Off and On...

A painting by African-American artist Kara Walker has gone back on display at Newark Library.

The artwork had been covered almost immediately after it was first shown because library workers found it offensive.

Read it here.

 This is not the first time black viewers have expressed disapproval of Walker's imagery. In 1997, artist Betye Saar led a campaign against Walker's work, sending letters to people in the art world, asking, "Are African-Americans being betrayed under the guise of art?"

Read that here.

Makes my head hurt...

The California woman accused of slaughtering her ex-boyfriend at his Arizona home in a gruesome "Fatal Attraction"-style attack has made more than $1,000 hawking her jailhouse artwork online.

Read the whole story here.

Hang her high...

Read this.

Original student-era Keith Haring mural discovered

In the market for some new digs? Check out this 8,200 square foot TriBeCa maisonette, complete with three floors, 19th century adornments, double floor ceilings, factory windows and an original student-era Keith Haring mural.

Read the whole article by Julia Dawidowicz here.

Audrey Wilson

One of the most pleasant surprises that I had in doing the Aqua Art Fair last December in Miami Beach (other than record sales, which is always a good thing), was how efficient and hardworking Audrey Wilson, the gallery's intern for the fair and current intern at the Washington Glass School was. But the real surprise was the beauty and intelligence of her work (which we displayed in Miami and sold well!).

Here's Audrey Wilson's current productions - buy some now.


Bluebook for a Woman's Revenge
Kiln formed tempered glass, found metal, latex
H 9'' W 8'' D 7''

Mechanically Activated Patent US1680
Kiln formed tempered glass, found metal
H 5'' W 4'' D 6''


Quadratically Coupled Optomechanical Doubled Wing
Pate de verre kiln formed glass, found metal, latex
H 7' W 7'' D 6''


Broken Enigma Number Two
Kiln formed tempered glass, found object
H 18' W 18''
In a private collection in New York

Congrats!

To the Prez as he begins his second term. As a lefty on social issues, I encourage him on this front; as a fiscal conservative, I boo him on his fiscal policies, but as an American I applaud him as my President.

Contrail

Alida, Anderson and The Contrail

Mark Jenkins times two

The WaPo's Mark Jenkins (not the Mark Jenkins who is the world-famous Washington-based street artist) has been (in my opinion) the person most responsible for slowly, but surely restoring the WaPo's Style section's coverage of the visual arts to just that: coverage of the visual arts in an area-wide sense, rather than the "focus on a handful of galleries" approach of his predecessor.

His latest set of mini reviews is a perfect example of that; read that one here and another great example is this one.

And talking about the "other" Mark Jenkins (the world-trotting street artist), after all these years I remain puzzled why no gutsy DC area museum curator takes the initiative to give this stellar artist a museum show in his own hometown.

The Artist as Applicant

The artist as applicant is an artist who is applying for an award that offers money, a studio residency, or an honor. The artist as applicant may be nominated or may respond to an open grant application call. Sometimes there are restrictions (age, locale, gender, education). The artist as applicant often but not always, has another source of income -- a day job, a part-time job, or the actual sale of their art. Some artist as applicants rely entirely on grants for their income.

What follows are potential scenarios in the life of the artist as applicant.

Read the whole piece by Rachel Mason at The HuffPost here.

Call for Artists

Art Lives Here is a regional visibility campaign for Gateway Arts District that includes participatory public arts projects, performances, installations and temporary commercial activity. All the details are here

Requests for Proposals

CALL FOR ARTISTS

The following RFPs will provide more than $30,000 for artists to implement creative placemaking activities. All mediums and experiences are encourages to apply. If your project idea does not fit within a category, please send a short summary to project staff. Arts education, youth groups, film, poetry and other art forms will be considered based on merit, budget and schedule.

Please contact neena@joesmovement.org if you have any questions.

Artists Business Partnerships:
Soliciting proposals for temporary and long term art installations, pop-up galleries, or programs within active and vacant local businesses.  Projects will enliven spaces and support the business environment. Sponsorship for materials and supplies by Community Forklift.

Art Attacks:

Soliciting dynamic art education projects that seek to engage under served community members where they live. Rather than asking participants to arrive at a specific location at a specific time, Art Attacks hope to engage community members on the spot, providing a valuable in-the-moment experience that may become the gateway into additional art education opportunities provided in the Gateway Arts District.

Performance:

Soliciting performances and performance concepts by artists living and working in the Gateway Arts District.

All proposals can be submitted to:

Neena Narayanan
Art Lives Here Project Coordinator, Joe’s Movement Emporium
3309 Bunker Hill Road
Mount Rainier, MD 20712
301-699-1819
neena@joesmovement.org

Frida Kahlo's Personal Items on Display

Trawick Prize Call for Artists

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is now accepting applications for the annual juried art exhibition and awards. $14,000 in prize money is awarded annually to the top four artists and a group exhibition of the finalists’ work will take place in September 2013 at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda. With a top prize of $10,000, The Trawick Prize is one of the largest and most prestigious contemporary art awards in the region.

The 2013 competition will be juried by Cynthia Connelly, Visual Arts Curator at Artisphere in Arlington, VA; Alexander Heilner, Associate Dean of Design and Media Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore; and Vesela Sretenović, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

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. Selected artists must deliver artwork to the exhibit site in Bethesda, MD. All works on paper must be framed to full conservation standards. Each artist must submit five images (10 for 3-D work), application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

Artists may apply online or download an application at http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/trawick-application. I have also attached a PDF version of the application.

The deadline for applications is April 1, 2013. Notifications will be mailed April 26, 2013.

Delusions of Grandeur

 “You have to be delusional to want to be an artist,” says Amber Robles-Gordon, who, with Shaunte Gates and Jamea Richmond-Edwards, debuted as the art collective Delusions of Grandeur with two back-to-back exhibitions in the summer of 2011. Originally funded by a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the group has expanded to five members with the addition of Wesley Clark and Stanley Squirewell.

Check out an excellent review and discussion on this group by the WaPo's Michael O'Sullivan here.

39th Street Gallery

3901 Rhode Island Ave.
Brentwood, MD

301-864-3860

This panel is today!

MIAMI ART FAIRS – REAL DEAL OR HYPE? 

FIRST‐HAND PERSPECTIVES FROM EXPERTS AND NEWCOMERS

Date: Monday, January 14th, 2013, 6:30 – 7:30 pm

Catalyst Projects will moderate this discussion, generously hosted by Arch Development and The Hive 2.0. The panel is going to feature Lenny Campello, distinguished art dealer and artist at Aqua; Adah Rose Bitterbaum, owner of the Adah Rose Gallery and exhibitor at Pulse; Tim Tate, established glass artist at Art Miami; Sean Hennessey, glass artist and newcomer to Aqua; and Shaunte Gates, exhibiting artist at Select.

This panel discussion will offer the DC arts community a look at the increasingly important world of art fairs from diverse perspectives.

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Location:
The Hive 2.0
1231‐B Good Hope Rd SE
Washington, DC 20020

Foundry Gallery has a new President

The Foundry Gallery has elected my good friend Fran Abrams as its new President.

A former Director of Grants for the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Ms. Abrams has had a long career of public service in government and nonprofit agencies.  A resident of Rockville, Maryland, she began working in polymer clay in 2000 and her art has been in exhibits from Virginia to Massachusetts; Since retiring from her day job in 2010 she has worked full time as an artist.

Her selection as President of the Dupont Circle-area art gallery was part of the Foundry's recent election of a new Board of Directors for 2013.  Serving as Vice President is Ed Bear Miller of Washington, DC.  Secretary is Naomi Taitz Duffy, also of Washington, and the Treasurer is Meg MacKenzie of Arlington, VA.  At-large Board members are Ana Elisa Benavent of Alexandria, Katherine Blakeslee of Washington, and Jay Peterzell of Takoma Park.

 

For more than forty years, the Foundry Gallery has supported and showcased some of Washington’s most promising and accomplished local artists. As a nonprofit, artist-run gallery, it exists to offer high quality, affordable original works of art, enrich and educate the community, and nurture, support and recognize local artists.

 

Foundry Gallery

1314 18th St, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

Artist busted

Artist busted at SCOPE Miami for copying photographers’ works... read the story here.

Plein Air–Easton

Plein Air–Easton! Artists Prospectus Released, Dates Announced  

9th Annual Competition & Arts Festival to be Held July 15-21, 2013 

The Competition Prospectus for the 9th Annual Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival will be released on January 25, 2013. Release of the prospectus marks the official kickoff of the 2013 event and begins the essential selection process for the next Plein Air–Easton! Competition. Amidst an art movement that has spurred hundreds of competitions across the country, Plein Air–Easton! is America’s premier plein air festival. Some of the best plein air artists from across the country and around the globe converge on Easton and Talbot County to vie for large cash and product prizes during a weeklong art extravaganza. In 2013, more than $20,000 in cash and product prizes will be awarded, plus the opportunity to sell their work to a large audience of art buyers. 

The caliber of artists competing at Plein Air–Easton! has strengthened each year, which has been a crucial component in the festival’s standard of excellence. With such stiff competition, the release of the prospectus offers timely and vital information for artists. The prospectus describes the process for artist entries, gives information about the entry jurist and awards judge, and outlines the competition guidelines. It will be released January 25 on the event website, www.pleinaireaston.com. 

Plein Air–Easton! is a rare opportunity to interact with these artists and experience an up-close view of the spontaneous and exciting art movement form of plein air painting—where artists leave their studios to paint “in the moment” outdoors. In just a few days, hundreds of pieces of some of the best representational art in the world are created and sold, making this a major East Coast art sale and a hot spot for art collectors and enthusiasts.  

The pinnacle of the competition is the Collector’s Preview Party which offers the first opportunity to view and purchase the competition paintings and to see the competition exhibit intact before paintings begin to be sold. Winners are announced during an awards ceremony at the Collectors’ Preview Party.  

Artists, art collectors, art and nature enthusiasts, students, tourists, local businesses, and spectators alike have discovered that this event truly lives up to its slogan of offering “Art for Everyone.” Over the past eight years, Plein Air–Easton! has become one of Easton’s largest events, attracting crowds and consistently posting impressive figures for art sales. 

Important Dates  

January 25, 2013 – Artists’ prospectus released  

March 8, 2013 – Artists deadline to enter juried competition 

March 29, 2013 – Competition artists announced. 

July 15-21, 2013 – Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival 

July 19, 2013 – Plein Air–Easton! Collectors’ Preview Party at the Academy Museum 

Plein Air–Easton! is the work of the Avalon Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide diversified arts and educational programs that improve the quality of life in the Mid-Shore region. The Academy Art Museum is the museum venue for the competition exhibit. The event is supported by Friends of Plein Air–Easton!, the Talbot County Arts Council, and corporate, media, product, and communitybased sponsors.  

Mark your calendars now for the 2013 Plein Air–Easton! Competition & Arts Festival to be held July 15-21, 2013, with pre-festival events beginning the week before. 

Plein Air–Easton! highlights are available on an extensive video blog available at www.pleinaireaston.com. 

For information, call 410.822.7297 or visit www.pleinaireaston.com.

Royal portrait woes

I'm thrilled! Kate puts on a brave face as she sees first official portrait critics are calling 'rotten'

Read the story here.

Miami Art Fairs Panel

MIAMI ART FAIRS – REAL DEAL OR HYPE? 

FIRST‐HAND PERSPECTIVES FROM EXPERTS AND NEWCOMERS

Date: Monday, January 14th, 2013, 6:30 – 7:30 pm

Catalyst Projects will moderate this discussion, generously hosted by Arch Development and The Hive 2.0. The panel is going to feature Lenny Campello, distinguished art dealer and artist at Aqua; Adah Rose Bitterbaum, owner of the Adah Rose Gallery and exhibitor at Pulse; Tim Tate, established glass artist at Art Miami; Sean Hennessey, glass artist and newcomer to Aqua; and Shaunte Gates, exhibiting artist at Select.

This panel discussion will offer the DC arts community a look at the increasingly important world of art fairs from diverse perspectives.

This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Location:
The Hive 2.0
1231‐B Good Hope Rd SE
Washington, DC 20020

Miami Art Fairs Discussion Panel

Arch Development has been kind enough to offer The Hive as a venue to host a panel organized by Zofie Lang discussing the Miami art fairs, artists, galleries, lessons learned, strategies for artists, Q&As, etc. The panel is free and open to the public and will be held on Monday, January 14th starting at 6:30PM.

The address is:
1231-B Good Hope Rd SE
Washington, DC 20020