Lou Jacobson comes through with a great review of the Sandra Ramos show in the Washington City Paper.

Want to get your artwork into major museums? Photographer Tracy Lee passes this cool story on just how to do that.

Jessica Dawson really gets what Sandra Ramos is all about in this very good review in today's Washington Post.

Last night we took down Tim Tate's exhibition from the Bethesda gallery - once again Tate delivered a spectacular show following his solo debut last year in Georgetown with a nearly sold out show.

The Sandra Ramos exhibit currently in Georgetown has been also spectacularly successful, and will be reviewed tomorrow in the Washington Post and also in the Washington City Paper.

This Friday is the second Friday of the month and thus the Bethesda Art Walk.

Seventeen galleries and spaces participate from 6-9 PM with a free minibus to take art aficionados around the various spaces. We will host about twenty photographers from around the area, nation, Europe and Latin America. Among the photographers are Joyce Tenneson, Jan Saudek, Deborah Nofret, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Elena Volkov and many others.

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This coming Sunday is the Bethesda Artists' Market, which has rapidly been expanding. Now in it's third showing, the market will feature the work of about 40 area artists set up around the gallery in Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue. Unfortunately I won't be there participating as I am doing ar art fair away from the area. But I'll be at the next one on July 11.

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A couple of years ago we tried working with Nikki S. Lee's gallery in New York to bring her photography to the Washington area, but couldn't make it happen. However, Cheryl Numark has and her beautiful new gallery will host Lee's debut in the DC area. She's hosting a party/special event to kick-off Nikki S. Lee's exhibition, titled "Parts & Projects," and DJ Stylus will be spinning Caribbean, Latin and African music at Numark Gallery on June 11 from 6:30 to 9 PM.

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And for nearly three years we had been also working with Sally Mann's dealer, also in New York to bring Sally Mann's new work to the DC area at the same time as her Corcoran exhibition, which is titled "What Remains" and has been curated by Philip Brookman and promises to be one of the power photograhphy shows of the year.

Then the New York gallery director we had been working with decided to have a family, and (I think) she moved to France and everything dropped through the cracks in the interim. Luckily for Washington area Sally Mann fans, Hemphill Fine Arts in Georgetown will be showcasing Mann's work in a show titled "Last Measure" which opens this Thursday with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

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And tonite I am escorting legendary photographer Lida Moser to a reception at the Phillips Collection, where some of her work is on display as part of the Aaron Siskind: New Relationships in Photography exhibition. A portrait of Siskind by Moser is in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery and a portrait of Moser, by Alice Neel is in the permanent collection of the Met in New York.

The thief who stole the life sized statute from the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival (see my May 26 entry) has been caught, according to WTOP News.

Washington Sculpture Center (WSC) Opens.

The WSC will be bringing new creative resources and cultural energy to the Washington Area.

The Washington Sculpture Center (WSC) announces the grand opening of its sculpture studios in Washington, DC on Saturday, June 19, 2004 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The public is welcome to visit the facility at 1338 Half Street SE (located between "N" & "O" Streets SE, two blocks south of the Navy Yard Green Line Metro Station) and watch demonstrations in a variety of sculptural techniques. This is a free event, everyone is welcome and refreshments will be served. Instructors will be on hand to answer questions about their work and about WSC.

The Washington Sculpture Center is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that promotes:
- The teaching of sculpture including glass, metal, and stone to all levels of students so that they may develop their creative potential.
- The placement of sculptures in public spaces in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

The WSC was founded in 2003 by Patricia Ghiglino, a businesswoman and Reinaldo Lopez, artist. The WSC, a one-of-a-kind resource in Washington, offers instruction for beginner through advanced students, taught by local artists, in the following specialties:

· Flamework (bead making, glass blowing, and sculptural work -- Lisa St. Martin, Elizabeth Mears, instructors)
· Mosaics (Gene Sterud, instructor)
· Stained Glass (Jimmy Powers, instructor)
· Blacksmithing (George Anderton, instructor)
· Stone Carving (Reinaldo Lopez, instructor)
· Bronze Casting and mold making (Patrick Birge, instructor)

There will be a drawing for a free class for those who come to the opening June 19 and leave their business card and e-mail address. Winner will be notified June 21, 2004, by e-mail and his/her name will be posted on the website. For more information on the Washington Sculpture Center (WSC), visit their website at: www.dcsculpture.org.

Opportunity for lesbian artists...

Astraea Visual Arts Fund to recognize contemporary lesbian artists.

Deadline: June 11, 2004.

The Astraea Visual Arts Fund recognizes the work of contemporary lesbian artists by providing support to those who show artistic merit and whose art/perspective reflect a commitment to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice's mission and efforts to promote lesbian visibility and social justice. The fund was established by the Astraea Visual Arts Project in 2002. The project sponsors events and educational panels and commissions renowned lesbian artists to create limited edition prints to benefit Astraea's work.

This year Astraea will give two $2,500 cash awards to lesbian visual artists. Slides of original works of art will be accepted in the following categories only: sculpture, painting in any medium, print, drawing, work on paper, and mixed media. Documentary photography is not eligible unless it is part of a more extended process.

Applicants must be U.S. residents. Students currently enrolled in an arts degree granting program or its equivalent at the time of application are not eligible to apply. See the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Web site (noted below) for complete eligibility information and application guidelines visit this website.

Super busy week!

Through the week I have to mat and frame about twenty pieces for a show I'm doing this coming weekend.

This Tuesday we have a small closing reception for Tim Tate's spectacularly successful show in Bethesda.

This Thursday I will be presenting an abbreviated version of the Success as an Artist seminar at the VSA International Arts Festival, taking place at multiple locations in Washington D.C., June 9 - 12 and coinciding with VSA arts' celebration of its 30th anniversary.

Later that evening, at 7 PM, I will be moderating a panel at the Art League in Alexandria. The panel will discuss art and self portraits. Panel members are Dr. Carolyn Carr, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, National Portrait Gallery, Michael O'Sullivan, art critic from the Washington Post, and Prof. Chawky Frenn, perhaps our area's most celebrated self-portrait-obsessed artist.

And Friday is the Bethesda Art Walk and we will have a photography group show surveying work by contemporary photographers from the US and abroad. The show includes work by Joyce Tenneson, Jan Saudek, Martha Maria Perez Bravo, Deborah Nofret Marrero, Viktor Koen (his "Drone" is pictured), Elsa Mora, Cirenaica Moreira and many more.

This ought to be fun...

The First ever International Nude Art Expo is taking place (of all places) in Washington, DC!

Date: Aug 20 - 22, 2004

The Expo is at the new Washington Convention Center and the sponsor has a call for artists!

This expo is opened to all artists, sculptors, photographers, and galleries, etc depicting the nude art form. Visit their website at www.nudeartexpo.org.

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2004.

For more info contact the sponsors at:
Studio 15
3415 Windom Road
Brentwood, MD 20722
Phone: 301- 864- 0700
e-mail: expo@studio15art.com

While I was in California, The Washington City Paper published a review of Tim Tate's current exhibition, which ends June 8.

Annette Polan, Associate Professor at the Corcoran College of Art and a well known portrait painter is gathering together a group of artists to pay tribute to the American soldiers, sailors, aircrews and Marines who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.

Inspired by "Faces of the Fallen," photographs of U.S. casualties published periodically in the Washington Post, Annette passes that she wants a meaningful memorial to the sons, daughters, husbands and wives lost in this war.

As a veteran, I also believe that this is a touching way to honor those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation.

These faces of America will be portrayed by a group of 100 artists – some well known, others still students. Each artist will contribute about 10 portraits. The finished work, drawings, paintings and collages on 6"x 8" canvasses will be exhibited in Washington in late October. The images have been assigned randomly to the artists according to the day on which the casualty occurred.

A website is currently being established so that families of these heroes can post stories and also view finished portraits.

For more info contact Annette Polan at apolan@starpower.net or 202.537.2908

Heading back home today.... will resume posting upon return.

I'm still in San Diego, but don't forget that this coming Friday is the Dupont Circle Galleries extended hours, with most galleries open from 6-8 PM and most artists present as well. Go support our galleries and artists!

Arrived in San Diego extraordinarily late, due to weather issues at Philadelpia. On the flights here I read Thomas Cahill's most excellent book How The Irish Saved Civilization.

I'm heading to California tomorrow... will post from the Left Coast as I am bringing the faithful laptop.

No excuse for this.

The Post's chief art critic, Blake Gopnik delivers his veredict on the DC pandas public art projects as "art."

Regardless of whatever opinion one may have about this project (which by the way nearly every American city now has a version (New York has apples, Los Angeles has angels, Norfolk has mermaids, Baltimore has fish - or it is crabs?) being "art" (in the hi-fallutin' sense of the word - after all I thought that these days everything is art) -- but after all these years I am still amazed by how true the trite saying "art is in the eyes of the beholder" truly is.

Of interest to me, Blake makes the statement:

"The finished sculptures are coloring-book art, too, only blown up in 3-D.

It would take a really skilled contemporary artist to turn a coloring book into something worth an art lover's time. There probably aren't more than a half-dozen artists in this city who could do it. But even those six don't seem to have made it onto the project's 150 artist list. On the long roster of panda decorators, there wasn't anyone whom the city's art aficionados would be likely to count as a top local talent."

This is interesting food for thought.

It's a message to the 150 people on the list: not only does the Chief Art Critic of the Washington Post think your are not a top local talent, but neither do "the city's art aficionados," by his account.

Ouch!

Blake also writes: "There were barely a handful of artists whose names I even recognized at all from any of my visits to studios or galleries or art schools in the region."

I certainly consider myself an "art aficionado," but I have neither been asked nor have I seen the list until now. And after having gone through it, I agree with Blake, as I do not recognize most names, although I did find a few artists that I did recognize, plus a DC gallery owner, plus a well-known national muralist, plus someone with the unfortunate same name as a world famous model (I bet she gets great tables at restaurants).

There were also a large number of schools participating in teams, which I think is a positive effect of this project, and pushes it more toward the "public art" effort that Gopnik objects to.

On the positive side, some his words are good news, because until that statement I was not aware that Mr. Gopnik regularly visited studios or galleries, or art schools around here on a regular basis. I stand corrected and I applaud Gopnik for doing that.

This eloquent man also writes: "For a city its size, it [Washington, DC] also has a surprisingly large and vibrant community of contemporary artists, dealers, collectors and curators who keep things humming on the local scene, and have been steadily pushing its standards up."

It would also be good if he'd help with getting that "large and vibrant community" not be such a surprise by starting to write also about "local" artists and "local" galleries more often so that we'd all realize that he's "in tune" with our "local" art scene.

The proof is in the pudding, I mean writing.

Joanna Shaw-Eagle, the Washington Times Chief Art Critic has a great review of the Sandra Ramos gallery debut show currently on exhibition in Georgetown.

Blake Gopnik is not going to like this:

Carol Strickland, writing in the Christian Science Monitor makes the case that "painting is back."

"In the past two decades, cutting-edge galleries and museums have focused on everything but painting. The halls were chockablock with installations, photo-based work, conceptual art, new media, and digital and video art.

But a fundamental shift has taken place. For a survey exhibition of contemporary work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Charlotta Kotik and her co-curator looked at thousands of works by emerging artists...

"The taste of the art world is changing," Ms. Kotik says. "Suddenly painting is allowed to exist again."

Read the whole article here, then print it and mail it to every museum curator, museum director and art critic that you know.

The rest of us already knew that no matter what gets written, and no matter what gets exhibited in museums, what truly makes an impact here in the trenches is and has been, and will continue to be painting.

(Thanks to ArtsJournal for the lead.)

Thanks to ArtsJournal for this:

A new for-profit company has formed in New York that will create a first-of-its-kind pension fund for artists. The fund, called the Artist Pension Trust, is designed to offer some retirement security for up-and-coming visual artists who are now in their 20s and 30s.

Instead of contributing money to the fund, the selected artists will contribute their own artwork to a trust. The artwork will be held for a number of years, then sold, with the proceeds going into the trust, from which artists will then draw their pensions.

But at issue is how does one guess who (in the 20s) will be a sellable artist in their 60s. Nonetheless, it is a novel and interesting idea.

There will be regional trusts in New York and Los Angeles. Each trust will have 250 artists. The artists will be chosen by a "prominent" group of artists, art professors and gallery owners in each region. Eventually, this outfit plans to have trusts in London, Berlin, Tokyo, Shanghai or Beijing, and possibly Miami.

Read the whole story here.

It may be fun to come up with a list of, say 25 DC area artists in their 20s and 30s, that we'd nominate for this Artist Pension Trust.... that is, if our area is considered for a trust fund.