Zenith Gallery's 45th Sapphire Anniversary Celebration!

 

ZENITH GALLERY | EXHIBITS | ARTISTS | CONTACT Hours: Wed-Sat 12-6 pm, or by appointment | 202-783-2963 | art@zenithgallery.com  Upcoming Exhibition - Save the Date Zenith Gallery's 45th Sapphire Anniversary Celebration! Show dates: March 10 - April 29, 2023 At 1429 Iris Street NW, Washington DC 20012 MEET THE ARTISTS RECEPTIONS: Friday, March 10, 4-8 pm & Saturday, March 11, 2-6 pm RSVP: Friday event or Saturday event FEATURED ARTISTS: Devotion, by Chris Hayman Alphabet, by Craig Schaffer Winter Lights, by Ronni Jolles What is the Color Line, by Curtis Woody United We Stand, by Margery Goldberg Lotus, by Carol Newmyer Crab Victor with Cherries, by Bert Beirne A Girl Bored , by F. Lennox Campello Ananda, by Joan Konkel Into the Rich and Strange, by Gavin Sewell Rise and Shine, by Elissa Farrow-Savos Channeling Guenther, by Katharine Owens Open Arms, by Richard Binder Zhena's Gypsy Tea, by Donna McCuollough My Sweet Beloved, by Ram Brisueno Clifton's Dream, by Davis Morton Endless Joy, by Len Harris Where to start? 45 years in business is an accomplishment! Every year we reach new heights, and every day.I learn something new. I have so many people to thank. All our staff and interns, past and present, and hundreds of artists who take creativity to a new level with each new work of art. To our clients, visitors and followers… we would not be here if it were not for you. And we thank the media, who graciously covers our exhibitions throughout the decades. Art is forever. Artists tell the emotional history of the times they lived. Artists know how to make much out of little, and the art lasts for centuries, if not millenniums. It continues to be a privilege to share this enormous center of creativity with all of you. Throughout the length of this show we will be having meet-and-greets and zoom chats with several of the artists. We will also arrange a series of studio visits to our artists that live in the area. We would like to hear from you about what you would like… so email us at art@zenithgallery. Margery E. Goldberg

Zenith Gallery Inc. | 1429 Iris Street, NW, Washington, DC 20012

Dora Patin at the Affordable Art Fair

 

Antifa Art

There's a certain elegant artistry in these police mug shots of Antifa terrorists.

Erwin Timmers at the Affordable Art Fair NYC

 

Chawky Frenn @ PEACE WEEK

Professor Chawky Frenn from George Mason University is one of the DMV's true blue chip artists and he will be participating in PEACE WEEK, March 27-31, organized by George Mason University's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

To see his presentation, timing, location, and free registration, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/556872971047 

Date and Time: Wed, March 29, 2023, 2:00 PM – 3:20 PM EDT 

Location: Vernon Smith Hall, 5th Floor, Room 5183 3434 Washington Blvd Arlington, VA 22201

Speaker: Chawky Frenn, Professor, College of Visual and Preforming Arts, George Mason University

“WE THE PEOPLE: For Show or For Sure?” is a presentation in image and word intended to engage the audience in a soul-searching examination of our own contributions to the challenges and crises facing our country and the world: Can peace survive in a structure embedded with systemic racism in the legal system, health care, and education? Can political representation be fair when election campaigns are swamped with special interests and dark money? To what extent do our politics and policies foster divisions, conflicts, violence, and war? Can there be peace when social justice is defiled and human rights are violated? Art raises awareness, inspires change, and stimulates action by expressing repressed perspectives and contesting dominant narratives.

For information on PEACE WEEK, times and links of presentations and seminars, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/carter-school-spring-peace-week-2023-1762989

GMU Carter School: https://carterschool.gmu.edu/news-events/carter-school-peace-week/spring-2023-peace-week

Photography Exhibit Opens at Gallery B

Gallery B welcomes “Variety Show: A Photo Ensemble” by Creative Platform, a photography group featuring nine photographers. Experience an array of subjects ranging from the living world of plants, people, and built environments with visions that vary from subjective abstraction to straight renderings of photos. Opening reception on Saturday, March 11 from 5-8pm

Gallery B is at the site of the old Fraser Gallery at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in Bethesda.

Gallery Hours

March 9 – April 2, 2023

Thursdays – Saturdays, 12pm - 5pm

Sundays, 12-4pm

Francine Livaditis at MEG

 Multiple Exposures Gallery presents an Exhibition of New Photography

by Francine B. Livaditis

Gehry Reflections

Exhibition Dates

 January 31–March 12, 2023

Hours

Daily 11 am–5 pm

Multiple Exposures Gallery announces the opening of a new photography exhibition by member artist Francine B. Livaditis.

The gallery is located on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union Street, in Alexandria, Virginia. Hours are 11 am–5 pm daily. The exhibit runs January 31 through March 12, 2023. 

Gehry Reflections includes photographs Livaditis has made over the past dozen years capturing the interplay of light and color that can be found on the undulating, angled and curvilinear stainless-steel surfaces of buildings designed by the famed architect, Frank Owen Gehry. 

The photographs in Gehry Reflections were taken at four locations: the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, NV; the Museum of Pop Culture (formerly Experience Music Project) in Seattle, WA; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA and Ray and Maria Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.

Livaditis will be at the gallery between 11am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday, February 4 & 5; Sunday and Monday, February 19 & 20; and Sunday, March 12. In addition, on the evening of Friday, March 10, Livaditis will be at Multiple Exposures Gallery from 5 pm–8 pm. Please stop in to meet the artist and view and discuss her work.

In the past I've noted that "Livaditis consistently displays that sublime skill (which superficially looks so easy, but in reality is incomprehensibly hard) to make everyday scenes look new and different."

Song Alert to the Woke Mafia

Need some woke mafia leaders to cancel this song... cough... cough... it starts like this:

C’ ‘na luna mezz’ u mare

Mamma mia m’a maritare

Figlia mia a cu te dare

Mamma mia pensace tu.

Good luck with that...

Amanda Coehlo at Affordable Art Fair NYC

 

Art Scam Alert!

 Beware of this asswipe trying to rip off artists!

From: Anthony Burrows  anthonyburrows111@gmail.com

Date: February 26, 2023 at 11:16:17 AM EST

Subject: Inquiry about Artwork for Wedding Anniversary Gift

Good day,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Anthony, and I am reaching out to you with a special request. My wife and I are soon celebrating our wedding anniversary, and I want to make it extra special by giving her a unique artwork as a gift. After researching several artists, I was drawn to your work, and I would love to learn more about the pieces you have available.

Could you kindly provide me with some photos and details of your art, including their sizes and prices? I have a budget of $500 upwards and would like to find a piece that fits within this range.

I appreciate your time and expertise, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards,

Anthony

The Six Most Common Mistakes Artists Make When Approaching Galleries

 Re-posted from 2009, but still applicable:

The Six Most Common Mistakes Artists Make When Approaching Galleries

J. Jason Horejs, owner of Scottdale's Xanadu Gallery has published a book titled "Starving" to Successful | The Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries and Selling More Art.

This book was written "to help you approach galleries in an organized, systematic and professional way." The book will also help artists avoid the six mistakes listed below.

I'll try to get a copy of this book and review it here, but meanwhile you can order the book here and below are the six most common mistakes according to Jason:

This book springs from my experiences with artists. Several years ago, I began to wonder why artists were inept talking to galleries. I quickly realized most were unsuccessful because there is very little information explaining the best strategies.

That lack of information leads to these blunders:

Mistake #1: Presenting an inconsistent body of work.

Artists generally love their freedom. They want to experiment. They love a challenge. They crave variety. All good things, except when you are presenting your work to a gallery.

The work you present to a gallery needs to be unified. It doesn't need to be repetitive or formulaic, but it must present you as a consistent artist with a clear vision.

Often I feel I am looking at the work of multiple artists as I review a single portfolio. To avoid this problem you need to find focus in your work.
If you work in several media and a variety of styles, focus on just one for the next 6-12 months. Create a body of work that feels like a "series". Once you have 20-25 gallery-ready pieces in this series, you will be ready to approach a gallery.

You can further create consistency by presenting the work in a consistent way. Use similar frames for paintings and photographs, similar bases for sculpture, similar settings for artistic jewelry. Make it very clear all of the work is by the same artist.

If you simply can't rein your style in, consider creating multiple portfolios, one for each style.

Don't confuse the galleries you approach with multiple styles in your portfolio.

Mistake #2: Producing insufficient work to sustain gallery sales.

Many artists create marketable work, but in quantities too low to make a gallery relationship viable. Successful artists are consistently in the studio creating artwork. You may be surprised to learn the results of a recent survey I conducted.

I asked artists how many new works they created in the last twelve months. Painters responded that on average they were creating 53 pieces every twelve months. Sculptors 31. Glass artists 500!

A gallery owner needs to feel confident you will replace sold art quickly and maintain high quality. They want to know if you are successful the can replenish their inventory.

Don't despair if you are far from reaching this goal. Rather, look at your creative production for the last year and set a goal to increase the production by 25% in the next 12 months.

Several suggestions to increase your productivity:

1. Dedicate time daily to your art. Maybe your schedule will only allow for two hours daily, but you will produce more by working for those two hours every day than you will by waiting for big blocks of time.

Treat your studio time as sacred. Train your family and friends to respect that time. You don't interrupt them when they are at work; ask them the same courtesy when you are in the studio.

2. Set a production goal. If I could tell you the secret to producing 50, or 100 pieces per year, would you listen? Here it is: create 1 or 2 pieces per week.

I know it seems overly simple, yet few artists work in a concerted disciplined way to achieve this goal.

(A common objection I hear to this suggestion is that quality will suffer if an artist works this quickly. In my experience, the opposite is true. A certain level of quality may only be obtained by putting miles on the paintbrush, spending hours in the darkroom, moving tons of clay or stone.)

3. Remove distractions from the studio. Move your computer to another room. Unplug the telephone. Nothing kills an artist's focus faster than the constant interruption of technology. Your inbox and voicemail will keep your messages safe while you work.

Mistake #3: Delivering a portfolio in a format inconvenient for gallery review.

Often your portfolio is your only chance to show your work to a gallery owner. Poorly formatted portfolios are rarely viewed. Your portfolio should be concise, simple, informative and accessible.

25 years ago, formatting a portfolio was simple. A portfolio was either a literal portfolio with sheet protectors and photos, or a slide sheet.

The choices have since multiplied. CD? Digital hardbound photo-book? Pdf file? Email? Which format is the most effective? None of these, actually. Each has drawbacks limiting effectiveness. They are either too much work for the gallery owner to access, too easy to delete, or too hard for you to maintain.

In my book I will show an example of a perfect portfolio. Easy to maintain, easy to share. Successful.

A couple of things to keep in mind with your portfolio:

1. Your portfolio should contain no more than 20-25 of your most recent works. You should not create an all-inclusive portfolio. A gallery owner does not want to see your life's work. They want to see your best, most current, most relevant work.

2. On each page you should include pertinent, relevant information about the art. Include the title, the medium, the size, and the price. Don't include the date of artwork creation.

3. Place your bio, artist's statement, and resume at the back of the portfolio, not the beginning. Your artwork is the most important feature of the portfolio, don't bury it behind your info. Limit press clippings, and magazine articles to 2-3 pages.

4. Include 2-3 images of sold artwork. You should try to include at least one photo of your artwork installed. These images will establish your credibility more rapidly than any resume ever could.

In "Starving" to Successful I will teach you how to create a powerful portfolio. Your new portfolio will end up in gallery owner's hands, rather than in the garbage can.

Mistake #4: Lacking confidence and consistency in pricing.

One of the greatest challenges facing you as an artist is knowing how to correctly value your work. Many artists price their work emotionally, and inconsistently. Galleries can't sell wrongly priced art.

Worse, nothing will betray an unprepared artist like not knowing how to price his/her work.

Many artists mistakenly under-price their work. They do this because they feel they are not established. They do it because their local art market won't sustain higher prices. They do it because they lack confidence in their work.

In the book I will help you come up with a consistent, systematic formula for pricing your art.

Is your work priced correctly?

Mistake #5: Approaching the wrong galleries.

My gallery is located in an art market dominated by Southwest and Western subject matter. My gallery stands apart from most of the galleries in Arizona because I have chosen art outside the norms. Yet I am constantly contacted by Western and Southwestern artists. They seem surprised and hurt when I turn them away. They could have saved us both some discomfort by researching my gallery before approaching.

Which markets should you approach first? How should you research the galleries? Is it safe to work with galleries in out-of-state markets?

"Starving" to Successful will teach you how to create a list of qualified, appropriate galleries to contact (I will also teach you how to approach them).

Mistake #6: Submitting art through the wrong channels.

Conventional wisdom, and even some highly respected art marketing books will advise you to send your portfolio with a cover letter to the gallery. You may also hear it's best to call a gallery and try to make an appointment to meet the owner. You might visit a gallery's website to learn of their submission guidelines.

In my experience, these methods all guarantee failure. I will share with you a more direct, simpler approach; this approach will tremendously improve your chances of success. The approach is no secret, and yet most artists don't employ it.

Find the solutions to avoiding all these mistakes in the pages of "Starving" to Successful.

In addition to learning how to avoid the mistakes listed above,"Starving" Artist to Successful Artist you will also see clearly how to effectively organize your work, build your brand as an artist, communicate effectively with your galleries, and much more.

I will give you concrete steps you can take to systematically prepare for gallery relationships.

I am interested in your thoughts about these six mistakes, which I think are dead on target. As a gallerist I have encountered (and continue to see) all of them. I'm going to think about six separate mistakes of my own experience as a gallerist and art dealer in dealing with artists and post these here soon. Meanwhile, post your thoughts or experiences in the comments section or email them to me.

Tomorrow: Public Dialogue - Rebecca Rutstein

EVENT REMINDER. Public Dialogue: Rebecca Rutstein, March 2, 6 pm in the de la Cruz Gallery at Georgetown University.

Rebecca Rutstein, Shimmer, 11 x 64 x 4", powder coated steel, LED lights, motion sensors, 2018
Permanent Collection of the Georgia Museum of Art.

Multidisciplinary artist Rebecca Rutstein works at the intersection of art, science, and technology. For over twenty years she has created paintings, sculptures, interactive installations and public artworks inspired by the natural world. Her talk will explore the evolution of her work, her partnerships with scientists (including microbiologists, ecologists, geologists and molecular biologists) and the value and synergy of interdisciplinary exchange.

Co-sponsored with the Georgetown University Earth Commons. Reception to follow. The Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery is located at 3535 Prospect St. NW Washington, DC 20007.