DC's first Minister of Culture

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) has announced SHELDON FOR DC, a public art performance directed by the artist Sheldon Scott. The citywide performance revolves around the campaign of a candidate -- referred to simply as "Sheldon" and played by a half-dozen actors -- who is running to become DC's first Minister of Culture. It will unfold over the next two months in the form of rallies, door-to-door campaigning, meet-the-candidate social events, and an 8-Ward whistle-stop tour.

 

"This is a campaign with a real agenda, which is, simply put, about putting artists first in the policies that impact our city's culture," says Peter Nesbett, WPA's executive director and Sheldon's Campaign Manager. "That is why it is so well aligned with WPA's interests. It doesn't much matter that the office of Minister of Culture doesn't yet exist."

 

SHELDON FOR DC promises a brighter, more creative future for DC. The campaign seeks to unite and rally hundreds of actors, artists, dancers, designers, musicians, and writers into a potent, vocal, political force. If it achieves this, SHELDON FOR DC could become a movement, with a life that extends well beyond this election cycle. If it doesn't, it will be understood, retrospectively, as an episodic piece of performance art.

 

The campaign kicks off with a rally at The Big Chair in Anacostia on Saturday, September 17, from12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Additional events can be found on the campaign website at www.sheldon4dc.org.

 

Situating a project like SHELDON FOR DC within the history of art is not a particularly easy task. Few visual artists have held political office in the U.S. since the painter George Caleb Bingham was elected to the Missouri legislature in 1848. Ad Reinhardt famously ran and lost in the race for New York City mayor in the 1930s, as did Patrick Brill (aka Bob & Roberta Smith), who ran for Parliament in London in 2014. But this project, with its fictitious basis, obviously isn't about winning or losing an election. Instead, it is about mobilizing a constituency. It is about listening and giving voice to DC's artist community, imagining a city where artists have a seat at the table in local government and cultural planning, and forging a vision for DC culture in the future.

For that reason, WPA is complementing the campaign-performance with events that reflect on the relationship of art and politics:

Kate McGraw on How to Run for Political Office Thursday, September 22, 6:30 p.m.   Artist and former DC resident Kate McGraw is running as an Independent for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Come learn what Kate has picked up along the way, how being an artist has informed her political thinking, and how you too might start your own campaign.   Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Kate McGraw earned a BFA from Penn State University and a MFA from CUNY Brooklyn College. She has exhibited at Curator's Office, Washington, DC; Katzen Art Center, Washington, DC; Zentral Bibliothek of Zurich, Switzerland; among other venues; and has received grants from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. McGraw currently works to give voice to sustainable agricultural issues and animal welfare awareness in the arts Ellen Lupton on Campaign Identities, with Christian Dutilh of Composite Co. Wednesday, October 26, 6:30 p.m. Curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City, and director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Ellen Lupton is one of the pre-eminent design curators and editors in the U.S. Join us for an evening on the history of campaign identity design. She will be joined by Christian Dutilh, co-designer of the SHELDON FOR DC platform. Ellen Lupton is 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, one of the highest honors given to a graphic designer or design educator in the U.S. Her publications include Thinking with Type (2004), Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things (2009), and Graphic Design Thinking (2011). Christian Dutilh is Principal of Composite Co., a branding and design studi o. For more information on these events and SHELDON FOR DC, please visit www.wpadc.org.

Two new curators at SAAM

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has enhanced its curatorial staff with two new appointments--Sarah Newman and Melissa Ho--who will bring fresh perspectives to the museum's collection, and future exhibitions and acquisitions.

Newman is the museum's James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art. Ho is the curator of 20th-century art. Each will be responsible for research, exhibitions and acquisitions related to the museum's collection. These two join nine curators currently on staff or film and media arts, photography, sculpture, contemporary craft, folk and self-taught art, Latino art, 19th-century painting, a chief curator who specializes in 20th-century art and a curator of contemporary interpretation.

Ho began work Aug. 22. Newman began at the museum Sept. 6.

"These new curatorial voices will add terrific energy to the museum's initiatives and will engage contemporary audiences who are interested in how America became the country it is today," said Betsy Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

"I am delighted to welcome Sarah and Melissa to the museum's curatorial team, and look forward to their building the collection to reflect the experience of Americans today with an emphasis on global connections," said Virginia Mecklenburg, chief curator.

Newman was curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from 2008 to 2014. While at the Corcoran, she developed "NOW at the Corcoran," a series of commissioned exhibitions and performances by emerging and midcareer artists including Mia Feuer, Spencer Finch, Ellen Harvey, Chris Martin and Enoc Perez. In 2011, she organized "30 Americans," a survey of contemporary African American art, and she curated "Washington Color and Light: Works from the Washington Color School" (2010). Most recently, she has been a guest curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where she is organizing "Theaster Gates: The Minor Arts," scheduled to open in 2017, and at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, where she curated a midcareer retrospective of Washington, D.C.-based painter Maggie Michael in 2016. Newman earned a bachelor's degree from Williams College, and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005.

Ho comes to the museum from the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, where she was a curator from 2011 to 2016. Recent exhibitions include "Shirin Neshat: Facing History" (2015), which she co-curated with Melissa Chiu, "Salvatore Scarpitta: Traveler" (2014) and "Barbara Kruger: Belief+Doubt" (2012). Her current project, "ONE THING: VIETNAM, Art and Engagement, 1965-1975," explores the interaction between the American war in Vietnam and art; it will open at SAAM in 2019. She earned a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and completed coursework for her doctorate. Her thesis examined Hong Kong-born American photographer Tseng Kwong Chi.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 17, 2016.


The Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington, DC announces a call to artists for a juried art exhibition at the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, November 20 - December 31, 2016. Juror: Judy Lalingo, Professional Artist. $7,000 in awards. Miniature artwork only. $25-$45 entry fee. Deadline: September 17, 2016.


More information visit, http://mpsgs.org Contact: email nancy@miniartsupply.biz or call 301-977-2190.

31st Annual Mayor's Arts Awards

You're Invited!   

31st Annual Mayor's Arts Awards

Thursday | September 22, 2016 | 7:00 pm 

Historic Lincoln Theatre

1215 U Street NW

Washington, DC 20009

Doors Open 6:00 PM

Reception following Awards

Creative formalwear suggested 

The Mayor's Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors conferred by the city on individual artists, teachers, nonprofit organizations and patrons of the arts.

Special Honorees

Lou Stovall

Lifetime Achievement

Julianne Brienza

Visionary Leadership

E. Ethelbert Miller

Distinguished Honor

Individuals and Organizations will be recognized in six categories: Excellence in the Arts, Excellence in the Humanities,
Excellence in Creative Industries, Outstanding Student Award, Excellence in Arts Teaching, and Outstanding New Artist

2016 Mayor's Arts Award finalists:
Story District, Michael Janis, DC Jazz Festival, Washington Improv Theatre, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capitol, Washington Performing Arts, DC Shorts, Pan American Symphony Orchestra, Post Classical Ensemble, Cory L. Stowers, Falun Dafa Association of Washington, Carolyn Malachi, One Common Unity, Sandy Bellamy, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, Dance Metro DC, Stone Soup Films, Leron Boyd, DC SCORES, Project Create, Amanda Swift, LifePieces to Masterpieces, Washington Performing Arts, Dawn Johnson, Inner City-Inner Child, Young Playwrights' Theater, Split This Rock, Max Tyler Gibbons, Tara Campbell,
Maverick Lemons

Admission is free, RSVP here

www.dcarts.dc.gov | 202-724-5613

New book by Sharon Louden

Artist Sharon Louden has a new book out!

I am also excited to announce that my new book, The Artist as Culture Producer, is now available to pre-order at a discount until October 1st (use code PRARTIST).  

To support the release of the book, we are now raising money for an extensive conversation tour across America and abroad that will connect contributors of the book with other regional artists and community stakeholders.  

Please support our community building efforts by donating here:
http://www.livesustain.org/donate

Lisa Yuskavage censored

The cover of Australian art magazine Vault, which features a painting of a naked pregnant woman, has been censored for newsagencies, raising questions about perceptions of the female body. 

The painting, titled Brood (2005-2006), is by well-known New York artist Lisa Yuskavage, whose sought-after work sparks million-dollar prices.

Read the story here. 

The Dying Gray Lady

The New York Times this week quietly ended its coverage of restaurants, art galleries, theaters and other commercial and nonprofit businesses in the tri-state region, laying off dozens of longtime contributors and prompting protests from many of the institutions that will be affected. They foresee an impact not only on patronage but, in the case of the nonprofits, on their ability to raise funds to survive.

The NYT is doing exactly what the Washington Post started doing over a decade ago, when the disastrous Style section period under Eugene Robinson all but destroyed the local visual arts coverage by the WaPo.

Another nail on the coffin of the dead tree media. 

Read the story here.

Texas Contemporary

We'll be at the Texas Contemporary Art Fair September 29 - October 2, 2016 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Showcasing Jodi Walsh, Georgia Nassikas, Dulce Pinzon and The Lennythron!

How to give artists life after they die

An artist’s estate is successful when it is able to keep the work alive: when subsequent generations of artists draw inspiration from it and when curators, researchers and collectors continuously find new ways to approach it. This goal is achieved when the estate initiates dialogue and exhibitions, contextualises the work, and makes it accessible to contemporary artists. Reaching it, however, requires a quantity of high-quality works as well as financial resources. Furthermore, a vast array of knowledge and skills, ranging from an art-historical understanding of the work to managerial and business know-how, are crucial to the success of this endeavour. Thus, heirs often devote a significant portion of their lives to this work.

Read this fascinating advisory article here.

Trawick Prizewinners announced!

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the top three prize winners last night during the exhibition’s opening. Lauren Adams from Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Sarah Irvin from Springfield, VA was named second place and given $2,000; and Ben Marcin from Baltimore, MD was bestowed third place and received $1,000.

Lauren Adams, who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina and her Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University, mines the histories of power, labor and material culture to make surprising connections that resonate with current sociopolitical issues. Her work has been featured at ConnerSmith in Washington, D.C., The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, Contemporary Applied Arts in London, UK, Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, MO and the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, PA, among others. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and held residencies at the Cite in Paris, France and the Jentel Foundation in Wyoming. She received the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Award in 2007, was a finalist for the Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize in 2014, and was recently named a 2016 Pollock Krasner Foundation grant recipient.

2016 Trawick Prize Finalists

Lauren 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 work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, until September 24. 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.

Entries were juried by 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 and Co-Interim Director 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 $205,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 130 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Cleaver, 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.

#artscam

As many of you know, I love busting the mutants who are perennially trying to separate artists from their artwork through a scam.

#artscam on Twitter is also a great place to visit every once in a while to see who's been busted through TweetLand.

Carlos Danger strikes again!

The Last Copy of The Constitution

From my obsessive drawings series (where I repeat the same theme ad nauseum). This work will be at The Affordable Art Fair in NYC, booth 1.36 next month.

"The Last Copy of The Constitution" (detail) 19x12 inches.Charcoal on Paper. Circa 2016

"The Last Copy of The Constitution" 19x12 inches.Charcoal on Paper. Circa 2016

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this bastard... I've contacted Marriott and they've confirmed that this mutant is not who he says:

From: Ahmed (ahmed@mcgeoch.com) 

Good day,

We are interested to place a trial order.

Attached please fine our company caralogue, i specified the required items by making them with blue ink

Confirm The items you have in stock and quote us the following

1. Your Best Price for the Item selected

2. Minimum Order quantity

3. Payment term

4. Delivery Time.

Hope to establish a very good business relationship with you.

 

Best Regards

 

AHMED AL-YURI

____________________________

Al Faisal Holding Co

Purchasing Manager

Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel

Al Wahda Street

22nd Floor

West Bay Area

22466, Qatar

Tel: +974 4422-3888

Fax: +974 4422-3800

A letter from the WPA's Nathalie von Veh

A letter from the WPA's Nathalie von Veh:           

Dear members,

I am excited to officially introduce myself as your new point of contact. I've had the privilege of meeting many of you over the two and a half years I've been working at WPA, but for those of you who don't know me already, I thought I'd take a moment to say hello and tell you a little about myself.

I am a Seattle transplant who craves adventure and salty air. I first moved to the East Coast to study Environmental Policy at American University but found myself spending more and more of my time across campus in the Katzen Arts Center. It became clear to me then that I needed to be working with artists. Six years later, I'm still here because I found you -  the incredible artistic community that calls this region home. I started interning at WPA in January 2014, going to music and art shows in living rooms and basements, and eventually collaborating and organizing projects of my own in my neighborhood in Bloomingdale. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than giving back to the friends and artists that inspire me.

I am thrilled to now have the opportunity to work more closely with you at WPA. Since our move, we've been restructuring our responsibilities and redefining WPA (Whole Pitted Avocados anyone?). We have so many resources to share with you: a street-front project and exhibition space, an online artist registry, and a vast network that stretches far beyond DC. WPA is increasingly becoming more artist-driven, more focused on idea generating/sharing, and more deeply engaged with the community. Together, we can take this to next level. I hope WPA will become (and continue to be) your creative haven, a space where you can expect the unexpected, take risks, get messy, and make valuable friendships.  

 

Over the next couple of months, we will be exploring how artists can use politics to advocate for change. There will be countless opportunities to participate, make a difference, and weigh in on the conversation. As an artist, this project will be all about you. So keep an eye out for more information to be announced soon. 

 

Our door is always open to you, stop by or shoot me an email anytime. I'd love to hear what you're working on, struggling with, and what you're dreaming up.

Looking forward to the road ahead!

All the best,

Nathalie
                                                  

Art classes anyone?

Registration is open for the fall term of fine art classes at The Art League School in Old Town Alexandria. The fall term begins the week of September 19, with over 200 classes and 40+ workshops to choose from.

Click here to browse the course catalog and to register.

Why register?

• The Art League offers classes and workshops in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography, jewelry, the fiber arts, printmaking, and more. 
• The Art League is a non-accredited institution, open to all, that provides instruction to nearly 7,000 students annually. Focus is on personal enrichment rather than a degree.
• Courses are offered quarterly with 150 of the most talented and well known artists and instructors in the country. 
• Whether for the novice or a skilled professional, classes are offered for every skill level, ages five and up. 
• Courses range in cost from $70 to $380. 
• Weekly classes and workshops meet in our classrooms at the Torpedo Factory Art Center and at our Madison Annex in Old Town Alexandria, VA, convenient to the entire Washington, DC area.

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