Opportunity for Artists

The Greenbelt Community Center Art Gallery in Greenbelt, MD, part of the Greenbelt Recreation Department Arts Program is currently seeking artists for exhibitions between July, 2005 and June, 2006.

Apply before May 27 for best chances. No residency restrictions apply. The gallery hosts professional-level exhibitions of contemporary art in an educational community setting.

Proposals may be submitted by individual artists, groups, or curators. Artwork may deal with serious content but must be appropriate for a public building with an intergenerational audience. Preference will be given to artists who are interested in leading one or more paid workshops or other community-oriented program in conjunction with their exhibition.

Send a letter articulating your concept for the exhibition, identifying the contributors, and describing a related workshop or public program (if any) which you would like to produce. Also enclose: photo cd (preferred) or slides (no limit); resume for each contributor; sound or video recording if applicable; documentation of past community-oriented projects if available; and padded return envelope with postage.

Send materials to:

Nicole DeWald
Arts Coordinator
Greenbelt Community Center
15 Crescent Road
Greenbelt, MD, 20770
For more information, call 240-542-2057 or email Nicole here.

The Power of the Web (local Bloggers do good)

J.T. has a solo show coming, G.P. is on CNN, Green will be curating a gallery show, and that living word-processing machine known as J.W. Bailey, strikes again.

Congrats to all!

The Thursday Reviews

Jessica Dawson has an excellent piece about A Proud Continuum: Eight Decades of Art at Howard University, an exhibition that I was not aware was taking place, and which sounds superbly interesting.

Dawson also writes about David Adamson Gallery's move while she looks at Victor Schrager's book still lifes and four landscape prints by William Christenberry.

And in an unexpected orgy of Thursday visual arts coverage, the usually visual art-stingy WaPo also offers a magnificent profile on area photographer John Gossage, whose last book is by Bethesda-based Loosestrife Editions, which produces beautiful photography books.

This profile of Gossage is extraordinary not only in the sense that it profiles a very important (and very good) area visual artist, but in the sense that it is there (in Style) at all. I hope that it signifies a course correction change by the Style section's new editor (Deb Heard), in doing for visual artists what the section already does for local musicians, dancers and actors.

In the City Paper Louis Jacobson has a very good review of our current Lida Moser exhibition in Georgetown.

Elsewhere in the WCP, Bidisha Banerjee has an excellent review of Prof. Peter Charles at Irvine Contemporary; a show which I quite liked as well.

The CP again comes through with a superb artist profile, in this case by Adam Mazmanian about Alexandria artist Mike Lowery.

In The Gazette, Karen Schafer discusses The Baltimore Watercolor Society 2005 Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition at Strathmore Mansion.

In The Georgetowner, Gary Tischler reviews Faces of the Fallen.

The Friday Openings

Tomorrow is Bethesda's time to showcase their galleries, and tomorrow is the Bethesda Art Walk, with 17 participating galleries and art venues.

Free guided tours begin at 6:30pm. Attendees can meet their guide at the Bethesda Metro Center, located at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Wisconsin Avenue. Attendees do not have to participate in tours to visit Art Walk galleries.

Ozmosis Gallery has "A Single Vision" by Deanna Schwartzberg, while Elyse over at Gallery Neptune has an exhibition of artists' made
bookmarks, Marin-Price has paintings by Roxie Munro. Many of her oils and watercolors are views from the roof of her sky-lighted loft studio in Long Island City, just across the East River from her home in mid-Manhattan. And Creative Partners has large watercolors by Valerie Watson.

We have the second solo show by Canadian photographer Andrzej Pluta, who uses a lot of darkroom tricks (like photographing the subject flowers underwater) to deliver some of the most unusual series of flower photographs in contemporary photography.

Read the review of his 2003 solo show here.

Arts Agenda

The DCist Arts Agenda Listing has the best of this week's openings.

Time of the month for the Bethesda Art Walk on Friday.

Kahloprizes

Over the last few months I've been curating a worldwide call to artists for an Homage to Frida Kahlo hosted by Art.com with the sponsorhip of the Cultural Institute of Mexico and the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City.

Like every single one of the hundreds of art shows that I've juried or curated or organized over the years, it was an extremely difficult task. Putting together a group art show, no matter what the subject or focus, is never easy.

I reviewed about 500 entries and selected sixty or so for exhibition at art.com.

Check out the prizewinners here.

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is scheduled to reopen in July 2006, and emulating their namesakes in England and Scotland, they are now institutionalizing and sponsoring a major new national competition for painted and sculpture portraits: The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

One portrait completed since January 1, 2004 may be entered between June 1 and September 6, 2005. Winner will receive $25,000 commission to complete a portrait for the Gallery's collection. Smaller awards for other finalists. Entry fee is $25 for online entries and $35 for snail mail entries.

Up to 500 paper entry forms accompanied by slides of the portrait will be accepted. Submit one or two slides for a painting and up to four slides for a sculpture. A paper entry form must be requested via e-mail from portraitcompetition@npg.si.edu after May 15, 2005. The entry fee will be $35, payable by credit card, certified check, or money order.

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006 will be judged in two stages. First, a panel of experts will use an online jurying system to select approximately 120 semifinalist works. The Gallery will then arrange to ship these paintings and sculptures to Washington, D.C., where the panel will meet again in early March of 2006 to select the 50-60 finalists. These works will be installed in the National Portrait Gallery’s newly renovated second-floor special exhibition galleries.

Details here. I think that it is a shame that only two genres (painting and sculpture) are being admitted to the competition. That decision leaves out the potential for the NPG to explore other rich and vibrant genres like printmaking, collage, photography, even video.

Insider's Hint: I know one of these jurors quite well, and at least in that juror's perspective, he/she will be looking for portraits that really "expand" the definition of portraiture. I will be really, really surprised if a "traditional" portrait is chosen; but I could be wrong.

Don't Mess with the (Russian Orthodox) Church!

(Thanks Joseph)

"The director of the Sakharov Museum was convicted Monday of inciting religious hatred with a controversial art exhibition that was deemed "blasphemous and profane" by the Russian Orthodox Church.

A federal district court fined museum director Yuri Samodurov and curator Lyudmila Vasilovskaya $3,600 each for organizing the 2003 exhibit, which featured dozens of artists' expressions on the subject of religion."

Read the story here. Password available here.

New Website

I keep forgetting to mention it, but our galleries website has been completely redesigned and relaunched.

New website has been designed by Mark Jenkins. Check it out here.

Art Prizes

Chris from Zeke's Gallery in Canada, has an interesting posting with a listing of a variety of American and International Art Prizes, links and the most recent winners.

See it here.

Congratulations

To Janet Solinger, now Vice President, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Public Programs, and who previously directed the now-national Smithsonian Resident Associate Program from 1972–1992.

Ms. Solinger has been selected to receive DC ArtTable's "ArtSpark" award, given to women who have achieved a distinguished career and made significant contributions to art in America.

New Art BLOG

Warren Craghead has a new BLOG called Drawer. Visit often!

Trawick Prize

This coming Friday is the deadline for artists to submit slides to the Trawick Prize. This is the third annual prize competition that awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists.

Deadline for slide submission is Friday, April 8, 2005 and up to fifteen artists will be invited to display their work from September 6, 2005 – September 30, 2005 in downtown Bethesda at Creative Partners Gallery.

The competition will be juried by Olga Viso, the Deputy Director at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Andrea Pollan, an independent curator, fine arts appraiser and art consultant and Dr. Thom Collins, Executive Director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD.

The Trawick Prize was established by the generosity of local small business owner Carol Trawick. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 20 years in downtown Bethesda. She is the Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District.

The Trawick Prize is separate and different from the Bethesda Painting Awards (also sponsored through the generosity of Ms. Trawick; the deadline for the Bethesda Painting Awards has already passed). But Ms. Trawick now ponies up $20,000 of her own money to award to area artists (the competition is open to DC, MD and VA artists); this is especially commendable because she's a small business owner who has stepped forward and put her money where her mouth is (in her community), while other area business giants have ignored repeated requests to help add to the prize monies. By the way, we contribute $1,000 for a Young Artist's Award.

Wouldn't it be nice if our area's business giants like... Giant Supermarkets, or AOL or Lockheed Martin each threw in a measly (to them) $20,000 to this pot of money so generously started by a small local business?

That would mean a local art prize of $80,000! That would certainly change an artist's day, presence and stature, uh?

Forward this link to major area business giants and maybe we can shame them into participating in what Ms. Trawick has seeded.

The application for the prize is online here.

Sock to the Jaw

And yet another person (in this case Sarah Corteau) challenges Blake Gopnik's treatment of a historical subject. She opens with:

In his March 26 Style review of the National Gallery of Art's Gilbert Stuart exhibition, Blake Gopnik used pop psychology to interpret the artist's portraits.

Stuart's life was indeed rich with drama. Until his death, Stuart teetered on bankruptcy -- as likely an explanation for his prolific production as ego or desire for celebrity. But Mr. Gopnik never mentioned this fact, instead choosing to put Stuart on the shrink's couch.

Read the piece here.

Wanna Go to a Gallery Closing Reception Today?

Curated by Margaret Boozer and Claire Huschle, "Existing to Remain" at DCAC closes today with a gallery talk at 3PM when you can join the artists and curators for the Gallery talk and Closing Reception.

In "Existing to Remain," four artists use ceramics and other materials as a point of departure to study transformation in the artistic process. The title refers to designations on architectural drawings denoting what is to be destroyed and what will remain during renovation. Kate Hardy examines the slippery delineation between Art and Craft in public collections. Rebecca Murtaugh considers frequency, time, and permanence. Claire Sherwood looks closely at notions of the feminine in the transformation of materials like coal and cement. Dina Weston studies aggregation and biography in an installation that uses existing architecture.

DCAC is located at 2438 18th Street, NW in Washington and can be reached at 202/462-7833.

Thanks G.P.!

Click on the Van Gogh Google and prepare to die laughing!

My day has been made and soon I will head out to the Arlington Arts Center for their opening tonite.

See ya there!

DCist Review

DCist has a review of the new William Christenberry show at Hemphill by Seth Thomas Pietras; the first of what I hope are many more visual art reviews by DCist.

Faces of the Fallen

Michael O'Sullivan writes some intelligent viewpoints about the Faces of the Fallen exhibition that makes up for the unexcusable pulpit-preaching piece earlier written by Philip Kennicott.

I do find this quote puzzling:

Vivienne Lassman, a former gallery owner and freelance curator who helped to install the final works, put it as bluntly as possible: "This is not an art exhibition."

She's wrong.

This is an art exhibition.

The debate as to the quality of the portraiture could apply to any group show in the history of art; what clouds this issue is that politics got involved in the mix, and because neither the pro nor the anti-war sides were allowed to kidnap this project (the Honorary Chairs for the exhibition include Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA), Senator John McCain (AZ), Senator John Warner (VA), Congressman John Dingell (MI), and Congressman John McHugh (NY) among others), the sore losers on both extremist sides are whining. The show, as it stands right now (and as O'Sullivan points out), is is largely nonpartisan and agenda-free.

There are some really amateurish, inept portraits, and there are also some superbly well done portraits; but let's not mix words: it is an art exhibition, and a powerfully memorable one at that.

Plus, and as O'Sullivan points out:

After all, you don't go to a showing of the AIDS quilt, or "This Is New York," the open-to-all-comers traveling exhibition of photographs of 9/11 and its aftermath, and critique the sewing technique of the quilters or the tonal qualities of the mostly amateur shutterbugs' prints.

I think that it is an impressive, emotional and memorable art project and send my thanks to every participating artist and the organizers for creating such a memorable event.

I also think that the artists who were rejected by the curator for trying to inject a political mix into the project have a solid and deep set of opinions that should be expressed, and I certainly hope that they unite and find a venue to show their anti-war or pro-war or political viewpoint portraits. If and when that happens, that will be good for the dialogue created by an important art exhibition, and their exhibition will also be art.

Gallery Openings

Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month and thus the extended hours for the Dupont Circle area galleries.

Some key Dupont Circle shows not to miss are Maria Friberg's exhibition at Conner Contemporary, Laura Fayer at JET Artworks, William T. Wiley at Marsha Mateyka, Maxine Cable's room installations at Gallery 10 and Gabriel Jules at Washington Printmakers.

In Georgetown, Anne C. Fisher Gallery also has an opening titled "Resonance" for John M. Adams' paintings and Frances Sniffen's sculptures. From 6-8PM.

It's a tough call, but tomorrow I will be heading for the Arlington Arts Center to see the unfortunately named "Art with Accent: Latin Americans in the Mid-Atlantic States," curated by Susana Torruella Leval, Director Emerita, El Museo Del Barrio, New York.

That opening is from 6-9PM, and the exhibiting artists selected by Ms. Torruella Leval are: Aldo Badano, Juan Bernal, Gute Brandao, Mark Caicedo, Ana Cavalcanti, Irene Clouthier, Pepe Coronado, Gerard de la Cruz, Felisa Federman, Luis Flores, Eva Holz, Tamara Kostianovsky, Rosana Lopez, Carolina Mayorga, Lara Oliveira, Alessandra Ramirez, Victoria Restrepo, Helga Thomson, and Maria Velez.

I love the diversity of names, helping to smash the stereotype of "Hispanic" as a cultural segregator. The curator will also lead a round table discussion with participating artists, "Latin American" Art: Expectation and Reality, on Thursday, April 21 at 7PM. My vociferous views on this issue here.

The Thursday Reviews

In the WaPo, Jessica Dawson reviews Mark Dell'Isola at Govinda Gallery in Georgetown, and also reviews Prof. Peter Charles at Irvine Contemporary and has a little blurb on American Icons at Robert Brown.

At G.P., Kriston has an excellent review of Molly Springfield at JET Artworks.

In the City Paper, Louis Jacobson reviews Valeska Soares at Fusebox, while Jeffry Cudlin reviews Shimon Attie at Numark.

The CP also has a letter from J.W. Bailey coming to the defense of curator Annette Polan in the wake of the hubris caused by the "Faces of the Fallen" exhibition.

And finally, the CP has a great feature on painter Erik Sandberg. By the way, since the article doesn't mention it, Erik Sandberg is represented locally by Conner Contemporary Art, which has done a huge amount of work to promote his career and continues to do a superb job in giving Sandberg's name the recognition that it deserves; Erik is lucky to have such a hard working gallery representing his work.

These artist features, which the CP does rather regularly, is one of the key things that makes this paper such a great asset to our cultural tapestry, since none of the other area newspapers does anything remotely similar (unless it is a late obituary).

For the record, I think and have thought for many years, that Sandberg is without a doubt one of the best painters in our area, and I own two of his paintings.

Also for the record, his statement that he left our gallery because "They lost my damn number five times, or they never had my number," differs from my own recollections as to the reasons that he gave us (in a voice mail) for leaving the gallery, one of which was that "he had decided to be on his own and not be represented exclusively by any gallery." This was a couple of days after his very successful first solo show had closed. To this date, he remains the only artist who has ever "left us" voluntarily since we opened our first gallery in 1996.

We gave a very young Erik Sandberg his first solo show in Washington, sold nearly all of his work, and whatever didn't sell was then sold through Sothebys, to collectors in Europe and Japan. Nonetheless, for a variety of reasons, Erik chose to leave our gallery.

I remain a huge fan of Erik Sandberg's work.