It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Peppers taught the band to play... that this art blog got started in an effort to help the DC area visual art scene get a little online presence!
Monday, October 16, 2023
It's the 20th Anniversary of DC ART NEWS!
Sunday, October 15, 2023
"Living in Bethesda" by Anna Soevik at Gallery B
Don't miss your chance to visit Gallery B and view "Living in Bethesda" by Anna Rose Soevik.
Anna, a UK-born artist who has called Bethesda home for 25 years, draws attention to notable figures and moments in Bethesda's history, and features pixel portraits of famous figures from around the world.
Gallery hours are Friday-Saturday, 12 PM - 5 PM, and Sunday 11 AM - 2 PM. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue E.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Downtown DC Public Art and Placemaking Strategic Plan.
The DowntownDC invites you to participate in an exciting new five-year initiative to install high-impact public art and streetscape improvements to rejuvenate our communities, attract more visitors, and create strong neighborhood identities.
They want to hear from you!- What areas do you think should be prioritized?
- What kind of high-impact projects should we invest in?
- Where do you currently visit in Downtown DC?
- Who should be our partners, and how do we guarantee success?
Friday, October 13, 2023
Happy Birthday!
 |
| USS Curtis Wilbur |
Happy Birthday to the US Navy and to all my U.S. Navy brothers and sisters at sea - we've got your back!
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Dr. Francesca Smith ’23 Wins 2023 CPED Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award
"I hope that my research can play a small part in aligning these bodies of research, in highlighting the assets that Spanish-dominant emergent bilinguals bring to learning ..."
To complete her doctorate in education in educational policy and leadership, American University School of Education (SOE) student Dr. Francesca Smith ’23 centered her dissertation around research that she cared deeply about: bilingual students from Latinx immigrant families and their experiences in dual-language English reading instruction. The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) awarded her the prestigious Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award which she accepted in a ceremony in Florida this month...
“Dr. Smith’s dissertation of practice is specifically framed around questions of equity, ethics, and social justice in her interrogation of the promise of a dual-language community school within an urban, gentrified community context” said Dr. Alida Anderson, SOE Professor and the chair of Smith’s dissertation committee (pictured on the right with Smith). “Her dissertation embodies the values of CPED as it provides a roadmap for scholar practitioners committed to addressing systems-level equity challenges facing schools and teachers serving emergent bilingual students and their families.”
Read the entire article by Jason Pier here.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Painting Missing Since WWII is Recovered in Chicago
In December 2022, Christopher A. Marinello, lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International (“ARI”), was contacted by an individual in Chicago who claimed to possess a “stolen or looted painting” and wanted to know how to go about returning it. It was alleged that the possessor’s uncle had brought the painting home from Germany after serving in the US Army in WWII.
The possessor sent only a few images of the landscape painting to ARI with no information about the artist or title.
Marinello and his team went to work. Turning to his colleagues in Germany, attorneys at WANTUCH THOLE VOLHARD, the artwork was identified as a long-lost Lauterer landscape once part of the collection of the New Bayreuth Palace, a branch gallery of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The painting had been listed since 2012 on the Lost Art Database maintained by the German Lost Art Foundation which documents cultural property expropriated as a result of Nazi persecution and contains records of cultural property that was removed from Germany during the Second World War. The Lost Art database is accessible to the public.
Marinello explains the delicate negotiations with the possessor, “I shared all the evidentiary documentation of the loss with the possessor who initially wanted to be paid to release the artwork. I explained our policy of not paying for stolen artwork and that the request was inappropriate given the familial connection. We also know that someone tried to sell the painting in the Chicago art market in 2011 and disappeared when the Museum put forth its claim. Eventually, I negotiated an unconditional release of the painting and asked the FBI Art Crime Team to bring the case over the finish line. The FBI in Chicago confirmed the looting and provided the extra confidence to the possessor to surrender the painting unconditionally”.
“The crux of our work at Art Recovery International is the research and restitution of artworks looted by the Nazis and discovered in public or private collections. On occasion, we come across cases, such as this, where allied soldiers may have taken objects home as souvenirs or as trophies of war. Being on the winning side doesn’t make it right. We expect everyone to do the right thing and return stolen artwork wherever it may be located. The problem of looted art will not go away but is often passed onto future generations to deal with”.
Marinello thanks Chicago-based FBI Special Agent David White, “This repatriation could not have happened without the swift action of the FBI Art Crime Team. Also particularly helpful was the entry of the painting as a war-related loss in the Lost Art database.”
The Lauterer painting will be formally returned to the Museum in a brief ceremony at the German Consulate in Chicago on the 19th of October 202
Monday, October 09, 2023
Sunday, October 08, 2023
DC’s Washington Glass School and Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington and Vets
DC’s Washington Glass School and Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington Join Forces to Empower Veterans through Glass Sculpture Workshops!
“What’s bad for your heart is good for your art.”
Perhaps no one understands this truth better than Veterans, many of whom endure pain of all types. It’s also true for many that creating something out of that pain promotes healing – so much so that DC’s Veteran’s Affairs has partnered with the Washington Glass School (WGS) and the Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma, WA. to bring the restorative power of art to active duty patients and Veterans diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Started in 2013 at Takoma’s MOG, the Hot Shop Heroes program has been dedicated to teaching glass safety procedures, fundamental glassmaking techniques and team building skills. In one of the first partnerships with the MOG, WGS will add metal working and special glass casting techniques to the intensive arts encounter.
A new arts community will be created, one that brings Veterans and artists together. For the next 8 weeks the healing power of glass as a sculptural medium will culminate in a special exhibition of artwork coinciding with the WGS Holiday Open Studio scheduled for December 9, 2023.
Founded in 2001, the Washington Glass School continues to engage the larger community through the promotion, development, display, and amplification of many voices, lived experiences and backgrounds.
Saturday, October 07, 2023
Half a million hits in one day
About twenty years ago something odd happened that caused about half a million people to visit a gallery's website - read the vintage post here.
Friday, October 06, 2023
Thursday, October 05, 2023
Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
Thibodaux, Fontaineaux the place is buzzin'
A kin-folk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dressed in style, the go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the Bayou
Tuesday, October 03, 2023
Are art critics objective? Hell No!
I think that the chances that Gopnik would be "amazed" by Anderson's art are about the same as the chances that Laura Bush will elope with Osama Bin Laden. In fact I think that in Gopnik's books, the Anderson show may just beat the J. Seward Johnson show at the Corcoran that Gopnik brutalized a few weeks ago when he wrote: "This is the worst museum exhibition I've ever seen."
Read this post from almost 20 years ago on the subject at hand.
2023 BLICK Pen & Ink Challenge
2023 BLICK Pen & Ink Challenge: Submit your original pen-and-ink artwork for a chance to WIN a prize pack worth over $500!
Prize Description: Five winners will receive a prize pack worth more than $500
No fee!
Monday, October 02, 2023
A visit to American University's MFA Open Studios
As I've noted multiple times over the last 20 years of this blog, and 40+ years of writing about art, I consider any University's open studios as a prime opportunity for young collectors to meet and acquire art by emerging artists, and this past Saturday it was American University's lauded MFA program's time for open studios by its MFA candidates.
The Open Studios were held on the second floor of the Katzen Art Center at 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, from 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
I must give props that I was tipped off about the studios by Andres Izquierdo, an artist and Master in Fine Arts candidate at American University who took the initiative to reach out to me. I visited him in Studio 253 and see his latest work, and he was actively chatting about his work with a few folks who there at the same time.
My art celebrates the awareness of self and the ability of people to reveal who they are. I work on oil and film. You can experience my work on Instagram: [@zurdoartist]@zurdoartist and website https://zurdoart.wordpress.com.
The group of MFA candidates also showcased their latest art pieces in room 246 on the second floor of the Katzen Arts Center, along with complimentary food and beverages as we are now fully recovered from the Covidian Age.
Before I get into the good stuff, and just as I complained about the same issue during my last visit to the Torpedo Factory, I was somewhat disappointed to see multiple close studio doors during the Open Studio night. The reason for that could be:
(a) Those studios were not occupied by MFA candidates
(b) The MFA candidates from those studios did not want to participate in the Open Studios because:
- They were too chicken to interact with the public
- The state of their artworks were not "ready" to be seen
- They were too lazy
- They were advised not to
- They were busy/had jobs
Personally, I think that part of the biggest education than an art student can get is by interacting with the public; there's nothing like exposing your artwork to the masses to trigger artistic passions - both from positive criticism or negative feedback!
"Enough with your fucking whining about close studios Lenster," you say, "move on to the good stuff!"
The best first impression award (as well as the technical merit award) goes to Connor Gagne, a very young and very talented first year MFA candidate. See his photographic work here. I must warn that the website only shows Gagne's interesting photography work, but during the visit it was clear that this artist busted his tuchis to prepare for the Open Studios.
Gagne built wooden pulpits, created ancient looking leather-bound books - tomes once would say - to display his photos, along with a one-of-a-kind written language that Gagne has created.
And Gagne, in spite of his youth, is an engaging dude, who at first appearance could easily pass for a time traveler who just popped in from medieval France, but ends up being a soft spoken, erudite and intelligent artist, able to get the viewer engaged and interested in his immensely complex and uniquely individual work!
We were also quite engaged and enlightened by the powerful political work of Phaedra Askarinam - her work, which has an intense focus on the issue of human rights in Iran, and in particular, the rights of women, is strong, visceral and elegant as it calls out Iran's brutal treatment of women.
"The only thing I could do to make an impact was to make my art big, make it seen, and invite other students to join me."Phaedra Askarinam ‘24, an Iranian-born artist, watched protests unfold in her home country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Since then, anti-government protests have riled the country, leaving countless protesters injured, arrested, or dead.
“For a few weeks I couldn’t make any art. I was paralyzed,” Phaedra says. “Then, I knew I had to do something. The protestors needed help.” As Askarinam’s artistic practice centers around the experiences of women and girls in society, she was roused to act in the only way she could—through her art.Phaedra was inspired to create a monumental, 19-foot-long banner dominated by a painted portrait of Amini. The banner hung in the Katzen Arts Center rotunda in December and again in February, when passers-by were invited to actively participate by signing the banner in solidarity with protestors. “Sometimes we pass by art, or only give it a few seconds. If you participate in something, you remember it—viewers feel like they did something. They were part of this. We all want to be part of something good that helps others.” Additionally, she asked viewers to contribute locks of their hair in tribute to Amini, who was arrested for wearing her hijab “improperly.”
In Iran, protests have been primarily led by students. Phaedra says, “I wanted to connect young people across the world, from our campus to theirs. We can amplify the protesters’ voices—plus, our students need to know and understand what’s happening around the world.”
We also liked the complex, almost 3D works of Marie B. Gauthiez, Pooja Campbell, and others.
In the visit, I asked almost every artist if they had ever heard of Art Bank; none had - this says something.
Sunday, October 01, 2023
Call for Artists: The 35th Annual Prince George’s County Exhibition
The 35th Annual Prince George’s County Juried exhibition is open to visual artists that live, work, or maintain a studio in Prince George’s County.
Deadline: Fri, Oct 13, 2023 11:59 PM
Juror: Phil Hutinet, a third generation Capitol Hill resident, is the publisher of East City Art, DC's Visual Arts publication of record, which he began in 2010.
Again: This call is open to all artists who are 18 years of age or older who live, work, study, or have a studio in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Artists may submit a maximum of 3 artworks for consideration.
No Entry Fee
EXHIBITION TIMELINE
Deadline to apply online: Sunday, October 13, 2023, 11:59 pm
Artists notified: Thursday, October 19, 2023
Artists drop off work at Brentwood Arts Exchange: Sunday, October 29, 2023, 10am-4pm
Exhibition start date: Thursday, November 2, 2023
Reception date and curator talk: Saturday, November 18, 2023, 5-8 pm
Last day of exhibit: Saturday, January 6, 2024
Artists pick up work from Brentwood Arts Exchange: Saturday, January 13, 2024
Friday, September 29, 2023
The curious case of Jens Haaning
Artist Who Submitted Empty Canvases to Danish Museum Must Repay $70,000 shouts the headline in this Smithsonian Magazine article!
Originally, the museum had a specific vision in mind: Haaning was supposed to recreate two of his earlier works—An Average Austrian Year Income (2007) and An Average Danish Annual Income (2010)—which used euros and kroner bills to visually depict average salaries in those two countries.
When Haaning pocketed the kroner, he claimed his actions (and the empty canvases) were part of a broader performance art piece, which he called Take the Money and Run.
Read the article by Christopher Parker here.
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Amber Robles-Gordon at Morton Fine Art
One of my fave DMV area artists is opening soon!
Morton Fine Art is pleased to present an exhibition of mixed media collage and assemblage by Washington D.C.-based interdisciplinary visual artist Amber Robles-Gordon. Continuing a visual conversation originated by Robles-Gordon with Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, her 2021 solo exhibition at American University Museum at the Katzen Center (curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah), Surely, she (he/we) is a little animal? expands the human-focused approach of Successions out towards the universal and the surreal. Who/what is worthy of care? Who cares for the defenseless? Who/what is defended? Incorporating the transdisciplinary study of human ecology into her practice and scope, Robles-Gordon uses the field as an anchor in her expansive investigations of race, history, the sciences and culture. The resulting new body of work rigorously explores colonialism and imperialism, global anti-blackness, child welfare and animal cruelty. Finding them all connected, just not equally, the exhibition exposes frank contradictions in American perceptions of human life, animal life and minority lives.
Surely, she (he/we) is a little animal?
New Mixed Media and Assemblage Artworks by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON
October 12th - November 9th, 2023
Opening reception 4-6pm on Saturday, October 14th, 2023.
The artist will be in attendance.
Please RSVP to info@mortonfineart.com.
Contact the gallery for viewing by appointment, price list, additional information and acquisition.
(202) 628-2787 (call or text)
Contact the gallery for viewing by appointment, price list, additional information and acquisition. (202) 628-2787 (call or text) |
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Open Studios - MFA American University
I consider any University's open studios as a prime opportunity for young collectors to meet and acquire art by emerging artists, and this Saturday it is American University's lauded MFA program's time for open studios by its MFA candidates.
American University MFA fall graduate Open Studios event is on Saturday, September 30, 2023.
Come and discover new artists and trends in Washington D.C. Open Studios will be located on the second floor of the Katzen Art Center at 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, from 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Check out Andres Izquierdo, an artist and Master in Fine Arts candidate at American University who took the initiative to reach out to me. Visit him in Studio 253 and see his latest work.
My art celebrates the awareness of self and the ability of people to reveal who they are. I work on oil and film. You can experience my work on Instagram: [@zurdoartist]@zurdoartist and website https://zurdoart.wordpress.com.
The group of MFA candidates will also showcase their latest art pieces in room 246 on the second floor of the Katzen Arts Center, along with complimentary food and beverages.
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