Bethesda Art Walk

Today, Friday, July the 13th, is the second Friday of the month and thus it's the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating art venues and with free guided tours.

From 6-9PM - go see some artwork!

Wanna go to nude body painting and drawing party in DC this Sunday?

July marks the 4th annual A Celebration of the Figure exhibition at MOCA DC and the 5th anniversary of the Figure Models Guild.

In addition to the regular figure drawing sessions at MOCA, there will be bodies painted several times during the show.

And there will be a body painting event on on Sunday, July 15 at 1PM led by DC's body painting goddess Adrianne Mills.

Bring your camera because an open photo session follows each painting.

Call them for details and times at 202.342.6230 or 202.361.3810. The event is free and open to the public.

Wanna go sketching on the Mall tomorrow?

"Quick Sketching People and Places on the Mall" is a four-session drawing instruction series presented by the Smithsonian Associates where students work with the media and subjects of their choice under the supervision of an experienced artist who is himself an avid sketcher. Dates are Sat., July 14—Aug. 4, 10 a.m., so hurry!

Details here.

Call for Art

The Third Annual Metamorphosis Art Show has a call for artists.

Details here.

Baltimore Studio Spaces

The Baltimore Sun tells us that

Artists seeking studio space in Baltimore will have a new option to consider this fall when the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower opens for its first tenants.

Renovation work is nearing completion on a $1.25 million conversion of the landmark tower at 15 S. Eutaw St. from municipal offices to studios for painters, sculptors, photographers, graphic designers, writers and other artists. The first two floors will have a cafe and gallery space.

Read the article here. More information about the studios and the application process is available from the Office of Promotion & the Arts at 410-752-8632.

Trawick and Sondheim

Tomorrow the Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan will have this excellent piece on the Sondheim Prize in Baltimore. And O'Sullivan makes a couple of key observations about the two major art prizes in the Mid Atlantic region:

The Trawick Prize better watch out. There's an upstart contemporary art award in town, and it stands to give the Bethesda-born competition -- which has been handing out $14,000 in prize money to artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington since 2003 -- a run for its money.

Okay, so maybe the Baltimore-based Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize isn't exactly "in town." Now in its second year, the art contest, named for the late Baltimore public servant and civic leader and his late wife, is open to visual artists working in the Baltimore region. (This year that includes two D.C. artists.) Examples of work by the 2007 finalists are on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The winner of the Sondheim Prize's $25,000 purse, which unlike the Trawick does not get divided among first-, second- and third-place finishers, will be announced Friday at the museum.

There's another critical difference between the contests, beyond the disparity in the cash value of the prizes. It doesn't have to do with the caliber of the entrants either. (Baltimore sculptor Richard Cleaver, whose painted and bejeweled ceramic-and-wood figures are part of the BMA show of Sondheim finalists, took home the Trawick's $10,000 first prize in 2003. So there's a lot of cross-fertilization of the talent pools, which is good.) Rather, the edge that this year's Sondheim Prize exhibition has over any version of the Trawick competition I've ever seen is in the choice of venue. The art just looks better in the BMA's spacious galleries than anything ever will at the Creative Partners Gallery, the cramped storefront on the ground floor of a downtown Bethesda office building that has been the Trawick's unfortunate exhibition space of choice since its inception.

I agree with O'Sullivan about the Trawick's exhibition location, and in fact I have some strong indications that next year's Trawick may "upgrade" and move to a better location, mostly because (I am told) Creative Partners no longer wants to host the show. But it will probably be to one of Bethesda's top galleries (that leaves 2-3 choices).

But O'Sullivan's article says also something about the difference between the way Baltimore museums looks at Baltimore artists and events and the way the DC area museums do.

Bethesda doesn't have a museum. So the Trawick will just move to another gallery.

But DC has more museum space per person than any other city in the world. That is a mathematical fact.

And yet, while Baltimore's main museum is part of that area's main art prize, no DC area art museum is involved in exhibiting the Trawick Prize exhibition.

Let this be a call for the Hirshhorn or the Corcoran or the Phillips to work out a deal with the Trawick Prize to host the finalists of the DC area's main art prize in one of those museum's galleries.

If Baltimore can do it, so can DC. And I am also making a call to my fellow DC area art bloggers and writers to join me in this call - let's see if we can make something like this happen.

If you think that this is a bad idea, then ignore it; otherwise, please join me in calling for a museum venue for next year's Trawick Prize.

Audio files of the radio discussions

Unfortunately the online segment starts about 15 minutes into the show, but you can listen to the rest of today's highly animated Kojo Nnamdi show with Jeffry Cudlin, Dr. Claudia Rousseau and myself here.

It starts with us arguing about the Bethesda Painting Awards.

I think that this was the best show so far and I also think that Jeffry, Claudia and I make up a great radio argumentative team! Now all we need is a sponsor to talk to WAMU about sponsoring an "Art Talk" show once a month or so.

Call me

Around one o'clock today I'll be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show discussing the Greater Washington area visual arts and artists and art stories as I usually do once or twice a year. Tune in to WAMU 88.5 FM around one. I'll be there together with my good friends Jeffry Cudlin from the Washington City Paper and Dr. Claudia Rousseau from the Gazette newspapers.

You can call us during the show at (800) 433-8850 or you can email us questions to kojo@wamu.org.

Pool woes

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, our neighbors on Sackman Street (Paula and Augie) had one of those above ground pools. Because our backyard and theirs was only separated by a chain link fence, it was easy for me to climb it and use their pool at will, which was OK with Augie, but not OK with Paula, which was a weird thing, because she was always feeding me alongside her kids, as she was a stay-at-home-mom, while my Mom had a job as a seamstress at one of the nearby factories that used to exist in Brooklyn where people like my Mom would work and get paid by what was then called "piece work."

But Augie was the one always working and doing stuff all year round to keep the pool working for those really hot NY summers, although he really hated me dive-bombing into the pool from the second floor fire escape ladder... you had to be good, and sort of belly-flop the water entry (the pool was only around five feet deep), otherwise you'd break your legs or seriously pop your knee caps. But Augie loved kids enjoying his pool!

Anyway, when I was house-hunting last year, I quickly discovered that houses in Media, PA are a lot more affordable than Potomac, MD, so I ended up in a cool house. And yet I was reticent to sign up, because the house came with a pool.

Pools are money pits.

And we quickly discovered that this pool, like many other pools, an hour after the warranties expire, leak. It's hard to hold water in a concrete bubble.

First estimates to fix the pool came in around a ton of money... as time went by, and more and more crap was removed from the pool (apparently built somewhere in the 60s) the "this-is-what's-wrong" stuff kept piling up and now we're up to around two tons of money and I am one good drunk away from filling the fucking thing with soil and planting pachysandras in the hole.

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

Carolina Mayorga will be having her opening event at Transformer tomorrow at 6:30PM. And then Robert Parrish's opening will be a week from tomorrow at the same time, same place.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is on the move

On July 17, 2007, The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will be moving uptown to a new location at 2901 14th Street NW, First Floor, Washington, DC 20010 and their phone is 202-724-5613.

Another Artomatic this year?

Blake Gopnik may have a fit, but I am told (as I mentioned before) that there's a pretty good chance of another AOM this year - this time in DC as usual.

Stay tuned!

PS - Sorry Blake... slammajamma two posts in a row; my bad.

Blake Gopnik got lost in Europe

If you think that DC area artsy writers, and DC area museum staffers, and DC area artists, and DC area gallerists, and Washingtonian magazinists, and DC area art collectors, and WaPo readers are the only ones almost always rolling their eyes over what and how Blake Gopnik writes about art, then you should read what Floridian Glenn Weiss, over at Aesthetic Grounds writes about the Gopnikmeister's recent European dispatches.

Wanna go to a Virginia opening this afternoon?

I know it's hot out there, so why not slip into the League of Reston Artists' opening this afternoon?

The opening is Wednesday, July 11 from 4:30 – 6:30 pm in the main hallway of the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey in Reston, VA - details and directions here.

NY Arts Magazine Looking for Editor

NY Arts magazine is seeking a new editor.

The applicant should have at least two years of editorial experience, but should likewise have a significant knowledge of emerging and established contemporary artists, galleries, project spaces, art fairs and biennials. Daily responsibilities will include constant correspondence with artists, curators, directors and writers in pulling in and section editing up to 4 sections of the magazine per issue, online research, copy and line editing up to 200 pages of content per bi-monthly issue, updating, uploading and revamping our website and compiling a daily newsletter of art-related events for distribution. While editorial experience and art knowledge are key, excellent communication and managerial skills are also a must within our busy office space and attached gallery.

Submit resume, cover letter and two published clips (preferably art-related) to editor@nyartsmagazine.com with subject line "Editorial Position for Art Magazine."

Job in the Arts

The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (DCCA), a non-collecting museum located on Wilmington's revitalized Riverfront, is looking to hire a full-time curator beginning fall 2007.

The DCCA is conveniently located on the I-95 corridor, within walking distance to an Amtrak/SEPTA station, and 30 minutes from Philadelphia. The DCCA currently presents nearly 30 exhibitions annually of regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized artists in its seven galleries, offers on-site studios to 26 working artists, and carries out an active schedule of educational and community outreach programs. The Curator is responsible for initiating, developing, implementing, and interpreting a schedule of temporary exhibitions. Central to the job is the ability to cultivate and maintain relationships with an active community of artists, collectors, curators, and patrons. Close connection to the contemporary art world is paramount. Strong organizational, research, written and oral communication skills are necessary; ability to work as part of a team of dedicated professionals is essential. Requirements include a graduate degree in art history (Ph.D. preferred) or an allied field and at least two years of full-time curatorial experience. Salary is competitive.

Please send letter, CV with contact information for three references, and writing samples to:

DCCA
200 South Madison Street
Wilmington, DE 19801

Or to info@thedcca.org. No phone or in person inquiries.

On the air on Thursday

Later this week (on Thursday, July 10, 2007) I'll be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show discussing the Greater Washington area visual arts and artists and art stories as I usually do once or twice a year. Tune in to WAMU 88.5 FM around noon - I'll be up around 1 o'clock together with my good friend Jeffry Cudlin from the Washington City Paper and Dr. Claudia Rousseau from the Gazette newspapers.

Wanna know where to get good affordable frames? Wanna know how to approach a gallery? Wanna know when the Friday openings are and where? Wanna know how to properly frame a photograph? Wanna know how to start an art collection? If you have any questions or art issues, you can call Kojo during the show at (800) 433-8850 or you can email me questions to kojo@wamu.org.

After the show I will post here all the websites and information that we discuss on the air.

Mad as Hell

Bailey is mad as hell not only at scumbag New Orleans politicians, but also furious at the increasing numbers of carpetbagging artists who are profiting off the misery of New Orleans.

According to Bailey, "Robert Polidori has now licensed the use of his Katrina imagery (most of the images published in his book were captured inside the homes of Katrina victims WITHOUT their permission, which is called trespassing everywhere in this country, for use in an anti-smoking campaign."

Details here.

Tapedude Update

It's no secret that I think that Mark Jenkins is one of the most original DC-based street artists. Over the years his tape creations have continued to amaze me and thousands of other pedestrians in cities around the world.

And Mark has been busy!

Check out some of his recent outdoor artwork here.

Urban Code Magazine

Issue number two of Urban Code magazine is out and looks great!

The magazine has excellent coverage of the arts, including multiple reviews of DC area gallery shows. You can subscribe for free to the electronic version of Urban Code by sending an email to urbancodemag@gmail.com