Returning home a bit earlier. The newsfolk in Denver were talking about a possible snow storm late on Friday, so considering that Denver has been attracting snow in the kind of immense quantities that cause travel nightmares, I decided to bite the bullet, and pay for a ticket exchange and leave earlier.

So I called United on Friday, pay $115 samolians to change my departure from 4:51PM on Friday evening to 12:15PM on Friday afternoon.

About 6:30AM on Friday morning my cell rings and it is one of the worst computer voices that I have ever heard, butchering my name, and then telling me that the 12:15PM flight has been cancelled, but they have managed to re-sked my departure on the 6:38PM.

Crap!

And so I call United and tell the nice lady who answers the phone the whole story, hoping to have her find the logic of the fact that I paid United an additional $115 bucks to leave earlier, and now I have been re-booked on a flight that actually leaves later than my original sked.

She understands my telephonic bewilderment when she informs me that it is not United policy to return the exchange money, since it was I which initiated the exchange. True, says I, but United did not deliver on the contract to deposit me home earlier.

She wants to talk to her sup.

A significant amount of air minutes later, she comes back, offering me, provided that I can get to the airport in time to catch a 10:23AM departure to San Francisco (by now is around 8AM and I haven't packed nor checked out of the hotel), to then get me home on a nonstop from Frisco to Philly.

I just want to get out of Dodge Denver before the snow hits the fan and so I agree.

With speeds closely approaching the original Star Trek warp factors I somehow get from Littleton to Denver International in under an hour and happily, just barely make my flight.

Home...

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline March 14, 2007

OPTIONS 2007 - Call For Entries

OPTIONS features talented under-recognized and emerging artists in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region.

* Artists working in all media will be considered.
* No Entry Fee.
* Artists with gallery representation are ineligible. (ie: having a gallery/agent working on behalf of the artist to promote or sell his/her artwork.)
* Artists who have exhibited in past OPTIONS exhibitions are ineligible.

OPTIONS 2007 Curator:
Paul Brewer is an independent curator and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Previously, he was Director of Exhibitions for the Corcoran College of Art + Design where he organized exhibitions by artists such as Tara Donovan, Critical Art Ensemble, Anthony Goicolea, and Seimon Allen, among others. His writing has appeared in museum publications and art journals in the US, Europe, and Latin America. He is currently a consultant to the Office for Contemporary Art Norway in the areas of communications and international programming.

Download the prospectus here.

Opportunity for Silver Spring, MD Artists

Deadline: 5pm March 16th, 2007

Gateway's Heliport Gallery is seeking works from Silver Spring based artists for an
exhibit in April, 2007.

The show will predominantly be curated through online submissions via artdc.org. Curators for the show are Nevin Kelly Gallery Deputy Director Julia Morelli and Gateway's Silver Spring Project Manager David Fogel.

Artists of all mediums are encouraged to submit three jpgs. (1000 x 1000 pixels max optimized for the web) of exhibit ready work. Submissions should include:

Medium and Size of piece. Artists will also be required to submit their zip code. Artists whose studios or homes are in Silver Spring qualify.

Submission deadline is: 5pm March 16th, 2007.

Find the call here.

Job in the Arts

Executive Director: Cecil County Arts Council, Inc. - Maryland
CCAC is the county's umbrella cultural organization and awards grants to school and nonprofits presenting arts programs. It has a two-person full-time staff, including E.D.; $92K budget from state grant funding/ dues/ corporate support/fundraising. Programs include visual arts exhibitions, concerts, poetry/art workshops, scholarships , after-school outreach programs. E.D. qualifications: Commitment to community outreach; ability to maintain/nurture/inspire membership; knowledge of art-related issues; managerial, grant writing/fundraising experience; outstanding communication/presentation/ public relations skills; experience in working with a board of directors.

Qualified applicants can expect a salary starting at $38,000-$41,000. Benefits: health/dental coverage, retirement, paid vacation/holiday/sick/personal time. Send resume, cover letter , references to:

Personnel Committee
CCAC
135 E. Main St.
Elkton, MD 21921

Or email copy of resume to maggie.creshkoff@gmail.com.

New Arts Blog

ARTifice is a new (new to me anyway) visual arts blog by AU students. Loads and loads of art reviews by AU students! Visit them often here.

Airborne again today and heading to Denver. More later...

Time for the Trawick Prize

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is now accepting submissions for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. The 5th annual juried art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. Deadline for slide submission is Tuesday, April 10, 2007 and up to fifteen artists will be invited to display their work from September 4 – September 28, 2007 in downtown Bethesda at Creative Partners Gallery, located at 4600 East-West Highway.

This year's competition will be juried by Anne Ellegood, Associate Curator at the Hirshorn Museum & Sculpture Garden; Amy G. Moorefield, Assistant Director and Curator of Collections for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Anderson Gallery and Rex Stevens, Chair of the General Fine Arts Department 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, 1977 may 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.

The Trawick Prize was established by local Bethesda 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. Additionally, the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company.

For a complete submission form, please visit www.bethesda.org or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc., c/o The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD 20814.

Job in the Arts

Curator, Firehouse Gallery in Burlington, Vermont. This position is responsible for selection, installation, and interpretation of exhibitions and artwork displayed in the Firehouse gallery, and to act as a representative of the City's commitment to the Visual Arts to the community.

A Bachelors degree in studio art, art history, or related field required as well as an additional year of experience, at a minimum, in a museum or gallery.

Pay: $17/hour. Details here.

Also more locally, the National Arts Organization has several art related jobs open, ranging in starting salary from $45,000 - $58,000. Contact for more information: The Rosen Group, Inc., 3000 Chestnut Ave #300, Baltimore, MD 21211. Phone: (443)451.7906; E-mail: jobs@rosengrp.com

New DC gallery

New to me anyway: Prison Art Gallery, located at 1600 K Street NW, Suite 501 in Washington, DC. The gallery is directed by Susan Galbraith.

Dorkbot Meets Tomorrow

Dorkbot DC will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007, 7-9 PM at Provisions Library (1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009).

Presentations: Gail Scott White and Kirby Malone: "Live Movies"

White and Malone are the artistic directors and founders of Cyburbia Productions, "a multimedia performance studio which focuses on the collaborative creation of 'live movies,' syntheses of cinema, theater and music. The company's work employs digital projection, sound technologies, and filmic narrative techniques to construct moving stage pictures and sonic theater, in which live actors interact with animated performers, and emerge from or vanish into projected environments, settings and dreamscapes."

White is an Associate Professor of Digital Arts at George Mason University, where she teaches 3D animation and digital imaging, and serves as Associate Director of the Multimedia Performance Studio (MPS).

Malone is Assistant Professor, InterArts at George Mason University, where he teaches courses including Cyberpunk and Performance Studio, and serves as Director of the Multimedia Performance Studio.

My good friend Thomas Edwards will be presenting "Introduction to the Arduino." Read this press release:

Hardware artist Thomas Edwards presents a "Hello World" style introduction to the Arduino, an inexpensive open-source physical computing platform. Based on the Atmel ATmega processor, the board is programmed using a simple language which makes it easy to access its digital and analog I/O systems. It is a great way to become involved in physical computing.

I love these guys! I wish I could drag one of the curators of the 2008 Whitney Biennial into one of their meetings.

Art Fair Types

As we approach Armory & other assorted art fairs in NYC, I thought that this would be a good time to republish this post from 2004:

---

One of the more eye-opening things in attending an art fair is seeing the dynamics that go onto the decision to buy a piece of art.

Put together a few thousand people, paying an entry fee to enter the fair, an assortment of dealers, and a huge diverse variety of offerings and it's an education in people watching.

The married couple:
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I like it- it's just what we've been looking for."
"Where would we put it?"
"We have a couple of spots that it'd fit."
"Do you really like it."
"Yeah, how about you?"
"Yeah, I kinda of like it."
"Should we get it?"
"If you want it."
(five minutes later)
"Let's think about it."
"OK" [To me] "Do you have a business card?"

The couple (not married):
Her: "Do you like it?"
Him: "Sssoright"
Her: "Where would we put it?"
Him: "Dunno."
Her: "Do you really like it."
Him: "So'OK.. Yeah, how about you?"
Her: "Yeah, I kinda, sorta, really like it."
Him: "Dunno though"
Her: "What? You don't like it?"
Him: "If you want it."
(five minutes later)
Him: "Let's think about it."
Her or Him: "OK" [To me] "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Woman (SW) with a Woman Friend:
SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!"
Friend: "Yeah... it's nice"
SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!"
Friend: "I have a friend who does work just like this..."
SW: "I am really drawn to it!"
Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?"
Friend: "Yeah... it's OK"
SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like."
Friend: "There's a few more booths we haven't seen."
SW: "I think I'm going to buy this."
Friend: "Are you sure?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?"
(five minutes later)
SW: "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Woman (SW) with a Man Friend:
SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!"
Friend: "Yeah... Cool"
SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!"
Friend: "I think it's a lithograph" [it's actually a charcoal]
SW: "I am really drawn to it!"
Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?"
Friend: "I have something like it... I got it cheaper though..."
SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like."
Friend: "You like lithographs?"
SW: "I think I'm going to buy this."
Friend: "Are you sure?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?"
(five minutes later)
SW: "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Focus Dream Buyer:
[Walks straight up to one piece, never looks at the rest of the work in your booth]
"I'll take this"
[Me] "Thank you... it's a very striking charcoal drawing - will be that be a check or charge?"
"Charge"
[Me] "I can send you more information on this artist..."
"That will be great - I love this work - it's exactly what I'm interested in!"
[Me] "I have a few more pieces here, would you like to see them?"
"No, thanks..."

The "I'm glad you're here guy (IGYHG)":
IGYHG: "Hey! I've been looking for you!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you?"
IGYHG: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
IGYHG: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
IGYHG: "Well, let me look at what you've got!"
[three minutes later]
IGYHG: "Well... I'm glad you're here... see ya next year!"


The "I Shudda Bought It Last Year Guy (Shudda)":
Shudda: "Hey! You're here again!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..."
Shudda: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
Shudda: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
Shudda: "Well, let me look at what you've got!"
[three minutes later]
Shudda: "Where's that really good watercolor of the fill-in-the-blank?"
[Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist."
Shudda: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?"
[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---"
Shudda: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..."
[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..."
Shudda: "I shudda bought it last year"
[Walks away]
Shudda: "You gonna be here next year?"

The "Where's That Piece Guy (WTP)":
WTP: "Hey! You're here again!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..."
WTP: "... been walking this whole fair specifically looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
WTP: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
WTP: "OK... last year I saw this piece... it was a fill-in-the-bank and I should have bought it then! "
[Me]: "Yeah... that is a nice piece."
WTP: "I've been thinking about it for a whole year"
[Looks around the booth and doesn't see it]
WTP: "Do you still have it?"
[From here there are two paths...]
Path One -
[Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist."
WTP: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?"
[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---"
WTP: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..."
[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..."
WTP: "I shudda bought it last year"
[Walks away]
WTP: "You gonna be here next year?"
Path Two
[Me]: "Let me get it for you... I have it in the back!"
WTP: "Great"
[I bring it out and give to WTP]
WTP: "Yeah this is it! It's great!"
[Me]: "This artist has done really well this last year and ---"
WTP: [Handing it back] "Excellent! I'm glad you still have it... until what time are you going to be here?"

Beer + Art = Smart?

(Via Jesse) Why didn't I think of this? A British husband and wife have come up with a new artsy business idea being called "probably the most unusual nude art gallery in the world."

The gallery mixes selling nude art and also selling 10% ales. They've done this after being granted a licence to sell beer, something which would never ever happen in the US.

"The venture is the brainchild of Trevor and Kathryn Cook who have combined their talents for brewing and art.

Trevor runs Barearts Brewery in Rochdale Road, Todmorden, from which he produces beers of up to 10 per cent strength.

And Bacup-born Kathryn owns Barearts Gallery further up the road.

And to give Trevor's brewery a boost the art gallery has got a licence to sell his products.

Read the whole article here.

Save this date

On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, Transformer Gallery in partnership with Provisions Library will present Framework Panel #5 - The Role of the Arts Writer: Critiquing Art Criticism.

This panel will focus on the function of arts writing and contemporary arts criticism. Participating panelists include: Rachel Beckman, formerly of the Washington City Paper and now the "Arts Beat" columnist for The Washington Post, Glenn Dixon, the former Arts Editor of the Washington City Paper, and now writing for the WaPo Express, art critic and author and Corcoran faculty Andy Grundberg, Glenn Harper of Sculpture Magazine, and fellow blogger and web policeman Kriston Capps, who also reviews the visual arts for the Washington City Paper. The panel will be moderated by Ryan Hill, Manager of Interpretive Programs and Curatorial Research Associate for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution.

Framework Panel #5 - The Role of the Arts Writer: Critiquing Art Criticism will take place March 7, 2007 from 6:30 - 8pm at Provisions Library. Attendance for this event is free. Seating is on a first come, first seated basis.

Armory Week

Armory Week is next week, and DC art galleries Irvine, Conner, Curator’s Office, and G Fine Art will all be in various NYC art fairs and venues during the week. I think this is the strongest showing in NY yet for DC galleries during the Armory Show fair cluster.

Irvine Contemporary is picking up from its experience last year and even expanding the scope. Martin Irvine is partnering with Michael Steinberg Fine Art and 31Grand for 29West, a special collaborative event in a recently renovated 3,800 sq. ft. loft space in Chelsea at 515 W. 29th St.

The exhibition will be open from Friday, Feb. 23 through Sunday afternoon, Feb. 25. See the 29West event website for details and updates: www.29westshow.com.

Irvine Contemporary has also been invited to participate in Factory Craze: A Week of Andy Warhol at the Gershwin Hotel in New York during the week of February 19, which marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Andy Warhol. They will present a selection of photographs by the award winning photographers Carl Fischer and Curtis Knapp.

Meetings and Passers-By

LA artist Brian Mallman "Meetings and Passers-By," drawings on board and paper, opens with an opening reception for the artist on Thursday, March 1, 5:30 – 8pm at Charlottesville's Migration Gallery.

"Passers-By” is a series of imagined and remembered composite portraits of strangers in the strange town that is L.A. There will be an exhibition catalog containing all the portraits that will be available for purchase. Brian will sign them Thursday and Friday night.

Laura and Rob Jones continue to do and bring interestintg shows to C'ville.

New Location for Bethesda’s Gallery Neptune

On March 1, 2007 Bethesda’s Gallery Neptune will open at its new location, 4901 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland. The new space is in the heart of the Woodmont Triangle. With a corner location, the gallery will have much higher visibility.

The gallery’s new hours will be 12-7 PM, Wednesdays thru Saturdays and 12-4 PM on Sundays. The gallery will continue to participate in Bethesda’s monthly Art Walk, including the Art Walk’s guided tours scheduled in the warm weather months.

Now in its fourth year, the March exhibit at the new space will feature a first time solo show for Erica Orgen. Erica is the daughter of distinguished Bethesda artist and one of my favorite DC area painters, Lisa Brotman. A reception for Erica will be on Saturday, March 3, 2007 from 7-9PM.

Residency in NYC

Deadline: March 23, 2007

Call for Artists: School of Art Summer Residency Program 2007 at The Cooper Union School of Art,, New York.

The Cooper Union School of Art is accepting applications for its Summer Residency Program 2007 which takes place June 13th - July 14th, 2007. The Cooper Union School of Art, one of the premier colleges of art and design in the world, host this exciting opportunity for artists to live and work in New York City for five weeks this summer in an intensive, non-credit, studio residency program. Now in its fifth year, the School of Art Summer Residency Program is designed for emerging artists to develop their work while gaining exposure all the arts resources that New York City has to offer.

Application Deadline: March 23, 2007
Visit this website
Email: residency@cooper.edu

Last Nite

I dropped in to the opening of Nevin Kelly's first ever photography show, featuring work by Mark Parascandola and Yanina Manolova.

Considering how brutal the night was, and how icy U Street was, the opening was packed, and while there I ran into the talented artist Scott Brooks and also the ubiquitous Vivienne Lassman.

I particularly liked Yanina Manolova's "Death Time for my Body," a superbly twisted and odd dual body composition of a female body. This photographer's work is sexy and skilled and also a really good deal, as most photos are under $400.

I also liked Mark's visualization of the Alhambra, one of my favorite buildings in the world. His saturated colors really deliver striking images. I'm a little prejudiced, as Parascandola is a graduate of one of our "Bootcamp for Artists" seminars and is obviously doing well with his career in using the lessons learned there.

One for the good guys

I generally give the WaPo a lot of deserved crap over their heinous lack of visual arts coverage. But when the WaPo gets something right about local arts coverage, then they also deserve some credit; today they do.

Bob Samsot, the Editor of the WaPo Fairfax Extra wrote a terrific article about the Gold Key Scholastic Arts Awards. You can read his article here.

Furthermore, I am told that the front page of the Fairfax Extra itself features cover art by one of the award winners - plus, the paper is filled with images of additional award winners. The names and titles of works of the winners are also published here.

I think it's terrific that Bob and the Fairfax Extra published this, and in one day he's given more column inches and images to the local arts news than I've seen in the past couple of years in the Style section of the WaPo!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 15, 2007

Call to Artists: Drawing Invitational exhibition sponsored by the FSU Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL. Media: Drawing. Open to artists 18 and over, no size restrictions. Each artist may submit up to 10 images in slide or jpeg format with a return SASE. Works of art will range from intimate, transitory thoughts in numerous drawing media to finished drawings that are intended by the maker to rival the serious nature of other fine art endeavors such as painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture. Exhibition is scheduled for October-November, 2007. A catalog will be produced. For more information please contact: Allys Palladino-Craig at 850.644.1254 or apcraig@mailer.fsu.edu.

FSU Museum of Fine Arts
530 W Call St.
250 Fine Arts Bldg.
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1140