The Trawick Prize Returns

Deadline: Friday, April 11, 2008

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is now accepting submissions for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. The 6th annual juried art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. Deadline for slide submission is Friday, April 10, 2008 and up to fifteen artists will be invited to display their work from September 3 – September 28, 2008 in downtown Bethesda at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art.

The Trawick Prize is without a doubt, the key fine arts competition available to DC, MD and VA artists and has already produced some spectacular results for its winners.

This year's competition will be juried by Molly Donovan, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Art; Irene Hofmann, Executive Director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD and Leah Stoddard, Director of Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA.

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, 1978 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.

Hamiltonian Fellows

Congrats to the very first set of Hamiltonian fellows:

Christian Benefiel (Severna Park, MD)
Anne Chan (Baltimore, MD)
Ian Davis (Baltimore, MD)
Leah Frankel (North Wales, PA)
Alex Gutierrez (Kensington, MD)
Linda Hesh (Alexandria, VA)
Al Miner (Washington, DC)
Youngmi Organ (Nokesville, VA)
Brian Rojsuontikul (Springfield, VA)
Michael Sirvet (Washington, DC)

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: April 11, 2008

2008 Rawls Museum Arts Juried Exhibition. Only original works not previously shown at RMA will be accepted. All media, styles and techniques are eligible. Artists may submit a maximum of three (3) images of individual works. You may submit digital images on a compact disc 300 dpi resolution, jpeg format. You may submit digital images on a compact disc 300 dpi resolution, jpeg format. For more details and copy of the prospectus visit www.rawlsarts.com.

Art Talk

The WPA has a very interesting talk coming up with Marc and Sara Schiller, the founders of the Wooster Collective; details below (click on image for larger image):

Peace Now!

Peace Now! opens with a reception on Friday, Feb 22 from 6-9 pm at the Warehouse Gallery in DC. Through April 6, 2008.

In observance of the 5th anniversary of the Iraqi War and as part of the March 19, 2008 "March for Peace" in Washington and other cities around the country, the Warehouse hosts its last peace exhibition. To the left is the room-dissecting Checkpoint Installation by Sondra Arkin in collaboration with Beth Baldwin.

Includes work by 40 artists including Matt Achhammer, JS Adams, Sondra N. Arkin, Beth Baldwin, Joan Belmar, BLK w/ BEAR, M.P. Brown, Travis Childers, Michele Colburn, James L. Cypher aka Joey Daytona, Richard L. Dana, Anna U Davis, Tom Drymon, John De Fabbio, Dana Ellyn, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff, Dara Friel, John Carlton Hagerhorst, Matt Hollis, Jackie Hoysted, Joseph Jones, Joroko, Mariah Josephy, Jenufa H. Kent, Lauren Kotkin, Heather Levy, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Isabel Manalo, Anne Marchand, Carolina Mayorga, Patricia E. Ortman, Igor Pasternak, Jane Pettit, Mark Planisek, Sajeela Ramsey, Marina Reiter, Ann Ruppert, Julie Seiwell, Matt Sesow, Alexandra Silverthorne, Ira Tattelman, Gabriel Thy, Karen Joan Topping, Ruth Trevarrow, Jessica van Brakle, Mary Walker, Ruth Ward, Ellyn Weiss, Angela White, Andrew Wodzianski, Peter Wood... and me.

Wanna go to an opening in DC tomorrow?

Glass3 has an opening reception on Thursday, February 21, 2008, 6 - 8pm at The Shops at Georgetown Park (Level 1), 3222 M Street., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007.

Glass 3, is an international studio glass exhibit featuring extraordinary glass artists from Toledo, OH (birthplace of the US Studio Glass Movement), Washington, DC and Sunderland, UK (Washington, DC Sister City). The exhibit runs through March 9, 2008.

Artists' Website: Elizabeth Wade

Deus ex Bestia. c.2006, acrylic on canvas, 92 x 60" by ELizabeth Wade
Liz Wade graduated last year from MICA and she was the Maryland recipient of the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship in 2007, and she will have a solo exhibition of her work at the Hudson D. Walker Gallery in Provincetown in 2008.

Closer Reviewed

Dr. Claudia Rousseau reviews Closer at Gallery Neptune in Bethesda. Read the review here.

Buy Michael Janis now.

Airborne again



Heading to New Hampshire! More later...

Old dictators never must die...

The Castro brothers with Sadam Hussein
Since they don't fade away either...

Cover Me

Mo Ringey was sick and tired of the dwindling arts coverage by her local Amherst, Massachusetts newspapers; so she decided to do something about besides complaining:

At first glance, Mo Ringey seems an unlikely figure to rally the Pioneer Valley arts community. She is tiny, just over 100 pounds, and has a chronic condition - five herniated discs in her neck - that forces her to hang in a traction machine for an hour a day.

But thanks to a knack for networking, Ringey finds herself the spokesperson for a group of artists unhappy with how much - or little - local newspapers write about the arts. Their frustrations have been channeled into "Cover Me," an exhibition Ringey has curated at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts.

Read the whole story here. I think we need a Mo Ringley in most major American cities, most desperately DC.

Things that make you go ????

Is the art sky falling?

So far the only shift dealers are reporting is in the middle market. “In the past six months, clients are no longer willing to take a chance on younger artists priced at $15,000 to $20,000,” said David Maupin of the Lehmann Maupin gallery with both Chelsea and Lower East Side premises. He reported a 50% drop in sales in that category over the past six months with buyers focusing instead on higher priced works by established artists like Tracey Emin who have had museum exhibitions. “I have far more people I can call for a $75,000 to $100,000 work than the lower-priced artists,” said Mr Maupin.

Read the Art Newspaper article here.

Virtual Gallery = Real Art Party

Virtual art resource Raandesk Gallery of Art returns to Washington, DC with "Emergence 2," a two-day art party and temporary exhibition of contemporary artworks on February 21 and 22, 2008.

"Emergence 2" will feature a variety of painting, drawings, photography and art furniture by six emerging artists from the Raandesk collection in a suite at The Flats at Union Row on 14th Street, NW in Washington, DC. Both art party evenings are free and open to the public and all artwork on view will be available for purchase.

New York City-based Raandesk Gallery has established a reputation for expanding the notion of art collecting through unique art partnerships and events like "Emergence 2."

Raandesk-hosted exhibitions and events offer new collectors an opportunity to view and purchase contemporary artwork in workplaces, restaurants and lounges, in collectors' homes and in other commercial spaces for a more accessible settings. "Emergence 2" is the second such event in Washington, DC, the follow up to a similar successful event last fall.

WHEN: Thursday, February 21, 6:00-9:00PM and Friday, February 22, 6:00 – 8:00PM

WHERE: The Flats at Union Row
2125 14th St, NW, Suite 417,Washington, DC (U St metro)

Other "Emergence 2" participating artists / media include:

- Washington, DC-based Jeff Huntington, "whose oil paintings contain intensely vivid images of orchids and still life arrangements depicted with a hint of surrealism and oddity, completely removed from discernible context."

- Jennie Barrese, "a graphic artist and photographer, creates colorful abstract digital images to magnify subtle forms and lines, creating perspectives with appeal to the design-oriented collector."

- Photorealist oil painter Jason Bryant "captures cinematic visions and snapshots of life through large-scale cropped portraits of celebrity faces, clothing and movie stills where subjects are depersonalized to spotlight dramatic moments in everyday life."

- Matt Kern's work "uses an old-school Polaroid camera to create collage assemblages with many layers of images, text, drawings and other elements embedded in wax, resulting in a richly textured surface that reveals more with each inspection."

- Abstract artist Jeff Leonard "uses the unpredictable nature of liquid resin to create beautiful and rich paintings on wood. Lush pools of color and light form in organic shapes on the surfaces, the most interesting forms are in the smallest detail."

- Raandesk Gallery's newest artist, Anne Unierzyski "handcrafts highly sculptural functional art / furniture pieces with unique geometric forms with a bit of color with natural wood finishes for an interesting, contemporary look."

Artists' Websites: Freya Grand

"Connemara." Oil on canvas, 48x60, c.2007 by Freya Grand

Freya Grand is a DC-based artist working out of her Dupont Circle area studio. One of her pieces was recently selected by Kathryn Wat, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC for the upcoming WPA Gala Art Auction.

Visit Freya Grand's website here.

Washington Times Art Critic gone sick

Update: The below news tip was false. I am told that Shaw-Eagle was very sick and that someone is covering for her, but that she has not been fired. Before I published the note below, I emailed the Times to confirm, but my email was ignored.

I learned today that Joanna Shaw-Eagle, who has been the chief art critic for the Washington Times for many years, and who has been writing about art since before I was born, was let go today from the Washington Times.

This sounds like one hell of an art party

This is the event that Dr. Claudia Rousseau was talking about earlier today on the Kojo Nnamdi show.

Heineman Myers Contemporary Art in Bethesda is doing an all nighter on February 23 and 24 with an "Inside Outside All Night Art Party from 10pm to 10am."

Combine good art, food, music, booze and aural readings and you gotta be there!

For starters they are having graffiti artist Tim Conlon and crew paint on a 16 ft x 7ft surface during the party outside in the courtyard. Conlon’s work has been recently installed in two local DC art spaces: The National Portrait Gallery's “Hip Hop” and at the Arlington Arts Center's “Collectors Select.”

Mike Weber and Philippa Hughes jumping in front of Tim Conlon’s work at the National Portrait Gallery
Inside the gallery see the light installations, photography and videos of Miami-based Cuban-American artist Ivan Toth DePena in his current solo show “Synthesis,” which closes February 24th.

There's more!

Chill to groovy tunes of a guest DJ; there will be complimentary Aura readings by Hyun Martin of Be You Bi Yu Spa; and for all you alkies, personalized beverages in the evening, and as far as chow, there will be personalized omelettes in the morning from 6-10am.

Also See the latest from SCION, and meet the “Little Deviants.”

You gotta RSVP to info@heinemanmyers.com by February 20th. That means that you have to tell them ahead of time that you are coming so that they can have enough booze and food at hand...

Sounds like a load of artsy fun... maybe I'll see ya there.

Other art fairs calling it quits

Just a day after Art Cologne announced that it was doing away with its new sister fair on the Spanish island of Majorca, DC Duesseldorf Contemporary, which premiered last April, announced that it too was closing its doors, reports Blooberg.

The fairs' organizers cited low sales... read the article here.

In case you missed it...

You can hear the Kojo Nnamdi radio show that aired earlier today here.

Good discussion about the arts.

For the artist named Helen who called the show and took me to task for not putting more attention on individual artists' websites... email me yours and you'll be the first in my promise to increase my coverage of individual artists.

On the air today

I'll be on the Kojo Nnamdi Show this afternoon discussing the Greater Washington area visual arts issues and artists and art stories as I usually do several times a year.

Tune in to WAMU 88.5 FM around noon.

If you have any questions or art issues, you can call Kojo during the show at (800) 433-8850 or you can email him questions to kojo@wamu.org.

Gray area

Seattle's Jen Graves has a fascinating story on what happens when artists' works and ideas begin to look just a little too mcuh like other artists' earlier works and ideas.

Read the story about "Gray Area - Why Does Some Work by Lead Pencil Studio Look So Much Like Work by Other Artists?"

Then read this and then read this and tell me if "remarkable confluence" is not the category for all of these look-a-like works.

Artist "A" circa 1999-2000


Artist "B" circa 2005-2006