ART CALL: (Not) Strictly Painting 14

McLean Project for the Arts is pleased to announce the call for submissions for (Not) Strictly Painting 14, a juried biennial exhibition celebrating the depth and breadth of paintings–or works related in some way to painting–from artists throughout the mid-Atlantic area. 

The deadline for submission is July 22, 2023. (Not) Strictly Painting will run September 14 - November 11, 2023. 

CALL FOR ENTRIES 

(Not) Strictly Painting Submissions Now Accepted 

 McLean Project for the Arts currently seeks submissions for (Not) Strictly Painting, a juried biennial exhibition celebrating the depth and breadth of paintings–or works related in some way to painting–from artists throughout the mid-Atlantic area. Now in its 14th iteration, Strictly Painting is one of the region's most important painting exhibitions. (Not) Strictly Painting will be juried by Tim Brown, Director of IA&A at Hillyer. Awards totaling $1,500 will be distributed.   

WHAT: (Not) Strictly Painting Call for Submissions  

WHO: 

Artists from across the mid-Atlantic region are encouraged to apply

Juror: Tim Brown, Director of IA&A at Hillyer 

WHEN: 

Deadline for Submissions – July 22, 2023 

Exhibition Dates – September 14-November 11, 2023 

WHERE: 

McLean Project for the Arts Emerson and Atrium Galleries

1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101 

HOW: https://tinyurl.com/notstrictlypainting23 

 

MORE INFORMATION: Contact Jennifer Lillis, Gallery Manager, at jlillis@mpaart.org with questions or for more information 

Call for Public Art

 

Gallery B Call for Artists

Deadline is Thursday, August 10

Gallery B is now taking rental applications for 2024 exhibits for solo or group shows.

They offer the opportunity for you to sell and receive exposure in downtown Bethesda with no commission on any artwork sold. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, in downtown Bethesda at the site of the former Fraser Gallery. 

The rental agreement is for $1,200, which can be shared among exhibiting artists. The Bethesda Urban Partnership will market your exhibit through social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and to their email subscribers several times before and during your exhibition. Many monthly exhibitions are reviewed in East City Art, The Washington Post, Bethesda Magazine, DC Art News, and more. Gallery B has been featuring the artwork of local artists since 2011 and provides an excellent opportunity to showcase and sell your artwork in downtown Bethesda.

All applications must be submitted by August 10, 2023. Need more information about the application? Visit the link here.

On the anniversary of a superwoman's death

 Seven years ago my courageous mother died... this is my eulogy from that day:

When my father died last year, I began his eulogy by noting that another oak had fallen.

This morning, around 1:25AM, Ana Olivia Cruzata Marrero de Campello, his wife of over 60 years, and my beloved mother, passed on on the day of her 97th birthday.

If my father was an oak, then my mother was an equally strong, but also very pliable, and elegant tree.  When hurricanes attack the main lands of the world, the strong tall trees often fall, but the pliable ones, like plantain trees, always give with the wind, and survive the storms, and thrive in the drenching rains.

My mother was like a an aged plantain tree, not only immensely strong and pliable, but also giving and nurturing.

Like many Cuban women of her generation and her social-economic background, she had never worked for a living in Cuba, and yet within a few days of our arrival in New York in the 1960s, she was working long hours in a sewing factory, putting her formidable seamstress skills, honed in the social sewing and embroidery gathering of young Cuban girls, to use in the "piece work" process of the New York sewing factories.

As soon as we saved the money, one of the first things that my mother bought was an electric sewing machine - a novelty to her, as she had always used one of the those ancient Singer machines with a foot pedal.

I remember as a child in Brooklyn, that women used to bring her fabric and a page from a magazine with a woman wearing a dress. Without the benefit of a sewing pattern, my mother would whip up a copy of the dress that was more often than not probably better made than the original. As the word of her skills spread, so did her customers and soon she was making more money working at home than at the factory - but she kept both jobs.

I once noted to her that I admired the courage that it must have taken  her to leave her family and immigrate to the United States. "We didn't come here as immigrants," she corrected me. "We came as political refugees, and I initially thought that we'd be back in Cuba within a few years at the most."

When the brutal Castro dictatorship refused to loosen its stranglehold on her birth place, she became an immigrant, and from there on an American citizen from her white-streaked hair down to her heel bone (that's a Cuban saying). Like my father, she loved her adopted country with a ferocity, that I sometimes feel that only people who have been bloodied by Communism can feel for a new, free homeland.

As as I've noted before, Cubans are archaic immigrants... we love this great nation because we recognize its singular and unique greatness; perhaps it is because our forebears had the same chance at greatness and blew it.

I remember as a teenager, once I started going out to parties and things at night on my own (around age 16 or so), that my mother would wait up for me, sitting by the third floor window of our Brooklyn apartment, where she could survey the whole neighborhood and see as far as the elevated LL subway station a few blocks away, to watch me descend the station stairs and trace my way home.

My mother was always fit and, as once described by my father, "flaca como un fusil" (as slim as a rifle). She was strong and fast. She was also quiet, but never silenced, and when needed, could and would command attention.

My mother was always well dressed and superbly coiffed. When we'd go to parties and events, women would always ask her where she'd gotten that dress! The answer was always the same: she'd made it!

At least once a week, to my father's dismay, and in spite of his demands that my mother stop it, she'd get her hair done at the nearby peluqueria (hair dresser).

My dad knew, and respected his limits with my mother. 

I remember one time that my father and I were returning from shopping at the supermarket, dragging one of those wheeled folding carts that could carry four full paper grocery bags. It had been snowing, so the Brooklyn streets were wet and muddy.

When we got to our apartment my father opened the door. He then stood there.

"Go in!" I demanded.

"We'll have to wait," he said gloomily, "Your mother mopped the floor and it's still wet." This giant, tough, street-brawling Galician then looked at me sheepishly, "I'd rather walk through a mine field than step on your mother's wet floor."

I learned a lesson there.

She used to delight in telling stories how, as a child, she would often win the horse races that kids staged around the small country towns where she was raised in Oriente province, where her father was a Mayoral.

"I almost always won," she'd say, and then would add: "Even though I was a skinny girl."

Once, in her seventies, back in the days where you could actually accompany people to the departing gates at airports, we were escorting my oldest daughter Vanessa, who had come to visit, and we were running late. As we got to the airport, we ran to the gate, and to everyone's surprise, Abuela got there first. I still remember how delighted my daughter was that her grandmother could still run like a gazelle.

When I joined the Navy at age 17, my first duty station was USS SARATOGA, which at the time was stationed in Mayport in Florida, and thus my parents decided to migrate south to Florida and moved to Miami... just to be close to me.

They spent the next 40 years in the same apartment while I was stationed all over the world.

The mostly Cuban-American families that lived over the years in that apartment loved my mother, and would always tell me stories about my mother, ever the nurturer, bringing them food when she knew that they were going over tough times, or riding the buses with them, just to show them the routes.

This week, when I arrived in Miami, already somewhat knowing that this was approaching the end, I saw her with tubes coming out of her mouth and her eyes closed. When I spoke to her she opened her eyes, and in spite of the visuals that my eyes were seeing she somehow still managed to look strong. 

I showed her photos and movies of her grand children, and talked to her for a long time.

I thanked her for having the courage to leave her motherland and afford me the opportunity to grow as an American.

When she was being extubated, a young woman came into the room with a guitar and played and sang the haunting free prose of Guajira Guantanamera (The peasant girl from Guantanamo); a most fitting song, since my mother was from Guantanamo, and she came from strong Cuban peasant stock.

"Guajira pero fina (A peasant, but a very refined woman)", noted a neighbor and loving caretaker. 

The song, which can start with just about any prose, started with the Jose Marti poem:

 Yo quiero, cuando me muera, sin patria, pero sin amo, tener en mi tumba un ramo de flores y una bandera

I want to, when I die, without my motherland, but without a master, to have on my tomb a bunch of flowers and a flag.

She died without a master, a strong and pliable woman who not only gave me the gift of life, but also the gift of freedom.

And as my mother died in her sleep in the early hours of the morning, in the capital city of the bitter Cuban Diaspora, all that I could gather to say to her was mostly the same that I said to my father when he passed last year: "Thank you for your courage... from me, and from my children... and soon from their children. You opened a whole new world for them."

I love you Mami... Un Abrazo Fuerte! Thank you for your gifts to me and my children, and happy birthday in Heaven!

Swan by Swanson

"Splash Landing" by James Swanson and part of the 36th Annual Northern National Art Competition at Nicolet College in Rhinelander,  Wisconsin.

Art Bank Call for Artists

Art Bank is the District of Columbia's art collection with works by metropolitan artists installed in District offices and buildings - open to DMV artists as well!

Deadline: June 30, 2023, 9 PM.

For more information, please click here.

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities new Executive Director

On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, CAH was thrilled to announce the appointment of Aaron Myers as its new Executive Director. 

Myers, a renowned jazz vocalist, pianist, educator, and activist, brings a wealth of experience in the arts and a passion for community engagement to his new role. Myers was nominated for appointment by the Commission in February 2023 following an extensive four-month search. The Council of the District of Columbia voted unanimously to confirm his appointment at the May 2 legislative meeting.

As a DC-based artist, Myers has a deep understanding of the city's cultural landscape and its diverse communities. He has been an active member of the DC arts community for over a decade, serving as the Artist-in-Residence at the Black Fox Lounge, Mr. Henry’s Restaurant, The Eaton and performing at venues across the city. He is the founding Board Chair of the Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation, serves on the Board of Governors of the DC Recording Academy and has been recognized for his work in arts education. 

DC Art News sends a warm welcome (back) to the ED!

Wanna go to a Bethesda gallery opening this Friday?

Bethesda Painting Awards! Opening Reception, June 9, 2023 --  6-8pm

Nine artists from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. have been selected to exhibit and compete in the Bethesda Painting Awards, a fine art competition founded by the amazing Carol Trawick, who is truly, and has been for years one of the great jewels of the DMV art scene!

The Best in Show winner will be awarded $10,000.

Paintings will be exhibited at Gallery B from June 8 – July 2.  Gallery B is on the space of the former Fraser Gallery at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday from 12 – 5pm

Please attend the opening on Friday, June 9, 6-8pm - Details here.

The finalists are here... now for my awards!

This year it is going to be hard - there are some superbly talented artists in this group of finalists - my kudos to the jurors (Lillian Hoover, Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, and John Lee).

Stephanie Cobb of Washington, D.C., Grace Doyle of Baltimore, MD, Jeffrey Deane Hall of Richmond, VA, Rachel Rush, also of Baltimore, MD and Nicole Santiago, of far away Williamsburg, VA are all immensely skilled artists!

This is a hard one - even for The Lenster! I am attracted to the natural skills of Grace Doyle - she has a mastery with the brush that is enviable for someone so young. And probably because she is so young, some crusty jurors may have snotty issues with some of her early subject matter (not me)... but she is growing in leaps and bounds!

Grace Doyle - Within 2023 oil on linen 28" x 20"

Jeffrey Deane Hall's trompe-l'œil  paintings are breath-taking! - again such mastery for someone sooooo young is indescribably delicious! 

Nicole Santiago - Second Time Around, 75 x 60, oil on canvas

And Nicole Santiago (who has been a previous finalist) is really good at packing a decent psych angle to her work, while Rachel Rush can rock a lush landscape.

Who? Either Doyle or Santiago will win.

Best in Show winner: Nicole Santiago

National Small Works at WPG

 

National Small Works

including work from 36 artists,

representing the DC and 17 states



Opening: Saturday, July 8, 2:00-5:00 pm

It is with great pleasure that Washington Printmakers Gallery announces the 23rd year of the National Small Works Show: the first since 2019, due to Covid cancellations. This year’s exhibit honors Peggy Doole (1934-2021), long-time resident of the DC area who shared her love of art by giving lectures, sponsoring exhibits, and leading tours at the Hirshhorn, the National Gallery of Art, and other museums throughout Europe and the U.S. Her post-graduate museum work led her to a focus on, and a special passion for, printmaking.

The exhibition includes 36 pieces – fine art prints, photographs, and artist books chosen by  juror LuLen Walker, Art Curator for Georgetown University.

The Washington Printmakers Gallery is a members-owned cooperative dedicated to fine-art printmaking, photographs, and artists books. The Washington Print Foundation, sponsor of this exhibition, supports this mission through education, exhibitions, and community outreach programs.

Washington Printmakers Gallery ● 1675 Wisconsin Ave. NW ● (202) 669-1497

info@washingtonprintmakers.com ● www.washingtonprintmakers.com

Memorial Day 2023

Have a grand Memorial Day! Our grateful thanks to all those who have served and their families, and our gratitude to all the soldiers, airmen/women, marines, and sailors currently serving all over the world and at sea.

We've got your back!

Congressional Art Competition: Maryland's 8th District

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself 
by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

Isabella Curerri at the US Capitol

The artwork of a Flagler Palm Coast High School student will hang in the U.S. Capitol for a year.

FPC junior Isabella Curerri won first place for Florida’s sixth congressional district in the annual Congressional Art Competition, a national contest in which high school students submit their artwork to their local representative

One piece is chosen per representative to hang at the Capitol for a year.

Congrats to the obviously highly talented Ms. Curerri - I'm gonna start asking our DMV representatives for name and image of their chosen artworks and post them here. 

Wanna go to an artist's talk this Friday?

Mei Mei Chang talks about her artistic vision of “NOISESCAPE  II” at the Willow Street Gallery.

There's also a workshop Saturday June 3rd 1 - 3 pm

Enrollment is limited to 10 people. Contact gallery@dcartsstudios.org for information about workshop pricing.

                                                            

6925 Willow Street, NW, 1st floor
Washington, DC 20012

They'll stone you

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.

They'll stone ya when you are young and able.

They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.

They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."

‘Airbnb bandit’ mysteriously steals painting – and replaces it with new one

Does this sound familiar... cough... cough... ???

From the WaPo: Airbnb host said guest stole artwork, hung new painting. The internet rushed to help.

Amy Corbett was in a Zoom meeting when she spotted something strange in her own background. The black-and-white painting of a map that normally hung above her couch was no longer there. Instead, it had been replaced with a painting of an airplane propeller she had never seen before.

From Daily Dot: ‘I have never seen this picture before in my life’: Airbnb host says artwork was swapped by a guest.

It seems the person who stayed in the apartment most recently replaced the map of the world with a larger piece of artwork. It appears to be a vintage airplane propeller with warmer coloring, including orange, red, and brown tones—a definite style departure from the black and white art it replaced.

From Insider: An Airbnb host said a guest inexplicably swapped out a wall picture for a completely different painting. TikTok is gripped, watching as the saga unfolds.

An Airbnb host said that a guest swapped a picture in her apartment out for a completely different one, and is taking TikTok on a journey to find out why.

From The Guardian: ‘Airbnb bandit’ mysteriously steals painting – and replaces it with new one

When an Airbnb host in Virginia realized that a painting in one of her properties had been stolen and replaced, the internet came together to investigate the unlikely mystery.

Want some clues?

Check out this post from 2006, or a more recent one from 2010, Then in 2011 I taught all how to do it by doing an installation at the Arlington Arts Center - see it here.

Cough... cough...

CEWE Photo Award

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

A walk through the Affordable Art Fair

 Check out the cool video walk through at the link: https://youtu.be/OpONellhahw

This Weekend: Tephra ICA Arts Festival Takes Over Reston Town Center

Tephra ICA Arts Festival Takes Over Reston Town Center This Weekend | May 20–21, 2023

Now in its 32nd year, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival (formerly titled the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival) will take place this weekend at Reston Town Center. Over 200 contemporary artists and artisans will travel from across the country to present original handmade artwork to share with Festival audiences.

See the 2023 artists here.

My picks:

Painting: There is not a single bad painter in this festival -- to get in, you have to be good! And that has been a Reston high standard for decades! From among this group I like Kathryn Maher in booth 310, Arte Original in 900 block, Karina Llergo in booth 944-945, Greg Stones in booth 425 (he notes: My basic process is this: Paint a landscape. Then add weird stuff), and Jill Banks.

Rabbit Finds Carrot
Gouache on paper 6" x 4" 2018 by Greg Stone

Digital & Multi-Media Art / Drawing / Mixed Media 2D: Loads of great artwork in this category as well! Blake Gore's tiny drawings in booth 928 are worth the trip, as are Kristin Moger super-detailed drawings in booth 901 and the collages of Kate Norris in booth 225. Hannah Wave Flower in booth 948 says that "my work is my offer. An ice-breaker; an invitation to an exchange of perspective and unhampered self-expression." It is that and more - go see her work!

Photography: WOW! Every photog here is a gem! Anne Knife in booth 111, James M Cole in booth 406, Scanlan Photography in booth 622-623, and Kyle Wilson in booth 203.

During the Festival, Baltimore-based interdisciplinary artist Hoesy Corona will present Hacia la Vida, a site-specific performance that explores migration and displacement caused by climate change. Performers will process through the Festival streets adorned in intricate sculptural costumes created by the artist that simultaneously make their bodies anonymous and hyper visible. Using the archetype of the traveler and the anthropomorphic representation of mother nature, this performance humanizes the figure of the immigrant and celebrates the power and beauty of nature.

In NYC for the VOLTA Art fair

5am departure from DC... with Steve Wanna as copilot.

10 am arrival to NYC... five hours setting up the booth... 

VOLTA Art Fair started at 5pm... we're in booth B1!

It was pretty packed and once again, since the Covidian Age ended, the wine and beer flowed!

Back to NYC

Once again, the van is packed and ready to depart in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday as once again we head to an art fair in New York City.

This time it is the VOLTA Art Fair New York, which is taking place May 17-21 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea.

The gallery is hosting Steve Wanna, Tim Tate, and Marianela de la Hoz and yours truly in booth B1. VOLTA New York is a 20 minute walk from Frieze. Daily shuttle buses will run from The Shed to the Metropolitan Pavilion. 

Opening reception of the 36th Northern National Art Competition

Nicolet College in Rhinelander will host one of Wisconsin’s premier art exhibits next month.

An opening reception of the 36th Northern National Art Competition will be held in the Nicolet College Art Gallery on Thursday, June 15 at 5 p.m.

“Top contemporary artists from the across the country submitted works for this juried competition,” said Jenny Bonardelli, Nicolet College Arts and Events Manager. “Only the finest pieces were selected, resulting in an amazing collection that rises to a very high standard.” 

The event is co-sponsored by the Northern Arts Council, which awards $8,500.00 in prize money to artists judged to have created the best works. 

The reception will include a light buffet, wine, live music by Darlene Cole and commentary from this year’s judge, F. Lennox “Lenny” Campello. 

Read the article here. 

Grants for Artists - The Hopper Prize

The Hopper Prize is a grant-making institution and digital archiving platform offering a series of individual artist grants on a bi-annual basis totaling $22,000.00 USD. The Hopper Prize provides unrestricted cash grants in the amount of $3,500 and $1,000 to artists around the globe.

For more information click here 

Art for Change Prize

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend Syndrome

Time to bring this oldie back as we continue the battle versus the woke mafia...

In a nutshell: There are some art shows, and some artwork, which no one (who cares how other “perceive” them) dares to write a negative review about because if a writer did dare to criticize it, he/she would be skewered by readers and others in the art world cabal’ PC police. It is essentially the PC’ing of the art world.

Read the whole article here.

Bethesda Row Arts Festival -- FINAL CALL for Applications

Artist Application Closes May 31

25th Bethesda Row Arts Festival, October 14-15, 2023

The application for our 25th Fine Arts Festival is now open! The festival takes place on the streets of Bethesda Row, located in Bethesda, Maryland (Woodmont, Ave., Bethesda Ave., and Elm St.). “Art Fair Sourcebook” has recognized the Bethesda Row Arts Festival (BRAF) as one of the top 30 Fine Art Shows in the United States, attracting more than 25,000 art patrons over the two-day event.

The Festival attracts 25,000 high income attendees come from the Washington, DC Metro Area, and the surrounding suburbs of Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Upper Northwest. The three mile radius around the Festival has an average household income of $196,910, making it one of the nation's most affluent and educated art marketplaces.

The event is promoted through a targeted and integrated marketing plan, which includes a comprehensive social media and internet campaign, magazine and newspaper advertising, postcards and posters, and radio promotion. Our public relation firm works with the local chamber of commerce and urban district to engage the community, and reach out to new audiences.

Apply here.

This weekend in Bethesda!

On May 13 & 14, 2023, the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival takes over Woodmont Triangle, along Norfolk, Auburn & Del Ray Avenues, welcoming over 100 of the nation's best artists, live entertainment, and Bethesda restaurants. 

Take a glance at the artists attending this year's festival by clicking here. 

Admission to the festival is FREE and free parking is available in the public parking garage on Auburn Avenue. This event is held rain or shine. 

Sign up to volunteer here.

My recommendations:

Painting: Not a bad painter in the whole lot! Check out Cassie Taggart in booth 91, Thomas Williams in booth 67.

Printmaking: A DMV art fair without Joseph Craig English is incomplete - go see his great prints in booth 73.

Mixed Media: Do not miss Kate Norris' mixed media collages.

Sculpture: Get one of Tanya Tyree's amazing works!