From the collection of Stuart Marshall Bloch and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch

Congressional Bank is featuring the inspirational works of five distinguished African-American artists to celebrate Black History Month. The Bank is pleased to present an exhibition of powerful pieces from the collection of Stuart Marshall Bloch and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch that will set the stage to publicly honor the culture of these artists.

"The Freedom Place Collection: Works by artists, Romare Bearden, Benny Andrews, Alma Thomas, Robert Freeman, and Richard Yarde" will be on display at the Congressional Bank branch located at 2101 K. St. NW, Washington, D.C. from February 8 - March 30, 2018 during the business hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

The Freedom Place Collection was amassed, and is owned, by Washington residents Stuart Marshall Bloch, Founding Chairman of Congressional Bank, and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, president of the US-China Education Trust and United States Ambassador to Nepal, 1989-1993. The Blochs have been collecting works of African-American artists for over 45 years, and this exhibit highlights the culmination of their efforts. The name of the collection refers to the Freedom Place stop along the Underground Railroad, once located near the Bloch's former home where they lived forever 30 years.

 

Mr. Bloch plays a prominent role in supporting the Washington area community and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Black Student Fund since 1976.  He was a founding editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  Mr. and Ambassador Bloch endowed the FY Chang (HLS-1917) scholars program at The Harvard Law School. They also created and endowed the Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series at the University of Miami.  Stuart Bloch was the original patron (and landlord) of Zenith Square and Zenith Gallery back in 1978.

We are all very fortunate that the Bloch's want to share their wonderful collection with the Washington community and more.

Where: 2101 K Street NW, Washington DC 20037  

Show Dates: February 8 - March 30, 2018

Information: Margery Goldberg, 202-783-2963 art@zenithgallery.com 

Congressional Bank Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm

Call for artists

Deadline: March 30th, 2018. 

VisArts invites artists working in all media to apply for 2019 Solo Exhibitions in the Gibbs Street Gallery and Common Ground Gallery. 

The Gibbs Street Gallery offers exhibitions that explore the breadth of contemporary art featuring emerging to mid-career artists. Exhibits reflect a wide range of media and experimental approaches that offer the viewer unexpected interactions with art. The gallery is approximately 1,100 square feet with 16 ft. ceilings. It is on the street level with floor to ceiling windows along one wall. International, national and local artists are welcome to apply. The Common Ground Gallery features exhibitions that reflect the creative pursuits of artists from our community. The gallery is located on the second floor and is approximately 300 square feet. 

Artists must live in the Mid-Atlantic region to apply for a solo exhibition in this gallery. Applicants who have participated in a solo exhibition at VisArts within the past two years are not eligible to apply. 

Website: https://visarts.submittable.com/submit/98811/call-for-solo-exhibition-2019

An art fair coming to the DMV this fall

From the press release:

After Wowing Art Lovers in New York and Miami, Superfine! Brings its Unique, Inclusive Take on Art Fairs to DC This Fall 

More a haven for emerging contemporary art than a typical art fair, Superfine! is a sophisticated yet approachable means for real people to discover real, meaningful art, and to connect directly with artists and their representatives. Superfine! founders Alex Mitow and James Miille have devised a tried and tested non-traditional formula to build a better and more inclusive art market. Each fair is a unique cultural experience designed to inspire and inform while also providing a fun atmosphere where everyone's inner collector can shine. Following editions in Miami and New York that have succeeded in building new collectors while connecting established ones to the cream of the crop in emerging art, Superfine! DC will launch this fall at Union Market’s Dock 5 event venue in the historic Union Market neighborhood. 

 CLICK HERE FOR DC TEASER VIDEO

Superfine! DC will take place from October 31st to November 4th at the 13,000+ square foot Dock 5 venue at Union Market, a center of art and sophistication in DC’s urban core. The fair will host 85 exhibitors exhibiting under four exhibition platforms (Emerge, Elevate, Explore, and Establish).

One of the few leading contemporary art fairs open to both solo artists and galleries, Superfine! DC also recognizes the advent of non-traditional exhibition platforms such as mobile curatorial programs, artist-led galleries, and artist collectives. The fair’s Explore platform was designed to create space for 20 exhibitors that fit these criteria to exhibit within 16-linear-foot “mini-booths”, each creating unique multi-artist narrative presentations. 24 traditional brick-and-mortar galleries hailing from the DC metro area and around the globe will exhibit under the fair’s Establish platform. Solo artists new to Superfine! may choose 6’ wall spaces as part of the Emerge platform, where young collectors can have a field day discovering emerging artists with all work priced below a cap of $5,000. Artists may also apply to the Elevate platform, which will span 24 solo positions including past Superfine! exhibiting artists and first timers. Approachability is the name of the game at Superfine! with more than 70% of the artwork in the fair priced under $5,000 and each exhibitor also required to present multiple works in the under $1,000 price range. The overarching goal is to create a brisk art market open to all, where even the newest collector can find and take home work that speaks to them. 

Fair director Alex Mitow notes that “It is incredibly important to us that Superfine! DC embodies the capital’s unique position as a global city with rapidly swelling local pride in its arts and culture. With this fall’s fair, Superfine! will present a new, exciting, and approachable option for DC’s broad
range of art enthusiasts wherein they can discover and collect not only the best of the DC metro area, but also the best in global contemporary art.” The fair's release also notes that:

The typical exhibitor breakdown of a Superfine! fair is around 50% local, with the remainder hailing from as many as 20 different countries as well as the entire United States and Canada. Also unique among art fairs is the exceptionally high number of female artists and curators represented in the fair, who make up more than 60% of each fair’s exhibitor list.

As you dear constant readers know, I've been doing art fairs for over a decade now, and have seen multiple organizers try to decipher the DMV's art scene to run a successful art fair along the Miami and New York models - they have all failed so far or just given up (Art DC from the Art Miami family of fairs, and (e)merge). 

The folks who run Pulse and the worldwide set of Affordable Art Fairs also explored the capital region, but probably came to the conclusion that although the area has the second highest concentration of disposable income in the US, it is just not an "art conscious" or "art buying" public (my words, not Ramsay Art Fairs, LLC).

Don't misinterpret my words - the DMV has an amazing art scene, and our artists are amongst the best and most innovative on the planet, regardless of the narrative that some push about this being a backwater of the art world - it is simply not true and misinformed.

But this is a political town.

The main stream press could care less that (as an example), the group of once glass artists who "broke away" (no pun intendedd) from the vessel and the craft of glass as craft, and forced it to become just another substrate, are nearly all DMV artists. Or that the heart of the worldwide Glass Secessionism movement ticks in the DMV, or that the much maligned Artomatic is the world's largest open art show.

Politics is it... not art.

My best to these brave art warriors trying to break the mold again - I hope that you do well and that the fair is a success; good luck getting the Washington Post to notice you.

Trawick Prize Application Now Open - $10,000 Top Prize

The deadline to apply is Friday, April 6.

The 2018 Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards application is now available! 

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted. The jury will select up to 10 finalists for a group exhibition in Bethesda in September 2018. For more information and to apply:http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/trawick-application

Prizes:

• Best in Show - $10,000
• Second Place - $2,000
• Third Place - $1,000
• Young Artist (must be born after April 6, 1988 to be eligible for this category) - $1,000

2018 Judges:

• Christopher Bedford, Director, The Baltimore Museum of Art
• Valerie Fletcher, Independent Art Historian & Senior Curator Emerita, Hirshhorn Museum
• Michael Jones McKean, Artist & Associate Professor, Sculpture & Extended Media, Virginia Commonwealth University  

Deadline: February 22, 2018

REVEALED is an all-media exhibition that aims to examine the relevance and value of self-portraiture, through the individual artist’s varied approach to self-representation. 

The exhibition is open to all artists, national and international, over 18 years of age. The exhibition is juried by Nicole Down, Program Manager for Halcyon Arts Lab. 

Entry Fee: $25 for three artworks; $10 for each additional piece. 

Awards: Juror’s Choice $100; Director’s Choice $75. 

Apply Here: https://hillyerartspace.submittable.com/submit/106273/revealed

Amy Sherald at the David C. Driskell Center

Amy Sherald will be at the David C. Driskell Center in conversation with Dorothy Kosinski, Director of The Phillips Collection on March 29th at 6:30pm. 

This is a free, ticketed event and tickets will be available tomorrow, February 15th at noon on The Phillips Collection's website.

Parking is available at meters or at the Union Lane Garage adjacent to Cole Student Activities Building. Free parking is available at Lot 1 after 4PM.

Come to this opening next week!

Zenith Gallery

1429 Iris St. NW, Washington, DC 20012-1409

Show Dates: February 14 - March 24, 2018

Meet the Artists Reception: Wednesday, February 14, 500-8:00 pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, February 17, 2:00 -6:00 pm

More Talks to be announced

FEATURING ARTISTS: F. Lennox Campello, Suzanne Codi, Chas Colburn, Lea Craigie-Marshall, Eric Ehlenberger, Connie Fleres, Margery E. Goldberg, Philip Hazard, Nancy Nesvet, Alison Sigethy, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Mary Voytek, and Michael Young.

Zenith Gallery’s 70s-90s shows often featured neon artists.  To celebrate its 40th anniversary year, Zenith brings back the work of those artists and new ones using varied forms of light technology and mixed media in their work.  New technologies added to older ones present the best in artwork featuring artificial light at Zenith’s new show, Light Up Your heArt. 

Reaching global heights, neon launched within cities especially in Times Square and Las Vegas as signage. In more recent times, there was a resurgence of neon and light art that propelled artists to incorporate or use neon as the main medium in their works. Since the enhancement of technology, this has created a new frontier within the medium, encouraged by the  development with LED lights and video. 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Zenith Gallery and to celebrate this milestone, we are hosting a series of exhibitions at our two locations; the 1111 sculpture space in Downtown DC and the Iris Street gallery off upper 16th street in the Shepherd Park Neighborhood. Downtown will host a retrospective of the three different locations of Zenith while, Iris St will host exhibits of artists that have been represented by Zenith gallery for decades and others we have recently are thrilled to be representing now. Zenith Gallery continues to be dedicated to finding the unusual and the extremely well-done art over our 40-year history. We like our arts and crafts unique,  with our art well crafted and our craft well art’ed! 

See ya there!

Artist As Entrepreneur Boot Camp

February 24–25, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PMAmerican University Museum
Alper Initiative for Washington Art
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016

Cost: Free, Registration is Required. Click Here!

 

Through the support of the Stephen & Palmina Pace Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in partnership with the American University Museum is pleased to offer a free of charge opportunity for visual artists to participate in the Artist as Entrepreneur Boot Camp program. This two-day-long program will review the fundamental principles of sustainability – and ultimately profitability – in the arts. Topics will include strategic planning, finance, and marketing. Through a blend of formal lectures, breakout groups, and one-on-one meetings, participants will develop a flexible and dynamic “action plan,” and other entrepreneurial tools to serve as a blueprint for their practice or specific projects.

Our first international art fair!

As I've noted before, we're doing our very first international art fair and showcasing the spectacular work of DMV artist Amy Lin at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in South Africa!

I am pleased to share that the official online preview of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair on Artsy has launched to collectors and art enthusiasts in 190+ countries. Starting this week, coverage of the fair is live at artsy.net/investec-cape-town-art-fair-2018 and on the Artsy app for iPhone and iPad.

Check out Amy's work here!

Or visit: http://artsy.net/show/alida-anderson-art-projects-alida-anderson-art-projects-at-investec-cape-town-art-fair-2018

@Artsy

Zenith Gallery: Celebrating 40 Years in the Nation's Capital!

40 years for an independent fine arts gallery is like a million years in "gallery years"!

 40th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

In the Beginning -The Rhode Island Years 1978-1986

Zenith Gallery
Show dates: January 23- April 28, 2018
At 1111 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC 20004
Meet the Artists Reception: Wednesday February 7, 5:00 - 8:00 PM

Featuring Artists: Beatriz Blanco, Chas Colburn, Robert Freeman, Margery Goldberg, Stephen Hansen, Susan Klebanoff, Carol Newmyer, Guenther Riess, Ramon Santiago, Sica, and Ellen Sinel.

40 years in any business is a long time, 40 years in the Art Gallery business is a lifetime! To celebrate Zenith's 40th Anniversary we will be hosting a series of three different exhibitions at the Eleven Eleven Pennsylvania Avenue Sculpture Space, each representing different eras in the history of Zenith marked by location of the gallery, which moved several times over the course of 40 years.  

First of the In the Beginning series will embody the life of Zenith and its artists during the formative years at Rhode Island Avenue. Here is where it all started... when in March of 1978 wood sculptor and gallery owner, Margery Goldberg opened the doors to a 50,000 square-foot complex which became an artists' community and haven known as Zenith Square. 

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this mutant trying to rip off artists - if you want to know how these scams work, click here and look around...

From: George Barbara georgebarbara678@gmail.com

Hello There,
          My name is George Barbara from New Jersey. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work. I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too,  You are doing a great job. I would like to purchase one of your Paintings [Name of a painting here], as a surprise to my wife on our anniversary. Also, let me know if you accept check as mode of Payment.

Thanks and best regards
George.