Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Parsons on Frenn

DCist's Adrian Parsons makes a visit to Chawky Frenn's studio and writes a terrific report here.

I like this new approach by Parsons and hope that he starts making a few more studio visits and delivers more writing like this!

Frenn's current show at Fraser Gallery runs through March 8, 2006.

Trawick Prize

Deadline: April 10, 2006

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is accepting submissions for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. The 4th annual juried art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. Deadline for slide submission is Monday, April 10, 2006 and up to fifteen artists will be invited to display their work from September 5 – September 29, 2006 in downtown Bethesda at Creative Partners Gallery, located at 4600 East-West Highway.

The competition will be juried by Ashley Kistler, Curator at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond; Jack Rasmussen, Director of the Katzen Arts Center at American University in Washington, D.C. and Gerald Ross, Director of Exhibitions at Maryland Institute College of Art.

The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A "young" artist whose birth date is after April 10, 1976 will also be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. Original painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video are accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 96 inches in any direction. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years. Selected artists must deliver artwork to exhibit site in Bethesda, MD. All works on paper must be framed to full conservation standards. Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

The Trawick Prize was established by local business owner Carol Trawick. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership. Ms. Trawick is the owner of an Information Technology company in Bethesda, Trawick & Associates.

Catriona Fraser, award-winning photographer, curator and juror is the non-voting Chair of the Trawick Prize. Ms. Fraser has co-owned and directed the Fraser Gallery since 1996.

Jiha Moon from Annandale, VA, was awarded the 2005 "Best in Show" with $10,000; Dean Kessman of Washington, D.C. was named second place and was given $2,000; Denise Tassin of Baltimore, MD was bestowed third place and received $1,000 and the 2005 "Young Artist" award of $1,000 was given to Michele Kong of Baltimore, MD.

For a complete submission form, please visit www.bethesda.org or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc.
c/o The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Silverthorne on Wall Snatchers

Alexandra reviews the WPA/C's Wall Snatchers here.

Goss on Grinker

DCist's Heather Goss reviews the opening show of DC's newest gallery.

Read the review here.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Jurying the Army

I've been asked to serve as one of the jurors for the US Army Photography Contest.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the entries, which interestingly enough includes film and video.

WaPo on Arty Gras

The WaPo comes through with a really nice piece on Arty Gras. Read it here.

See ya there tonight!

Monday, February 27, 2006

Arty Gras

If you haven't heard about Arty Gras on TV, the radio or read about it in the press, then you must be living nowhere near DC!

This exhibition is getting a lot of well-deserved publicity and I hope that I will see you at the surely to-be-packed opening on Feb. 28, 2006 from 7:30-11PM.

Arty Gras is a celebration of Louisiana artists to be hosted at the Warehouse Gallery. This exhibition of New Orleans artists is designed to benefit and showcase the artistic talent of the New Orleans community as well as to raise money for the Habitat for Humanity Gulf Coast recovery efforts.

Opening on Mardi Gras Day (February 28, 2006), the exhibit provides an opportunity to view NOLA artists sharing their diverse styles and unique viewpoints.

The exhibition is being organized by independent curator Beth Baldwin, in cooperation with the Warehouse Gallery, and includes 30 artists including Dr. Bob, James T. Martin, Ryan Ballard, Audra Kohout, Heather Kelly Ryan, Tom Drymon, Emily Hogan and others. The exhibition runs through March 19, 2006.

Meet Hiraki Sawa

Join Hiraki Sawa and associate Hirshhorn curator Kelly Gordon for a presentation of Sawa's latest video and a discussion of his work, Dwelling, 2002, which is currently on view, and was recently acquired for the Museum's collection.

March 2, 2006 at 7 pm at the Hirshhorn's Ring Auditorium. Seating is first-come and admission is free.

Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders is an University of Maryland student group on campus that works with developing communities around the world to improve people's lives through specific projects.

They're hosting an art auction to be held Saturday April, 8th from 5-8pm and Sunday, April 9th 2-4pm and are currently looking for art donations. The auction will be held at the Leland Community Center, located at 4301 Willow Lane in Chevy Chase, Maryland. All artists are strongly encouraged to come Saturday afternoon during the opening to view the other donated works and enjoy the afternoon of refreshments and music.

25% of the selling price goes to the artist. More details, including the submission form, located here or email here.

I plan to donate and I hope that a lot of you do as well.

Gallery Owners Win Ruling in Kinkade Case

"An arbitration panel on Thursday awarded $860,000 to two former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners who accused the self-proclaimed "Painter of Light" and his company, Media Arts Group Inc., of fraudulently inducing them to invest in the business — and then ruining them financially."
Read the LA Times story here (tks AJ).

Anyone who "invests" in art needs to have his/her head examined.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Another one under the belt

Just back from presenting the Success as an Artist seminar, which we once again held in partnership with Art-O-Matic at the Warehouse Theatre.

Another 50 satisfied and tired artists and artists' reps!

The next seminar will be held on Sunday, March 26, 2006 in partnership with The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and will be held at the Round House Theatre Education Center located at 925 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD from 10:30AM - 6PM. This seminar is open only to Montgomery County residents.

Please visit this website or e-mail us or call 301/718-9651 if you would like more details. Register using this form (limited to 50 attendees).

And click here to read feedback from artists who have attended the seminar.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Washington Glass School Seminar

Date: March 15, 7 to 9:30pm

The Washington Glass School and the Arlington Arts Center are co-sponsoring a seminar this coming March on the topic of How to Get Your Work Noticed By Newspapers, Galleries and Museums.

Cost: $40 in advance - $45 at the door. To register, call the Arlington Arts Center at 703-248-6800. They will take credit cards over the phone.

Location:
Arlington Arts Center
Tiffany Theater
3550 Wilson Boulevard
Right across from the Virginia Square subway
Arlington, Virginia

Panelists:
Michael O'Sullivan - Washington Post Art Critic
Lee Lawrence - Contributing Editor for American Style Magazine
Claire Huschle - Executive Director- Arlington Arts Center
Phylis Rosenzweig - Former Curator, Hirshhorn Museum
and Me!

Frenn Talk Today

Prof. Chawky Frenn speaks about his current exhibition at Fraser Gallery - talk starts at 1PM today.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Irvine move

By the way, it's official; the most fair gallerina Heather Russell of Irvine Contemporary not only bought some terrific artwork at WallSnatchers' opening last night, but also announced that the move of Irvine Contemporary to the fomer Fusebox space is now official.

Wallsnatchers Photos

More on Wallsnatchers later (the opening was packed!), but for now some photos:
View of WallSnatcher's crowd

Opening night crowd

Kim Ward and Chawky Frenn
WPA/C's Kim Ward and GMU's Chawky Frenn

Kelly Towles
Curator Kelly Towles (with glasses)

Krensky and Silverthorne
Ubercollector Steve Krensky and Photographer/Blogger Alexandra Silverthorne

Whitney Biennial Scoop

Anon Female Artist seems to have an insider story about the potential (actually highly visible) conflict of interests with one of the Whitney Biennial's curators and his choice of artists.

According to AFA: "Philippe Vergne is co-curator of the 2006 Whitney Biennial. His partner, Sylvia Chivaratanond, is Partner and Director at Perry Rubenstein Gallery. Six artists who are represented by or have been in recent exhibitions at Rubenstein were chosen to participate in this year’s Biennial."

Read the whole story here.

This story ought to make the front page of every newspaper's art section.

Keep Your Eye On

Keep an eye on emerging artist and emerging curator Lisa McCarty.

The work of Lisa McCarty is currently featured in "Figured Out" - a George Mason University Art & Visual Technology Department Women's Invitational show that is being held at PG Community College's Marlboro Gallery through March 9, 2006.

The opening reception is Friday Feb 24 from 6 to 8 pm - see Lisa's senior project here.

You might also recall that Lisa's work was featured in Strictly Painting 5 at the McLean Project for the Arts.

Lisa McCarty will be also the first participating apprentice curator in DCAC's new curatorial initiative funded by the Warhol Foundation. Lisa is apprenticed to seasoned curator JW Mahoney. Their curatorial effort "Hystoria" runs at DCAC from March 3 through March 26 and features the work of Geoff Bell, Julee Holcombe, Betsy Packard, Jeffery Smith, and Champneys Taylor.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Goss on Sugimoto

Heather Goss delivers an intelligent and succint review of Hiroshi Sugimoto at the Hirshhorn, as the new visual-arts friendly DCist suddenly comes through with a couple of decent writers to cover our area's visual art scene.

Read it here.

More please!

Openings

Remember that Wallsnatchers opens today. Details here.

Some Places, a body of new photographs by Doug Hall opens Friday, February 24th, with a reception from 6:30 - 8pm at Numark Gallery.

Trace, a body of photographs by Gen Aihara opens at Shigeko Bork's mu project in Georgetown. The opening reception is Saturday, February 25, 5 - 7pm. There will also be a Sake tasting sponsored by Joto Sake.

Anna U. Davis's solo exhibition "Sashimi Me" at Studio One Eight in Adams Morgan has a reception this Saturday from 7 - 10pm. There will also be a artist talk at 8pm the same evening.

Project 4, DC's newest gallery, opens this Saturday, Feb. 25 with a reception from 6-8:30 PM. Details here.

More later...

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Wilson Building Art Collection

Deadline: This Friday!

As I mentioned here, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is currently accepting applications for the Wilson Building Public Art Collection and the deadline is this Friday.

The Wilson Building is located downtown at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in our capital.

The historic building serves as the headquarters for the Mayor and City Council for the District of Columbia. The works purchased through this call for entries are specifically designated for permanent installation in the Wilson Building.

And this is a very big building, with some very art-friendly walls, is just waiting to be filled with artwork. Only DC, Virginia and Maryland artists are eligible, and I believe that DC residents have some priority.

And as I've said before, I really think that this collection stands a chance to become a very strong and significant opportunity to put together (in one place) a very good sampling of Washington, DC regional artists.

And (of course) this being a public art collection, it immediately leaves out all nudity and any remotely controversial subject - but that's not the Commission's fault, nor the curator's; it's just an unwritten rule in American public art.

Nonetheless I think that this opportunity is as good as any as they come because:

(a) There's no cost associated (entry fees, etc.)
(b) It's easy to enter (you can send slides or CD ROM)
(c) You have a month to prepare (deadline is Feb. 24, 2006)
(d) The curator (Sondra Arkin) is actually someone who has really deep roots in the DC art scene, and knows what makes it tick - artists, galleries, dealers, schools, etc.

No excuses!

And I sincerely hope that some of my fellow gallerists encourage some of their big name area artists (just as we have) to apply and submit to this call, and hopefully be included in the closest that we'll have in this area to a permanent DC artist exhibition.

Download the application here.