The curious case of Tania Bruguera, the UN and the Cuban dictatorship

As you know, DC Art News has been following the saga of well-known artist Tania Bruguera and the bloody Cuban dictatorship.

Bruguera, a New York-based Cuban artist, and easily one of the best-known artists on the planet, was temporarily arrested on December 30, 2014 for organizing a free speech performance entitled #YoTambienExijo -- pursuant to the Obama-Castro deal. She had her passport confiscated and has not been allowed to leave the island.

The Washington Post wrote about this in an editorial:

...Tania Bruguera planned a simple event for Tuesday: She would set up a microphone in Havana’s Revolution Square and invite anyone who wished to step up and talk about the country’s future. Dozens of dissidents planned to participate under the slogan “I also demand” — which might be taken as an allusion to their exclusion from the secret normalization negotiations conducted by the Obama administration and the regime of Fidel and Raúl Castro. 

That the deal announced Dec. 17 by President Obama did not include any protections for Cuba’s pro-democracy activists quickly became obvious. Security forces detained Ms. Bruguera as well as several dozen other activists. The free-speech performance never took place. “I spoke to Tania Bruguera and let her know part of her performance was done,” tweeted Yoani Sánchez, an independent journalist whose husband, Reinaldo Escobar, was one of those detained. “Censorship was revealed.” 

The incident should have been an embarrassment to Mr. Obama, who said that he decided to restore normal relations with Cuba in order to “do more to support the Cuban people and promote our values.” But the administration shrugged off the crackdown. On Wednesday, the State Department issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned,” the same words it uses to describe human rights violations in China, Vietnam and other countries where the United States has no leverage and plans no action. Talks on the opening of embassies will go forward.

Tania Bruguera, photo by Yali Romagonza.
Courtesy of Studio Bruguera

As most of you know, the Havana Biennial is currently underway, and collectors, arts aficionados, curators, many DC-area artists, and the art cabal has descended en masse upon The Castro Brothers' Workers Paradise.

Tania Bruguera was arrested again a couple of days ago as she approached the Museum of Fine Arts to attend an exhibit for the Havana Art Biennial. No one seems to know what the charges (if any) are... but then again, this is Cuba.

Via Facebook, her sister (who lives in Spain I believe), reported that Bruguera began reading 100-hours of Hannah Arendt’s seminal book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, on May 22 - apparently that's part of her "crime."

But there's more.

In Havana, four dozen members of The Ladies in White were arrested as they attended Sunday Mass. Also arrested were many of their male supporters, including democracy leaders Antonio Rodiles, Angel Moya and independent journalist Juan Gonzalez Febles. The Cuban dictators are particularly terrified of this group of women, whose "protests" generally consist of: (dress in a white dress on Sundays, (b) attend Sunday Mass, (c) march in unison while holding flowers to the cemetery and (d) get abused, beaten and arrested on the way there; repeat next Sunday.

Band leader Gorki Aguila was grabbed by undercover police outside the museum for the simple reason that he was displaying a photo of graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado and the word “freedom.” That's a no, no in the Workers' Paradise.

Graffitist Danilo Maldonado was arrested in December for "tagging" several pigs with the names "Castro" and "Raul." The names refer to the Castro brothers(Raul and Fidel Castro), suffocaters of the poor island prison. Where Maldonado was able to find pigs in food-poor Cuba will always be a mystery. I suspected the pigs were also snatched and ended up being served later that night in the homes of the undercover police bosses.

In Santiago de Cuba, capital of the Oriente province (the original province), over 80 activists of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) were beaten and arrested, including some who had been released under the Obama-Castro December 17th deal, namely Diango and Bianko Vargas Martin, and Ernesto Tamayo Guerra.

Dozens of others were arrested in the interior provinces, including Raul Borges, father of political prisoner Ernesto Borges, and youth activists from the Cuban Reflection Movement.

Meanwhile, the US State Department and the Obama administration march forward...

“I don’t want to sound too Pollyannaish . . . but I do think we’re closer than we have been,” the official said. “I think my [Cuban] counterparts are coming up here with a desire to get this done.” The negotiating session will be held at the State Department. 

“I wouldn’t be even remotely optimistic if I did not feel that we were making progress,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules imposed by the State Department.

Unfortunately I am resigned to see our administration march forward, no matter what the Cuban dictatorship does to its abused citizens - after all the bottom line here is business.

But where is the United Nations on these issues? Where are the Cuban people's Latin American brothers and sisters? Where is Cuba's madre patria, Spain? Where's is the European Union?

Makes my head hurt.

Stay strong Tania; stay strong Ladies in White... each little "crack" in the dictators' bloody boots helps. 

Campello reviewed

"Elise Campello is Sally Bowles, the free-spirited, devil-may-care character who demands herself to be oblivious to all things negative surrounding her lest she must be taken seriously.  Campello is glibly charming in the role and shows sequestered understanding of the underlying meaning to the part.  Campello sings the title song, “Cabaret,” acting the words instead of just setting them to music – giving them true meaning."

Review here: http://thesubtimes.com/2015/05/24/cabaret-at-tlt-reveals-decadence-and-danger-of-the-era/

Campello Sangria for 100

Box of cheap white or red wine
2 liter bottle of cherry 7 up
1/4 to 1/2 bottle of cheap vodka
1 can of Goya mango juice
1/2 carton orange juice (pulp free)
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup lemon juice

• Cut one red and one green apple in cubes
• Wash, then slice one orange and one lemon and one lime... Leave rind
• Mix all liquids and add cut fruit
• Taste and adjust "sweetness" to taste by adding lime juice if more tartness is desired... You can also add Triple Sec if more orangeness is desired.

Serves over 100; It tastes better if you prepare it a few hours ahead of time and let fruit sit in it.

Call for Artists: Shinola

Deadline for Submissions is June 7, 2015

WPA is pleased to partner with Shinola to provide a new opportunity for Washington DC Metro area artists. Headquartered in Detroit, MI, Shinola prides itself on enhancing the local economy and helping to rebuild American jobs. Given Shinola's company practices of sourcing local talent they have partnered with WPA to bring a rotating series of 4 exhibitions of local artists' work to their new store gallery at 14th and R Streets NW in Logan Circle.
 
Artists with pre-existing work that has a minimalist approach that shares Shinola's aesthetic and vision for a community that thrives though excellence of craft and pride of work are invited to apply. 
 
Submissions may be for existing work or proposals for new projects to take place before the exhibition. Details here.
 
Selected artists will have their work on display for approximately 3 months on a gallery wall within the store and will receive a $1,000 stipend and $100 Shinola gift card. 

 

Submissions will only be accepted online via their online submission form. Deadline for submissions is June 7, 2015.

 

Questions can be directed to Samantha May, Program Director at smay@wpadc.org.

Exhibition Opportunity

Mattawoman Creek Art Center  - 21st Annual All-Media Juried Exhibition

June 5 – July 5, 2015

Smallwood State Park – Marbury, MD.  $1,000 in prize money.  Open to all artists 18 years or older.  Artwork may not exceed 6’x6’ or weigh more than 100 lbs. 

All entries must be hand delivered May 22 – 24. 

Juror:  Dr. Margaret Dowell, award winning artist/educator – currently adjunct professor of Art at the College of Southern Maryland.  

For more information visit: http://www.mattawomanart.org/documents/2015JFcfe.pdf

Call for Artists: Other Worlds, Other Stories

Deadline for Submissions is June 21, 2015
 

WPA is seeking submissions for its upcoming exhibition Other Worlds, Other Stories. Curated by my good bud Jeffry Cudlin,  Other Worlds, Other Stories is a group exhibition exploring notions of outer space. The exhibition will take place from January 6 - February 20, 2016 at the WPA's new home at 2112 8th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 in The JBG Companies new Atlantic Plumbing Building.

Considering that I've always thought that JC is from another world (note his alien-like height and long extremities), I think that he's the perfect juror for this show!

WPA is seeking seeking work by contemporary artists who are thinking deeply about outer space-either what it will look like when we get there, or how it might allow us to change as a society.

The call is open to all artists regardless of media used or geographic location.

 

Artists do not need to be WPA members and there is no submission fee.

 

Submissions may be for existing work or proposals for new projects to take place before or during the exhibition.

 

Selected artists will receive a $250 honorarium.

 

Submissions will only be accepted online via their online submission form. Deadline for submissions is June 21, 2015.

 

Questions can be directed to Samantha May, Program Director at smay@wpadc.org.

I love the meal... but where's the fagioli?

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this rip-off artist:

From:

mariaroymaterials@yahoo.com (webmaster@themodernhome.co.uk)

Hello ,

I am Mrs Maria Roy and I would like purchase some of your items , Please kindly let me know the sales person.

Please email me back at mariaroymaterials@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Mrs Maria Roy

Le zumba el mango

Sometimes when I speak in Spanish to some of my fellow Spanish-speaking friends around the DMV, they stare at me in puzzlement, because Cubans and Americans of Cuban ancestry have a very unique and rich "Cuban Spanish" that is often gibberish to other Spanish-speakers.

How would one translate the Cuban saying: "Le zumba el mango"??? 

The closest that I can translate it is: "Hard to believe" or "Beyond belief", but with a degree of "How can that be done?" I'm not even 100% sure what "zumba" means! "throws" or "flings"? So it translates word for word to: "Throws a mango"... figure that out...

Here's an example: "Le zumba el mango that the Castro brothers are still in power!" or "Le zumba el mango that my niece came to visit Washington and didn't even call me!"

Capisce?

Surviving the Storm: call for entries

Deadline: 06/26/15
 
Montgomery College

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Montgomery College sees a unique opportunity to educate students and the larger community about the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.  We are looking for your best artwork related to the social, political, racial, economic, and environmental impacts of Hurricane Katrina.  More specifically, we are interested in artwork that portrays the enormity of this disaster, with narratives focusing on both New Orleans and the greater, impacted Gulf coast.  In addition, we seek work that shows the evolution of this event, beginning with pre-Katrina, during and immediately following the storm, and rebuilding efforts. 

Entries will be juried by Susan Sterner, Director of Photojournalism at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.

Title:    Surviving the Storm
Medium:   All media accepted
# entries:   Three
Deadline:   June 26, 2015
Artist Notification:  July 17, 2015
Art Delivery Date:  August 3–14
Show Date:   August 17 to October 23, 2015, with the possibility of a second show in February 2016

Fee:    Free to submit

Eligibility:   Applicants must be at least 21 years of age to submit
Submit work by sending a dropbox.com link to kingstreet.gallery@montgomerycollege.edu (see below for more information).

Juror Biography
Susan Sterner is Director of the MA in New Media Photojournalism and an associate professor of photojournalism at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Ms. Sterner started her career as a photojournalist freelancing with national and international publications while based in New Orleans, LA. She then worked for the Associated Press as a staff photographer based in Mississippi and California. With the AP she covered domestic issues such as immigration, child labor, and families in poverty, as well as U.S. border issues and social change in Haiti. A two-year fellowship with the Institute of Current World Affairs sent Ms. Sterner to Brazil to photograph and write about women’s lives and access to resources. After returning to the United States, she worked as a White House photographer, documenting the official and the behind-the-scenes life of the presidency. Since 2006 she has coordinated the photojournalism program at the Corcoran. She is currently at work on series of short-form documentaries examining community-based health care.

Submission Requirements
Consideration is by digital files only. Artist may submit up to three works. If necessary to understand the artwork, a second view of each piece may be submitted. Label each file LastName_ArtworkTitle_#.jpg. Example: Jones_RisingStorm_2.jpg
Images: Submit jpeg files at 300 dpi, at a minimum of 2100 pixels on the longest side.
Videos: Submit mov files of no more than 5 minutes (if the exhibited video will be longer, this should be an excerpt). Videos submissions will only be accepted if the final artwork is a video.
Files should be no larger than 100MB with a minimum resolution of 640 x 480; minimum 12 fps.
Books: Submit a pdf file of the full book at up to 150 dpi. File should be no larger than 25MB.

Also include a Microsoft Word document with the following information:
Artist Name, Address, Phone, Email  Information about each piece, including:
Title
Caption/statement (not to exceed 150 words)
Size: height x width x depth in inches
Materials
Price (if not for sale indicate with “NFS,” but include price for insurance)

Submit all files by emailing a link to a dropbox.com folder to
kingstreet.gallery@montgomerycollege.edu. Subject line must include “Weathering the Storm.”

Conditions of Entry
Artist may submit no more than three works.  
Artists are responsible for shipping and shipping insurance to and from the exhibition venue.  While artwork is housed at Montgomery College, it will be covered by our insurance.
Artwork is available for sale unless the artist indicates otherwise. Inquiries will be directed to the artist. Montgomery College does not receive a commission for artwork sold.

There is no size restriction on pieces beyond the juror’s discretion and space considerations. The gallery is 24 x 28’, with an 8 x 10’ entry.

Work MUST be available for the full run of the exhibition and arrive at Montgomery College ready to install. Work that is not exhibition-ready will not be included in the exhibition.

Contact Information
King Street Gallery Montgomery College
7600 Takoma Ave., CF111 
Takoma Park, MD 20912
W: https://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/arts-tpss/exhibitions/
E: kingstreet.gallery@montgomerycollege.edu

About the Gallery
The Cultural Arts Gallery’s exhibitions compliment the academic programs of Montgomery College’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts while bringing art to the community. As part of the Silver Spring arts community, exhibitions focus on current pieces by working artists. The gallery is on the ground floor of The Cultural Arts Center on the west side of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus.

The center is located at 7995 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, 20910.

Mathematics and the art fair model

Much has been written about the phenomenon of art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last ten years confirms this fact - I have my own positive empirical evidence, most recently with the great Context Art Miami fair for the past two years.

Here in the DMV, we've had our own taste of a major "Miami style art fair" with artDC in 2007 - and that fair was a major failure, as that basic fair model didn't work in the Greater Washington area, which historically has a well documented degree of apathy when it comes to actually buying art or getting the main stream press interested... or the immense reluctance that suburbanites have in driving to DC over the weekend to parking-challenged areas.

Subsequently to that epic art fair failure, the (e)merge art fair - a hotel variation of the "art fair inside a huge building/tent" model, where the fair is held in a hotel (in this case the Capitol Skyline Hotel) - has had more success

And yet... an idea that I have been mulling in my head for years now keeps bugging me.

Stick with me here.

There's another "world" out there of fine art fairs that, because of the curious high brow attitude of the "high art" cabal, never really gets any attention from the art media, etc.

These are the outdoor art fairs that some of us know well, and many more others think they know well even though they've actually never been to any of the good ones. I am talking about the outdoor art festivals that get ranked as the top ones by Sunshine Artist magazine; fairs such as the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, or the Ann Arbor Arts Festival (actually four separate art fairs that draw over half a million visitors), and of course, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami, which routinely attracts about 150,000 visitors in the Miami area.

Immediately the clueless sap esso tutto who have never been to one of these top-of-the-line outdoor art festivals will think and imagine what they visualize as an outdoor art market: dried flowers, teddy bears and watercolors of barns. 

Don't get me wrong, there are thousands and thousands of these type "art" fairs around as well - but those are NOT the ones that I am talking about.

I am talking about the cream of the Sunshine Artist Top 200 list. These are shows where only original art, not reproductions, are allowed, and photography has very severe rules (must be done by the photographer, limited editions only, signed, archival processes only, etc.). These shows are highly competitive to get in (they're juried), and usually offer quite a lot of money in prizes for the artists. The jurors vary from museum curators, art center managers, art critics, artists, etc.

I guess I'm saying that there's some curatorial legitimacy to them as well... for the elitista amongst you.

But the real destination to which I am driving here is attendance: thousands.

Locally in our area, there are several of these exceptional fine arts outdoor festivals: The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival attracts around 30,000 people; the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, and the Bethesda Row Arts Festival also attract those numbers of people and are all highly competitive.

Consider the median income in either Bethesda ($185K) or Reston ($105K), and what you get out of it is a lot of people with a lot of disposable income. As a whole, the DMV itself has a median household income of around $90K - that ranks highest among the U.S.'s 25 most populous metro areas.

Art price tags at these local fairs range from $100 to $20,000. So there's a somewhat comparable universe of prices to the DC area gallery market, as an example.

And I submit that a lot of the people who attend one of these outdoor fine art festivals do not have the "formation," as a Communist would say, to dare set foot in a white cube gallery... and have probably never heard of Art Base Miami Beach.

If Mohammed won't come to the mountain gallery, then bring the gallery to Mohammed (don't kill me radical "non-Islamic" Islamonazis).

So here's the issue that has been brewing in my head:

All of these huge and highly successful outdoor arts festivals (as far as I know) only allow individual artists to sell their work at the fairs. Why doesn't an enterprising fair organizer go one step further and add a whole new angle to the outdoor arts festival and set aside a whole section for independent commercial fine arts galleries? 

Or even better: create an outdoor gallery-only fair with one of those huge tents like they do in Miami? But somewhere in the DMV with plenty of parking and/or Metro Access?

Because the entry price point is a substantial fraction of what it costs to sign up for a gallery art fair such as the 26 or so fairs during Art Basel Miami Beach week, the financial mathematics of this idea make sense to both sides of the equation.

For fair organizers, they could offer the gallery a basic price tag of $2000 for the weekend, which (for an additional fee) would include a 10 feet by 20 feet double tent and display equipment. Or -- and this is a big or -- the organizer, in order to attract the art galleries, could offer them zero entry fee and instead a 10% commission on all sales. This may get a little sticky in the monitoring of sales and unreported sales by art dealers who lack ethics and scruples, so a flat fee is probably the best and easiest idea.

Another option: Align with the Smithsonian Institution and set up a giant tent on the National Mall. We all know of at least a dozen other fairs - none of them art - that do this on a regular basis on the Mall.

The Washington Art Fair on the National Mall!

For the gallery it would offer them an opportunity to expose their artwork to possibly thousands of new potential collectors, exposing most of them, for the first time, to an art gallery.

It's all in the numbers.

No art gallery that I know gets 30,000 visitors a year, much less in a weekend. Would any of them turn down an opportunity, for a reasonable amount of money (much, much less than it costs them to advertise in an art magazine that will only reach a few hundred people in their local area), to expose themselves to a few thousand potential new clients?

You do the math: 1% of 1% of 30,000 people is 3 new sales over a weekend. Not even to mention the possible future sales of new people who become exposed to the gallery at the festival, and start attending openings: new blood collectors.

I would do it.

Now let's see some enterprising art fair organizer run with this.

Comments welcomed.

Good-bye Forever to Picasso’s Women of Algiers

I set eyes on the beautiful reward by Picasso known as The Women of Algiers, an epic master class on the ways of painting, art history, color, structure, and form that will be sold tonight to a private collector for $140 million.

Read Jerry Salz's adios to the most expensive painting ever.

Opportunities at The Athenaeum

Deadline: Rolling

Summary
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences.  In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals.

Eligibility
Artists who live or work in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia may submit a proposal for a solo show.  A group of artists who live or work in the area may submit a proposal for group show.  A curator, living or working anywhere, may submit a proposal for a show featuring works by artists living or working in this area.

Sales
The Athenaeum Gallery will retain a 30% commission on works sold, and will issue a check for 70% of the sales price to the artist no longer than thirty days after the show has closed. For a curator-proposed show, the commission structure can be adjusted with the full agreement of the gallery and the curator.
Sold work remains in the gallery until the last day of the show.
Work does not have to be for sale to be included in a show.

Insurance
All works in the show will be insured by the Athenaeum Gallery for 100% of the retail price during the run of the show.

Also check out details for the Athenaeum Invitational here (with $2500 in prize money that will be awarded by Jack Rasmussen) and the just announced Wings From Chains here.

About the Athenaeum
The Athenaeum Gallery is the headquarters of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association (NVFAA).  Founded in 1964, the NVFAA is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all forms of art, and to establishing programs that will enrich the cultural life of Northern Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan area. The Athenaeum Gallery exhibits work created solely by artists living or working the region and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent work and unique experiences.

Details here.

Release the hounds!!!

“The Simpsons” has apparently lost one of its most recognizable voices. Harry Shearer, who voices Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Principle Skinner, is leaving Fox’s animated series after 26 seasons.

Read it and weep.

Fulano de Tal

Things Cubans (and by default Americans of Cuban ancestry) say which make people who understand Spanish look puzzled: "Fulano de Tal" which was and still is, and will always be a puzzle to me, since it means something like "John Doe"... cough, cough... except that Cubans have another guy named "Mengano"... so it is "Fulano y Mengano" --- what??? It's like two made up names that cover Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane all at once...

And I am told that there's also even two more characters: "Sutano" and "Perengano."

Ephemeral at Olly Olly

Ephemeral
Olly Olly
June 6, 2015-July 18, 2015
Opening Reception
Saturday, June 6, 2015, 7pm-10pm

Olly Olly is pleased to present a new art exhibition, Ephemeral, inspired by the elusive here and now, and the role of delicate forms of reality at play in the understanding of emotion, life, and meaning making. On Saturday, June 6, 2015, from 7pm to 10pm, spend an evening with the artists:

Bita Ghavami

Jay Hendrick

Samantha Sethi

Lisa Marie Thalhammer

The artists of Ephemeral create situations of opportunity for the viewer to experience the fragile and temporary nature of art and life. Destruction becomes a powerful mode of creation through processes that utilize objects of the everyday. Wood, metal, ice, concrete, paper, paint, band-aids, memory, and the performance of bodies embrace and transform fleeting moments of existence in order to call into question systems, functions, and transitory relationships of space, place, and time. 

Special musical performance will be provided by local goth/jazz/punk/new wave/experimental rock twosome Space Waste.

We will be collecting healthy non-perishable food items for the Food Bridge Program at Our Daily Bread, which provides short-term emergency food assistance to Fairfax County area residents who are in crisis. We encourage you to bring a healthy non-perishable food item to donate. The Food Bridge Program is most in need of cooking oil, brown rice, dried beans, canned fruit in its own juices, and pasta sauce.

Olly Olly, located at 10417 Main Street, 2nd Floor, in Fairfax, VA, is open Mondays 10am-4pm, Tuesdays 6pm-9pm, Wednesdays 10am-4pm, Thursdays 6pm-9pm, Saturdays 11am-4pm, and by appointment. Ephemeral will be on view at Olly Olly from June 6, 2015 through July 18, 2015.

DC FY16 Grants Deadlines

This is a friendly reminder to all DC artist who bitch about

art opportunities in DC that

FY16 Grants Deadlines begin Wednesday, May 13

Starting with the deadline for City Arts Projects, the bulk of DC's FY16 Grant applications are due between Wednesday May 13 and Friday May 22. The one grant due after that is for the Public Art Building Communities program, which is due August 21.

See below for all the deadlines, and click on the link below for its respective guidelines.

FY16 Grants Deadlines

Artist Fellowship Program	Friday, May 15
Arts Education Program	Thursday, May 21
City Arts Projects - Individuals	Wednesday, May 13
City Arts Projects - Organizations	Wednesday, May 13
Cultural Facilities Projects	Monday, May 18
East of the River	Monday, May 18
Grants-in-Aid	Friday, May 15
Public Art Building Communities	Friday, August 21
Sister Cities International Arts Grant	Wednesday, May 20
UPSTART	Friday, May 22

FY16 Advisory Review Panelists

As you may also know, the DC Arts Commission (for which I have served for many years) is  currently seeking advisory review panelists for the FY16 grant season. Panelists are integral to the DCCAH's grants process because they review applications, provide comments, and score applications in order to recommend recipients of DCCAH grant awards.

Click here for more information and further instructions.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Commission with any questions, by calling their main line at (202) 724-5613 or emailing them at cah@dc.gov,

Mark Halperin: Asshole of the Week

Other than my frequent ramblings on the brutal Cuban dictatorship, and an occasional political cartoon, this blog seldom discusses politics, so please forgive this nauseating excursion into that world.

Last night I watched the Mark Halperin interview of Senator Ted Cruz, an interview that, as a Cuban-American, not only made me immensely uncomfortable, but also revealed the disturbing insides of this "journalist."


Senator Ted Cruz is Cuban-American, and because the Texas Senator is one of those rare politicians that actually says in a very loud voice what he believes, and then sticks to his beliefs, you either like him a lot, or despise him even more, depending if you agree with Cruz (as the majority of Texans who voted him into the Senate apparently do) or disagree with him (as practically every Democratic Senator and even some Republicans does), and that is just one of the beautiful things about living in this great nation: Politicians (and the rest of us) can (and often should) have widely differing views on things, and disagree, and argue, etc.

Watching Halperin's revolting interview of Cruz, I actually wanted to throw up.

Up to last night, I had never heard of the online interview show that Halperin co-hosts on BloombergPolitics.com. It is called "With All Due Respect", but the last thing that Halperin showed Cruz was respect; in fact what Halperin revealed about himself was not only a disturbing and sickening inside look at his mind, but also evidence of his lack of journalistic ethics.

Imagine Halperin interviewing Senator Obama in 2008:

"Senator Obama, as a historical matter, when you applied to Harvard, did you list yourself as a Kenyan-American"?

"Who's your favorite African-American performer?"

"What's your favorite kind of black music?"

"What's your favorite soul food?"

Or imagine Halperin interviewing Senator Elizabeth Warren today:

"Senator Warren, what's your favorite Native-American dance?

"Can you say something in Wampanoag?

Had those interviews happened, Bloomberg would have fired Halperin (who has since then somewhat apologized... cough, cough).

What Halperin was doing when he asked Senator Cruz to speak in Spanish (when everyone knows that Cruz is not fluent in Spanish), or to reveal his favorite Cuban dish, or to list what sort of Cuban music the Senator likes, was to challenge Cruz's Cubanosity and to diminish his Hispanic/Latino "credentials."

Halperin wanted to diminish and embarrass Senator Cruz because Ted Cruz does not fit the stereotype of what the main stream press and the Democratic Party (but I repeat myself) wants us Hispanics/Latinos to be: homogeneously brown, solid Democrats, poor, and victimized. Cruz, on the other hand, is white, right wing, and very vocal and proud about his extreme right-wingness.

Why did this interview bother me so much? I thought about this overnight, and I've come to the conclusion that, for the first time, starting when I was a child in Brooklyn, grew into a man while serving in the US Navy, and the many years since, I've now personally felt, for the first time in all those years, the slimy touch of racism.

It sickens me that Halperin can give a half-assed apology and go on pretending that he's an unbiased, objective journalist, when it is clear to the most casual observer that all along he had a goal and a focus in his sickening interview of Senator Cruz.

It sickens me that it took a Mark Halperin to make me feel insulted, nauseated, violated and angry. And it sickens me that he's tarnished my American dream.

Corcoran’s 17th Street building's renovation

LEO A DALY, an internationally renowned architecture, engineering and planning firm with expertise in arts and education spaces, will lead the phased renovation of the Corcoran’s 17th Street building, the George Washington University announced Monday.

The firm, which already has assisted with preliminary space planning at the Corcoran, will be responsible for detailed planning as well as historically sensitive architectural design work for the renovations at the 17th Street building. Initial work will include design of roof and façade repairs; upgrades to critical infrastructure; and design of program spaces, such as computer labs, which will be used in the fall. Long-term efforts will include design to support academic programs and student needs.

The National Gallery of Art, GW, The Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design signed the historic collaboration agreements last year that, in part, created the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at GW and transferred ownership of the 17th Street building to the university.

“LEO A DALY brings a high level of knowledge and experience to this project and has successfully led our initial space planning efforts,” said Alicia Knight, GW’s senior associate vice president for operations. “We look forward to working with the firm as we renovate the Corcoran to ensure that it supports our students and continues to serve as a showplace for the arts.”
The firm, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is an international leader in the practice of architecture and engineering. Its design expertise in the arts, museums and learning environments includes the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong and the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska. LEO A DALY is also leading the renovation of the historic Burlington Passenger Station, built in Omaha in 1898, transforming it into a state-of-the-art television studio facility for the Hearst Corporation’s ABC affiliate KETV News Watch Channel 7.

“It is a rare privilege to lead the renovation of such an iconic Beaux Arts building,” said Leo A. Daly III, chairman and CEO of LEO A DALY. “The Corcoran Building is a significant Washington landmark, just steps from the White House. Breathing new life into such a structure, while transforming its classic gallery space into a world-class arts education environment, is an architect’s dream.”
Mr. Daly, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, serves on the Trustees’ Council of the National Gallery of Art and is a former trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. A respected collector of 20th century art, Mr. Daly previously served as chairman of the American Architectural Foundation, vice chairman of the Kennedy Center International Committee, vice chairman of the National Building Museum, and on the Advisory Board of the Blair House Fine Arts Committee.

The university recently announced that it has entered into a contract for S&R Foundation to purchase the Fillmore building. The nonprofit organization intends to use it as an arts incubator supporting talented artists. The university will use funds from the sale of the Fillmore for the renovation of the 17th Street building and for programs within the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.

American Sniper Saga: UMD responds

As you know, I was furious at how UMD caved in when faced with a set of students who do not understand fully the concept of freedom of speech - in this case about the showing of the film American Sniper.

UMD has responded with the following:

Dear Lenny:

 

Thank you for your message to President Loh and for reaching out to voice your concerns regarding the decision to postpone the viewing of American Sniper. We understand this decision has caused a strong reaction, and we appreciate your feedback.

It was announced on Tuesday afternoon that a showing of American Sniper, sponsored by the UMD College Democrats and the UMD College Republicans, will happen on the University of Maryland campus on May 4th at the Hoff Theatre.  There will be no charge to students, and anyone who wishes to stay afterward will be invited to participate in a thoughtful dialogue.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

 

Ann Tonggarwee

Assistant to the President

University of Maryland

Call for artists and curators

Deadline: Rolling

Summary
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences.  In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals.

Eligibility
Artists who live or work in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia may submit a proposal for a solo show.  A group of artists who live or work in the area may submit a proposal for group show.  A curator, living or working anywhere, may submit a proposal for a show featuring works by artists living or working in this area.

Sales
The Athenaeum Gallery will retain a 30% commission on works sold, and will issue a check for 70% of the sales price to the artist no longer than thirty days after the show has closed.
For a curator-proposed show, the commission structure can be adjusted with the full agreement of the gallery and the curator.
Sold work remains in the gallery until the last day of the show.
Work does not have to be for sale to be included in a show.

Insurance
All works in the show will be insured by the Athenaeum Gallery for 100% of the retail price during the run of the show.

About the Athenaeum
The Athenaeum Gallery is the headquarters of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association (NVFAA).  Founded in 1964, the NVFAA is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in all forms of art, and to establishing programs that will enrich the cultural life of Northern Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan area. The Athenaeum Gallery exhibits work created solely by artists living or working the region and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent work and unique experiences.

Details here.

A Free eBook Just for Visual Artists

Click on the above image or visit this link.

Wanna go to an artist's talk tomorrow?

Saturday, May 9, 1:30 - 3:30pm

DMV artist Molly Springfield talks about her work with large scale prints and book marginalia. She will connect her work to objects on view in the Luce Foundation Center.

Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center

Tickets: Free

Event Link:  http://americanart.si.edu/calendar/event.cfm?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D113666413

This weekend!

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival

Delight in fine art created by 130 of the nation's best artists, live entertainment and Bethesda restaurants. 
Located in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle, along Norfolk, Auburn & Del Ray Avenues. 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.

2015 Festival Dates: Saturday, May 9, 10am - 6pm
Sunday, May 10, 10am - 5pm

The Corcoran 30th Annual Print Portfolio

FOREVER: The Corcoran 30th Annual Print Portfolio 
May 8 - August 14, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday, May 8, 6:00 – 8:00pm

WORKS BY: Rawan Alferaehy, Ken Ashton, Raya Bodnarchuk, Marte Newcombe, Andrew Christenberry, Y. David Chung, Georgia Deal, Kristine DeNinno, George Fox, Julie Garcia, Carolyn Hartman, David Hodgson, Elizabeth Klimek, Jihae Kwon, Caroline Lacey, Yaroslav Karpoulin, Pam Lawton, Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Conor Martin, Sarah Matthews, Jayme McLellan, Jessica Metzger, William A. Newman, Dennis O'Neil, Trish O'Meara, Paulette Palacios, Jennaway Pearson, Arel Peckler, Tom Pullin, Mariana Rivera, Claudia Smigrod, Casey Smith, Bob and Carol Stackhouse, Susan Sterner, Shane Sullivan, Lynn Sures, Kohei Urakami, Greg Vita, Lauren Wright, Na'ama Zussman.


The Portfolio, which began in 1985, is one of the oldest traditions at the Corcoran. It reflects not only who we are as students, teachers, and as artists, but also the times we live in. With prints alike to forever stamps, we want to capitalize on this moment in Corcoran's history by commemorating the places, objects, and people that are the Corcoran.

Corcoran faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and many distinguished alumni, such as David Chung, George Fox, Bill Christenberry, Andrew Christenberry, Jayme McClellan, Dennis O'Neil, and many others have each printed an edition of 30 to be a part of this landmark project.

Carroll Square Gallery
975 F Street NW, Washington DC 20004
202.347.7978
www.hemphillfinearts.com

Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival

The much anticipated annual Greater Reston Arts Center’s Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is coming! May 16-17, 2015. A nationally top-ranked fine art and craft festival that typically attracts 30,000+ patrons, the Festival is also Greater Reston Arts Center's primary fundraiser, and it allows GRACE -- the area's largest non-profit dedicated exclusively to enhancing community life through excellence in and the promotion of the contemporary visual arts -- to offer its free-to-the-public exhibitions at its Town Center Gallery and art education programs across all ages.

Each year the competitive, juried, Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival features over 200 skilled artisans who utilize both traditional and unconventional materials and techniques to create hand-crafted, original works of art available for purchase. The sheer diversity of fine art and craft at the Festival, now in its 24th year, ensures that there is something for every taste and budget. If you would like a chance to mingle with the festival artists, The Festival Launch Party will take place at the Reston Town Center Pavilion on May 15, and will feature savory treats, specialty wine, music and a silent auction.

To learn more and to purchase tickets, please visit northernvirginiafineartsfestival.org

Bummer

I'm Oh for like every year so far!

Good Morning,

Thank you very much for your recent submission to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection through the DC Creates! Public Art Program.  Our two panel Selection Committee, consisting of eight arts professionals and artists, reviewed over 300 applications for this FY15 acquisition cycle. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your submission was not selected to continue into the second in person review panel of artwork to be purchased.  The exceptional caliber and diversity of artwork submitted made this year’s selection process especially competitive.

Although your application was not selected this year, the Commission values your individual contribution to the D.C. arts community and strongly encourages you to reapply to our future Art Bank calls for work, public art opportunities, and grant programs we offer.  Should you have any questions about the Selection Committee process, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email. We look forward to seeing your application at the next available opportunity.

Sincerely,

Ron Humbertson
Art Collections Registrar
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH)
200 I (Eye) Street, SE, Suite 1400
Washington, DC 20003
dcarts.dc.gov

Opportunities for artists and curators

Deadline: June 1, 2015

The Rehoboth Art League (RAL) is a non-profit arts center, located in Henlopen Acres, Delaware, which currently contains four gallery spaces on its historic 3.5 acre facility and The Homestead, an historic home which also serves as a gallery space. In addition to several pop-up galleries in the surrounding area the RAL has just developed and opened The RAL Art Studios, a 6400 sq. off-site arts complex which houses two additional gallery spaces as well as an arts education center and four artist-in-residency studios. The RAL is actively seeking both solo and group show proposals for their 2016 season. Over 29,000 people attend RAL activities each year. $20 Application fee.

Visit website for more information at:https://www.rehobothartleague.org/explore/call-for-entries.html.

Questions? Please contact Jay Pastore, Exhibitions Director at Jay@rehobothartleague.org or call 302.227.8408.

Do this on Saturday

This Saturday, May 9th from 12pm to 5pm is the Washington Glass School's 14th Anniversary Open House and Party!

This popular annual event is a great time to come by and see what they are doing lately. This year is particularly exciting as the WGS has two new large studios opening next to them.

First, my good bud Sean Hennessey, their resident artist for the last five years is branching out to the new space next door. He and other artists, such as David Mordini and the amazing Scott Brooks, will be taking over Margaret Boozer's former Red Dirt studio and making their own 5000 sqft Otis Street Art Projects! Also, Laurel Lukaszawski has taken over Novie Trump's former Flux Studio (Novie has an amazing new studio in Jerome, AZ) and opened White Point Studios!

This amazing arts complex continues to expand with some of the best artists in this region! Come on Saturday and see what its all about!

What: Washington Glass School's 14th Anniversary Open House and Party!
When: Saturday, May 9th from noon to 5pm
Where: Washington Glass School
            3700 Otis. St.
            Mt. Rainier, Md. 20712
            202-744-8222
Cost: Free!