The place to be tonight is AU!

The website archive for the Jefferson Place Gallery has been launched: JeffersonPlaceGallery.com

The site is in the early stages of archiving the 18-year history of the Jefferson Place, with a timeline of activities, artist biographies, images of artworks, images of exhibition-related ephemera, press clipping summaries, and a blog to expand upon the history of the gallery.


About the Jefferson PlaceFounded by several American University professors, and one of their students, Alice Denney, the Jefferson Place was the first gallery in DC to exclusively support the area’s avant garde artists. It was also the place where many of the early Washington Color School artists—Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Howard Mehring, and Kenneth Noland—first exhibited their signature masterworks in DC.

In the first few years of its existence other galleries copied their model. Duncan Phillips and David Kreeger purchased from the gallery for their collections; Vincent Melzac would donate his purchases to several museums. And the influence of the gallery had potentially greater reach: Abe Fortas, John Brademus and Sid Yates were among the gallery visitors. The former helped Johnson acquire the Hirshhorn collection; the latter two helped establish the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Gallery founders William Calfee, Robert Gates, and Helene Herzbrun—along with early members like Hilda Shapiro Thorpe—would remain with the gallery long after it transitioned from cooperative to commercial gallery under Nesta Dorrance, the gallery’s second director. As the Jefferson Place evolved, it would go on to represent artists like Benjamin Abramowitz, William Christenberry, Tim Corkery, Willem de Looper, Sam Gilliam, John Gossage, Shelia Isham, J.L. Knight, Rockne Krebs, Blaine Larson, V.V. Rankine, Eric Rudd, Yuri Schwebler, Roy Slade, Elliott Thompson, and many others.

The website functions as a companion to the second project: an exhibition curated by DMV artist and art critic John Anderson, "Making a Scene: Jefferson Place," the latest exhibition in the American University Museum's Alper Initiative for Washington Art. The exhibition and catalog essay examines the first six years of the gallery: from its founding in 1957, through 1962, after the gallery had transitioned between directors Alice Denney and Nesta Dorrance. True to its title, the exhibition outlines the scene the gallery was attempting to cultivate in support of local contemporary artists.

Website Developmentjeffersonplacegallery.com is a collaboration between John Anderson and Day Eight, a DC-area arts non-profit—founded by Robert Bettmann—that helps produce and publish creative projects: including the Arts Writing Fellowship, and the D.C. Poetry Project. The site was developed by BRINK media, and supported by the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, and the American University Museum.

Museum Events
A reception for the exhibition—which includes the website—will be September 9, 6-9 pm, at the American University Museum. A salon-style event, Free Parking, will be held at the museum on Thursday, October 12, from 5:30-7:00.

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this monster:

From: Monalisa Buckwell
Sent: Thursday, September 7, 2017 4:43 AM
Subject: Art Order

 

Hello,
I am Interested in purchasing artwork from your gallery inventory
therefore i will like to know if you are able to ship international
and also if you accept Visa Card/Master Card or PayPal for payment?
You can get back to me with your response along with your recently
updated web page.
Regards
Monalisa Buckwell

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this rip off:

From: Daniel Lachlan
Sent: Thursday, September 7, 2017 8:36 AM
Subject: ART

 

Hi,

My name is Daniel from LA,am interested in purchasing some artworks from you for the beautification of my newly acquired house in Cape town,South Africa.

Could you share with me some of your recent works that are not yet posted on your website or direct me to your website where i can find piece that will be good for my House and add more values to my humble self.

I hope to hear back from you.

Daniel.

Trawick Prize winner announced!

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, celebrated its 15^th anniversary and announced the 2017 prize winners last night during the exhibition’s opening. Larry Cook from Landover Hills, MD was awarded “Best in Show” and received the $10,000 top prize; Cindy Cheng from Baltimore, MD was named second place and given $2,000; Renée Rendine from Towson, MD was bestowed third place and received $1,000; and Giulia Livi from Baltimore, MD received the $1,000 young artist award.

Winner Larry Cook_with Catherine Leggett, Carol Trawick and Catriona Fraser

Larry Cook has shown his work in various group and solo exhibitions throughout the region. His work was included in group shows including It Takes A Nation at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C.,To Be Black in White America at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, MD and How We Lost DC at Honfleur Gallery in Washington, D.C. Cook’s solo exhibits have been shown at Hamiltonian Gallery, (e)merge art fair, and Pleasant Plains Workshop in Washington, D.C. He received his Master of Fine Arts from George Washington University. He is a visual art teacher at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, MD. Cook was the 2014 Trawick Prize Young Artist Award Winner, a Hamiltonian Fellow from 2013-2015 and a finalist for the Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize in 2013 and 2016.  

2017 Trawick Prize Finalists

Cindy Cheng, Baltimore, MD

Larry Cook, Landover Hills, MD

Amy Finkelstein, Takoma Park, MD

Helen Glazer, Owings Mills, MD

Giulia Livi, Baltimore, MD

Michele Montalbano, Burke, VA

Ben Piwowar, Baltimore, MD

Renée Rendine, Towson, MD

 

The exhibit opening celebrated the talented finalists as well as recognized Carol Trawick for her generous and gracious support of the competition for the past 15 years. Established by Ms. Trawick in 2003, The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists.

 

A longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, Ms. Trawick has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company. A former teacher and entrepreneur, Ms. Trawick remains engaged in a range of philanthropic causes through the Foundation, which was established to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County. The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation has awarded grants to more than 90 nonprofits.

 

The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, until September 30. The public opening reception will be Friday, September 8 from 6-8pm. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

 

Entries were juried by Zoë Charlton, Art Department Chair and Associate Professor at American University; Neil Feather, Maryland-based artist and former winner of the Sondheim Art Prize and The Trawick Prize and Elizabeth Mead, Art Department Chair and Associate Professor of Art and Art History at William & Mary.

 

To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $205,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 130 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Cleaver, 2003; David Page, 2004; Jiha Moon, 2005; James Rieck, 2006; Jo Smail, 2007; Maggie Michael, 2008; Rene Trevino, 2009; Sara Pomerance, 2010; Mia Feuer, 2011; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013; Neil Feather, 2014; Jonathan Monaghan, 2015 and Lauren Adams, 2016.

Wanna go to an opening this Saturday?

TWIST - LAYER - POUR

Sondra N. Arkin + Joan Belmar + Mary Early
September 5 - October 22, 2017

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 9, 2017, 6-9 PM

Gallery Talk with the Artists & Sarah Tanguy, Curator
Thursday, September 28, 6-7:30pm
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
In Twist – Layer – Pour, the unexpected grouping of Sondra N. Arkin, Joan Belmar and Mary Early yields a dynamic, site-responsive meditation on systemized components and accumulated wholes. Step by step, link by link, their obsessive object-making becomes a metaphor for conscious and intuitive gesture, relational interconnectivity, and the passage of time.

At once public and private, monumental and intimate, the works profess an unswerving passion for their chosen materials: steel wire, synthetic papers, and beeswax. Individual variances and details invite close attention while, in the aggregate, distilled shapes and rhythmic patterns emerge. Whether the viewer roams among the works or stands still, the artwork expands, surrounds and cascades all around.
Together the installations create a kaleidoscope of contrasting perspectives and engage all aspects of their architectural setting—floor, ceiling, and wall, be it double or single height, curved, straight, or glass. The flow of air and the play of light further complicate the interaction between actual and implied motion. From humble materials, and from individual units, the artists create a new way of experiencing the space.

Exhibition catalogue available.

The American University Museum
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20016
www.american.edu/museum(202) 885-1300

Museum Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11am - 4pm
Parking available under the Katzen Arts Center and is free after 5pm and on weekends.

Help a Houston Gallery

TEAplusART supports the local art community in Houston. Due to the devastation caused by hurricane Harvey people have canceled events at the gallery for the year. Without the paying events the gallery will close with out your help. Any amount of donation would be appreciated.

Donate here.

Hispanic Heritage Month at the National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month with programs and events highlighting the Hispanic artists and subjects who are represented in the museum’s collection. With the goal of opening a dialogue about these individuals’ remarkable contributions to American history, this bilingual celebration will offer insight into the ways in which Latino cultures, traditions and stories have helped shape this country’s history.

The month-long series of events includes a special Family Day hosted at the museum Sept. 30. Featuring live music, curator talks and art activities, Family Day welcomes visitors of all ages. Participants will have the opportunity to join Taína Caragol for a special Spanish-language tour of “The Face of Battle: Americans at War, 9/11 to Now.” Caragol, a co-curator of the special exhibition, is the museum’s Curator of Painting and Sculpture and Latino Art and History.

As part of the museum’s initiative to become fully bilingual (English and Spanish) by 2018, the Portrait Gallery currently has five dual-language exhibitions. When the museum’s “must see” exhibition, “America’s Presidents,” reopens to the public Sept. 22 after extensive renovations, the new exhibition will be entirely bilingual and accessible. A highlight of the Portrait Gallery since the museum’s public opening in 1968, this historic display on the museum’s second floor is the only place outside the White House where visitors can view a complete collection of presidential portraits. “America’s Presidents” includes extraordinary works of art, most notably Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne” portrait of President George Washington, which will be back on view after 18 months of careful conservation and analysis.

In addition to the special events in the Portrait Gallery, from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, the museum will have on view 26 portraits by Latino artists or of Latino sitters, including Rudolfo Anaya, Teresa Carreño, Marisol Escobar, Frida Kahlo, Pedro Martínez, Antonia Pantoja, Chita Rivera, Geraldo Rivera, Clemente Soto Vélez, Antonio Martorell and Piri Thomas.

Snowy Day stamps

The US Postal Service is going to issue The Snowy Day Forever stamps that are based on an award-winning children’s book by artist, illustrator and writer Ezra Jack Keats.

 

 

 

The Snowy Day, published in 1962, was one of the first mainstream publications to feature an African American child. It received the Caldecott Medal in 1963.

 

The stamps can be pre-ordered now at usps.com/shop at this link for delivery shortly after the Oct. 4 nationwide issuance. 

#SnowyDayStamps.

Help for some Texas galleries?

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will award up to $1 million in emergency grants to preserve humanities collections and help restore operations at libraries, museums, colleges, universities, and other cultural and historical institutions in the areas of Texas and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Harvey, Acting Chairman Jon Parrish Peede announced...

Some Texas non-profit galleries may be able to take advantage of this...  Try the Small Business Administration. If it is a nonprofit gallery, NEH is making $1M available for emergency grants (www.neh.gov) and NEA will be directing funds (arts.gov).

Here's the link to the Small Business Administration part - click here.

Pass it on!

Huge FB Art Scam Alert

Huge scam going around. They've been hitting DMV area artists on FB. 

They send a friend request from a fellow artist you know. Then they tell you that they just received a huge check from the Art & Humanities or Arts Endowment and that hey saw your name on thesame  list so you had better contact them.

Report them to FB immediately.

Tatooine

Alida on Tatooine, c. 2017 by F. Lennox Campello

Save this date

OCTOBER 12 

5:30–7 PM at AU's Katzen Arts Center

Free Parking featuring the Jefferson Place Gallery 

Free Parking is American University's salon-style conversation series in the Alper Initiative - and this date features my good bud curator (and artist and critic) John Anderson (no relation) in conversation with artists and friends of the Jefferson Place Gallery—Washington’s premiere contemporary art space opened by artists in 1957—including newly minted facts and revived fictions. 

Details here.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: September 16, 2017. 

The Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington, D.C. announces a call to artists for a juried art exhibition, November 19, 2017 - January 6, 2018 at The Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD. 

Approximately $7,000 in awards. Juror: Thomas Hipschen. 

Original works in any traditional media, prints from original plates, sculptures. Crafts and art works produced by photographic, giclee, laser or digital techniques NOT accepted. 

Overall area of image must not exceed 25 sq. inches (156 sq cm). Outside dimension of frame must not exceed 56 sq. inches (360 sq. cm). Sculpture may not exceed 6 inches (15 cm) in any direction including the base. 

Entry fees vary (See prospectus). More info (PDF), go to: https://www.mpsgs.org/MPSGS-2017_Prospectus.pdf Contact: nancy@miniartsupply.biz or LRychlec@gmail.com or call 301-977-2190 or 301-987-6779. https://www.mpsgs.org/

Art critiques

I am happy to announce that Strathmore will be offering artist critiques this fall as part of their visual arts programming! 

For artists who miss being enrolled in a formal art degree program, this is an invaluable opportunity to present your art for constructive evaluation. Find out what viewers with a trained artist's eye see in your work.

Upcoming sessions:

Fri, Sept 15, with Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

Fri, Oct 20, with Lulu Delacre, award-winning children’s picture book illustrator and fine artist

Each session is $40.

What's missing from this program (so far) and nearly always missing from the academic versions of these critiques? The trained eye of a well-traveled gallerist who can add the commodity angle to art critiques - I've already contacted Strathmore and suggested that in the future they add a DMV area commercial gallerist who had plenty of experience doing art fairs all over the planet.

 

Strathmore

5301 Tuckerman Lane

North Bethesda, MD 20852-3385

(301) 581-5100 ticket office/customer service phone

(301) 581-5108 tea reservations

(301) 581-5200 administration phone

www.strathmore.org

Volunteers needed!!!

About

A multifaceted festival embracing arts and culture. This event is located on 4 th St. and M Sts. SW near the Waterfront metro. There will be live music performances, DC’s biggest dance party, headliner concert, interactive artwork, food trucks, farmer’s market, non-profit and embassy row and much more...We need volunteers who can assist staff with the interactive art, children’s events, setup/breakdown, distributing event brochures, giving directions to all of the activities and welcoming guests to one of the best events DC has to offer. We need volunteers as early as 7:30am til 10:30pm in 4 hour shifts. For more information or to reserve your schedule, please call Alison Henderson at 301-706-6719 or email 202artmusicfestvols@gmail.com

Little Junes is 8!

Hard to believe... right?

Cynthia Back at WPG

August 31 - September 24, 2017

Reception Saturday, September 2, 2-5 pm

Artist's Talk: 3 pm

Washington Printmakers Gallery

In Naturally, Cynthia Back presents new reduction woodcuts inspired by both travel and her immediate environment. She is immersed in nature: from a window, walking in it, standing and listening to its sounds, watching shadows and colors dance across water and foliage. Her sense of the natural world is life-affirming, healing, immersive, and contemplative. Design and abstract qualities enthuse. Inspiration is found in the excitement of seeing a familiar place take on a new aura, the changes of season and weather, and the scale of subject, from the immediate found at one's feet to sweeping panoramas. The inescapable intrusion of human-made landscapes and the impact of climate change also becomes part of the motivatiion for her work.

In the autumn of 2016 Cynthia was privileged to be a resident at the Nordic Artists' Centre in Dale, Norway. Streams, ponds, fjords, and the sounds of rushing water were ever present. The pure air and colors, play of light across woods and streams, and freshness of the environment resulted in a series of reduction prints using two to four woodblocks. Many are included in this exhibition.

Cynthia Back is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Pollock-Krasner Foundation; residencies to Women's Studio Workshop, Blue Mountain Center, Acadia National Park; and fellowships to The Nordic Artists' Centre Dale, Norway; The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Ltd., Co. Mayo, Ireland, Fundacion Valparaiso, Spain, Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Cill Rialaig Project, Co. Kerry, Ireland, and The MacDowell Colony. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections, including The Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Newark Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and The New-York Historical Society.

Good news from East City Art

From Phil Hutinet, Founding Publisher, East City Art

This fall, as we enter our fifth year of publishing in print, and our ninth online, we look forward to the coming year as we plan to continue expanding our operations and more importantly, our coverage of the region’s visual art scene.

True to our roots in eastern DC, specifically Capitol Hill, we will continue to publish as East City Art, in homage to the ambit of our initial focus.

You may have noticed a slow progression of coverage in each of the cardinal directions of our region.  While we have now included the entire “DMV” in our online listings, in our fall 2017 print edition, which begins distribution Labor Day weekend, we have only included DC and Prince’s George’s County. We are still in the process of negotiating partnerships with other regional organizations to provide our readership with more comprehensive listings beginning spring 2018.
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We are also very excited to announce the development of a pilot critical writing seminar to train a new cohort of critical art writers. Funded by the East City Art Foundation for Critical Writing and Research, the pilot cohort will study under the direction of Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D., an internationally renowned art historian, who will also take over as the Arts Review Editor for the publication this fall.   
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In response to the community’s request for more critical arts coverage, writers from this new cohort will produce at least one piece of critical writing a week beginning mid-October, 2017. These pieces will be published online at www.eastcityart.com/reviews .
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Finally, I would like to thank all of you—our readers—for your continued support. We are always at your service and welcome feedback on how we can improve our publication. Please let me know if you have an opinion piece you would like us to consider publishing or if you would like to offer suggestions for coverage.
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Warmest Regards,

Phil Hutinet
Founding Publisher, East City Art