Van is ready

 Van is packed and ready to go to New York tomorrow morning at 4am for the Affordable Art Fair in New York City through Sunday!

From George Washington University

Happy fall! Here are some upcoming events from GW’s Corcoran School.

We are proud to announce the launch of a three-year artist residency with For Freedoms, an artist-led organization known for utilizing art as a catalyst for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action. Housed in the Corcoran School and the National Gallery of Art, with events across D.C., the residency will create a vital space for students, artists and community members to collaborate on projects that extend beyond traditional art structures.

We invite you to a series of dynamic programming and public events to mark their debut from October 4-5, 2024. The convening will feature performances, talks, and workshops on billboard and kite-making. In addition, our building (500 17th St. NW) will be open October 4-6 from 1-5 pm for visitors to view installations of For Freedoms' billboards and participate in creative prompts designed by artists. Learn more here.

In addition, don’t miss our annual Corcoran Music Festival and other shows. See you this fall! 

Lauren Onkey

Director & Professor of Music at GW's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

 

Are you gonna vote for Kamala Harris?

Then go see this show and buy some art! May become a historic piece in the years to come!

Margaret Dowell's new website

The amazing artist Margaret Dowell has a new website and it showcases her enviable talent! Visit it here: https://www.margaretdowell.com/

At BlackRock opening tomorrow

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County (HCCMC), in partnership with Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce (GGCC) & BlackRock Center for the Arts, is proud to announce the opening of Hispanic Heritage Month with Colores, an exhibition celebrating the vibrant talents of Latino artists residing in Montgomery County. Colores showcases the rich cultural heritage and eclectic creativity that the Hispanic community contributes to our local arts scene.

“We are thrilled to partner with BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce to launch this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations,” said Dr. Mauricio Vásquez, Executive Director at HCCMC. “Colores is more than an art exhibition. It’s a celebration of the diverse stories, experiences, and perspectives of Latino artists in our community. We are grateful for the support of BlackRock Center for the Arts and the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, and we invite everyone to join us in honoring the artistic achievements of our local talent.”

 

In the Kay Gallery

BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

12901 Town Commons Drive

Germantown, MD 20874

 

Reception

14 Sep, 4:00–7:00 PM 

As part of BlackRock’s ‘24–25 Season Launch festivities + followed by a concert from Cuban jazz group Dayramir Gonzalez Vicet (<<Buy One/Get One FREE tickets at this link). Catering by Rio Grande, Germantown.

 

On View
07 Sep–03 Nov

 

Artist Panel

05 Oct, 2:00–4:00 PM, during the Germantown Oktoberfest

 

Closing Reception

01 Nov, 5:00-7:00 PM, More details TBA

Vote for Pippi!

Pippi has been entered in the Partnership for Animal Welfare (PAW) 2025 Calendar photo contest. 

Please vote for Pippi and make a donation to PAW on her behalf. 

The contest ends at 9:00 pm on Sunday so not much time left (sorry). Please forward as you wish. Vote for the Pippinator!!!!

The URL for the website is https://www.gogophotocontest.com/pawrescue/entries/544809 

Lest we forget

 



"Studio View, 9/11"
Oil on Canvas c. 9/11/2001 by David FeBland

Zenith to host a show focused on Kamala Harris

 

Goodbye James Earl Jones

This story starts in the mid 1990s, while I was still on active duty in the US Navy and stationed in the DMV, which at the time was known mostly as the Greater Washington area and as the National Capital Region by the Navy.

As part of my job, I used to travel quite often and probably about half the time I used to sweet talk my way into a free upgrade to first class on most of the flights. 

Whenever I have free "wait" time in my hands, such as waiting to board at an airport,  I start drawing in a nice hardbound drawing book that I carry when I travel. It is a habit that I started in art school in the late 70s and carry to this day.

One summer day around 1995 or maybe 1996 I was flying back to National airport,  and had been already upgraded to first class and seated on a window sit.

Once seated, I pulled out the sketchbook and continued a drawing that I had started earlier that day at the terminal.

A bit later the gent that would be seating next me on the aisle seat arrived, nodded a hello, and sat down. I smiled and nodded back and went back to my drawing.

Suddenly I heard the voice of Darth Vader come from the sear next to me as my fellow traveler said: "That's a mighty nice drawing you're working on..."

Stunned, I turned in slow motion and instantly recognized James Earl Jones, who was smiling.

I nearly said, in what probably would have been a loud voice, "Darth Vader!", but I caught myself and didn't. 

The drawing was the ice breaker and we spent the rest of the flight chatting.  I recall that for some reason we both talked a lot about our grandparents?

It was a very pleasant flight, and at the end, I gave him the drawing as a gift and wrote my name and address on the back. He was very grateful and we shook hands and parted ways.

About a month later I received and old fashioned thank you card from Jones with a nice note. Inside was a Polaroid photo of the drawing, framed and hanging (I assume) on his wall.

Good bye, sir. It was an honor to share the planet for a while with you.

Tomorrow and Sunday

What? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival.

When: September 7-8. 

Where: Streets of Bethesda Row

Over the last two decades I have written extensively about the phenomenon of gallery art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as art magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last 18 years confirms this fact - I have my own positive empirical evidence, albeit with the caveat that fairs still seem to be recovering from the Covidian monster..

There's another "art world" out there of fine art fairs that - because of the curious highbrow attitude of the "high art" cabal - never really gets any attention from the arts media, etc.

I’m talking about outdoor art fairs that some of us know well, and many more others think they know well even though they've actually never been to any of the good ones. I am talking about the outdoor art festivals that get ranked as the top ones by Sunshine Artist magazine and others; fairs such as the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, or the Ann Arbor Arts Festival (actually four separate art fairs that draw over half a million visitors), and of course, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, which routinely attracts about 150,000 visitors in the Miami area.

Immediately the clueless “experts” who have never been to one of these top-of-the-line outdoor art festivals will think and imagine what they visualize as an outdoor art market: dried flowers, teddy bears and watercolors of barns. 

Don't get me wrong, there are thousands and thousands of these type "art" fairs around as well - but those are NOT the ones that I am talking about.

I am talking about the cream of the Sunshine Artist Top 100 list. These are shows where only original art, not reproductions, are allowed, and photography has very severe rules (must be done by the photographer, limited editions only, signed, archival processes only, etc.). These shows are highly competitive to get in (they're juried), and usually offer quite a lot of money in prizes for the artists. The jurors vary from museum curators, art center managers, art critics, artists (I’ve been a juror myself many times), etc.

I guess I'm saying that there's some curatorial legitimacy to them as well... for the elitists amongst you dear readers.

But the real point to which I am driving here is the mathematics of attendance: thousands.

Locally in our area, there are several of these exceptional fine art outdoor festivals: The Bethesda Row Arts Festival in Bethesda, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival in Reston, and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, also attract those numbers of people and are all highly competitive.

Consider the median income in either Bethesda ($185K) or Reston ($135K), and what you get out of it is a lot of people with a lot of disposable income. As a whole, the DMV itself has a median household income of around $100K – one that ranks among the highest among the U.S.'s 25 most populous metro areas.

Art price tags at these local fairs range from $100 to $20,000. As such, there's a somewhat comparable universe of prices to the DC area gallery market, as an example.

And I submit that a lot of the people who attend one of these outdoor fine art festivals do not have the "formation," as a Communist would say, to dare set foot in a white cube gallery... and have probably never heard of Art Base Miami Beach.

Nearly all of these huge and highly successful outdoor arts festivals (as far as I know) only allow individual artists to sell their work at the fairs, and their entry fees are about 1/100th of the entry fees of the “other” art fairs.

Wanna see one? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival, and one of the best in the country, will take place September 7-8. The show will showcase 185 artists in 14 media categories: ceramics, drawing/pastels, fiber/decorative, fiber/wearables, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, oil/acrylic painting, photography/digital art, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. It is located essentially at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodmont Avenue, two blocks from the Bethesda Metro, and there are various public parking garages close to the show itself. 

Online here: https://www.bethesdarowarts.org

See ya there! I'll be in booth S104!

Trawick Prize winners

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards folks have announced the 2024 winners. From over 400 applicants, Pedro Ledesma III of Alexandria, VA was awarded the prestigious Best in Show award, and the prize of $10,000. 

Scott Pennington of Baltimore, MD earned 2nd Place, James Stephen Terrell of Washington, DC was awarded 3rd Place, and Paloma Vianey of Washington, DC received the Young Artist Award. 

Congratulations to the winners!

The winners and finalists artwork is being shown in a group exhibit at Gallery B (the former Fraser Gallery) which will run from September 5th - September 29th. 

Gallery hours are: Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm. An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 13th from 6pm-8pm.

Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. 

Mermeiding again...

The below mixed media painting will be at The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is one of the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival, and one of the best in the country, and will take place September 7-8 on the streets of Bethesda Row. 

The show will showcase 185 artists in 14 media categories: ceramics, drawing/pastels, fiber/decorative, fiber/wearables, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, oil/acrylic painting, photography/digital art, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. 

It is located essentially at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodmont Avenue, two blocks from the Bethesda Metro, and there are multiple public parking garages nearby. 

Online here: https://www.bethesdarowarts.org

See ya there! I'll be in booth S104!!!

"Mermaid", mixed media painting, 16x20 inches

This weekend: Bethesda Row Fine Arts Festival!

 Over the last two decades I have written extensively about the phenomenon of gallery art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as art magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last 18 years confirms this fact - I have my own positive empirical evidence, albeit with the caveat that fairs still seem to be recovering from the Covidian monster..

There's another "art world" out there of fine art fairs that - because of the curious highbrow attitude of the "high art" cabal - never really gets any attention from the art media, etc.

I’m talking about outdoor art fairs that some of us know well, and many more others think they know well even though they've actually never been to any of the good ones. I am talking about the outdoor art festivals that get ranked as the top ones by Sunshine Artist magazine and others; fairs such as the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, or the Ann Arbor Arts Festival (actually four separate art fairs that draw over half a million visitors), and of course, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, which routinely attracts about 150,000 visitors in the Miami area.

Immediately the clueless “experts” who have never been to one of these top-of-the-line outdoor art festivals will think and imagine what they visualize as an outdoor art market: dried flowers, teddy bears and watercolors of barns. 

Don't get me wrong, there are thousands and thousands of these type "art" fairs around as well - but those are NOT the ones that I am talking about.

I am talking about the cream of the Sunshine Artist Top 100 list. These are shows where only original art, not reproductions, are allowed, and photography has very severe rules (must be done by the photographer, limited editions only, signed, archival processes only, etc.). These shows are highly competitive to get in (they're juried), and usually offer quite a lot of money in prizes for the artists. The jurors vary from museum curators, art center managers, art critics, artists (I’ve been a juror myself many times), etc.

I guess I'm saying that there's some curatorial legitimacy to them as well... for the elitists amongst you dear readers.

But the real point to which I am driving here is the mathematics of attendance: thousands.

Locally in our area, there are several of these exceptional fine art outdoor festivals: The Bethesda Row Arts Festival in Bethesda, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival in Reston, and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, also attract those numbers of people and are all highly competitive.

Consider the median income in either Bethesda ($185K) or Reston ($135K), and what you get out of it is a lot of people with a lot of disposable income. As a whole, the DMV itself has a median household income of around $100K – one that ranks among the highest among the U.S.'s 25 most populous metro areas.

Art price tags at these local fairs range from $100 to $20,000. As such, there's a somewhat comparable universe of prices to the DC area gallery market, as an example.

And I submit that a lot of the people who attend one of these outdoor fine art festivals do not have the "formation," as a Communist would say, to dare set foot in a white cube gallery... and have probably never heard of Art Base Miami Beach.

Nearly all of these huge and highly successful outdoor arts festivals (as far as I know) only allow individual artists to sell their work at the fairs, and their entry fees are about 1/100th of the entry fees of the “other” art fairs.

Wanna see one? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival, and one of the best in the country, will take place September 7-8. The show will showcase 185 artists in 14 media categories: ceramics, drawing/pastels, fiber/decorative, fiber/wearables, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, oil/acrylic painting, photography/digital art, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. It is located essentially at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodmont Avenue, two blocks from the Bethesda Metro, and there are various public parking garages close to the show itself. 

Online here: https://www.bethesdarowarts.org

See ya there! I'll be in booth S104!

From the Washington Post

The WaPo's Art editor, Jonathan Fischer, responds to my previous discussions on the end of the "Galleries" column:

“Thanks for reaching out. I’ve seen the coverage and understand why people are anxious and confused. 

We decided to end this specific column, but we will continue to cover the local art scene, including galleries, with criticism and more – including from Mark. 

As a general matter, it’s worth pointing out that we have an editor dedicated almost wholly to visual art – Steven Johnson, at steven.johnson@washpost.com – and he’s very eager to be kept in the loop on shows, events, news and more. I’m also here for questions, feedback, pitches and more.”

My current OTC article

 Read it here.

Many times over the last few decades I’ve used this column to send a shout out to hard working artists who do not wait to be “discovered”, but who are always on the move, taking advantage of opportunities both around the DMV and elsewhere – they follow the maxim that the best place for art that one creates in on someone else’s walls.

Umi... where ya been all my life?

This column is all about art - until I find a great restaurant to recommend to you constant readers (getting close to seven million!).... drumroll!!!

This place is out of control!!! In a good way! No... in an amazing way!

I am about to eat this little Alien

WOW!!! I've been to dozens and dozens of buffet style restaurants all over the world, and this new one in Rockville Pike, in the Greater Washington, DC region (or as locals call it: the DMV - a term that I invented) is taking buffet style to a new level.

We went for lunch - the son unit and I, around 2:30pm or so - I note this because I am told that there are usually long wait lines closer to real lunch/dinner hours.

It's an everything buffet, not just seafood: sushi, lots of seafood, lots of meats, lots of a variety of Asian cuisine (Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, etc.), fresh fruits, soups, ice cream, desserts (Asian and western) and a hot pot section that is even better and fancier than most specialty hot pot restaurants.

The service is impeccable, with an army of waiters! 

Our waitress was Fiona (pretty sure not her real name) and she was really good! Friendly and hard working! And ahhhh... suspect that Fiona is not her real name... cough... cough...

The sushi is constantly being made and is fresh and of a huge variety, including some that I'd never seen before, such as sushi with avocado stripes? It was DA BOMB!

As a "cobarde" for hot foods, these giant shrimp looked delicious but probably at the nuclear level of spicy!

There were at least three or four shellfish dishes for lunch! Mussels, clams, etc. There were also crab legs and full, whole crabs, snails, etc.

When I lived in Spain, one of my fave dishes were these guys below - an I am happy to report that the way that Umi cooks them is delicious!

There were also the usual, kinda, sorta dishes that tells you that this joint is the "real thing" as evidenced by the below splendor known as chicken feet... cough... cough...

And also an Asian take on escargots...

Desserts were also ample and diverse!

Go eat at UMI! 1471 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

(240) 430-8000 -- Closes at 10:30 PM - Tell them DC ART NEWS sent ya!

The son unit is 15!

 

Never good news...

 Cop was a nice guy and gave me a break... thank you!

Beach week beard

 

Modern Neanderthal

 

Best donut ever?

Courtesy of Tullio's Bakery in Duck, NC.

Bacon is good on anything...

Homage to Basquiat

The curious case of the Washington Post and the Galleries column

As noted a few days ago, according to the WaPo's freelance art critic Mark Jenkins, his "Galleries" column of August 25, 2024 will be the last one, as the WaPo "editors" have decided to terminate that newspaper's only remaining column dedicated to the local capital area's galleries.

While this may be surprising and disappointing to many, it now concludes the saga of the WaPo's inexorable march, which started in the 1990s, to reduce, and now eliminate its miserly attention to the capital region's galleries art scene.

In 1999 I wrote them an old fashioned letter, published here and completely ignored by the paper. Here's that post again, now that the WaPo has essentially killed its DMV gallery coverage - now ALL the coverage is gone - Wanna do something about it? Scroll to the bottom:

If you don't get it

In 1999 the Washington Post sent out a letter to all their subscribers detailing some major changes in the paper which were designed to improve the newspaper itself.

The letter, signed by Donald Graham, the publisher of the Post, asked for feedback and opinions, and so I wrote them the below letter. In the letter I not only expressed what I thought were shortcomings in the WaPo's arts coverage, but also gave the WaPo several ideas for improvement.

Sadly, since then coverage has only become worse. The "Galleries" column is now published about 20 times a year instead of weekly, and "Arts Beat" is also no longer weekly, but apparently ad hoc.

All of the names mentioned in the letter have since left the Post, retired, or been replaced, but by a freelancer and by a chief art critic who does not write about Washington, DC art galleries and artists.

If you don't get it, you don't get it.

January 27, 1999

Donald E. Graham 

Publisher

The Washington Post

1150 15th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20071

Dear Mr. Graham,

Thank you for your letter dated January 24, 1999. I'm eagerly looking forward to the new "improved" Washington Post.

Since you asked me for my opinion on how the new, improved Post can serve its readers better, I'm hereby sending you a few comments and some facts which may be of interest to you, and which may in fact help you in the future as you continue to improve the Washington Post.

One area of the newspaper, which continues to receive local attention and acute criticism, is the Post's lack of coverage of the metropolitan visual fine arts scene. While the Style section and the Weekend magazine combine to deliver a complete, in-depth coverage of many of the genres which make up a city's cultural life, (such as music, movies, theatre, opera, architecture and our museums) the Post continues to ignore largely the visual arts as defined by the art exhibited and the artists of the Greater Washington, DC area.

The immediate gut reaction of the Style editor might be "but Ferdinand Protzman covers the galleries on Thursday?" Yes, that is true and that answer may reflect the lack of understanding to the key to the problem. Not Protzman, but the fact that his weekly column is the only mention which local galleries and artists routinely get in the Post.

The "Arts Beat" column, which also appears on Thursdays, does on occasion cover a visual arts event, but that is the exception, rather than the rule. If we switch over to the Weekend magazine, it does not take a lot of research to discover that in the last few years (yes years) the "On Exhibit" section, although having a masthead which proclaims it to be about "Galleries, Museums and Art Spaces" has not covered a single fine art gallery in this city in years. It is devoted exclusively to museum shows in our city and other cities.

This lack of "participation" in the development of our city's visual art scene is shameful in a city which boasts over 200 art galleries and which once had one of the most vibrant local visual art scenes in the nation. What makes it even more astounding is the brilliant coverage that the other cultural genres receive from the Post.

Museums (or "dead artists" as living counterparts often refer to them) get brilliant coverage in the Post and I applaud this! With one of the best museum scenes in the world this is commendable. Thus, three of your art critics (Jo Ann Lewis, Burchard and Paul Richards) all write about museum shows and on very, very rare occasions write something which is "local" in nature. This is the exception, rather than the rule; it may happen once or twice a year. They even cover museum shows in other cities. These writers do not write about local art galleries -- only Protzman, and we must wait for his words to be decanted once a week, to read and breathe local visual arts.

Movies are reviewed or discussed nearly every day in Style and it is not unusual for the same movie to be written about (by different authors) in Style and in the Weekend section on Fridays. The same goes for theatre; even though there are more art galleries than theatres in this city, and the public is more exposed to them than to the theatre, every play in every recognized theatre gets exposure and reviews. The same goes for music, be it live, stage or recorded. This is all good, but it again highlights the huge differences in the coverage as compared to the local art galleries and visual artists.

Why is this phenomenon unusual? Because other major newspapers, especially papers as powerful as the Post do not act in the same manner. The Post is the only major newspaper that I know of which does not have a galleries art critic in its staff (as you know Mr. Protzman is a freelancer). I have been told that the New York Times has eleven gallery critics writing for them, The Seattle Times four, the S.F. Examiner three and the L.A. Times four.

Washington artists and art galleries deserve better. In fact, they deserve equal print space. Art criticism and art reviews are not easy to write; yet a variety of skilled critics do exist in our city, so the writing talent is here; this is not an excuse.

Your reading public deserves better. Mr. Protzman's weekly piece is just not enough and it's only one point of view. This is not healthy for our artists and for our art scene.

Several weeks ago, at the Art Symposium sponsored by the Washington Art Dealers Association, one of the representatives from the Post made the statement that the "reason that art galleries do not get reviewed in the Post is because they don't advertise." I refuse to believe, even in today's austere economic environment, that this could be the reason.

What is the reason for this lack of coverage -- especially when compared to the brilliant job which the paper does for the "other" local arts in general? In my opinion the reason is that the editors of both Style and Weekend do not feel that your reading public is interested in art galleries and local artists. They want to publish "only" what they feel their public wants to read. Even if this were correct, which I doubt it is, I think that this is not the attitude and goal for one of the world's greatest newspapers.

Why does this concern me? Three months ago I was contacted and commissioned by an ad hoc group of local artists who commissioned me to do a one year study on the coverage of the Washington Post to local art galleries and then quantify that coverage in terms of proportion to other arts coverage. The initial results, some of which I have mentioned in this letter, have been particularly astounding.

Secondly, I am deeply involved in the city's art scene. I am a member of the D.C. City Arts Projects Program Advisory Panel, an artist, a gallery owner and a regularly published regional art critic.

As such, I encourage you to perhaps think about refocusing more attention to our Washington artists and galleries. There is a variety of ways in which this can be done and my suggestions are:

(a) Assign one week out of the month to local gallery coverage in Weekend's "On Exhibit" section (or take 'Galleries' off the masthead).

(b) Keep Mr. Protzman's weekly "Galleries" column on Thursdays.

(c) Nicole Lewis' "Arts Beat" should not echo what has already been covered by music critics or theatre critics, etc. Devote at least 50% of that column, which runs concurrently with "Galleries," to visual arts. Keep Thursdays focused on Art Galleries (which it's supposed to be its focus anyway).

(d) Pick up a "pool" of local art critics and assign a different one each week (also on Thursdays) to write mini-art reviews to augment Mr. Protzman's more elaborate, in-depth art criticism.

(e) Six times a year assign one of your museum art critics to do a piece on a local gallery show, or local art movement, or local gallery groups, etc. Something flavored by the local arts.

(f) Have local art critics and even Mr. Protzman write more reviews and just "publish" them in your excellent web pages.

There were over 30 pieces written about the van Gogh exhibit by the Post, ranging from front-page coverage to the business section. This shows that someone at the Post recognizes the interest in your reading public about the works of art which hung so vociferously at the National Gallery; I submit to you that this same interest can be kindled for the van Goghs of the future.

Thank you for your attention,

F. Lennox Campello

Don't like it? Send a letter to the editor

The WaPo accepts letters by email and surface mail; however, because timeliness is a critical factor in the selection of letters that they publish, they strongly encourage submissions by email. Submit via their online form. Letters to the Editor may also be sent to letters@washpost.com or to: Letters to the Editor, The Washington Post, 1301 K Street NW, Washington DC 20071.

Below is my letter to the Post:

As the Washington Post has been decimating its DMV art galleries coverage for over two decades now (remember when there was an “Arts Beat” column on Thursdays in addition to the “Galleries” column, and also a gallery review in the “Weekend” section?), it comes to no surprise to the DMV fine arts community that the August 25 “Galleries” column will be the last.

That Mark Jenkins’ column is thus ended is a severe blow to this capital region’s visual arts presence, and catapults the Washington Post into the long list of newspapers which tend to preach one thing, while they do the opposite.

This blow to our capital area’s visual art scene is shameful in a city which boasts many world-class visual art spaces and independent fine art galleries, and an area which has one of the most vibrant visual art scenes in the nation. What makes it even more quizzical is the wide coverage that the other cultural genres in the area, and even nationally, receive from the Post.

The Post’s critics even cover visual art shows in other cities! These critics do not write about local art galleries -- only Jenkins did, and we appreciated for his words to be decanted once a week, to read, and breathe, and document our area’s visual arts.

Movies are reviewed or discussed nearly every day in Style and it is not unusual for the same movie to be written about (by different authors) in both Style and in the Sunday sections. The same goes for theatre; even though there are more art galleries and visual art spaces than theatres in this region!

As such, I encourage you to perhaps think about refocusing more attention to our Washington area visual artists and galleries. There is a variety of ways in which this can be done and my suggestions are:

(a) Keep Mr. Jenkins' weekly "Galleries" column on Thursdays.

(b) Pick up a "pool" of local art critics and assign a different one each week (also on Thursdays) to write mini-art reviews to augment Mr. Jenkins' more elaborate, in-depth art criticism.

(c) Six times a year assign one of your other museum art critics to do a column on a local gallery show.

(d) Is the issue newsprint space? Have local art critics and even Mr. Jenkins write more reviews and just "publish" them in your excellent web pages.

The Trawick Prize Exhibition Opens Sept. 5th

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards honors visual artists in all mediums from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. The finalists will have their work shown in a group exhibition, which opens next month at Gallery B. 

The exhibit will run from September 5th - September 29th. Gallery hours are: Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm. An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 13th from 6pm-8pm. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E. To learn more about this year's selected artists and view samples of their work, please click here.

The 2024 finalists are:

Rosemary Feit Covey, Alexandria, VA

Rosemary Feit Covey's artwork is housed in over 40 museum and library collections worldwide, including Yale University Art Gallery, New York Public Library Print Collection, National Museum of American History, Harvard University, and the Papyrus Institute in Cairo, Egypt. In 2012, 500 of her prints were acquired for the permanent collection of Georgetown University Library, Special Collections. She is the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (Bellagio Italy), an Alpha Delta Kappa Foundation National Fine Art Award, and a fellowship to Georgetown University Medical Center as the 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence. Her solo museum exhibitions include the Butler Museum of American Art, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Morton Fine Art and International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago. Currently, she is working with two botanists and an entomologist who have greatly aided in inspiring and informing her most recent series of work.

                 

David Enrique Guarnizo, Richmond, VA

David Enrique Guarnizo earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and is working towards his Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. His artistic practice is based on his physical relationship with the territory and the elements/concepts of line, limit and border. He has participated in group exhibitions such as “Nuevos Nombres - Banco de la República” (Colombia, 2018), “The Nature of Things: Humboldt, Comings and Goings” (Humboldt Forum, Berlin, 2019) and the Artecámara pavilion of the International Art Fair of Bogota ARTBO. He held his first solo exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, MAMBO in 2014. David has been the winner of nearly 25 individual and collective grants and distinctions. He has been head of ecuation at the Museums of Art and Numismatics of the Banco de la República and MAMBO.

Pedro Ledesma III, Alexandria, VA

Pedro Ledesma III was born in South Dakota and raised in a small town in Texas, and has always appreciated wide, open spaces and small communities. His mixed Korean Mexican heritage and extensive time abroad have broadened his perspective on cultures and the importance of family. Pedro’s photography journey has evolved from documenting beauty in everyday moments to using his camera as a tool for social change, echoing the justice-focused themes he probed in economics. He explores the complexities of social and economic inequities, alongside his own identity in America. Through his creative work, Pedro aims to spark positive change towards greater equality by exploring how these national issues unfold on the stage of small-town America. Pedro received his Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, and earned his Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Master of Arts from Columbia University.

Rebecca Oh, Richmond, VA

Rebecca Oh is a Korean-American artist and educator. She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) with a Bachelors in General Fine Arts and a concentration in Painting. She went on to study and receive her Masters of Art in Teaching at MICA in 2018. Her art revolves around her experiences as an introverted woman who must constantly navigate through intersecting spheres of family, religion, sexual and cultural identity, and mental illness. She uses art as a means to filter and analyze the world around her, and communicate these findings to others in an attempt to connect, educate, and relate. She is currently a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she is extending her practice into interactive installation and sculptural woodworking.

Scott Pennington, Baltimore, MD

Scott Pennington specializes in large-scale participatory installation and sculptural assemblage works. Drawing upon his background as a furniture and cabinetmaker, Pennington utilizes woodworking and construction techniques to create colorful, detailed works of art that engage varied audiences and invigorate public spaces. Pennington earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and was a 2022 Baker Artist Award Finalist as well as a Sondheim Prize Semifinalist in 2017 and 2018. His work has been displayed work in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Pennington’s work suggests a tangible, yet illusory reality that examines labor, consumer culture, and the pursuit of simple pleasures, and the construction of nostalgic human connections both genuine and fictitious.

Tony Shore, Baltimore, MD

Tony Shore is recognized for his paintings on black velvet of blue-collar life. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his Master of Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art. He also studied at the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His Awards include The Walter and Janet Sondheim Prize, Bethesda Painting Awards Best in Show, a Baltimore Artist Rubys Grant, several Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, and a Franz and Virginia Bader Grant. His work has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Delaware Art Museum, The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, The Noyes Museum, Kunstalle Beacon, Anna Zorina Gallery, George Adams Gallery, C. Grimadis Gallery, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, Gavlak gallery, and Karlye Packer Gallery, among many others. Tony has been a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art for 24 years where he recently served seven years as the chair of the Painting Department.

James Stephen Terrell, Washington, D.C.

James Stephen Terrell is a native Washingtonian who was raised in Ward 7. He received his high school diploma from Gonzaga College High School, his Bachelor of Fine Art from Howard University, and his Master of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design. He also earned his Master of Divinity Degree from the Union Theological Seminary with a concentration on Theology and the Fine Arts. While attending Union Theological Seminary, he pursued Fine Arts painting elective courses at Columbia University. Terrell has taught art for over 15 years in DC Public Schools. Terrell has exhibited his work in group exhibitions including Ohio, Vermont, New York and Wisconsin. His work has also been featured in multiple solo shows including the Visions and Voices Biggs Museum in Dover, DE.

Paloma Vianey, Washington, D.C.

Paloma Vianey is an interdisciplinary artist from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and is currently based in Washington D.C. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from University of Texas, El Paso and her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University. She has received grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, the National Fund of the Arts in Mexico, and a fellowship from The Phillips Collection. In 2018 Vianey realized a large-scale public art installation on the Americas-Cordova International Bridge along the U.S.-Mexico border. She has been awarded residences at Fundación Antonio Gala in Spain and The Studios of Key West, Florida. Vianey has exhibited her work at El Paso Museum of Art, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, the Antonio Gala Foundation, Jack Hanley Gallery, the Mexican Consulate at El Paso Texas, the Archeology and History Museum of El Chamizal in Ciudad Juárez, and others.

Rejected (again!)

 August 20, 2024                                     

Dear Florencio Lennox Campello,

 

The District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) appreciates your FY 2025 Art Bank Program grant application. This year, we had a record number of submissions. Unfortunately, your artwork(s) was not selected to advance to the second round of review. [M(1] We sincerely appreciate the time, talent, and energy that goes into a grant application. CAH staff and advisory panelists were impressed with the caliber and range of work submitted.

 

Please know that CAH makes every effort to gain valuable feedback from the advisory panelists and shares that information with applicants upon request. Many applicants have found these comments and insights from panelists helpful in furthering their endeavors, as well as in developing future applications to CAH. You may request a debriefing within 60 days from the date of this letter by filling out this form to express your interest. If you have further questions, please contact Curator Michelle May-Curry.

 

CAH appreciates your valuable contribution to the arts and humanities community and encourages you to apply to future grant programs. You may wish to consider participating in our grant workshops to obtain information about specific grant programs and best practices for applying to CAH’s grants. Once grants are open, a list of workshops may be found on CAH’s website at www.dcarts.dc.gov.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michelle May-Curry, Ph.D.

Curator

 

WaPo's Galleries column terminated

From Mark Jenkins, the WaPo's freelance art critic and author of that newspaper's sole and only coverage of the DC area's art galleries and visual artists:

My editors at the Washington Post have decided to end the Galleries column. The last one will run in the Aug. 25 paper. I’m very sorry to send you this news. I’ve enjoyed writing the column, and getting to know so many artists, curators, and gallery owners.

More on this later.

Is the Galleries column dead?

Just got a note from an old friend at the WaPo that the "Galleries" column may be nixed in the next few days.

I sincerely hope not, as this is the only remnant of the Washington Post's miserable coverage of area art galleries and artists.

Bethesda Row Arts Festival coming September 7-8

Over the last two decades I have written extensively about the phenomenon of gallery art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as art magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last 18 years confirms this fact - I have my own positive empirical evidence, albeit with the caveat that fairs still seem to be recovering from the Covidian monster..

There's another "art world" out there of fine art fairs that - because of the curious highbrow attitude of the "high art" cabal - never really gets any attention from the art media, etc.

I’m talking about outdoor art fairs that some of us know well, and many more others think they know well even though they've actually never been to any of the good ones. I am talking about the outdoor art festivals that get ranked as the top ones by Sunshine Artist magazine and others; fairs such as the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, or the Ann Arbor Arts Festival (actually four separate art fairs that draw over half a million visitors), and of course, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, which routinely attracts about 150,000 visitors in the Miami area.

Immediately the clueless “experts” who have never been to one of these top-of-the-line outdoor art festivals will think and imagine what they visualize as an outdoor art market: dried flowers, teddy bears and watercolors of barns. 

Don't get me wrong, there are thousands and thousands of these type "art" fairs around as well - but those are NOT the ones that I am talking about.

I am talking about the cream of the Sunshine Artist Top 100 list. These are shows where only original art, not reproductions, are allowed, and photography has very severe rules (must be done by the photographer, limited editions only, signed, archival processes only, etc.). These shows are highly competitive to get in (they're juried), and usually offer quite a lot of money in prizes for the artists. The jurors vary from museum curators, art center managers, art critics, artists (I’ve been a juror myself many times), etc.

I guess I'm saying that there's some curatorial legitimacy to them as well... for the elitists amongst you dear readers.

But the real point to which I am driving here is the mathematics of attendance: thousands.

Locally in our area, there are several of these exceptional fine art outdoor festivals: The Bethesda Row Arts Festival in Bethesda, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival in Reston, and the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, also attract those numbers of people and are all highly competitive.

Consider the median income in either Bethesda ($185K) or Reston ($135K), and what you get out of it is a lot of people with a lot of disposable income. As a whole, the DMV itself has a median household income of around $100K – one that ranks among the highest among the U.S.'s 25 most populous metro areas.

Art price tags at these local fairs range from $100 to $20,000. As such, there's a somewhat comparable universe of prices to the DC area gallery market, as an example.

And I submit that a lot of the people who attend one of these outdoor fine art festivals do not have the "formation," as a Communist would say, to dare set foot in a white cube gallery... and have probably never heard of Art Base Miami Beach.

Nearly all of these huge and highly successful outdoor arts festivals (as far as I know) only allow individual artists to sell their work at the fairs, and their entry fees are about 1/100th of the entry fees of the “other” art fairs.

Wanna see one? The Bethesda Row Arts Festival, which is the DMV’s largest outdoor fine arts festival, and one of the best in the country, will take place September 7-8. The show will showcase 185 artists in 14 media categories: ceramics, drawing/pastels, fiber/decorative, fiber/wearables, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metalwork, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, oil/acrylic painting, photography/digital art, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. It is located essentially at the intersection of Elm Street and Woodmont Avenue, two blocks from the Bethesda Metro, and there’s a huge public parking garage within the show itself. 

Online here: https://www.bethesdarowarts.org

See ya there! I'll be in booth S104!

Janis & Porto at the next Affordable Art Fair

 

Janis & Porto at Affordable Art Fair NYC

Janis & Porto at Affordable Art Fair NYC

At the next Affordable Art Fair