Good story!

The CP's Angela Valdez has a really interesting article on DC area ubercollector and museumeister Mitch Rales. Read it here.

Opportunity for DC Artists

Deadline: Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 5:30 pm

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) is purchasing artwork that captures archetypes of Washington DC. Subjects include specific neighborhoods, parks and circles, festivals, gathering places, or cultural events. Less obvious motifs include downtown redevelopment, restaurants, shops and businesses, work places, or Metro stations. Artists should consider a broad range of subject matter as long as the works have an unmistakable subject reflecting life in the District. Artists should also consider submitting images of Washington that depict the changing neighborhoods and the parts of the city that are disappearing. The Committee is very interested in depictions of all wards of the city. The collection serves to honor and embrace life in the District.

This opportunity is open to all artists who reside and have their studio in the District of Columbia.

For more information and to download the Call to Artist, please visit www.dcarts.dc.gov or to request an application in HTML format, email Beth Baldwin or call (202) 724-5613.

Open Studio in Baltimore

Our own Rosetta DeBerardinis will host an open studio on Saturday, June 7th; Time: 1-7 pm at:

School 33 Art Center
1427 Light Street
Studio #201
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Black Art

Months ago it drove me crazy when Washington Post writer Jacqueline Trescott described Jacob Lawrence a great "African American" artist and now it drives me even crazier when her Washington Post's colleague and that paper's chief art critic writes (in reviewing current shows by American artists Aaron Douglas and Jacob Lawrence in the nation's capital) that:

The surprise isn't that Douglas couldn't overcome all the obstacles there were to making the first fully convincing black art. It's that the young Lawrence, in his "Migration of the Negro," did.

"Black Art"????? Is there really such a genre? If there is, then haven't Africans been making "Black Art" for milennia?

And yes, I do know that there are commercial art fairs that are focused to attract collectors of art about African American subjects, just like there are art fairs focused on Latin American artists, European artists, Australian artists, Asian, etc. They all create art, and their race and ethnicities are part of the processes and cultural contributions to the end commodity, but in the end, it is art.

But Gopnik really means "African-American art," doesn't he?

It's just American art; it happens to depict African American subjects and history, and its talented creators were African American, but the end result is no more "black art" than Andy Warhol's art is "white art" and Morris Louis' art is "Jewish Art" and so on.

It's just "American Art."

Makes my head hurt.

10 Great Towns for Working Artists

10. Oil City, Pennsylvania

What makes it special: The birthplace of the oil industry and former headquarters of Standard Oil, Quaker State and Pennzoil, this northwestern Pennsylvania town is reinventing itself into a lively, committed arts community. With affordable Victorian homes and mixed-use properties (many under $50,000), theater, music, a branch campus of Clarion University, easy accessibility to art markets from Cleveland to Buffalo, and dozens of artists who have already claimed this small town as home, Oil City is one of the best deals on the market.

What it offers: 100 percent fixed-rate financing up to $150,000 on live-work space (when using First National Bank). This includes rehab costs, and mortgage insurance is waived. $7,500 toward down payment and closing costs on a residence through Venango County Affordable Housing (income guidelines apply). Plus there are opportunities for facade grants and loans, tax abatements for commercial properties and tax breaks for certain properties in the Historic District. Downtown studio space is available at $0.49 per square foot, with the first three months rent free.

Read this excellent article by Kim Hall to discover the other nine cities here.

“If you don’t move, you get fat”

The “If you don’t move, you get fat” campaign is found found in Hamburg and is creative genius of the German ad agency, Scholz & Friends, for the German Olympic Sport Federation.

The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009

Enter the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009, sponsored by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Call for Entries in all visual arts media: June 2 – July 31, 2008. First prize: $25,000 and an opportunity for a commission to create a portrait of a remarkable living American for the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

The competition and resulting exhibition will celebrate excellence and innovation, with a strong focus on the variety of portrait media used by artists today. The juried competition will result in an exhibition of approximately 60 of the finalists’ works. The National Portrait Gallery welcomes single figure, group, or self-portraits—from classical drawing and painting or hyperrealistic sculpture to large-scale photography to prints and new media. The competition is named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920–2005), a former Portrait Gallery volunteer whose generous gift has endowed this program.

To enter online, please visit this website.

Job in the Arts

Deadline: June 19, 2008.

Arlington County (Virginia) Government is looking to hire someone to "provide collection, project management and program support to the Public Art Program responsible for developing and implementing art projects at sites identified as priorities in Arlington County’s Public Art Master Plan."

Duties include: Perform annual site visits develop condition reports, coordinating maintenance and conservation of projects; Manage and update picture library and public art database, prepare PR materials; Oversee the delivery and installation of temporary and permanent public art projects and the removal of de-accessioned artworks or completed exhibitions; Coordinate meetings, selection panels, presentations, and dedication ceremonies; Represent Arlington at national and state conferences and create and give presentations for public meetings and internal lectures.

Requires related BA and one year experience in an arts, public arts or design related discipline. Prefer MA and previous public art administration experience. This is a flexible, 32 hr/week, benefit eligible position. Pays $19.36 - $32.01 hourly.

How to apply: An Arlington Internet application is required by the closing date of 6/19/08. You may also use your browser to go to www.arlingtonva.us/pers, click on COUNTY JOBS and scroll down to click on the job title from the alphabetical list. Email questions to pers@arlingtonva.us

Secrets

What you see below is Frank Warren holding the original container that he bought to hold the postcards that have now become over a quarter million secrets that his amazing worldwide PostSecret Art Project has generated.

The Funk Aesthetic

The Funk Aesthetic: Chocolate Coated, Freaky & Habit Forming, opens on June 4th – 29th at the H&F Fine Arts Gallery in Mount Rainier, MD, just outside the District lines.

Curated by Tonya Jordan with commentary by author Thomas T. Stanley, the exhibition presents "new art grounded in the aesthetic of Funk music of the mid-sixties to early eighties and features international and locally based artists visually interpreting the music form through various media."

There will be work by Aniekan, Pedro Bell, S. Ross Browne, Deadra Bryant, Miles Bumbray, K. Wesley E. Clark, Jamel Craig, Ronald 'Stozo' Edwards, Dejon N. Gee, Gary Johnson, Alexis Peskine, Akia 'Space Lady' Quander-Jordan, William Rhodes, Jerome Spinner, Katurah Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, and Tedra Wilson.

An opening reception will be held Saturday, June 7th, 5-8pm followed by a musical performance by Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind (featuring Bobby Hill, Thomas T. Stanley, and Chris Downing) and an after party with a special guest DJ at Artmosphere Café, 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, MD.

Public programs include a panel discussion the Funk movement and aesthetic on June 21st 4-6 PM and an artist talk/closing reception June 28th.

For more information visit www.hffinearts.com and/or www.musicovermind.org.

Jack Tom - Art Scammer

Remember this art scam email? Read it first...

And so he answered: This is his answer:

From: jack tom (tjacktom@hotmail.com)
Sent: Tue 5/27/08 5:59 PM
To: F. Lennox Campello (lennycampello@hotmail.com)

Hello,

Thank for your fast response and i want you to know that i came across your store information via Google and here is what i will like to order for,

Lilith Birthing Demons
qty:1

"Expeditionary Service Test"
Acrylics on Paper, c. 1999
3 x .825 inches
qty:1

I will like you to get back to me with the total cost and the shipping cost.and here is address for you to the shipping cost via ups or fed ex.and please kindly get back to me if this items is in stock because i do not want any delay on this.

9 Marian Street
Killaria 2071
AUSTRALIA
Phone: 61 2 9498 6830

Do this on time so that i can be able to give you my credit card information and complete my order for me
Best Regards
jack tom.

By the way... this is what's really at that address... and note that the phone number is a digit off... anyway, this is what I sent him back:

From: F. Lennox Campello (lennycampello@hotmail.com)
Sent: Mon 6/02/08 9:52 PM
To: jack tom (tjacktom@hotmail.com)

G'day mate!

Jackie boy! Jackierooonie! The Jackie Tommeister!

Thanks for your order!

But before I ship it to you... I am very particular as to who owns my work. Can you please tell me if you have a family, as I do not like selling my work to single men, unless they are older or divorced?

So are you married? How old are you?

Also, did you attend school? Where? I'm very fussy about my work only hanging in educated homes.

I will have my studio assistant pack it for shipping to Australia as soon as you respond and send me payment details. A credit card or an international check is OK.

The Lenster...

PS - Also, is it true that toilets swirl backwards in Australia?

Artists' Talk: DC

Artists Novie Trump and Elizabeth Burger will discuss influences that led to their works currently on exhibit in "Immersed In The Natural World" at the Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts.

The discussion will occur Friday, June 6, from 5:30 - 8:00pm at 1632 U Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009. All are welcome to attend. This exhibit is up through June 27, 2008.

PMA Director dies

Anne d'Harnoncourt, 64, the formidable, high-spirited personification of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and an indefatigable advocate for the arts as central to the city's identity, died late Sunday night.

Read the news report here.

AOM and AU

A big thank you to all of you who came by yesterday to my question-answering session at Artomatic... even after two hours, when the band kicked me offstage, people were asking questions!

Afterwards I went to the multiple openings at American University's gorgeous Katzen Arts Center, easily one of the most beautiful art spaces in the Mid Atlantic. There are some really interesting shows at the Katzen, none more bipolarly attractive than Joe Shannon and Noche Crist sharing the third floor of the Katzen.

Review coming on the Shannon-Crist coming together... let's just say that after seeing how those two most unlikely of art partners coupled together, I am now a believer that anything can happen... even a Obama-Clinton ticket!

Talk to me

Today, starting at 4PM at the Cabaret Stage in Artomatic, I will be having a discussion with artists about anything that you want to talk about: how to get affordable framing, how to get a review, how to price your art, how to expand your resume, the who's and what's of DC and Philly art galleries, website design, press, museums, copyright, contracts, artists' success stories and how they did it... anything and everything that you want to ask or talk about. Just ask questions... no fluff.

Time permitting, afterwards I will also be available to personally criticize and give you feedback on your work (bring thick skin). This is all free and open to anyone,not just AOM artists.

A lot of panels spend a lot of time talking and then at the end people have tons of questions, so this time we will start with questions and move on.

Remember, my stuff will take place at the Artomatic Cabaret Stage, 1st Floor instead of the Education Room. AOM is doing this in order to accommodate more people, so come early; it starts at 4PM.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 1, 2008

Virginia's Arlington Arts Center seeks contemporary fine artists working in all media for solo exhibitions in their 2009 season. Ten to fifteen artists will be chosen to show in our seven separate galleries — or on our grounds, in the case of outdoor sculpture.

Jurors include: Anne Ellegood, Curator for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Philip Barlow, the tall and notable Washington, D.C., art collector.

Deadline for applications is July 1st; notifications will go out no later than September 30th, 2008. For more information and a prospectus, visit their website at www.arlingtonartscenter.org. Or send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to:

Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201

Modern Love

Opening on June 27 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Modern Love celebrates "the stellar group of contemporary works of art donated to NMWA by prominent Washington-based collectors Heather and Tony Podesta."

The exhibition features more than 50 works by internationally-renowned artists such as Cathy de Monchaux, Candida Höfer, Elizabeth Turk, and Jane and Louise Wilson as well as others.

Early Look Peek

Here's another early peek at another student whose work I've selected for the "Early Look" student exhibition at the Long View Gallery in DC next month.

Her name is Catherine Badger and she's a graduating senior at Moore College of Art & Design in Philly.

Psychedelic Sausage Factory, mixed media on Yupo by Catherine Badger
The show opens at Long View Gallery DC on June 7 with an opening reception from 5-8PM. Come and meet the undergrads and recent BFA grads and me...

A question for AOMers

See this and then respond.

Congrats!

To DC area artist and art critic John Blee, whose paintings open in a solo show in Paris, France's Jane Roberts Fine Arts on June 11, 2008. The show runs through 11 July 2008.