Wanna go to an opening?

Tomorrow, Sunday June 19, the League of Reston Artists (LRA) is having the opening reception for the show that I curated for them.

The reception is from 2-4PM. Directions here. See the award winners here.

See ya there!

25th Biennial Exhibition

The Creative Crafts Council recently announced the winners of the 25th Biennial Exhibition Awards at a reception held at Strathmore Mansion in Rockville, Maryland.

Awarded "Best in Show" was a fused art glass piece by artist Robert Wiener, a native of Washington, DC. The winning piece is entitled "Beauty in the Breakdown" and it is a wall triptych that includes over 2,250 individual murrine pieces handmade by the artist. Each murrine is approximately a quarter of an inch thick and consists of seven layers of hand cut art glass specifically created for fusing. See it here.

The Creative Craft Council is made up of ten local craft guilds, including the National Capital Art Glass Guild. The purpose of the Council is to present to the public a biennial exhibition of high quality crafts made in the metropolitan area. For the 25th Biennial Exhibition 214 artists submitted close to 600 pieces including works in clay, enamel, fiber, glass, metal, mixed media, polymer and wood.

The juror was designer, craftsman, teacher and artist Donald Stuart served as the juror for this special event. Mr. Stuart traveled from Canada where he has won numerous awards for his own work in metal and precious stone inlay.

The Creative Craft Council’s 25th Biennial Exhibit runs through July 9 at the Strathmore Mansion.

DC Art Beat

DC Art Beat is a new (new to me anyway) site focusing on art, music and ideas.

Visit them here.

Kiosk

Kiosk is an artists' collaborative formed by DC area artists Karen Joan Topping, Ian Jehle and Alan Callander.

Visit them here.

Uncensored

Ming-Yi Sung, the artist whose work was censored at the "Not the Knitting You Know" Sculptural Knitting and Crochet exhibition, emailed me some "before" and "after" images of her "offending" work from the "Settlement with the Monkeys" piece:

Settlement with the Monkeys (Uncensored)


Settlement with the Monkeys (Censored)

Georgetown Openings Tonight

The five Canal Square Galleries (Alla Rogers, MOCA, Parish, Fraser and Anne C. Fisher) will be having their new show openings or extended hours tonight.

The openings start at 6PM and go through 9PM. They are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant and are free and open to the public.

We will be hosting mixed media pieces by Andrew Devlin, who was the winner of last year's Georgetown International Fine Arts Competition.

See ya there!

Cover the Penis

All the way in the earthquaky Left Coast I've been hearing about "Not the Knitting You Know" Sculptural Knitting and Crochet exhibition at Eleven Eleven Sculpture Space (located at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, in DC).

One reader emailed that this exhibition is a "cunning content-driven craft spectacle!"

The exhibition is curated by Binnie Fry and features work by: Ann Citron, Katharine Cobey, Jeanne Garant, Kathleen Holmes, Norma Minkowitz, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Karen Paust, Carien Quiroga, Gayle Roehm, Blanka Sperkova, Alex and Viviana Santamarina, Ming-Yi Sung, Daina Taimina, Andrea Uravitch, and Joyce Zipperer.

The show has apparently caused some controversy, and I am told that the work of Ming-Yi Sung has been "sanitized" in order to keep it in the show. A reader notes that the "management didn't seem to mind the breast exposure, but the dicks had to be covered up."

She even crafted a cute little cod piece for her Hermaphrodite on the window sill.


And has put some fig leaf on others.

The exhibition runs through September 10, 2005.

When Everything is Art

Anything, no matter how silly or tasteless, becomes art. Read it here.

New DC Art Blog

Marsha Stein has a new art Blog. It's called Synergy.

Visit it here.

End of an era

Kodak has announced that all black and white silver gelatin photographic papers have been discontinued. They will sell what they have in stock until the end of 2005.

Roundup

Kirkland reviews a few shows around town.

Target Gallery Seeks New Director

The fair Claire Huschle, who'd done a spectacular job as the Director of the Target Gallery in Alexandria has accepted a new position and will soon become the Program Director at the Arlington Art Center. Congratulations to Claire!

And thus the Target Gallery is now looking for a new director!

Congratulations

To Kriston, who's getting a new BLOG gig with the Smithsonian. Read it here.

In California

I flew today from Dulles to San Diego - Boy are my arms tired! (Sorry - old Henny Youngman joke).

Reads like a good read

I'm going to get this book once I get to California and read it on the flight back.

Shafer on Bethesda Painting Prize

Karen Shafer of The Gazette discusses the inaugural Bethesda Painting Prize and the final eight. Read it here.

The opening of the show was last night, although the winners were announced two nights ago.

Some pictures...

Dr. Claudia Rousseau, one of the three jurors, discusses the jurying process.


Carol Trawick with the $10,000 winner (Joe Kabriel) and Catriona Fraser. The painting on the background that looks like it's about to deliver a knockout punch to Catriona is "Jacob" by Andrew Wodzianski.


And six foot five Andrew Wodzianski as the world's tallest Ninja.

The Weekly Reviews

In the City Paper, Louis Jacobson reviews our current Gabriela Bulisova at Fraser Gallery Georgetown.

In the WaPo, Michael O'Sullivan reviews Craig Doty at Strand on Volta. Earlier, Jonathan Padget discussed "Queering Sight -- Queer Insight," at the Warehouse Gallery.

The Weekend

I'll be away all weekend at an art fair, so posting will be done later on the day. Then on Monday I leave for a week on the Left Coast and return on Friday.

As usual, my trusty laptop will come with me and posting will continue for California.

Bethesda Art Walk Tonight

Tonite is Bethesda's time to showcase their galleries, as it is time for 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.

We'll have the winners of the Bethesda Painting Prize.

See ya there!

Course in Art Appreciation

School of Art and Design at Montgomery College: Summer Session II 2005

This course format sounds like fun! One full day a week for five weeks; lecture in the morning and field trips to local galleries in the afternoon for on-site discussion.

Taught by Dr. Claudia Rousseau, Professor of Art History and Art Critic for the Gazette Newspapers in Montgomery County

Per the school news release, students will look at art from an art critic’s point of view. Topics will include looking at design, themes, subject matter, and historical context in drawings, paintings, sculpture, and other art media.

Open to credit and non-credit students

Wednesdays, June 22 – July 20
Montgomery College Summer Session II
AR 127 School of Art and Design -
CRN# for credit 14143; CRN# for non-credit 14146

9-12:30: Lecture at the Montgomery College Westfield South Center, Room 306E (at Wheaton Mall)
1:30 – 5:30: Discussions on site at local galleries.

For more information call the School of Art and Design 301-649-4454
(For non-credit registration, ask for Yvette).