Arts Journal has picked up my Pentagon public art post made earlier today and put it in their national page.

Thanks AJ! Now let's see if the Post or the City Paper gets interested in following up the story.

If the Pentagon was in New York City, then maybe Art News, or Art Forum or Art in America might do a follow up story.

Wanna exhibit in an art museum (and if your art does not sell - it automatically becomes part of the museum's permanent collection)?

Come again?

Yep! The Modesto Art Museum in California is trying to raise funds, and they are hosting a mail art exhibition (deadline is November 30, 2004), where artists submit artwork through the mail no larger than 9.5 x 7 x 1 inches, or 24 x 18 x 3 centimeters.

All entries become the property of the Modesto Art Museum and will be sold to raise funds for the new museum; entries not sold will become part of the museum collection.

A bit ass-backwards if you ask me, but then again, it is a paradoxical commentary on museum acquisitions (in some cases): If the public doesn't like it -hey! we'll take it!

But seriously... this is a good way to help a museum find some extra sheckels while at the same time getting a chance to exhibit a small piece in a different setting and perhaps even ending up in a museum collection.

A museum by any other name is still a museum...

Details here.

This article in the Washington Post discusses how "a multimillion-dollar treasure trove of 19th- and 20th-century art has been discovered in basements, boiler rooms, closets and hallways in Philadelphia's cash-strapped public schools."

While the chances of DC area art schools having a hidden art trove is slim to none, let me tell you where I think there's a hidden treasure of artwork - not from the 19th century, but nearly all from 20th century (especially WPA period, and 50s and 60's): The storage buildings where the military's art collection (from the various services and mostly from closed bases all over the world) is "stored."

Not the significant and important art collection on display at the Pentagon, but the stored collection of thousands of works of art that a few years ago were stored in a couple of buildings at Andrews Air Force base. As I recall, there was some sort of investigation that discovered that the Department of Defense had little or no accountability or inventory for many of these works.

Sounds bad, but it is understandable. In fact I would submit impossible to have an inventory of artwork commissioned, donated, gifted, etc. to potentially thousands of U.S. military presences all around the globe in the last two hundred years.

As bases close, often things like artwork find their way back to this area, and they are/were stored at Andrews (at least ten years ago they were... not sure if they are still there). Sometimes they find their way to DLA and the various places where the public can buy anything being disposed of by the DoD (there used to be such as site around Fort Belvoir, Virginia).

But in any event, a DoD employee is/was resposible for maintaining accountability for this art collection, and in the mid 90s she was apparently fired/quit in part because a military Inspector General's team discovered that the works were generally unaccounted for and in many cases improperly stored (leaky buildings, rain, moisture, etc.).

All of these issues I am recalling from memory (I read the story initally in one of those air line magazines), but some things stuck in my head: the number of artworks mentioned in the story as being stored at Andrews (in the 100s of thousands) and the fact that there were many WPA pieces in the storage area, as well as possibly up to six unaccounted Norman Rockwell paintings.

Sounds like a good story for an enterprising Washington City Paper or Washington Post reporter to follow up on, uh? Maybe Teresa Wiltz? or Jeffry Cudlin?

I suspect that the accountability problem still exists. In fact I submit that the various services' art curators (each service has an art curator for its own art collection and they all have offices at the Pentagon) do not even have an accurate inventory of the artwork on display at the Pentagon today!

My suspicions were kindled when this story in Art News discussed the fact that US Army curator Renee Klish discussed the fact that four important paintings had been destroyed by the 9/11 attack, but says that eleven other artworks "may have been destroyed."

I am willing to bet that if the Andrews Air Force base artwork storage building still exists, that there are works in there worth hundreds of millions of dollars and maybe still being stored away in improper conditions. I hope I am wrong about the latter.

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Update! An alert DCARTNEWS reader also recalls the story I mentioned (published in an air lines magazine in mid 90s) and she even recalled the name of the fired/dismissed/she-quit DoD Art Curator. I have it and will pass it to any enterprising reporters who want to follow up this story - in fact I even have contact info, since I recognized the name as someone still associated with the business of the arts in our area.

I have been trying to move in and settle into my newly-bought house since April... I have a fairly big back yard with several trees and a lot of wild bamboo that's growing everywhere. Does anyone out there know how to get rid of bamboo?

It's like the Frankentree of back yards... apparently one of my neighbors planted it a few years ago and now it has spread all over the place. All the houses around me have managed to get rid of it, but me -- as the new kid on the block -- my lot still has a backyard full of 60 feet plus bamboo shoots all over the place.

Nuthin' to do with art... just thought I'd ask...

Tough day today... have been all day at the Virginia Scottish Games trying to sell some artwork (Catriona's Scottish photographs and my own Pictish Nation drawings and prints) - it has been very windy and moist.

A few posts ago I commented on the fact that newspaper reviews rarely if ever cause any sales.

Well, no sooner had I posted that... a few days ago Jonathan Padget mentioned in his Arts Beat column in the Post that Andrew Devlin had won the Best of Show at the VIII Georgetown International. The column was illustrated with Devlin's winning entry.

Well, today someone walked in with the story from the paper in hand and bought Andrew's work!

And finally for this Friday.... the animated cartoon everyone is talking about.

I'm not really sure what "Latino history" is (but I wonder if it includes this guy)... but here it goes anyway...

Job announcement for a Director, Program in Latino History & Culture.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History seeks a creative director to lead its program in Latino history and culture. The director conceptualizes, plans and implements the museum's Program in Latino History and Culture and produces a variety of programs, lectures, exhibitions, conferences, concerts and other programmatic activities reflecting Latino history and culture.

The position is full-time, permanent with a salary range from $60,638-$78,826 per annum with excellent benefits. For questions, contact Erika Mack: (202) 633-3555, e-mail: macke@si.edu .

To apply, see announcement #04BT-1216 at the following websites: www.americanhistory.si.edu or www.si.edu/ohr.

The College Art Association assists artists financially in completion of MFA and Ph.D. programs. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to individual artists. Deadline is ongoing. For information, contact:

The College Art Association Fellowship Program
275 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 691-1051

One of my pet peeves about people who say that they write about the Washington visual art scene is the fact that some of them rarely immerse themselves in it. I believe that in order to really be qualified to write about Washington art galleries and Washington artists, then you need to spend a lot of time going to Washington art galleries and talking and meeting and kibitzing with people involved in the arts and artists.

This doesn’t mean just hanging around the three or four fave galleries, where you know the owner, and he/she knows you and greets you when you come in. This doesn’t mean focusing on just the museums and writing about the big names.

And above all, this doesn’t mean dismissing all the galleries that you never visit or perhaps then unfairly perceive as not relevant or interesting. The gall to dismiss art that you never see, or to evaluate a place that you’ve never set foot on, is not only short-sighted but downright unethical.

But it happens.

To write about Washington galleries one needs to spend a lot of time visiting galleries. Not just a handful here and there because you day job is so demanding on you, but 2-3 a week and all over the area – Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Alexandria, Bethesda, 7th Street area, Arlington, the universities, the various ethnic/embassy cultural centers and galleries, the non-profits in Rockville, Reston, etc. A lot of driving; a lot of time; a lot of viewing and digesting.

Being on the "inside" affords me some interesting views of the world of art. One of these views are of and about art critics and writers, most of whom are smart, eloquent, fair and intelligent symbiotic members of our art scene, and some of who operate under the mantle of being objective and fair and open minded, and yet carry hidden agendas, lazy gallery routes and unethical practices.

Let's discuss the latter.

They just don’t have the time, or desire, to see a lot of galleries. I don’t blame them – it’s not easy... but then don’t pretend that you then "cover the DC area."

Sigh... here it comes.

We are without a doubt one of the most reviewed galleries in the Greater Washington area – that is one thing for which we cannot complain (in fact, we have a small mention in today's Arts Beat column in the Post). All three major DC area newspapers (Post, Times and WCP) have been more than generous in reviewing our galleries over the years. Especially when one realizes how meager is the Post and Times’ printspace dedicated to the art galleries.

The one notable exception as far as printspace being the WCP, which under the guidance of its Arts Editor, Leonard Roberge, has taken the lead in reviewing and discussing the area’s visual art scene and delivers more reviews in a weekly format than the two dailies combined.

However, after dozens and dozens of reviews by the papers, national and international magazines, and even television. And after being around for over eight years, and having offered well over 100 art exhibitions… I still know of at least two widely published area art scribes who have never set foot in either of our galleries (at least as far as I know)… or in most other galleries in our area (I know because before I wrote this I talked to four gallery owners at random and asked them: "As far as you know, has fill-in-the-blank ever set foot in your gallery?"

The answer was no.

Interesting uh?

A local collector, who lives in Annandale, Virginia has more than 10,000 pieces of art in his private collection.

He does not collect, however, any contemporary American art.

"All art is a sign of its times," he said, "and from the 1950s forward, there is nothing in our society that's worth pursuing. That art has no future. It will just continue to become extinct -- as it should."

Sounds interesting? Read the Washington Post story here.

Thinking Inside the Box: The Art of Andrew Krieger opens at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on July 24 and runs until November 15, 2004.

It is great to see a Washington area artist's work in one of our museums. This show is curated by Eric Denker. The exhibition showcases more than 100 works from this Washington, DC-based printmaker, sculptor and draftsman. A well-deserved and richly-earned congratulations to Krieger.

Denker is another of the rare few local curators who has his finger on the DC art scene. He notes that "this exhibition underscores the Corcoran’s continued commitment to spotlighting local artists worthy of wider national recognition."

A suggestion to the Corcoran: How about a show for Manon Cleary?

Opportunities for artists...

Deadline August 15,2004

Portland Art Gallery Accepting Submissions for Latin American Art Exhibit (10/1-12/12). The Latin American Arts and Cultures Council of Oregon and the Belinki and DuPrey Gallery are presenting an art exhibition celebrating Oregon's Latin American cultural heritage. Featuring traditional arts (textiles, ceramics, folk art, etc.) and fine contemporary art by Latino/Hispanic/Latin American or artists of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry from Latin American countries, this exhibit will provide a visual accompaniment to other community events celebrating Latin American art and culture.
Belinki and DuPrey Gallery
1224 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205
503.227.1242, email: erin@belinkiandduprey.com.

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Deadline August 15, 2004.

Public Art Project: The NC Zoo – North Carolina is seeking qualifications from artists or teams led by a professional artist for a large-scale sculpture that promotes renewable energy. This is an opportunity to design a participatory, kinetic work driven by the technology of renewable, "green" energy generation for an exterior setting. Up to 3 artists will each receive a $500 honorarium to visit the sites for an interview and proposal presentation. Project budget - $73,000 inclusive of artist fee, engineering, fabrication, installation and other associated costs. For more information contact Ellen Greer at ellen.greer@ncmail.net or 336.879.7450 or see this website.

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Deadline August 15,2004

15th Northwest Annual: Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) – Washington state. From Oct 9-Nov 20 CoCA presents the 2004 Northwest Annual, a juried exhibition now in it's fifteenth year, which is open to all professional artists residing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Northwest Annual is an opportunity for artists to gain regional and national exposure and serves as a vital showcase for experimental work and emerging talent. CoCA is accepting submissions for the following media: painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, works on paper, and video. The juror for the CoCA's 2004 is visual artist Ken Lum. Prospectus and entry form can be found at this website, or email jim@cocaseattle.org.

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Deadline August 9,2004
Audubon Artists 62nd Annual National All-Juried Exhibition – NY. Sep 18-Oct 8, 2004. Salmagundi Club. Aquamedia, graphics, oil, pastel, and sculpture. Awards: over $12,000. Art lecture by Robert Gamblin on Oct 3, 12:30-1:30 pm. For prospectus, send SASE to:
Raymond Olivere
1431 Lexington Ave, #11D
New York, NY 10128

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Deadline August 21, 2004 - Pastel Society of New Mexico 13th National Juried Exhibition – NM. November 5-21. Expo New Mexico (Fairgrounds). 80% pastel. Judge: Richard McKinley. Awards: $5,000 in merchandise and cash. Entry fee: $25/3 members, $30/3 nonmembers, maximum 3 slides. For prospectus, send #10 SASE to:
PSNM-B
PO Box 3571
Albuquerque, NM 87190-3571

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Deadline: September 20, 2004

Allied Artists of America 91st Annual Open Exhibition - NJ. Nov 13-30, 2004. National Arts Club. All artists. Oil, watercolor, acrylic, casein, pastel, graphics, sculpture. Awards: $16,000 cash, medals. 20% commission. For prospectus, send SASE to:
R. Yanow
12 Korwell Circle
West Orange, NJ 07052

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Deadline August 25, 2004

2004 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition: Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University – AR. Delta National Small Prints Exhibition: Oct 21 - Nov 19, 2004. Juror: Shelley R. Langdale, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Full color catalog of all work in the exhibition. Several purchase awards, sales encouraged. For a prospectus send SASE to:
2004 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition
Bradbury Gallery
Fowler Center
PO Box 2339
State University, AR 72467
Or email: dnspe@astate.edu

Wanna have fun with Egyptian Hieroglyphics?

The New York Times has a story on an idea for a pension trust for artists that I discussed here last May.

Read the NYT story here.

Jobs in the Arts...

Executive Director: Mystic Arts Center, Connecticut.

The Mystic Arts Center, founded in 1913, is a non-profit art exhibition and educational organization, which seeks an Executive Director. Working in partnership with the Board, the Executive Director will provide leadership and direction to the Center, oversee the daily operations, facilitate the long-range strategic plan, serve as the professional spokesperson for the organization, recruit and manage membership and oversee the budget.

This full-time position directs a staff of 10 and is located on waterfront property with a 10,000 square foot facility. Qualifications: A bachelor's degree and at least five years of senior level experience, ideally in a non-profit environment. Proven budget management, fund-raising and computer experience desired.

For more information please visit their website here.

Salary: Competitive. Submit resume and cover letter to:
Search Committee
Mystic Arts Center
9 Water Street
Mystic, Connecticut 06355

or email to: mysticartssearch@aol.com

Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. Secondsight is committed to supporting photographers at every stage of their careers, from students to professionals.

Their next meeting is July 30. Their guest speaker is Bernis von zur Muehlen.

Bernis is a widely respected pioneer of male nude photography and her work has been exhibited in numerous museum exhibitions throughout the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Delaware Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Additionally, her work has been published in many anthologies of male nude photography including Women Photograph Men, Women See Men, The Male Nude in Photography and Male Bodies: A Photographic History of the Nude.

Contact Secondsight here.

Read this artist's experience in copyright image fraud.

Anna L. Conti is a Bay Area artist who discovered that her artwork was being downloaded from her site, copied and being then sold on Ebay.

I am on travel this week, so the posts will probably come at odd times during the day, so check often!

Last Friday, Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator for Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn Museum, awarded the Best in Show for the VIII Georgetown International Juried Art Competition to area artist Andrew Devlin. Quite an accomplishment, as Hileman reviewed nearly 1,000 submissions from all over the world, and then selected around 20 for the exhibition.

Devlin will have a solo show in our Georgetown gallery next year as part of the award package.

The Georgetown 3rd Friday openings at Canal Square were packed last Friday - one of the better opening nights in years. There was even quite a bit of media present, including (incredibly enough) some New York City press, I guess out for a visit to the galleries in the provinces.

One of the great joys of writing about art in the Greater Washington area is the discovery once in a while of an exhibition that, unexpectedly in most cases, just takes your breath away with its impact, presence and lingering ability to elicit thoughts and responses long after you’ve left the gallery.
 
In this case, the gallery is Target Gallery, inside the Torpedo Factory, and the exhibition is “In 2Words: Numbers,” a national exhibition juried by Washington firebrand curator Sarah Tanguy.
 
Let me show my cards early: This is the best Target Gallery, show that I’ve ever seen in the twelve years that I have been regularly covering the Greater Washington visual art scene for newspapers and magazines.
 
A bit about the premise for the show: “In 2Words: Numbers” is the first of a pair of national exhibitions that focus on the use of digits, mathematics and formulas in contemporary art. The second exhibition (titled “In2Words: Words”), juried by Krystyna Wasserman, Curator of Book Arts at the National Museum of Women in the Arts opens July 24, 2004.
 
The employment of digits, mathematics and formulas as the driving and unifying theme in the show appealed to me through a couple of sensory inputs – the first as an artist, and the second as a Mathematician. As an undergraduate student at the University of Washington in beautiful Seattle I managed to graduate with a double degree: one in Art and one in Mathematics - odd uh?
 
Anyway, the sixteen artists selected by Tanguy all managed to create artwork that cleverly manage to revolve about this rather unusual theme. In a group show, any group show, there are usually standouts, weak entries and a majority of forgettable artwork in the majority. In mathematical terms, the first two would be the out layers and the rest the median.
 
In this case, I can honest find few out layers – simply because the quality and cleverness and creative thought employed in nearly every entry surpasses most expectations. But let’s discuss some of them.
 
Judith Larsen, a photographer from Cambridge, Massachusetts has three digital photographs on exhibit. In all three instances, Larsen has a female figure that has been decorated with numbers and formulas, like a modern digital Pictish princess. At first one would think that this may be a heavy handed way to crack open the door to “fit” the competition’s theme. And yet, Larsen disarms that negative pre-impression by the marriage of the mathematical tattoos with interesting poses by the model coupled with an unusual digital color palette. The combination of numbers, formulas, poses and colors all add up unexpectedly to deliver quite interesting photographs.
 
Still in the realm of photography, but pushing the envelope a bit more, at least as far as the receiving medium, is Jayson Taylor from Hays, Kansas. Taylor’s “Running Thoughts” combines silk, muslin, and etched aluminum – all coupled with a photo transfer process – to produce a visually interesting work that requires the manual lifting of the silk or muslin to get to the various stages of the actual photograph. Combining a series of numerical finite layers with interaction from the viewer has given Taylor a huge advantage in probably being the most creative of all the interpreters of the theme selected by Tanguy.
 
On the floor of the gallery, there’s an unusual and visually entertaining piece by New Yorker Frank Raczkowski (with a sign letting you know that it is OK to step on it – carefully). Titled “Point Five,” it is made of rubber, steel and level vials all aligned to look like one of those floor mats made up of old tires. He is what art BLOGger Tyler Green would dub a "Wal-Martist." I like this piece partially because of the inner tension that it creates in inviting me to step on it.
 
Step on artwork?
 
Geez… we’re not even supposed to touch it, right? But Raczkowski must be pretty sure of his construction to ask us to step on it (carefully). But Frank, what about all those little level vials, filled with that strange yellowish fluid with the bubble in the middle (what is that stuff?). No thanks – but it works wonderfully in making me look at the work, study it, praise it and avoid stepping on it. Congratulations, you pass.
 
At the risk of being verbose about Mr. Raczkowski, his second entry on display is made up of 148 digital prints of someone’s skin, prickling with short stubble hair. We’re told in the catalog that there are 75,080 counted hairs.
 
OK, now I am interested. First of all, what part of the anatomy has Raczkowski photographed, sometimes it looks strangely sexual, other times it looks like maybe a shaved animal skin (a pig?), and others a made up alien landscape. Eventually the dutiful gallery assistant or gallery director Claire Huschle will tell you that they are photos of Raczkowski’s shaved head.
 
Even after this information is disclosed I am having trouble pinpointing any of the 148 prints, arranged salon style in a corner of the gallery space, to anything resembling a human landscape on anyone’s head. I am even having more trouble comprehending why anyone would want to count all the hairs – but someone did (or is telling us they did) and I sort of like that in a mathematical way.
 
As Tanguy eloquently describes in her juror’s statement, “[in this show] process is paramount… As intimations become revelations, the works transform us from passive recipients to active explorers.”

I believe Raczkowski and I ain't even beginning to think to count the hairs - but I was tempted!

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The show is on display until July 18, 2004. Target Gallery is the national exhibition space of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, displaying artwork in all media from artists across the United States and abroad. Located on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Target is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm and other times by appointment. Contact the gallery at (703) 838-4565, ext. 4.

Call for Artists...

The League of Reston Artists (LRA) has a Call for Artists for the upcoming Annual Judged Fine Arts Exhibition at the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey.

$300 in award monies will be presented at the opening reception by this year’s judge, Libby Stevens. This call for entry is limited to a maximum of two framed works of fine art from each artist. The entry fee is $15 for LRA members and $20 for non-members. The call for entry form can be downloaded from the LRA’s web site at this website. Send completed entry form to the LRA, POB 2513, Reston, VA 20195, or present the completed form at the door during drop-off of the works of art.

Artists who are interested in submitting work for this exhibition are advised that they must deliver or have their work delivered in person to the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, on Friday, July 30, from 10:00 - 11:00 am. Works must be appropriately framed for hanging per the printed framing standards on the call for entry form and suitable for display in a public building.