32nd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards

Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) have announced the special honorees and finalists of the 32nd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards.

At the public awards ceremony in September, three individuals will be recognized as special honorees. Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, co-founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. Ari Roth, artistic director of Mosaic Theatre Company, will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership. Jazz musician and educator Davey Yarborough will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Distinguished Honor.

In addition, twenty-four individuals and organizations are finalists for Mayor's Arts Awards across six categories: Excellence in the Creative Industries, Excellence in Performing Arts, Excellence in the Humanities, Excellence in Visual Arts, The Larry Neal Writers' Award and the Mayor's Award for Arts Education. All nominees for these award categories are publically submitted.

"The individuals and organizations being honored at the 32nd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards add to the vibrancy of Washington, DC and help us define who we are as a city. Today, our creative economy is a powerful driver of economic development, helping revitalize neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for residents in all eight wards," said Mayor Bowser. "Washington, DC is rich with arts and culture, and we are proud to highlight the hardworking professionals who make life better for Washingtonians and visitors alike."

"This year's special honorees and finalists represent the depth of professionalism and talent in the District's arts and humanities communities," said Commission on the Arts and Humanities Executive Director Arthur Espinoza, Jr. "It is an honor for us to showcase their accomplishments at the Mayor's Arts Awards to the entire city."

The 32nd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards event will be presented on Thursday, September 14, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Historic Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street NW, Washington, DC. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.dcarts.dc.gov or call 202-724-5613.

Finalists for the 32nd Annual Mayor's Arts Awards
  

Category	Finalist
Excellence in Creative Industries	Paul Marengo
	Studio Theatre
	Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
	Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts
Excellence in Performing Arts	Washington Improv Theater
	The Choral Arts Society of Washington
	Dance Place
	Only Make Believe
Excellence in the Humanities	Rayceen Pendarvis
	Kitty Felde
	Joy Ford Austin
	Recreation Wish List Committee
Excellence in Visual Arts	Sondra N. Arkin
	Katherine Tzu-Ian Mann
	Cory L. Stowers
	Michael Crossett
The Larry Neal Writers' Award (Adult)	Taylor Johnson
	Brendan Williams-Childs
	Mona Nicole Sfeir
	Dionne Peart
The Mayor's Award for Arts Education	The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts
	Inner City-Inner Child
	Young Playwright's Theater
	Sitar Arts Center

Do you need passion in order to be an artist?

There are always pleasant and enriching surprises where one least expects them.


Such as a few years ago, while I was jurying an art show in one of the Carolinas, where I found a particularly unique piece of sculpture in a show where it was all alone amongst its brethren assorted media; a seminal piece which tempted me into considering awarding it a Best in Show but ended with a lesser Honorable Mention because I thought that the artist had a lot more to explore in order to push the concept behind the work. He needed to enter the world of electricity and lights, and videos, and then he will be there.


I just saw some of his recent work and he's there now!


At that show there was also the enriching experience of meeting artists who were truly and deeply enamored of their art. And the shock of awarding a Best in Show to a small work whose merit may be overseen by most, like the flower in a dandelion is seen as a weed in a garden of manicured flowers.

And there were memorable and most unexpected images of predatory jacks-in-the-box dressed like harlequins being fed honey. They made me shiver with concern as to their creation seed, like a character in Stephen King’s “Duma Key” reacting to one of Edgar Freemantle’s hypnotic paintings.

And green trees everywhere, clean manicured lawns and mailboxes guided by Homeowner’s Association standards.

And the unexpected and welcomed surprise of having a rich conversation while being driven to the airport that struck a special chord, and triggered thoughts, both light and dark, and ideas, both harsh and moist.

Sometimes a very talented and special artist flourishes amongst a field of good artists. They stand out in a special way, viewed by some as outsiders and out layers and by others as beautiful. Like the powerful yellow of a dandelion flower is seen as a bad weed by the vastness of the majority, and also as a pretty flower by those with a delicate eye for beauty.

But beauty demands the delicacy of steel, shiny and flexible, and composed of mixed components, each strong on their own, but not as strong as when they are forced to couple together in the cauldron of molten ingredients. The scent of beauty has iron ore and coke and alloys and eventually it becomes steel.

The old conversation many years ago floated around art, beauty, and the creative process. The words and idea revolved rapidly around love for art and love for being an artist and how love helps to create art; love as a driving force.

“Not just love,” I added, “also hate.”

After some exploration of this idea, we quickly agreed that what was really needed in order to be an artist was passion.


Poets and common folk have struggled with the nearness of love to hate and the quickness of how they can be molten into one by events and perceptions. Molten like iron and coke and alloys are molten to make steel.

Can art be created from hate?

“From the hells beneath the hells, I bring you my deathly fruits,” wrote Robert Ervin Howard in his dark, some would say hateful poetry.

It is a dreadful question and one that I hadn’t really thought about much until that wonderful exchange of ideas with an unexpected kindred art soul brought it to my mind and then to my lips.

Was Goya driven by hate when he etched his horrible “Disasters of War”? I think so; but a very special kind of hate.

The same Goya who so loved the Duchess of Alba, a woman that he couldn’t have, that he painted her with brushes and paints loaded with love, and with desire, and even with direction and wishful thinking.

I think that I think that any passion can drive an artist to create meaningful and powerful art. The fervor of religion has given us some of the greatest masterpieces of art in the world, and not so curiously, as man steps away from God, so has the importance of contemporary religious art.

But it is so disturbing to me to think about pure incandescent hate as a driving force in the creativity of art.

Maybe I should diminish hate.

I hate green peppers.

I had a really good Greek salad for a lovely lunch a couple of days ago, and I was so engrossed in the conversation that I forgot to ask the waiter to skip the green peppers.

The salad was bountiful and tasty, and loaded to the brim with the offending vegetable. And the guilt of wasting food was there as I piled strips of green on the edge of my plate while consuming the rest of the salad voraciously. It’s odd how often I’m not aware that I am hungry until food is presented to me.

I eat too fast.


My mother’s aunt once told me that she chewed each bite 33 times. But then you’d spend too many precious minutes chewing food. The answer to this mundane tragedy is somewhere in between three and 33. On the other hand, she lived to be well over 100 years old, 103 or 104 I think.

I hate how allergens can penetrate your body’s defenses and torment your nose, throat and eyes and make never ending days full of physical misery. As someone whose DNA results showed me to have a significant amount of pre-Homo Sapiens DNA (I'm 2% Neanderthal and 1% Denisovan), I often wonder how my ancestral kin cavemen survived in moldy caves in a world of sneezing. They must have been killed by their companions. How can a sneezing caveman sneak silently during the hunt? And they really couldn’t be demoted to gatherers instead of hunters, because they’d be sneezing their hairy heads off as they gathered berries and nuts and roots among the pollen rich world in which they lived.

I hate that HBO cancelled “Rome” all those years ago and left us hanging with Pullo walking away with Caesarian. I hate that George Raymond Richard Martin killed Ned Stark so soon in "Game of Thrones."

I know, I know… different kinds of hate.

Still, I will never paint or draw green peppers.

Boot camp for artists coming...

Early heads up!


On September 30, from 2-4:30 pm, The Brentwood Arts Exchange and I will be once again hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists.



This seminar is suitable for all visual artists interested in taking their careers to the next level.



Ever wondered how to maximize the attention your work gets from the press, galleries, and museum curators? How to present your work in a professional manner and save money in the process? How to tap into grants, awards and residencies? How to approach a gallery?



Then this is the seminar for you! This program is free, but space is limited to 40 persons, and last year lots of artists were turned away because it filled up so quickly!


As soon as they start taking reservations (and I will announce that soon), I recommend that interested people reserve early, as this seminar always books up very quickly!



This program will be held in MNCPPC’s Brentwood Arts Exchange on the 1st Floor of the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD 20722, just over the District line on Rhode Island Avenue.



The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by over 6,000 artists and arts professionals from all over the Mid Atlantic is designed to deliver information, data and proven tactics to allow artists to develop and sustain a career in the fine arts.

Sometimes called "Boot Camp for Artists" by the attendees, people as far as Arizona, California, New York and South Carolina have attended, including many, many university level art professionals.

In its seven hour format, the seminar covers a wide range of structured issues including:

1. Materials - Buying materials; strategies for lowering your costs, where and how to get it, etc.

2. Presentation – How to properly present your artwork including Conservation issues, Archival Matting and Framing, Longevity of materials, a discussion on Limited editions, signing and numbering, Prints vs. Reproduction, discussion on Iris Prints (Pros and Cons).

3. Creating a resume - Strategy for building your art resume, including how to write one, what should be in it, presentation, etc.

4. Juried Shows – An Insider's view and strategy to get in the competitions.

5. How to take slides and photographs of your artwork

6. Selling your art – A variety of avenues to actually selling your artwork, including fine arts festivals, corporate acquisitions, galleries, public arts, etc.

7. Creating a Body of Works

8. How to write a news release

9. Publicity – How to get in newspapers, magazines, etc. Plus handouts on email and addresses of newspaper critics, writers, etc.

10. Galleries – Discussion on area galleries including Vanity Galleries, Co-Operatives, Commercial Galleries, Non-profit Art spaces, etc.

11. How to approach a gallery – Realities of the business, Contracts, Gallery/Artist Relationship, Agents.

12. Outdoor Art Festivals – Discussion and advice on how to sell outwork at fine arts festivals, which to do, which to avoid, etc.

13. Resources - Display systems and tents, best juried shows and ones to avoid.

14. Accepting Credit cards – How to set up your art business.

15. Grants – Discussion on how to get grants in DC, Regional and National, including handouts on who and where and when.

16. Alternative Marketing - Cable TV, Local media

17. Internet – How to build your website at no cost, how to establish a wide and diverse Internet presence.

18. Art fairs

Raise the roof!

Good morning Austin!

Anderson - Austin morning

Request for Qaulifications

Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL)
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (Central) Library Grand Reading Room Ceiling Design
Permanent Public Art Commission
Deadline: August 31, 2017
Budget: To be determined, with artist fee up to 20% of the project
Open to all professional artists, designers and art or design teams
Apply Online: http://bit.ly/2h7CByp 

 

The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) Public Art Program is issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and statements of interest from individual artists, designers or art/design teams for a ceiling treatment to be produced in conjunction with the modernization of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (Central) Library, at 901 G St. NW. This is an opportunity to design a signature visual feature of the Library’s Grand Reading Room, drawing upon the Library’s vast Special Collections archive of D.C. history. Applicants are asked to submit samples of past work, along with a statement of interest that explains the relevance of past work to this opportunity, by August 31, 2017. From this application, a professional Review Panel will award stipends to a group of semifinalists who will develop full proposals this fall. This call is open applicants 18 or older; must be available for intermittent meetings in Washington, D.C. during 2018 and to oversee installation in 2019.

Find out more and apply online at: http://bit.ly/2h7CByp

For a list of FAQs, visit: http://www.dcplfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MLK-Ceiling-RFQ-FAQs.pdf

 

For questions, please contact Project Consultant, Natalie Campbell, at publicart@dcplfoundation.org.

We're in Austin!

Anderson looking out the window in Austin

The Bourgeon Book

The Bourgeon Book is a product of the renowned local nonprofit Day Eight, and draws on dozens of interviews, poems, and essays by artists that originally appeared in Bourgeon, the organization’s literary magazine. The book was originally published in 2013 to praise from local media and former Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser. A recent grant from the National Endowment for the Arts has allowed Day Eight to produce an expanded e-book version featuring nearly twice as many essays from painters, dancers, authors, sculptors, and poets across D.C.’s vibrant, multicultural arts community—a community that has never been more necessary or mobilized.

Robert Bettmann—Day Eight founder, general editor of The Bourgeon Book, and Brightwood resident—is an artist himself, and a worthy representative for this city’s creative populace. Robert is available for interviews and can speak with eloquence and expertise to some of most pressing issues facing our city today: What role can artists play in modelling community and solidarity, in D.C. and elsewhere? How can collaboration between local artists serve as a model for greater community mobilization? How will D.C.’s arts scene rise to the occasion as the local creative resistance to an arts- and diversity-averse administration?

“While the arts and arts journalism continue to free fall along with the global economy, the model innovated by Bourgeon is clear. Perhaps it is now, as it always was, that the artists will lead the way.” 

                              –from the preface by journalist Leonard Jacobs

Check it out here.

Call for proposals

Artists wishing to be considered for an exhibit in the Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) galleries are invited to submit a general exhibit application. The HCAC Exhibits Committee meets quarterly to review applications and select artists for the exhibit space. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. The Committee also welcomes proposals from curators and organizations.

 

Detailed entry guidelines are available in the Exhibit Opportunities section of the HCAC website at hocoarts.org, for pick-up at the Howard County Center for the Arts, or by mail by calling 410-313-2787 or emailing info@hocoarts.org. The next deadline for submissions is Sunday, October 1, 2017.

 

HCAC manages two galleries at the Howard County Center for the Arts with over 2100 square feet of exhibit space. The HCAC gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists.

 

HCAC presents 11-12 exhibits per year of national, regional, and local artists, including two-person, small and large group, juried, curated, and community shows.

 

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, and Sunday 12-4pm. To learn more about HCAC programs and exhibits, call 410-313-ARTS (2787) or visit hocoarts.org.  

Save the date: Bootcamp for Artists

Early heads up!


On September 30, from 2-4:30 pm, The Brentwood Arts Exchange and I will be once again hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists.



This seminar is suitable for all visual artists interested in taking their careers to the next level.



Ever wondered how to maximize the attention your work gets from the press, galleries, and museum curators? How to present your work in a professional manner and save money in the process? How to tap into grants, awards and residencies? How to approach a gallery?



Then this is the seminar for you! This program is free, but space is limited to 40 persons, and last year lots of artists were turned away because it filled up so quickly!


As soon as they start taking reservations (and I will announce that soon), I recommend that interested people reserve early, as this seminar always books up very quickly!



This program will be held in MNCPPC’s Brentwood Arts Exchange on the 1st Floor of the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD 20722, just over the District line on Rhode Island Avenue.



See ya there!

Opportunity for Artists

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Saturday, September 9, 2017

Call for Entries

Splash: Attitudes and Process.

The 2017 Prince George’s County Juried Exhibition, presented at the Brentwood Arts Exchange

 

Eligibility: Splash: Attitudes and Process is open to all artists 18 and over who live, work, study, or have an art studio in Prince George’s County, MD

 

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Saturday, September 9

 

Featuring a purchase prize awarded by the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council

 

Full guidelines and applications online at: m-ncppc.submittable.com

 

Applications will only be accepted online. No other forms of application will be accepted.

 

Splash: Attitudes and Process seeks artworks that embody attitude and style. Attitudes are catalysts for new processes and new ways of making. Creating with style and intention reveals an artist’s point of view. This exhibition celebrates all of those things.

 

Juried by Ginevra Shay, Artistic Director of The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore; Curator of Rose Arcade; Founder of Current Space Community Darkroom and Photo Program.

John Aquilino at Artists & Makers

The “Metropolis” series is a new body of work by DMV artist John Aquilino that combines his "interest in cityscapes with my past professional experience as a 3D digital artist. For this series, I’m creating virtual urban scenes working with a computer software program. The design process is enabling me to use technology to express my passion for the urban landscape and to continue exploring the relationships among space, shapes, light, and color."


Opening reception: Friday, August 4, 6 - 9 p.m.

Metropolis: Paintings and Drawings by John Aquilino
August 4 - 30, 2017
Artists and Makers Studios 2 (main gallery)
12276 Wilkins Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852

Artists' Websites: Chirstine Kaiser

Once again, later this year we're trudging to Chicago to participate in the SOFA Art Fair... showcased at that fair, will be work by the DMV's Lori Katz, myself and Illinois artist Christine Kaiser.


See her work here.

Even death dies

 “That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons, even death may die."

      - Stephen King... Revival

Business of Art Workshop

On Saturday August 12th, Artists & Makers Studios is hosting Wendy Rosen and Carolyn Edlund, who run the Arts Business Institute out of Baltimore for a 2-day ABI workshop at Artists and Makers Studios 2 (Wilkins in Rockville).


Details here.  Register now and get real world help in advancing your art career!!


There is also a expert panel between 11:45 and 12:45, and I'm honored to be part of the panel, along with DMVC uberartist Michael Janis.

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. The New Marketplace – Wendy Rosen
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Creative Marketing – Carolyn Edlund
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Lunch – Expert Panel Discussion
12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Pricing for Profit – Wendy Rosen/Carolyn Edlund
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Sales Strategies for Artists – Carolyn Edlund

Press Outreach Toolkit

HCDC + Gateway CDC with the support of MSAC are developing a Press Outreach Toolkit that will offer Gateway Arts District stakeholders the ability to access an online, nationwide press/media contact database called Cision.

RSVP to attend a Public Info Session and to learn more

Mon, Aug 7, 7pm	Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center
Thur, Aug 17, 7pm	Gateway Media Arts Lab
Sat, Nov 4 2pm	Brentwood Arts Exchange

Save the date!

Another Campello at auction

This just showed up in the Internets at auction! Check it out here.




"Faerie." c. 1999 Charcoal on Paper by F. Lennox Campello

Chesapeake Gallery Call for Entries 2018-2020

Deadline: August 15th, 2017

The Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College, located in Bel Air, MD, is excited to invite artists, artist groups and curators working in any medium or format to apply for our 2018-2020 exhibition seasons! Artists and/or curators are responsible for the transportation or shipping of all artwork to and from the Chesapeake Gallery.

There is no application fee or commission on sold work. Please visit the website below for more details on how to apply!

www.harford.edu/chesapeakegallery.aspx (OR) Google Search: Harford Community Chesapeake Gallery; E-mail questions to Brad Blair: bblair@harford.edu

Residency in Mexico

Deadline: July 30, 2017

A FREE artist and writers residency located on Lake Chapala, Mexico. International visual artists, writers, playwrights, photographers, dancers, new media makers and musicians can apply. No Entry Fee. Details: http://bitly.com/2sCtJ9e