commonly are executed with house paint on plywood. Although the works in the series are seemingly disparate at times, there are common themes consistently present: formal and rigorous compositions, use of readily available materials sourced solely from home-improvement stores, playful and open-ended conceptual interests, a literally reductive approach to art-making.

I strive to collaborate with wood such that my artistic gesture serves to bring attention to the wood’s natural beauty and complex visual patterns. I’m interested in exploring the area where painting meets sculpture; fine art meets craft, and space inside meets space outside.

I've heard all kinds of good things about this expansive art space in Richmond, including all the hard work that its owner, Ryan Lauterio, is pouring into the space. 


The gallery is located at 12 North 19th Street, Richmond, VA 23223 and online at http://www.shockoeartspace.com/

Gallery B accepting applications

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and Bethesda Urban Partnership are accepting applications for Gallery B 2017 exhibitions!

This gallery, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in downtown Bethesda, is available to interested artists and arts organizations for one-month rentals. All media including, but not limited to, painting, photography and sculpture is eligible to use the space. Gallery B does not take a commission on any artwork sold during the exhibition.  

 

We are seeking applications from local artists and arts organizations for month-long exhibitions in 2016. Gallery B has approximately 1,500 sq. feet of available exhibition space. The deadline for submission is July 29, 2016.

To be considered for a solo or group exhibition, and to review the gallery requirements, please complete this application.

 

Questions?  Please send them an email to artist@bethesda.org.

Arts Workshop

Next Saturday Michael Kaiser, Chair of the DeVos Institute, is teaching a workshop... details here.

Join world-renowned arts leader Michael Kaiser for a workshop benefitting Day Eight and the DC Arts Writing Fellowship. 

How can you, as an artist or arts administrator, ensure that you not only survive, but thrive? This workshop will include a presentation by Mr. Kaiser followed by a question and answer session. To keep the conversation lively and focused, we request that you prepare questions for Mr. Kaiser in advance.

The workshop, hosted by DayEight, is on Saturday July 23rd in Petworth. The Petworth Community Space is located on the third floor above Slim's Diner, three blocks from the Petworth metro in Washington, D.C. The Upshur Street (Petworth) Community Space - 4201 Georgia Avenue NW, Third Floor (corner of Upshur and Georgia, entrance in the back), Washington, D.C. 20011

America Desnuda

From my obsessive series of repeatable drawings... started waaay back in 1981... sold in 1997 and then (after I saw it again, framed at the owner's house), unframed, worked on some more, and re-framed and given back to the owner in 2009.

Odd uh?

I did that because she's was the process of making it available via auction and I was too vain to have it as it was back in 1981... Then she changed her mind after I reworked it and kept it!

And now, the owner has passed on, and soon this work will be at auction somewhere...  full circle of life (art). 

America Desnuda, c. 1981, in progress of being re-vamped from a student drawing

America Desnuda, 4th charcoal layer... drying off from fixative spray and work to bring it up to 2009 skills

America Desnuda... done 1981-2009

Finished and framed drawing at an art auction later this year...

This ought to...

Make you want to puke as to how the 7th centuty mind-think is still alive in the minds of millions of men... yep... men... today.

These mutants will burn in hell someday... or burn somewhere.

Here.

Arts Panel today

Sunday, July 17 at 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM in EDT

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 - Writer and cultural communications strategist; 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

The DC Arts Writing Fellowship, a project of Day Eight, is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Humanities DC, Brink Media, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and DCRE Residential.

Old Pics: Me and The Da Fonze

Me and Da Fonze (Cleto Fontanilla) in either Naples or Palma
c. 1975, USS Saratoga (CV-60)
Sailors at Liberty in Europe Series
Photographer Unknown

Frida Kahlo coughing fit...

Cough, cough, cough......

Origin of cough here....

City Paper review and other thoughts...

CP art critic John Anderson pops in with a nice review of the current show at American University's Katzen Museum... read it here.

And also just home from a packed, sold out lecture on the show at the Katzen... moderated by the amazing Jack Rasmussen and some excellent questions by AU Prof Adrienne Pine who wrote the very left-wingy but interesting essay for the exhibition's catalog.

There were also some interesting questions to my Colombian peeps Carolina Mayorga, whose performance at the openings, which you can also see on the video at the exhibition, raised a lot of interesting points.

Third use of the word "interesting" in the last two paragraphs.

Muriel Hasbun brought live heart beats from El Salvador, delivered dynamically across cyberspace and played in the background of the discussion... all part of her ever evolving mixed medias presentations.

I discussed what I call "Cuban privilege", which I define (since I invented the term), as the superior attitude that us Cubans have towards all other immigrants to the US.

Notice that I said "all", not just Latin American immigrants (legal or otherwise).

Cuban privilege: Immediate welcome, quick green card status, middle class entry (thanks to a well established and wealthy Cuban-American community infrastructure), educational/cultural inprints, solid familial and clannish unity, and a lack of "victimism" as an attitude.

Of course, that attitude is defined by a set of singularly unique characteristics that defined the Cuban mass migration the the US in the 1960s: a migration of the upper and middle classes, rather than the impoverished poor strata of most historical migrations to the US, a racial welcome of a mostly white immigrant wave, and the fact that most Cubans identify as Republicans certainly didn't hurt.

A far cry from the daily stresses and legal issues that most illegal immigrants face around our region, mostly very poor Central Americans looking North for a better life away from violence and poverty.

The audience gasped when I told them that my father didn't identify as a "Hispanic" or as a "Latino."

"I am a Cuban," he'd say proudly. And when he became a US citizen he changed that to "En mi corazon siempre sere Cubano, pero desde hoy, en mi alma soy Americano." 

Cubans are archaic immigrants... we love this great nation with a passionate, sometimes dangerous love that often clouds our perspectives and opinions. 

Nuff said!

Racist things Donald Trump could have said (but didn't)

A compendium of racist statements that orange windbag Donald Trump could have said... but didn't:

"...this guy would have been carrying our bags"
- Bill Clinton (referring to Barack Obama) to Ted Kennedy in 2008 

Barack Obama could win the presidency because he is “light-skinned” and speaks “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
- Senator Harry Reid, 2008

On the House floor, then Representative Harry Reid insisted that “no sane country” would decree that a child of illegal immigrants was a citizen just because he was conveniently born on its soil.
- Harry Reid, 1993

Barack Obama is the “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
- Joe Biden, 2008

“... you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”
- Joe Biden, 2006

 “If Obama was a white man... he would not be in this position.”
- Geraldine Ferraro, 2008
 
"The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations."
- Che Guevara, 1960s

"Negro de mierda" (means "shitty N-word" in Cuban Spanish)
- Fidel Castro referring to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista

“White folks was in the caves while we [blacks] was building empires … We built pyramids before Donald Trump ever knew what architecture was … we taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.”
- Al Sharpton
 
“I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street.” 
- Spike Lee

“We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go.”
- Marion Berry

"The white man is our mortal enemy, and we cannot accept him."
 - Louis Farrakhan

“Hymies” and “Hymietown..."
- Jesse Jackson’s describing New York City while a 1984 presidential campaigner 

“He’s married to a white woman. He wants to be white. He wants a colorless society. He has no ethnic pride. He doesn’t want to be black.” [About Ward Connerly's interracial marriage]
- California State Senator Diane Watson
 
“[Ted Cruz]... No, I don’t think he should be defined as a Hispanic." (Cruz's father was born in Cuba)

- Bill Richardson 

 “I don’t know what kind of a [N-word] wouldn’t vote with a black man running..."
- Joseph Lowery

Sam Gilliam, David Kordansky and the gem...

The WaPo's Geoff Edgers checked in over the weekend with a really good (and exceptionally rare) WaPo article on a DMV artist, although as the most causal observer of the planet's visual arts scene would note, Sam Gilliam in not a "local" artist in the pejorative way that some (not me) like to apply that label.


People in the arts love labels!


Sam Gilliam never did, and will never do... and that's a major reason why I admire the DMV's most famous artist.


Sam previous descent into "oblivion" may have been grossly exaggerated, and he certainly never traded art for detergent -- as once claimed in this article (On the other hand, I once traded art for clams when I used to sell my art school assignments at the Pike Place Market in Seattle), but Sam did, apparently trade artwork for dental work.


I currently trade artwork for my laundry services and my laundry guy (who happens to be one of the biggest DMV art collectors, if not the biggest, in the region), has a lot of my work.


But Sam Gilliam's work certainly never rose to the commodity price level that an artist of his stature should command.


If you doubt that, then check what his work goes for in the secondary market, where as late as 2016 you can pick up a signed and numbered litho for $350 (this one went for $140! and this "photoprint" sold for $20 bucks six years ago!), or a bit earlier an original double sided painting for $1,400!


Check out recent past secondary market sales here.


But enough about these small things... there's another gem in this article about Gilliam.


That gem of information is something that I have been hollering about for years... here it is:

Then David Kordansky called. The Los Angeles gallerist was one more person who felt that Gilliam needed more attention. 

When they met in 2012, Kordansky found Gilliam’s work being shown in the District, New Mexico and what he calls “decentralized markets outside the art market essentially.” 

“It needed to be brought to the curators. It needed to be seen at the international art fairs..." Kordansky says.

The bolded words are the gem... bolding is mine, and Kordansky hit the nail right on the head.


Read the whole article here, and pay homage to this great master.


PS - My own secondary market record at the same auction house makes Sam's look great... cough, cough... and they misspelled my name!

Gen-Y 3.0

VisArts presents a juried exhibition of artists ages 17 – 27 in the Kaplan Gallery from July 22 – August 28, 2016. The annual Gen-Y exhibition offers young artists an opportunity to bring their artwork to the public and to experience the process of exhibiting in a professional gallery. Though there are many labels aimed at describing the current generation of 17 to 27 year olds, such as Screenagers, Millennials, and Echo Boomers, VisArts is maintaining the Gen-Y name for its annual juried group exhibition of aspiring artists in this age group.


Drawing, photography, fiber, ceramics, painting, video, sculpture, and interactivity fill the Kaplan Gallery reflecting a variety of approaches to a wide range of content within the context of the digital age.

The 2016 Gen-Y 3.0 artists include: Sobia Ahmad, Katherine Akey, Susie Bae, Amy Berbert, Abbie Fundling, Jared Green, Ashley Ja’nae, Kern Lee, Emmanuel Mones, Richard Munaba, Angelique Nagovskaya, Raheel Raad, Yoon Sun Shin, Qin Tan, and Vivien Wise.

The annual Gen-Y exhibition offers young artists an opportunity to bring their artwork to the public and to experience the process of exhibiting in a gallery. The exhibition was developed to address this demographic of artists who are seriously making art and have little to no experience exhibiting their work in a professional gallery. Many are uncertain about how to proceed with a career in art or what it takes to be an artist. Many are under financial, social and educational pressures that might preclude further study in art. Others are committed to a non-art career track yet are passionate about making art. Most are working under the art world radar of the region. 

A dedicated team of gallery interns and volunteers plan and realize the annual juried exhibition with guidance from the VisArts gallery staff.  “From the call for entry to the preparation and installation of the artwork, the entire process is a learning experience- for the first time exhibitors as well as the organizers of the exhibition,” says Main. “Watching this exhibition take shape is inspiring. The interns embrace the vision to seek out the undiscovered young artists in our community. They are passionate about bringing their peers’ artwork into the public light.”

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Friday, July 22 from 7 to 9 PM in the Kaplan Gallery. The reception and exhibition are free to the public.    

Gen-Y 3.0 

July 22 – August 28

Kaplan Gallery, VisArts

Opening Reception: Friday, July 22, 7 – 9 PM

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From:	Roslyn Hensworth (roslynhswth@outlook.com)

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My Seattle roommate

No idea why all these early pieces of mine are showing up all of a sudden in bunches, but here's a 1977 watercolor (done as an Art School Assignment) of my then Seattle house roommate, who was a female body builder (and in the crew at the UW rowing gang)... bid for it at this auction at the link.
 



Note the very early "emoji"... which back then was just the smiley face button... cough, cough.... invented in the 1960s by the legendary Robert Crumb, who never got a penny for it...

Check out all the images and bid here.