On TV

- The DC area's best-known artist (and in the lead by millions and millions) Frank Warren on the Today show. The new PostSecret book, which is titled A Lifetime of Secrets is currently available on Amazon.

- Heineman Myers Contemporary Art opens Foon Sham's “Journey” exhibition tonight, Saturday October 13th with a reception for the artist from 6 to 9pm. Foon Sham will speak about his recent work at 7pm. Foon Sham will be featured on the Maryland Public Television program “Artworks This Week” on Wednesday, October 17th at 7:30pm on channels 22 or 67, depending on where you live in Maryland. It will be shown again on Saturday, October 20 at 8am.

New Saint Sebastian

And again I return to one of my favorite subjects of all time: Saint Sebastian, said to have been martyred by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

The below drawing is currently on hold was sold to a DC area collector.

"St. Sebastian." F. Lennox Campello. Circa 2007
Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 9" x 16"

Fibers

Candace Edgerley, DMV artist who teaches surface design at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in DC and also at Springwater Fiber Workshop in Alexandria, VA, will be the October, featured artist at Fiberworks, inside the Torpedo Factory Art Center. The Opening Reception is Sunday, October 14, 1-5pm and the exhibition goes through Nov. 4, 2007.

Philly Art Fair

Next weekend around 50 art dealers and galleries will be taking part in the 16th Annual American Fine Art Show at the 33rd Street Armory in Philadelphia.

I'll be away at another fair and unfortunately will not be able to visit this one, partially because I just found out yesterday that it was taking place next weekend.

Of interest, most of the participating galleries are either local Philadelphia dealers or New York galleries; no Left coast galleries or DC area galleries...

Magical Realism

There's a really interesting exhibition titled "Magical Realism" at the Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, PA.

The show, which goes through November 8, 2007 includes work by Aaron Delamatre, Marilyn Holsing, Susana Jacobson, Steven Kenny, Deirdre Murphy and Walter Benjamin Smith II.

Check out some of the artwork here.

Reading levels

Three years ago I ran some art bloggers and art critics' writing to an evaluation tool that deciphered to what reader level they were writing to.

Just for fun, today I ran some art critics, bloggers and writers through it and they're listed below in order of easier readability (from requiring less education to read to requiring more education according to the Fog Index). For some odd reason, it resisted reading the Washington City Paper's online pages, so I couldn't do a score on Jeffry Cudlin or Jessica Gould, so instead I used Cudlin's blog.

My blog received a Fog Index of 13.8. That means that you'd need almost a college sophomore education to read and understand my obtuse writing - that's up from a 12 in 2004).

The Fog index has been developed by Robert Gunning and its numeric value is a school grade. The author claims that a lower Fog index is actually a better score, as then it is easier for readers to comprehend the writing. For example, the average New York Times article is written to a reading level of 8.9 years or just about High School freshman level.

The scores, from best to worst, according to Gunning:

Tyler Green - 9.9

B'more Art - 10.0

Rex Weil - 10.1

Thinking About Art - 10.5

Regina Hackett - 10.5

Edward Winkleman - 11.0

Grammar Police - 11.1

Dangerous Chunky - 11.6

Richard Lacayo - 12.3

Walter Robinson - 12.4

Blake Gopnik - 12.8

Charlie Finch - 13.1

Jessica Dawson - 13.3

Peter Dobrin - 13.3

CultureGrrl - 13.6

Michael O'Sullivan - 14.1

Black Cat Bone - 14.3

Robin Rice - 14.6

Fallon and Rosof - 14.7

Glenn McNatt - 14.9

Edward J. Sozanski - 15.7

Jerry Saltz - 16.6

Donald Kuspit 17.6

Flip Video

I've been hearing amazing things about the new Flip Video gizmo that is:

- Simple to use, pocket-sized camcorder with one-touch recording and digital zoom

- Holds 60 minutes of TV-quality video on 1GB of built-in memory; no tapes or additional memory cards required

- Convenient USB arm plugs directly into your computer for easy sharing and archiving

- Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, share them on YouTube and Grouper, edit footage, and capture still photos from video

- Watch videos instantly on TV with included cable

So I just ordered this one from Amazon.com (cheaper than from the manaufacturer itself); expect video to make presence here soon.

Artdc one day show

Artdc.org, a Washington, D.C., artists’s forum, will present “Art in Transition Continued” on Saturday, October 13, 2007, in the future Greater Goods building, 1626 U Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009. Doors open at noon; an art party is 6 p.m. to midnight.

The participating artists are: Steve Mead, Antoinette Wysocki, Jodi A. Patterson, John N. Grunwell, Dan Rosenstein, Alexandra Zealand, Alexandra Silverthorne, Kim Reyes, Emily Berl, Christie Ortiz, Rhett Rebold, Raju Singh, Steve Loya, Stephen T. Hanks, Matthew Best, Graham Meyer and Adam Eig.

Details here.

Artists' Talks in Philly

Tomorrow, October 12, 2007 from 12:00 ­- 1:45 pm at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107), in room 403 there's an artists's talk with Zoe Strauss and Julia Bryan-Wilson

Titled "Contemporary Public Art in Philadelphia: An Artist's Talk with Zoe Strauss and Julia Bryan-Wilson," this conversation reflects the program committee's special interest in the arts and activism and is presented as part of the Annual American Studies Conference. Free and open to the public and no tickets are required.

Art Vandals

The Vandals were a Germanic tribe which (towards the end of the Roman Empire) swept down from Germany and left a path of destruction in their wake (thus the word "vandalism") as they marched through Europe in search of food and warm lands. Eventually, together with another German bunch of hungry barbarians known as the Visigoths, they settled in Spain by the millions and became a significant chunk of the modern Spaniard and French DNA. The Vandals settled mostly in the South, and gave their name to the region today called Andalusia in Spain (from "Vandalus").

Recently, in Lund, a small university town in southern Sweden art vandals attacked "The History of Sex," an exhibition of photographs by the New York artist Andres Serrano. Read Carol Vogel's report here and Bailey's unique take here.

For the last several years, the Swedish artist Felix Gmelin has been interested in artworks that have literally been destroyed in museums, galleries, or other public spaces. In the art project Art Vandals, Felix Gmelin reinterprets twelve works that have been subjected to vandalism. Check it out here.

At the Warehouse in DC

The Last Next is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Washington-based artist Kristin Holder at DC's Warehouse Gallery. Works from 2002 until the present will be included in the exhibition, including a site-specific wall drawing. In recent years Holder has been the recipient of the Second Place Award at the Trawick Prize, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, and a one-year fellowship from the British Academy in Rome. Her work is included in several public and private collections.

The exhibition will be on view at Warehouse (­third floor) from October 11 through October 28, 2007. The opening reception will take place on October 13 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Additionally Holder created a wall piece on the original 100 year old wall on the 3rd floor of the space.

The second show at Warehouse, opening on the same night is "RISD DC/Baltimore Biennial 2007," an exhibition of art and design work featuring local alumni from The Rhode Island School of Design. The show features recent work by RISD alumni who graduated between 1950-2006, and who now live and work in the Washington Metropolitan area.

Joy to the World

These days, when Three Dog Night's Joy to the World is played by some hotel band it is usually preceded by the drummer announcing: "and now something for the former hippies in the crowd..."

Wrong!

Below is Chuck Negron and Three Dog Night, a group that dominated the charts and the radio waves for a while and sold 50 million records by 1975 and 90 million records sold to date...

Click and listen.

Reading levels

Who is offering art writing to an intelligent reading level?

Three years ago I ran some art bloggers and art critics' writing to an evaluation tool that deciphered to what reader level they were writing to (was that sentence-ending "to" a dangling preposition?).

Read that three-year-old report here... tomorrow I will re-run it with the same authors and some new ones.

Wanna open a rent free gallery in Mass?

I couldn't resist this news release:

John Olson, a business owner in downtown Lynn, has a space available on the first floor of his building in Central Square Lynn that he is offering to artists who may want to run a temporary co-op in the space.

The space is currently unfinished; unpainted sheetrock walls and cement floor, but has large windows on the street level, high ceilings (21 ft.) and a large amount of interior wall and floor space (2100 sq. ft.), and could support a substantial amount of work.

He is looking for a group, who, in exchange for the free use of the space, would be willing to man the space and keep it open at least four weekdays, one weekend day, and one or two evenings. He is offering the space in exchange for a 25% commission to cover his utility costs, but is willing to negotiate.

John's ultimate goal is to rent this space, so there is no set time frame on this offer.

For more information, contact John Olson directly at jolson@columbiainsuranceagency.net.

Hirshhorn Looking for new boss

Email from the Hirshhonistas:

I am pleased to announce the formation of an eight-member committee to assist in the search for a new director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The search is being conducted by the Office of the Under Secretary for Art.

The members of the search committee, in alphabetical order, are:

• Neal Benezra — director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art since 2002. He previously served as deputy director and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Previously, he spent eight years at HMSG, where he was assistant director for art and public programs and chief curator.

• Constance Caplan — art collector and trustee of HMSG. She also serves on the board of the John Hopkins University College of Medicine and has served as the chair of the board of trustees of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

• Ann Hamilton — the first artist to serve as a trustee of HMSG. She is an award-winning visual artist who specializes in installation work and has participated in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions. She is a professor of art at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

• J. Tomilson Hill — collector of modern and contemporary art and chairman of the board of trustees of HMSG. He is vice chairman of The Blackstone Group in New York.

• Susan Lake — collections manager and chief conservator at HMSG, where she has worked for more than 25 years.

• Mitchell P. Rales — collector and vice chair of the board of trustees of HMSG. He is the founder and director of The Glenstone Foundation. He also is founder, director and chairman of the executive committee of Danaher Corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

• Ned Rifkin — Under Secretary for Art at the Smithsonian since 2002.

• John W. Smith — director of the Archives of American Art since 2006. He was formerly assistant director for collections, exhibitions and research at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh from 2000 to 2006.

The new director will succeed Olga Viso, who is scheduled to leave at the end of the year to become director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Sincerely,

Cristián Samper
Acting Secretary

I have some thoughts on who should be hired to run the Hirshhorn... more on that later.

Anderson on Roth

John James Anderson has a really insightful interview with the Corcoran's Paul Roth (the Corcoran's Curator of Photography and Media Arts).

Read it here.

Rand on Timmers

I've been meaning to link to this really interesting interview by DCist Kelly Rand with DC sculptor Erwin Timmers, who is slowly but surely becoming the DC area's leader of the "green art" movement.

Read the interview here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 1, 2008

The Innovators Combating Substance Abuse Program has issued a Call to Artists whose original art will be selected to appear in a forthcoming book on art and addiction to be published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. The Innovators Program, supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a national program based in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The purpose of the proposed book is to provide a stimulus to change the way America views addiction by using the visual arts to put a human face on addiction and recovery. Creativity and artistic expression play a significant role both in recovery and in raising awareness of the personal toll caused by substance abuse and addiction. The proposed book on addiction art is intended to complement and serve as the companion volume to the editors’ book on addiction science, Addiction Treatment: Science and Policy for the Twenty-First Century (JE Henningfield, PB Santora, WK Bickel (eds), Johns Hopkins Press, October 2007).

They invite all artists to submit original artwork on the theme of drug addiction and recovery (drugs include alcohol, tobacco, illegal, or prescription drugs). A distinguished panel of jurors, composed of prominent members from both the art and addiction science communities, will select the art for the book. Finalists will receive an honorarium of $200, with the top five finalists receiving an additional honorarium of $500; a copy of the book, and will be included in exhibitions in Maryland (May 2008) and at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence in Puerto Rico (June 14-19, 2008). Other exhibition possibilities are pending at this time.

Works submitted may be in any media, including video. Works included in the book will not be limited to size, but extreme size may limit works for inclusion in the exhibitions.

For additional information and entry forms, please contact the Innovators Program at (443) 287-3915 or visit their website at www.innovatorsawards.org.

Eligibility:
- Works in all media including video will be accepted.
- Works may be any size.
- Works may have been completed in any year.

Entry:
- Artists may submit up to 3 artworks in slide or digital format.

For Slides: Label each slide with your name and title of work on the front of the slide. Please indicate the top of the slide. Place slides in an “8 ½ x 11” clear vinyl slide sheet holder. Write your name on the holder.

For CDs: Label each file with your name and title of work. Write your name on the CD holder. Submit images in .jpeg format, resolution 72dpi; file size should not exceed 1mb.

For Digital Images Submitted by E-Mail: Label each image with your name and title of work. Submit images in .jpeg format, resolution 72dpi; file size should not exceed 1mb. Email digital submissions to: innovatorsawards@jhmi.edu.

Artists must submit a 100-200 word Artist Statement which addresses the relationship between the artist / the work and the “Drug Addiction and Recovery” theme. Artists must also complete and submit the Submission Form.

Send submissions to:

Innovators Combating Substance Abuse Program
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
600 N. Wolfe Street
Meyer Building 3-142
Baltimore, MD 21287

Job in the Arts

The Nevin Kelly Gallery, a fine art gallery located in Washington, DC's U Street Corridor, is searching for a new part-time gallery assistant.

Experience Required: BA in arts-related field and one year relevant work experience preferred. The candidate MUST have excellent writing and computer skills and the ability to work independently and self-motivate. A desire and ability to take initiative in developing projects is also a plus.

How to Apply: Please submit cover letter, resume and three references to info@nevinkellygallery.com or fax to 202-232-3465. No phone calls please.

Tate on VoA

DC uberartist Tim Tate was in the Voice of America airwaves today. Transcript here.