A (Mis)Perceived Physique: Bodyscapes by Three Women Artists,

Target Gallery, the contemporary exhibition space for the Torpedo Factory Art Center, presents work by three women who use the female body to explore issues of equity, power, politics, and memory in A (Mis)Perceived Physique: Bodyscapes by Three Women Artists, on view Saturday, September 3 through Sunday, October 16.

 

Artists Allana Clarke, Lauren Kalman, and Carolina Mayorga implement the body in desperate ways and contribute to a common narrative about body imagery—past and present. These women assert their own agency and address body politics as another construct of power, both internally and externally driven.

 

The trio was brought together by D.C.-based curator Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell, who organized the exhibition as part of Target Gallery’s second annual Open Call for Curatorial Proposals competition.

 

“History surrounds the viewer in this exhibition, as the past is made present and the present reflects the woes of the past,” said Bryant-Greenwell. “How far have body politics come since the height of the odalisque? What is the new role of the female body in art? These women do not offer concrete answers, but enlist the past to enflame the zeitgeist toward inclusive and critical exploration.”

 

Clarke’s eerie photography series Then and Now Seem to Shift Inside Me, and I Wonder How do you Imagine We Can Live Together in the Future sees the image of a black female body disappearing into the ocean. Her work acknowledges a failed social system, but also speak to an art-historical context that has used bodies like hers for the inclination of the male gaze, as well as male-dominated practicum.  Visitor are challenged to think and look beyond the art gallery itself, and into current events to consider the discourse around body imagery and rights for black women.

 

Kalman’s video work highlights the uncomfortable connection of body image, class, and style in relation to dominance, corruption, and identity. Her videos feature strange nude figures balancing oversized objects, affecting their movements, suggesting an unbalanced relationship between adornment and the female body. By highlighting the conflict of ornamentation and identity, she provokes the viewer to consider societal obsession with both.

 

Mayorga’s photographic series references art-historical images of the Madonna. She turns commentary of the male obsession with the restrictive moral expectations and behaviors of women toward issues of consumerism, gentrification, and class. By using her own face as the Madonna’s, she courts deeper engagement with viewers.

 

Bryant-Greenwell’s exhibition was selected as part of the 2016 Open Call for Curatorial Proposals competition by Virginia Treanor, associate curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

“This exhibition provides a space for curators to present ideas to us that generate cross-cultural dialogue,” said Leslie Mounaime, Target Gallery director. “Kayleigh’s brought together work that reflects the ongoing debates and struggles to control women's bodies. We are looking forward to the opportunity to present this exhibition in Target Gallery.”

 

About the Artists

Allana Clarke is a conceptual artist working in video, sculpture, installation, and performance. She has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Madison, Maine; The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont; and the Ordinary Projects in Chicago. At Maryland Institute College of Art, Clarke was the recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture matching fellowship and the Peter W. Brooke Fellowship. She also was awarded the Vermont Studio Civil Society Fellowship. She holds a master’s of fine art from the Mount Royal School of Art at MICA and lives and works in New York and New Jersey.

 

Lauren Kalman is a visual artist based in Detroit, whose practice is invested in contemporary craft, video, photography, and performance. Her work has been on view at the Renwick Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the deCordova Museum. She has work is in private and museum collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Renwick Gallery, and has been featured in the publications Hand + Made: The Performative Impulse in Contemporary Craft as well as 40 Under 40: Craft Futures. She holds a master’s of fine art from the Ohio State University and participated in residencies at the Corporation of Yaddo, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Santa Fe Art Institute. In addition, she has received grants from Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Puffin Foundation West, and ISE Cultural Foundation. She has taught courses at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently an assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.

 

Carolina Mayorga has received awards in Colombia and the United States. Her work is represented in private and public collections including the Art Museum of the Americas and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, New Hampshire; and Kronan Sculpture Park in Sweden. She participated in the Fifth Annual Sculpture Symposium of the Andres Institute, the Lulea Winter Biennial in Sweden, and the 4th International Sculpture Symposium in Sweden. Her work has been reviewed in publications in Colombia, Sweden, Spain, and the United States including in The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Baltimore City Paper, Winston-Salem Journal, The Nashua Telegraph, The Union Leader, Norrländska Socialdemokraten, and Norrbottens-Kuriren.

 

About the Curator

Based in Washington, D.C., Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell is a curator, writer, and arts advocate. She explores the intersection of women, arts, and social change through her role as public programs coordinator with the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She has curated shows in conjunction with Project 4 gallery, VisArts, and The D.C. Arts Center in the greater Washington, D.C. region, as well as Peephole Cinema in San Francisco and CUE Art Foundation in New York. She strives to advance the careers of local artists and also developed a professional development seminar as well as residency program for local emerging artists in the Greater D.C. metro area. An arts writer, her work has been featured in The Washington Times, Examiner.com, CBS, Brightest Young Things, and Plinth, among others. Bryant-Greenwell earned her bachelor’s in art history from the University of Maryland, College Park and her master’s in museum studies from the George Washington University.

Open Call for Mexican Artists

Deadline: August 26, 2016.

Méxtasis is an open call for Mexican artists to present their work in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York during Bushwick Open Studios. The project aims to present a new perspective on Mexican contemporary art, one that goes beyond cultural stereotypes and offers a new platform of visibility and cultural awareness for a country that is so present in debates surrounding politics and immigration but not enough discussed in relation to art and creativity.

The open call is open to artists of Mexican nationality regardless of their age or country of residence.

Selection announcement: August 29, 2016.

Exhibition (during Bushwick Open Studios): September 30 – October 2, 2016.

Full open call and additional information: www.mextasis.com. Please apply directly through website. For additional information please inquire to curatorial@mextasis.com.

Opportunity for Photogs

Deadline: September 4, 2016


Hillyer celebrates Fotoweek DC with FORMAT, a small works show featuring photo-based art. All work must be under 10" in any one directions (inclusive of frame). This exhibition will be juried by DC-based photographer and curator, Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah.


Artist Notification: October 12th.
Exhibition Dates: November 4-December 18.
Opening Reception: November 4th, 6-9pm.
Entry Fee: $20 for members / $30 for non-members.
Awards: A Best in Show award will be given in the amount of $100.


Apply: https://hillyerartspace.submittable.com/submit/63855

Art Scam Alert

Beware of this mutant trying to rip off artists:

From: mike Evans <mik22230@gmail.com>

Subject: artwork is needed

Date: August 22, 2016 at 6:12:27 PM EDT

My name is Mike Evans from Washington DC. I was looking for some artwork online and i found your contact while searching. I will like to purchase some of your work for my wife as a surprise gift for our 20th anniversary.Please kindly send pics and prices of some of your art which are ready for immediate sale within price range $500- $5000, i could be flexible with price. So i will hope to hear a lot more about any available piece in your inventory ready for immediate sale.

Thanks and best regards,

   

Mike.

The curious case of Cristina Arreola, Ryan Lochte, and cultural brainwashing

I know of no one on the planet who defends the disturbing Rio Olympics behavior of 32-year-old American swimmer Ryan Lochte Aramburu.

He deserves all the crap that came his way as a result of his hooligan behavior, and he deserves the probable loss of millions of dollars in endorsements that he flushed down the toilet, along with drunkard's urine, that fateful night in Rio.

Note to Lochte's former sponsors (Speedo, Ralph Lauren, Airweave, and Gentle Hair Removal): Transfer the sponsorship to the amazing and history-making Claressa Shields!

Back to RLA: He also deserves the "cocotazo" (Cuban slang for getting hit on the head with the knuckles) that his Cuban mom hopefully gave him when she found out that Ryan had lied to her, and then to all of us.

He even deserves the opinionated racial blame aspect that came out of this boorish incident, dealing with the "white entitlement" angle surfaced by the question (asked first by Bomani Jones) of how different the worldwide reaction would have been had these athletes been black.

That's all understandable and clear.

But then enter a mind blowing piece in Bustle by Cristina Arreola, which was subsequently picked up by NPR's Leah Donella, and is thus forever destined to fill the sensitive minds of its readers with some of the most convoluted and erroneous information that mixes (and confuses) race with ethnicity and with nationality, that has been ever written. 

Ms. Arreola is the Books Editor at Bustle, and after reading several of her pieces, I can tell you that she's a really good editor!

In the past, I've written extensively on how Americans - and having lived many years in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, apparently no one else in the world - often confuse nationality with race, and more often with ethnicity. 

This is often most common with people with Latin American roots, and usually it is Americans of Latin American ethnicity whom are the most confused. The probably very nice Cristina Mari Arreola is very confused, and unfortunately, she's now managed to spread her confusion to all of her readers, and the ones that NPR reached by echoing her erroneous conclusions.

Let me try to untangle this.

Imagine there are two brothers in a small village in Sweden of ancient Nordic stock straight out of a Gunther Grass novel, and they marry two local Swedish girls. The two young Nordic couples decide to migrate to the New World. "We're going to the United States," declare Sven and Annika. His brother Lars looks at his blue-eyed and very pale wife Uta and says, "Uta and I are moving to Argentina!"

They hug at the airport and take flights to the New World. Two years later, Uta gives birth to a healthy young boy somewhere in Buenos Aires and they call the Argentine boy Martin.  A few days later Annika gives birth to a healthy little girl in Seattle and they call her Anna.

According to the Cristina Arreolas and Leah Donellas of this world, Martin is a "person of color", while his American cousin Anna is a white person.

Convoluted uh? From reading Arreola's piece and Donella's subsequent endorsement, it seems to me that this scenario would probably throw these two, I suspect, very nice ladies for a cultural loop.

In her piece "Ryan Lochte's White Privilege Is Way More Complicated Than You Think", which is has already spread cultural ignorance all over Al Gore's Internet, Arreola goes to extremes to point out that "Lochte is a white-passing person of color, which doesn't excuse his actions, but instead, makes them infinitely more disappointing." 

She arrives at this conclusion based on the single fact that his mother, Ileana Aramburu, was born in Havana, Cuba. Thus, in her mind, Lochte cannot possibly be "white" because of the geographical location of his mother's birthplace, regardless of her race. That's her on the right... cough, cough. It is also clear that Arreola has no idea of who the Aramburus are in Cuban history, and their place in pre-Castro Cuban society, otherwise, she would not have made this absurd assumption.

Back to point, according to Arreola, Lochte is not white because her mom (that blonde, blue-eyed, white-skinned lady in the photo above), is "Cuban" and thus can't possibly be white... cough, cough.

If Lochte is not white, then what race is he?

I suspect that Arreola's answer would be (after showing a little shock that someone is actually asking her that question) "... well, his mother is Cuban!." She wouldn't answer the question directly, but point to Lochte's mom's birthplace and nationality. Her brain wants to say that Lochte's race is "Latino", but even Arreola is not sure of that answer.

"Are you saying there's a separate Cuban race?" that mean questioner would ask, forcing the issue.

Arreola thinks about it for a second. "Well... no, but Cubans are Latinos," she tries to answer in a round-about away...  skirting the real answer floating in her knowledge base.

"Ah!," the questioner would obnoxiously point his index into the air. "So you're saying that there's a Latino race!"

Arreola would now look perplexed. It is clear that no one has ever discussed or challenged her on this. In her mind, she has accepted and believed the inherently racist precept of "whiteness" as solely American or European.

Without knowing it, and certainly without meaning it, Arreola has been endorsing and facilitating a racist precept... most precepts of "race" are.

But why and how? This probably quite nice lady, I'd hope has no issue understanding and accepting the other side of the coin; she knows that there are millions of black Latinos, in fact more black people in the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean than the United States (only 4% of all Africans brought in chains to the New World came to the USA).

But I suspect that she would raise an eyebrow when told that there are also more people of Asian ancestry in Latin America than in the United States.

And more people of Native American ancestry in Latin America than in the United States.

By Arreola's faulty logic (and by her faulty logic alone, not her actual beliefs, which based on her article, may be a little twisted around the axle when it comes to this issue), Roberto Clemente, Celia Cruz, and other Spanish-speaking black people from Latin America are not "black", and Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori is not "Asian"- their race is the Latino race.

Arreola's cultural brainwashing, plus I suspect a lack of interaction with people from Latin America (not USA Americans of Latin American ancestry), have resulted in a jumbled up misunderstanding of what Latin America is, and who Latin Americans are.

She has never walked the streets of Trelew in Argentina and heard Welsh and Scottish Gaelic spoken on the cafes and avenues of that city. She has never hiked the altiplanos in Bolivia and needed a translator to translate to Quechua or Aymara. She has never been to one of the giant coffee plantations around São Paulo in Brazil, and heard Japanese spoken all over the fields.

I suspect that her vision of Latin America -- much to her chagrin once she discovers how wrong she is -- has been painted mostly by Hollywood's past racist characterizations of Latin America in their Latino movie stereotyping. And by divisive politicians, seeking to label and separate, a huge multi-hued and multi-cultural, and multi-racial group of Americans of Latin American ancestry.

In erroneously trying to paint (pun intended) Ryan Lochte Aramburu as a "person of color", she also inadvertently does a great disservice to all the true Latin American people of color who are brutalized, marginalized, and discriminated against in Latin America, such as the native indigenous people in Mexico and most of Central America; black people in Brazil (in the months leading to the Olympics, hundreds of black Brazilian men were killed by police in Rio province alone), and in perhaps the most racist government in the Americas: Afro-Cubans in Cuba.

But I suspect that Ms. Arreola has a USA-only lens, and I would even guess that she's culturally deficient in Latin America's immensely diverse cultures. I would conjecture that she has only seen Latin America, and Latinos, from the American lens of her own upbringing and teaching. This is a rather disorienting issue for a former editor of Latina magazine, where one would think that she would have met people from all over Latin America and thus adjusted the probable mis-education and brain washing of her youth.

This is a photo of Ms. Arreola with RLA, where the very pretty and blue-eyed Ms. Arreola poses along the handsome blue-eyed swimmer and jokes "Me and my husband" ... cough, cough.

Sorry Ms. Arreola, you can't trade Lochte from the "white team" to the "people of color" team - the hooligan behavior that he committed, and the subsequent cover up (and later apology) may have been evidence (as some suggest) of white entitlement for the simple fact that Ryan Lochte Aramburu, just like his suffering Cuban mom, and his American dad, are all white.

Personally, I think that RLA metio la pata.

Best Olympian ever!

Arts Integration and Special Education

The Professor's first book, which is the seminal book in its field, and which for the first time delivers empirical research data to a field accustomed to anecdotal data, has been doing gangbusters in the Special Education and Arts Integration scene!


Details here.

Arts Integration and Special Education contributes to research, policy, and practice by providing a theory of action for studying how linguistic, cognitive, and affective student engagement relates to arts integrated learning contexts and how these dimensions of engagement influence content area and literacy learning.

Arts Integration and Special Education connects the interdisciplinary framework in human development and linguistics, special education, and urban education with primary action research by special educators trained in arts integration, working in an inclusive urban charter school with middle school age students. Upper elementary to middle-grade level student learning is relatively understudied and this work contributes across fields of special education and urban education, as well as arts education. Moreover, the classrooms in which the action research occurs are comprised of students with a diverse range of abilities and needs. The book’s interdisciplinary model, which draws on developmental and educational psychology, special education, and speech/language pathology research and practice, is the first to posit explanations for how and why AI contexts facilitate learning in students with language and sensory processing disorders, and those at-risk for school failure due to low socioeconomic status conditions.

The curious case of Ryan Lochte Aramburu

Can the Single-Venue Gallery Survive?

We did our first art fair ten years ago, and have been doing them ever since. As I have vociferously noted many times, an art fair participation scheme must be part of any gallery business plan, if that gallery is to survive as a bricks and mortar place... or as a gallery/art dealer.


Every time that I write this down somewhere, I also offer to meet with any gallery owner, at no cost, and discuss with them my experiences, lessons learned, and suggestions for them to dip their toes into the art fair scene.


In 2016, ten years after we first ventured to New York for our first art fair, we're on track to do both the Spring (done) and the Fall versions of the Affordable Art Fair in New York, the SOFA Art Fair in Chicago, the Texas Contemporary Art Fair in Houston, the Context Art Miami fair in Miami, and possibly the Scope Art Fair, also in Miami.


Judd Tulley, writing for Art + Auction (and highlighted in Blouin Art Info) noted a while back:

Given the now-obsolete or about-to-be-Rust-Belted model of the tradition-bound gallery, what do younger galleries turn to in the current environment? “The increase in the importance of art fairs has really hollowed out the midsize and small gallery market,” said Brett Schultz, cofounder with Daniela Elbahara of Mexico City’s Yautepec Gallery

We are empirical evidence of the success that art fairs can give small, independent commercial art galleries - at least those with a vision, the work ethic and the gusto to plow forward into the financially-terrifying waters of an art fair expense marathon.


And artists who work as partners in the gallery enterprise, rather than just being "represented."


About 4-5 years ago, I was taking a break on the terrace of the Aqua Hotel in Miami Beach, where we were doing the very cool Aqua Art Fair, when I ran into the then owner and director of a small, DC gallery. This gallerist had also done her very first art fair in 2006, and by a coincidence of fate, our first explorations of the then novel model had been at the same NYC fair, where we were almost booth neighbors. The only difference was that at that fair we did really well, while her gallery (overly "curated" if you ask me) did not.


That first lucky strike wet our appetite for art fairs, and we plunged on.


"What are you doing here?", she asked somewhat surprised - I'm not sure why.


"We're doing Aqua," I answered.


"Oh!," she said wrinkling her nose. "I thought only real galleries could do art fairs."


By that she meant brick and mortar spaces, and her comment was based on the one time fact that most art fairs, at their early beginnings, required that a fair participant have a brick and mortar "store" in order to participate in an art fair.


That didn't last very long, as brick and mortar galleries began to close all over the world as art dealers focused their precious sheckels onto the more lucrative art fair scene. Want evidence? Look at the gallery list for the DMV a decade ago, and look at it now... and see how many dealers exclusively focus on art fairs and have closed their doors, or do "pop up" shows, or moved their gallery walls to their private homes.


"No," I responded, ignoring the barb. "That requirement stopped long ago." I continued then with my own barb, knowing that her answer would be "none" ahead of time, and asked: "What fair are you doing? - We're doing great at Aqua!"


Read the Tulley article here.

Call for Entries: The Nude Figure

Deadline:  September 9, 2016

Apply here.

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.

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        ​

REGISTRATION FEE

$45 for up to two works

Chuck Berry: You Never Can Tell

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They bought a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53,
They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary
It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely mademoiselle
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

Opportunity for Artists

Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with The CyberWire, has announced a new open ‘Call for Entry’.

An extension of MAP’s annual IMPRINT project, MAP is working with The CyberWire to offer “CREATING CONNECTIONS”, a commission and print replication project.  The image of that artwork will be reproduced in a limited edition and presented to the guests of The CyberWire’s 3rd Annual Women in Cyber Security reception on September 27, 2016.  Applications are due Saturday, August 27, 2016

The goal of CyberWire’s reception is to facilitate connections among women working in cyber security. The concept of networks—social networks, computer networks and support networks—may be an important point of departure for creating the commissioned work. This commission is open to submissions from women artists living and working in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area.
We live in a time where cyberspace has become inextricably linked to the lives of individuals and organizations of all kinds. Cyberspace is the medium of global commerce and communication, and it is one of the most important factors in the social, political, and technological changes we see occurring today.

The CyberWire provides concise and relevant daily briefings on the critical news happening across the global cyber security domain. In an industry overloaded with information, The CyberWire helps individuals and organizations rapidly find the news and information that's important to them.

The Women in Cyber Security Reception will bring together women from across the region and all different points on the career spectrum. This event will be an opportunity to meet, greet and share a common goal—empowering women to succeed in the cyber security field. Leaders from industry, academia, and government can reconnect and strengthen existing relationships while building new ones. Those just starting out in their careers have the chance to meet the technical and business professionals who are shaping the future of cyber security.

This invitation-only event will be held at the Columbus Center overlooking Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

To view the full prospectus, visit http://mdartplace.org/opportunities/maportunities

Art Maryland 2016

Entry deadline: September 2 at 11:59PM.

The Howard County Arts Council in Ellicott City, Maryland, is seeking entries from artists for Art Maryland 2016, a biennial multi-media juried exhibit. A guest juror (TBA) will select the work for the show and award a minimum of $1,000. The exhibit will be on view from October 28 – December 9, 2016 with a reception and juror remarks on November 4 from 6-8pm.

Entry is open to all artists 18 years or older, residing in Maryland or within a 100-mile radius of Ellicott City, MD. Artists may submit digital images of up to three works completed in the last two years and not exhibited previously in the HCAC galleries. All work must fit through a standard doorway measuring 54” x 80” and fit appropriately in the HCAC’s two galleries, which total over 2000 square feet, with 9 ½ foot high walls, professional track lighting and hardwood floors. There is a $25 Art Maryland entry fee. The fee is waived for current Howard County Arts Council members. Entry forms are available at hocoarts.org/exhibits.php, at the Howard County Arts Council, or by calling 410-313-2787. 

 

Pam Perna
Community and Web Relations Coordinator
Howard County Arts Council
8510 High Ridge Road
Ellicott City, MD 21043
p: 410.313.ARTS
f: 410.313.2790

Art as Politics at Touchstone Gallery

The front page headlines of The Washington Post have been splashed—artistically—across the walls of the Touchstone Gallery.  Art as Politics brings together 126 works from artists across the country in a free-ranging, juried exhibition that seems to touch on every vexing social issue confronting society today. 

Read the review  By Eric Hope in East City Art here.

More on the closure of Washington ArtWorks

“The resident artists at Washington ArtWorks were both surprised and dismayed to find out about the fiscal problems under the old management,” explained Jean Hirons, a painter from Rockville, “Neither the CEO, nor the board had ever indicated any of this to us. The immediate impact on the artists is that those who taught classes were not paid, and some paid their rentals in advance.”

Read it here.

Art Akwukwo Check Rip-Off Identified

This an oldie but goodie - this is when I had the time to screw around with rip off artists. The emails listed below are in the order in which they arrived to me. This is the classic art ripoff known as the Akwukwo check scam. As you all know, whenever I get one of these, I like to have fun with the thief.
See my previous encounter with Louie The Fish here. All misspellings and English and writing errors have been left as received:

From: stone.123@live.com
To: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:55:45 -0600

Hello ,
My name is Stone Martins . I am 46 yr old American by birth, catholic by faith . It is my pleasure to have come across your beautiful Artworks while searching through Google. I am planning on presenting some Artworks for my Wife's Birthday which is coming up soon. She is an addict of Artworks and i want to present her one of your beautiful artworks as a surprise gift on her Birthday .

I want you to help me to choose from your Numerous Artworks the one that will really make a woman more than happy if presented with such Selection.

My prince range is $1,200.00USD - $1,500.00USD. I will really appreciate your effort in doing this and i want you to keep your good work up.

I will be glad if you can process my request in a timely manner . You can call me anytime on this number +447031838823 ..

Cheers,
Stone Martins.

Note the hesitant English for a Harvard man; and my response to him:

From: lennycampello@hotmail.com
To: stone.123@live.com
Subject: RE: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:35:40 +0000

Thank you for your note.

I am very choosy as to whom I allow to own my works, as I have a very long wait list for them. Can you tell me more about you and your family?

Thank you,

The Lenster...

Unfazed by my arrogance, Stone responds very quickly:

From: stone.123@live.com
To: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:03:12 -0600

Hello ,

Thank you for the email . I am a 60 year old University Don .. I retired from Harvard Business School and i have relocated to United Kingdom with my wife and we have only one son who is schooling abroad . My wife will be 50 years old come next month and i will like to present your beautiful artwork as a birthday gift . She loves Blue color . She also loves kids and shopping . We are happy family and fulfilled . I want you to get back to me and let me know the one you have chosen and it must be within my price range . I will make the arrnagment for the pick up once i have settled the payment ..

I want you to get back to me as soon as possible. Thank you

And so he has bitten and now I can have some fun with him:

From: lennycampello@hotmail.com
To: stonemartins1@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:46:51 +0000

Sounds like a very nice family, but I told you that I am choosy, so I need to know a few more details:

1. What other pieces of artwork do you own?

2. Who was your favorite faculty member at Harvard?

3. Who is your favorite artist?

4. Are you prepared to have me choose which piece of my art I will possibly allow to live in your house?

Let me know soonest.

The Lenster
PS - I will be raising my prices soon by the way - so hurry!

Nothing deters this guy, he responds within minutes:

From: stonemartins1@hotmail.com
To: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:22:35 -0500


Hello,

We have one Painting at the moment and the painting is more Abtsract . My favourite Artist is Don Moen . I was a consultant to Harvard on Contract , so i didn't have faculty member .. You can go ahead and choose for us .. Thank you and keep in touch

More demands from my part:

From: lennycampello@hotmail.com
To: stonemartins1@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: INQUIRY ON YOUR ARTWORKS
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:57:04 +0000

Sounds good...

It will take a least one week for me to concentrate and meditate on which work of art will align best with your wife on her birthday.

Here's what I need for you to do:

1. Get $1500 in cash - US Dollars, package it carefully and double bagged and FEDEX it to my art dealer. That will cover a work of art plus shipping and insurance to you.

2. Email me you shipping address and contact number.

3. Once I receive the cash I will send you the work.

4. Once you receive the work, you must take a photo of it once it is framed and send it to me, as I must approve of the framing.

The Lenster

He then gives the ripoff mechanism:

From: stonemartins1@hotmail.com
Sent: Thu 2/28/08 4:03 PM
To: F. Lennox Campello (lennycampello@hotmail.com)

Thank you for the quick email . I will like you to have the payment so that you can go ahead and start the work soonest .. I want you to open www.freequickwire.com and click on Request for Payment and enter the exact amount of $1,500 ... Email me once you have done this . Thank you.

And I send him back the conversation killer:

From: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Sent: Thu 2/28/08 4:07 PM
To: stone Martins (stonemartins1@hotmail.com)

No, no... using technology to receive payments for my work "dirties" the process and makes me anguish over the whole issue of selling my work. I would be unable to create if I had to do such things...

No, no... just send US dollars directly... even then I have to have someone open the FEDEX package and meditate over the whole transaction and commodification of my art before I finally decide to go through with it.

My art is more valuable than money.

Cash.

That was the last that I heard from Stone.

Be careful out there...

Washington Artworks files for bankruptcy

Steel set up shop at Washington Artworks, a non-profit photography school and art studio, in Rockville. 

According to a letter on the front door it just filed bankruptcy.
“I don't know where to go," Steel said sadly. 

Steel is not alone. Dozens of artists do business in the art studio.
"I could be out thousands of dollars," said Mariana Kastrinakis.

Read the story here.  You can also read a different report here.

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this mutant!!!! Rip off! Also, everytime that I post one of these, I get a dozen emails from artists and gallerists asking me how the scam works - and the occasional sad one of an artist/dealer getting ripped off... See answer at bottom:

Subject:   artwork is needed From:   "John Scotfield" johnscotfield2004@gmail.com Date:   Tue, August 9, 2016 7:07 am

Greetings! My name is john Scotfield from SC. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work, I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you. I am very much interested in the purchase of the piece (in subject field above) to surprise my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales. Thanks and best regards, john.

The scam works like this:

• They pay you with a Bank draft and/or an International Money Order/Postal Money Order... sometimes stolen credit card numbers - note I said the plural form
• Your bank accepts the deposit and even clears it 3 days later... then about a month later they get a note from the other bank, post office, whatever saying that they've discovered that the draft was a fake.
• Then your bank takes the money out of your account.
• Meanwhile, you've already shipped the artwork out (usually to a foreign country, to which - of course - they've offered to pay shipping; the most ambitious and "local" rip off mutants have you ship to a US address, and once you provide a tracking number, they "wait" for FEDEX or UPS and pretend to be the homeowner as soon as FEDEX drives up and sign for the pacakge - but these "local" mutants are rare - the vast majority has the work shipped overseas.

New Sith Lord

Refresh VI at Long View

Long View Gallery’s newest exhibition, “Refresh VI,” features new work by some of the gallery’s favorites including Sondra N. Arkin, Michelle Peterson-Albandoz, J. Jordan Bruns, Lori Katz, Georgia Nassikas, Curtis Speer, Eve Stockton and Robert Stuart. In addition, the gallery will be premiering pieces by two new artists, Matt Neiman and Darlene Charneco.




Opening Reception: Thursday, August 18th, 6:30 - 8:00pm
RSVP at the facebook event page

Show Dates: August 18 - September 18

            Long View Gallery

1234 Ninth St NW, Washington, DC 20001longviewgallerydc.com
info@longviewgallery.com | 202.232.4788facebook page

Must not join...

Help Ellicott City artists

On July 30, Ellicott City’s historic district was devastated by a flash flood. Many artists with studios and galleries in Ellicott City suffered substantial losses of artwork and studio space – severely impacting their ability to earn a living. To provide assistance, the Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) is establishing Re-create: Ellicott City Artist Relief Fund to aid these artists on their long road to recovery. The Arts Council will extend its current exhibit, Paint It! Ellicott City 2016, which showcases artwork created during the July 2016 plein air paint-out, through September 30, with a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this work donated to the fund. Several Paint It! artists have already generously agreed to donate 100% of their sales to help the relief effort.

 

The Arts Council is also accepting individual donations and is actively seeking a funding partner to match all donations to Re-create. Eligible individual artists and nonprofit arts organizations will be able to apply for emergency funding to help re-establish their capacity to live and work. Funding guidelines and applications will be available soon.

 

How can you help E.C. artists on the road to recovery?

• Visit the Howard County Center for the Arts to see our Paint It! Ellicott City show and check out the artwork available for purchase
• Donate to Re-create: Ellicott City Artist Relief Fund on the Support the Arts page at hocoarts.org (please include Re-create: EC Artist Relief Fund in the purpose section)
• Join HCAC on September 16^th from 6 – 8pm for its Annual Meeting & Grant Awards reception
• Attend the closing reception for Paint It! on September 30^th from 6 – 9pm for a great opportunity to reconnect with local artists and arts organizations and make a contribution to Re-create.

HCAC will also invite local galleries to set up pop-up shops during the reception on September 30 to benefit the fund.

Howard County Arts Council

8510 High Ridge Road
Ellicott City, MD 21043
p: 410.313.ARTS
f: 410.313.2790

hocoarts.org

The S&R Washington Award

Deadline: October 15, 2016

The S&R Washington Award recognizes talented artists working in a broad range of disciplines including painting, photography, sculpture, music, dance, dramatic arts, film, digital, and interdisciplinary arts.

Winners receive a cash prize of $5,000 to support their career development. 
An additional $5,000 may be awarded to a Grand Prize-winning artist of outstanding ability.

Award winners become part of the S&R Foundation network of artists, scientists, and social entrepreneurs. Award winners are eligible for performances or exhibitions supported by S&R Foundation.

The application period is open from now until October 15, 2016.

Winners will be announced at the end of January 2017. 

To learn more and apply online visit http://sandrfoundation.org/programs/washington-award

Contact Molly Turner at artsprogram@sandr.org with any questions.

#Blacklivesmatter ???

Black boys heading to the beach are interrogated by police and forced to prove they have fare for the ride home..

Read the dark side of the Rio Olympics and the disturbing reality of Latin American racism here. Puts our American issues on a whole different perspective... doesn't it?

It is ironic that the Olympic opening ceremonies seemed to focus on Brazil's significant African heritage, while at the same time black Brazilians are being kept away from the beaches, from the tourists, and from the games... and in May alone 84 of them were killed by the police.

Do you know what the silence means?

Abysmal cultural ignorance (North of the border) of what it means to be black in Latin America.

Carol Highsmith Sues Getty for $1 Billion But Can She Win?

If you are a member of the art community, you have probably heard about famed photographer Carol M. Highsmith suing Getty Images for $1 billion dollars. The internet exploded with comments and reactions from Getty supporters (“$1 billion? . . . this woman must be out of her mind!”) to the growing number of those angry with Getty aggressive copyright infringement tactics (“It’s about time Getty gets what’s coming to them.”).  In either case, both camps agree on one thing; $1 billion is an astounding number for a copyright claim. But, is it really crazy? Does Highsmith have a real claim worth that kind of money? Does Highsmith have a case? 

Read the whole article in Art Law Journal here. 

Tune in to Rosetta

Please tune-in to hear DMV artist Rosetta DeBerardinis' interview with Brooke Musterman on the podcast “http://letstalkartwithbrooke.com” on Wednesday, August 17th @3pm.

Heading to this opening tonite

Tonight: Opening reception for three exhibitions in one place at Artists & Makers Studios!

DMV area artist and epic model Fierce Sonia, and my Cuban-American peeps, the painter-printmaker Ric Garcia have a show titled “Power: Words and Deeds” which "examines gender, power, struggle, whimsy and heroism" - I'm heading there tonight for the opening.

At the same time, if you join me, we can all check out also Teresa Jarzynski’s “Head in the Clouds: The Landscape of My Imagination.” She explores landscapes with a focus on clouds - cloudscapes!

And we can also enjoy Mark Howe’s “Elemental Perspectives: Visions in Gold”, which is work inspired by Rothko and Klimt.

Reception tonight 6-9 p.m. Exhibition on display through Aug. 25.

Artists & Makers Studios
Suite 210
11810 Parklawn Dr.
Rockville, Soviet Republic of Maryland
240-437-9573.
www.artistsandmakersstudios.com
Free.

Call for Entry: MAP’s 35th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

Application Deadline: August 27, 2016 @ 4pm

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is now accepting applications for it’s 35 Year Anniversary Show, opening October 6, 2016. Each year, MAP serves over 400 artists through exhibition opportunities in its gallery.  To celebrate 35 years, MAP is going back to its roots.  This exhibition will feature contemporary artists that have exhibited with MAP throughout the organization’s history.

Have you ever exhibited with MAP? This call to exhibit is open to all artists that have shown work at Maryland Art Place that are currently residing in the state of Maryland.  Artists must have exhibited work at MAP in any show from 1981 - 2016.  All MAP exhibitors from 1981 - 2016 are encouraged to apply, including artists from exhibitions such as Out of Order, Young Blood, UNDER 500, IMPACT, IMPRINT and any juried or solo exhibitions.To view the full prospectus, click here!


GENERAL TIMELINE

• Call to Artists: August 4, 2016
• Application Deadline: Saturday August 27, 2016 @ 4pm
• Announce selected artist/artist team: September 1, 2016
• Public Announcement: Released the week of September 1, 2016
• Artwork Drop-off: Saturday, September 24, 10 am - 4pm
• Installation: September 26 – October 4, 2016
• Opening Reception: Thursday, October 6
• Open House: Saturday, October 15, noon – 4pm
• Exhibition Closing: Thursday, October 27
• Artwork Pick up: Saturday, October 29

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS (Required) NOTE: Proposals must be sent electronically & by 4pm August 27, 2016. Incomplete submissions WILL NOT be reviewed. Proposals must be received by 4pm, August 27, 2016. Only emailed applications will be accepted, please do not send CDs or hard copies of the application. Artists will be notified of their acceptance by September 1 | Fee: $10 to submit, free for MAP Members. *Please note that work should be appropriate for viewers of all ages.


1. ARTIST RESUMÉ & SHORT BIO, ARTIST STATEMENT
2. IMAGES - Please submit up to 10 images for this exhibition
3. IMAGE LIST - Include dimensions, media and year created (please be specific)


Questions? Contact Naomi Davidoff @ Naomi@mdartplace.org


Please send your proposal to assistant@mdartplace.org by 4pm, Saturday August 27, 2016.


The 35th YEAR ANNIVERSARY EXHBITION will run from October 6-27. An ‘Open House’ celebration of 35 years will be held on Saturday, October 15 from noon - 4pm with a reception for Donors in MAP’s Gallery at 5pm that same day. Please mark your calendars. All exhibiting artists are invited to the reception!

Asshole of the Week: Bolivia's National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore

When a museum is part of a "proud" exhibition that honors a murdering, racist dictator (who now holds the record for the longest living dictator on the planet), then that museum is not only an easy "Asshole of the Week" winner, but also an almost certain "Asshole of the Year" award and an early favorite for "Asshole of the Decade" award.

Read about these dictator-loving mutants here.

Juan Villanueva (representative of the Museum of Ethnography and Folklore), you should pray that the disaster that has consumed the unfortunate island of Cuba never visits your beautiful nation.

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