Bethesda Painting Awards Finalists

The 8 finalists have been selected for the Bethesda Painting Awards exhibit being held from June 9 - July 3, 2022 at Gallery B.  I will review their artwork and pick the one who would win if I was the sole juror!  Looks like Maryland rules this year and DC got skunked as Baltimore takes over!

Finalists:

Emma Childs, Baltimore, MD

Jim Condron, Lutherville-Timonium, MD

Andrew Hladky, Kensington, MD

Jeremy Jirsa, Dundalk, MD

Magnolia Laurie, Baltimore, MD

McKinley Wallace III, Baltimore, MD

James Williams II, Baltimore, MD

Ju Yun, Chantilly, VA

Gallery hours:

Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm

Opening Reception:

Friday, June 10, 6-8pm

My money is on Andrew Hladky, whose almost three-dimensional works are essentially immensely intelligent wall sculptures, although I suspect that they'd be a nightmare to keep clean! :-) They are different from what jurors usually see, so bet on his work.

My other choice would be James Williams II, whose work has presence and social commentary - would not be surprised if he took the prize!

Emergency Grants are available!

The purpose of the Maryland State Arts Council Click here for further details and the full program guidelines.Emergency Grant program is to support the needs of independent artists as they adjust to income losses as the result of an emergency situation (including, but not limited to, the ongoing impact of the pandemic). 

This Emergency Grant program is accepted on a rolling basis with a monthly review process. Grants are available for up to $2,000. Click here for further details and the full program guidelines.

The face of evil

Satan visited Uvalde, Texas today - this is what he looked like...

A few thoughts on a few things which should be of interest to all artists

Airportism: As you travel across this great nation, airports strive for unique individualities – but the one common denominator is how boring and predictable the public art which decorates airports has become over the decades. There are exceptions – such as the rare airport which also boasts of built-in art galleries, which rotate shows as any gallery would – of course avoiding any of the taboos mentioned above.

Art History: The number one spot in my top ten most influential books (on me) of all times has been occupied since 1977 by The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe.

Read all the things here.

More VOLTA Pics

 

VOLTA Pics

 

Re-shuffling booth after some big sales

Almost done!

The great Dulce Pinzon

 Today I got to finally meet the great Dulce Pinzon! Art world royalty!

Dulce Pinzon and Lenny Campello circa 2022 at VOLTA Art fair in NYC

The booth at VOLTA

All done!

Alida Anderson Art Projects at Volta Art Fair NYC 2022

Volta Art Fair opened today

Pretty decent opening of the Volta Art Fair New York City at the Hauser & Wirth building in Chelsea. I sold a ton of the Bisque pieces as well as my largest drawing, a 36x36 mixed media painting from my "obsessive" series.

This piece is heading to North Friesland, Germany, which means that I have to pack it back in the van and drive it home and then crate it and ship it.

Suddenly, She Wasn’t Afraid Any Longer
Original mixed media painting on 300 weight paper by Florencio Lennox Campello

Van is ready for Volta

 

Art Clinic Online: Bootcamp for Artists!

 Art Clinic Online - Saturday, May 28 from 10:30 -11:30am

Join me at the Art Clinic Online for a discussion and Q&A about nearly everything you wanted to know about being an artist, grants, resume-building, approaching galleries, etc.

About Art Clinic Online (ACO)

The Art Clinic Online community aims to create a friendly artsy environment and bring together artists who may have taken classes with us before or who are contemplating it and want to learn from one another in an online community-based setting. As such, they are not didactic sessions but a forum for the equal exchange of art ideas and art information as well as an opportunity to share art challenges and breakthroughs. 

The Stone Tower resident artists created the ACO after hearing the need for such a forum expressed by many of their students. If you are interested in joining, click the button below and email Mariana to join! Yes, it's still FREE.

Location: Glen Echo.

Rejected!

 They do not want me to do this portrait... cough... cough...

Dear Florencio,

Thank you for your application to create the official portrait of former Rhode Island Governor (and current U.S. Secretary of Commerce) Gina M. Raimondo. I’m sorry it has taken so long to reach a conclusion to this process, but we are happy to say that Secretary Raimondo has made her decision.

As you know, there was a significant amount of interest in this commission. Many, many excellent candidates submitted work, and any number of artists would have been an excellent choice for this important commission. While we appreciate your interest, I regret to say that you were not chosen for further consideration.

We are not prepared to announce the chosen artist until all arrangements for the commission have been concluded, but we will be happy to share the announcement with you once it has been circulated.

We wish you all the best and thank you for your interest in this project.

Molly Dickinson

RISCA public art director

on behalf of the Gubernatorial Portrait Selection Committee

Exhibit Opportunity: Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House

Exhibit Opportunity: Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House

The Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House is seeking exhibition proposals for 2023. 

The Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House is a non-profit gallery located in Columbia, Maryland. Operated by the Wilde Lake Community Association, the gallery features two spaces within the Slayton House lobby and Conference Room that hosts multiple juried art exhibits per year.

Details here -- Send completed application forms to Lisa Kim at events@wildelake.org. 

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival this weekend!

Get excited for art, entertainment, food & more at the annual Bethesda Fine Arts Festival on Saturday, May 14 (10am - 6pm) & Sunday, May 15 (10am - 5pm)! Stroll Norfolk & Auburn Avenues to see 100+ artist booths, listen to great music & enjoy food, wine & beer for the perfect weekend in downtown Bethesda.

All free and also plenty of free parking!

Details here.

You can see the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival 2022 artists here.

You know what's coming next - my awards for top artists in the show.  As a brilliant juror, I can use my experienced eye from the thumbnails and website visits to award the Campello awards.

For the painters I liked  Zhiyi Li (from Enfield, CT) in Booth #66, and Thomas Williams (from Chicago, IL) in Booth #78.  

All three printmakers in the show are exceptional -- I've written a lot about Joseph Craig English from Washington Grove, MD (Booth #84) - in this show John Pernell and Michael Nemnich are also quite good.

For Mixed Media, my top pick was Sandra Sedmak Engel, whose sensual work is a pleasure both to the eye and the eros that outdoor shows usually try to eliminate.

There are a lot of talented photographers in the show. See them all here. James Richmond from Titusville, Florida (Booth #76) went to Cuba and has the mandatory photos of old 1950s cars in Havana, as I understand that the Cuban dictatorship will not allow tourists (and photographers especially) to depart from the jailed island unless evidence is presented at the airport that photographs of the vintage cars have been taken.  

Pet peeve aside, Richmond has an exceptional eye for capturing the grace that is human kind, all the way from Portuguese card players in Old Europe to gorgeous indigenous women in Panama, to Cuban farmers in the brutalized Castro Brothers' Workers Paradise.

It is a wonderful photograph, capturing the essence of the Cuban guajiro, his ancient Basque bloodlines still quite cleaning running through his veins as evidenced by the telltale ear lobe, a wide smile for the American tourist on his thin lips, and a hand-rolled Habano in his mouth, the envy of every smoker millionaire around the planet.

"Cuban Farmer" by James Richmond

In the category of sculpture, Tanya Tyree caught my attention as her sculptures struggle between talented efficiency and a bit of whimsy. What is clear is a straight and unique vision being delivered by the (I suspect) very strong and skilled hands of this artist.

And the Campello pick for Best in Show?

It goes to painter Cassie Taggart from Rehoboth, DE in Booth #51.

Parachutes by Cassie Taggart

While anyone can immediately see that Taggart's work explore surrealism, what she has brilliantly done is to deliver a new 21st century version of surrealism, where her skilled painting talents marry it with fantasy, and the fantastical (which is different) as well as a healthy dose of narrative storytelling.  

It is "otherworldly" artwork deeply anchored in data which lives hidden in our ancestral brain.  This is work which once you buy it and hang it in your house, will dominate everything else which you have hung on those walls.

Go outside and see some artwork this weekend, talks to artists and artisans, eat some bad-for-you food and listen to some outdoor music.

Opportunity for Artists: HoCo Juried Silent Auction 2022

Deadline: June 20, 2022

The Howard County Arts Council will hold its annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County gala on November 5. The Celebration is an exciting showcase for local artistic talent, and is one of HCAC's major funding sources for arts programs. They are seeking artists for the Juried Silent Art Auction, which takes place in the Rouse Company Foundation Gallery at Howard Community College and is an essential part of the Celebration.

Eligibility:

2D, 3D, and fine craft artists who work, live, or study in Howard County are eligible to submit, as are HCAC members or artists who have exhibited at the Howard County Center for the Arts within the past year. Artists must be 18 years or older. Artwork exhibited in previous auctions is ineligible.

Details here.

Meet Sagitarius A*

 

This is the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Credit: EHT Collaboration

"It’s the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array that linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the event horizon, the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape." - Read about it here.

Opportunity for Artists: Art Bank Program

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) requests applications from qualified arts, humanities, arts education, and service organizations for its Fiscal Year 2023 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary but eligible applicants can be awarded up to $15,000.

RFA Release: Monday | May 2, 2022

Submission Deadline: Friday | June 24, 2022 | 4 pm

Incomplete or late applications or applications that do not follow the instructions and guidelines will be automatically deemed ineligible for review and funding.

Prospective applicants should read through the Request for Applications (RFA) in its entirety before submitting an application.

Details here.

Staff Contact: Sarah Gordon, Curator | sarah.gordon2@dc.gov

Finalists for the Bethesda Painting Awards

Eight painters have been selected as finalists for the Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition and exhibition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District. Over 200 artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. submitted work to the annual competition created to exclusively honor regional painters.

The top prize winners will be announced on Wednesday, June, 8nd in a private reception. The Best in Show winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000.

The artists selected as finalists are:

• Emma Childs, Baltimore, MD
• Jim Condron, Lutherville-Timonium, MD
• Andrew Hladky, Kensington, MD
• Jeremy Jirsa, Dundalk, MD
• Magnolia Laurie, Baltimore, MD
• McKinley Wallace III, Baltimore, MD
• James Williams II, Baltimore, MD
• Ju Yun, Chantilly, VA

The exhibit will be on display June 9 – July 3, 2022 at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in the former Fraser Gallery space. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday-Sunday, 12 – 5pm.

The competition’s jurors consisted of Maggie Michael, Painter and The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, Best in Show winner 2008; Tony Shore, Bethesda Painting Award Best in Show winner 2006 and Maryland Institute College of Art, Painting Chair; and Robert Yi, George Mason University, Assistant Professor and Interim Chair of Drawing and Painting.

The Bethesda Painting Awards was established by local business owner Carol Trawick in 2005. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda and established The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007. She is the former Chair of the Maryland State Arts Council, Strathmore, Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.

Art Clinic Online

 Art Clinic Online - Saturday, May 28 from 10:30 -11:30am

Join me at the Art Clinic Online for a discussion and Q&A about nearly everything you wanted to know about being an artist, grants, resume-building, approaching galleries, etc.

About Art Clinic Online (ACO)

The Art Clinic Online community aims to create a friendly artsy environment and bring together artists who may have taken classes with us before or who are contemplating it and want to learn from one another in an online community-based setting. As such, they are not didactic sessions but a forum for the equal exchange of art ideas and art information as well as an opportunity to share art challenges and breakthroughs. 

The Stone Tower resident artists created the ACO after hearing the need for such a forum expressed by many of their students. If you are interested in joining, click the button below and email Mariana to join! Yes, it's still FREE.

Location: Glen Echo.

Caitlin Berry to be named director of The Rubell Museum

I am told that former Hemphill Fine Arts alumni art dealer Caitlin Berry will be the director of the new Rubell Museum in Washington, DC. This is the 32,000 sq. ft DMV museum that will open to the public on 29 October this year!

Berry was previously the director at Hemphill Fine Arts.

That's me with Mera when she visited my studio a few years ago to select a work for a show that she was curating for the American University Museum.