An Interview with Ana Elisa Benavent

Ana Elisa Benavent’s large, brilliantly-colored abstracts compel the eye and convey strong, complex emotion.  A solo of her work  is on view at the Foundry Gallery in Dupont Circle until June 2.  She recently sat down for an interview with fellow Foundry member Jay Peterzell.

 JP: You describe yourself as a color expressionist.

AE: I call myself that because I think in my work color supersedes forms and shapes and texture.  That’s how I express myself, through color.  And I am influenced when I say that by the color field abstract masters.  Color is the foremost form of expression in my work and – I know it’s not an artistic movement per se, but that’s how I call it.

JP:  Well, it’s a take-off on “abstract expressionist.”  It sounds like a silly question, but how does color express – in your work or in general?

AE:  I think that if anyone can get into my mind it would be kind of crazy and it just gets worse as time goes by – in the way color just has become a language of its own in my mind.  I mean it’s like more and more I find myself just thinking in color.  I know its very cliché to think, you know, red is energy and green is envy and blue is peace and things like that.  But for me it goes a lot beyond that, it’s a way of really getting into my innermost feelings and emotions, the widest variety of emotions.  And so I started trying to dig into the equivalent of emotions and feelings and colors.  And the more I go into it, it kind of has gone the other way around, it’s kind of like the language of color is deeper than the emotion.  So I start finding myself kind of looking at colors as a way of expression more and more.  And so it’s going like a little bit crazy now (laughs) in my mind.

JP: Looking at your paintings, I don’t feel any simple translatability into an emotion -- this is anger, this is whatever.  You feel strong emotions in your paintings but you couldn’t quite put them in words.

AE:  Right, I try not to convey simple emotions.  I mean, it’s not about just love, and anger.  I try to make them a little bit more complex, because I think that’s how our everyday life is, not just black and white.  In the titles of my work I try to convey that.  Well, that one right there (points to painting), it’s called You Will Get a Reaction.  So it is about being annoyed.  I mean it’s about like, you’re gonna be a bitch, talk before you think?  Well, you’re gonna get a reaction, kind of thing.  So it is a complex emotion, you know, I –

JP: That’s not that complex.

AE: (laughs)  I mean, it’s just not about being angry, it’s about all that entails.  So, when a viewer asks me, what did you try to accomplish with that, I try not to give the whole story.  And that’s part of my [artists’] statement – it’s my story, but it’s also your story.

JP:  Your titles are suggestive.  So there’s also the question whether I’m letting the meanings be suggested by the titles.  This new painting, What You Keep to Yourself, is very moving I think, it has great depth.  You feel that it’s saying something but emotions are not translatable into propositions, they’re feelings.  So what –

AE: That’s kind of what I wanted to convey.  I obviously had a very clear emotion in mind when I painted it.  But I don’t want the viewer to know the exact detail of it because I don’t want to tell the whole story.  When someone looks at it I want them to form their own story about it.  It’s called What You Keep to Yourself, well I want them to take a hint out of that, if they want to.  If not, I want them to look at it and form their own story about it.

JP:  Well, “What You Keep to Yourself” suggests repression, and emotion being kept under the surface.

AE:  Right, when I painted that – it’s a little bit about being annoyed by, you know, about things not being said.  And –

JP: Oh, it’s not you, it’s someone else who’s keeping things –

AE:  Yeah, yeah.  That’s how it was, that’s how it was, although I will never say that –

JP:  Would it be unfair to see a general theme of annoyance in your paintings?

AE:  No.  (laughs)  No.  (laughs)   No, that’s just coincidence I think, from those two.  No, and it’s not the same person.  (laughs)  No, no, no, no, no.  No, I think I try to mix positive and –

JP: It’s just coincidence.

AE: Yes, it’s a coincidence of those two paintings.  And I think this is not only about annoyance but also about a little bit of mystery.  It’s not all negative I think.

JP: But a sense of frustration at someone else’s lack of openness.

AE:  Exactly.  That’s what it was

JP: Getting back to the question of color.  To what extent are you conveying emotion – in other words, transmitting your emotion to the viewer – and to what extent are you inducing emotion, which is to say, color causes emotions in people, even if the artist doesn’t feel them.  If you come up to an Yves Klein painting, there’s this tremendous shock of blue, it does something to you almost physiologically, but whether he’s having that emotion or not is unclear.  Now, he’s a less –

AE:  No, everything I paint is based on something that I feel.  And I translate it into color the way I feel it.  Whether the viewer sees it that way or not – it’s fun for me to see that.  It’s almost a game, when I exhibit my work and see their reactions or interpretation of it – whether it’s similar to or different from what I felt when I painted it.  But everything I paint is based on how I feel it.

JP:  Let’s talk about the technical aspect of what you’ve done here.

AE:  I always paint on boards instead of canvas.  I think it reflects the color better than canvas, which absorbs the color.  I start with a white gesso surface, and I do a lot of overlaying.  I do layer over layer of color until I achieve what I want.  So I do start with an idea – it never ends up being what I started with, but I do have the colors very much in mind when I start.

JP: You know where you’re going.

AE:  Yes.  I don’t sketch anything, I just have it in my mind and I start from there.  I usually have a basic composition of colors when I start, like big fields, to guide me through the overall composition if I’m going to do thirds, or a Z, or just any basic artistic composition – and then I start playing around, and it becomes a moving target.  At the end I may add a little bit, you know, like add an unexpected color.  But that is just mostly from a composition standpoint, that’s not even emotional.

JP:  You start with emotion and gradually you’re gaining distance, you’re creating an object.

AE: Yeah, exactly

JP:  You grew up in Mexico.

AE:  Yes, in Mexico City.

JP: What were your parents?

AE: I really only lived with my mom, who was a journalist.  We lived in Mexico City our whole life until I moved here 14 years ago.

JP: Were you always interested in art?

AE: I’ve always painted on the side, I just never had the time, I was raising kids, I was married, I was doing other things.  I never really took it full time until my husband died four years ago.  I started doing it almost as therapy.  At the beginning I didn’t think of it as a second career, but it just started taking over.  Before I’d never done abstracts.  I’d done oil and figure painting and a lot of silk painting.  But when I thought about taking painting back I wanted to do abstract because I thought it would be a lot more liberating and creative.  I wanted the freedom that comes with abstract painting.

JP: And you associate it with that period after your husband’s death.

AE:  That’s why I did the abstract work, because I was looking for healing.  That was a period of healing in my life, so I wanted this to be part of it.

JP: “Healing” is one of those words that’s used too easily sometimes.  After someone dies like that there’s more than healing to be expressed.

AE:  Yeah.  Yes.  I also didn’t want my work to be – Well, and I didn’t start painting right after he died, I think I spent a year with Netflix (laughs) and then I started painting.  But when I was ready to paint I didn’t want it to be about grieving and mourning, and darks and blacks, no, I didn’t want that.  I wanted it to be more about how I was reinventing myself.  You know, after the loss -- then what?  Then I had to reinvent myself, and all this process that comes into finding yourself again and redefining what you’re going to be in life.  So I didn’t want it to be this sad, dark – I didn’t want that, and I don’t think my paintings reflect that at all.  I wanted it to be more of the process of empowerment and liberation and all those kind of things that would come in afterwards trying to go back into being this new person that I had to be.

 

JP:  You’ve talked about Rothko, his influence.  Who else do you think about?

AE:  Well, one painter I’ve always admired is Van Gogh, just because of the bold use of color, which has nothing to do with my style.  Rothko and Clyfford Still just attract me – and I wish I would one day be able to do paintings as large as they do because I think the large scale is so – is hypnotizing, the way it involves you.  And that’s one of the things I like about painting large scale, you allow the color to involve you, you get immersed in it.  And more and more I do larger paintings because of that.  So that’s the beauty of the large colorful paintings.

JP:  Alexander Melamid, a Russian-American artist, talks about how confusing, or rather confused, art and the role of the artist are now.  “There’s a crisis in art,” he says.  “We believed ten years ago, twenty years ago, that we knew the secret. Now we have lost this belief. We are a minority with no power and no belief, no faith. I feel myself, as an artist and as a citizen, just totally obsolete... Okay, it can be done this way or that way or this way, or in splashes or smoothly, but why? What the hell is it about?”   What is it about?

AE:  Well, I don’t think the role of the artist is obsolete, but I do think there is a bigger disconnection now between the viewer and the artist, and I don’t think that is a good place to be.  I think the viewer and the artist need to be closer.  When the viewer doesn’t understand the artist, that’s not a good place to be.  And part of this confusion I think started when people discovered that shock and irony sells.  A lot of things have been put into the mix of art that don’t really belong there.  It’s perfectly okay to make art that’s ironic and shocking and that’s all good but when the main purpose of it is not artistic, when there’s no artistic value – whatever concept of aesthetics you have – then it belongs somewhere else.  It may be a social manifestation, it may be a cultural manifestation, it may be crap.  I think there’s a lot of confusion as to what really is art.  So I think that’s where it is.

JP: If you open up Art in America, there’s no painting in it.  The only painting is in some of the ads.  And yet a gallery like this one is mostly painting.  Is it retro?  Is it holding on to something emotionally satisfying or decorative that doesn’t have intense cultural significance anymore?

AE:  Exactly, you may argue that Abstract Expressionism was a movement of the ‘40s, the ‘50s, it’s seventy years old or sixty years old – what am I doing, you know?  But I do think beauty, and artistic technical quality is still something that has value, that  needs to stay there.  I think there’s a lot of crap that will shed its way out eventually.  Because right now it’s a novelty.  And I want to think that the way I am doing this abstract expressionism is an evolution, not just a reiteration of what’s been done.

JP: The challenge is to do something new that’s also still painting.

AE: Right.  And, again, I believe in beauty.  (laughs)

"The Conversation"

Seven Artists at Gallery B Combine Work for a Good Cause

WHO: Artists Fran Abrams, Rockville, Nancy Donnelly, Washington, DC, Naomi Taitz Duffy, Washington, DC, Judy Gilbert Levey, Bethesda, Donna K. McGee, Bethesda, Robert Wiener, Washington, DC, and Patricia Zannie, Silver Spring.               

WHAT: Art titled "The Conversation" is being offered for sale by silent bids to benefit Edgemoor Children's Center in Bethesda

WHEN: Through Saturday, May 25 at 6:00 pm

WHERE: Gallery B, 7700-E Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20817

Free and open to the public

Seven artists who are now exhibiting at Gallery B in Bethesda decided to do something different at their exhibit to benefit a worthy cause in the neighborhood of the gallery.  Each of the artists contributed a piece of work to create a larger work, titled "The Conversation," which is being sold by silent auction to benefit Edgemoor Children's Center located in downtown Bethesda.   

Wonders at Edgemoor Children's Center serves children from infancy through pre-kindergarten and is accredited by the National Academy for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  (http://www.wonderschildcare.org/edgemoor-childrens-center/)

The seven artists who work in a variety of mediums are Fran Abrams, polymer clay, Nancy Donnelly, glass, Naomi Taitz Duffy, oil, Judy Gilbert Levey, oil, Donna K. McGee, acrylic, Robert Wiener, glass, and Patricia Zannie, collage.  

Each of the artists has signed the back of "The Conversation."

Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to place a bid on "The Conversation."  The winning bidder will give the bid amount to Edgemoor Children's Center and take home the artwork created by the seven artists.  Bidding closes at the end of the exhibit on Saturday, May 25 at 6 pm.  Gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday 12-6 pm and Sundays 11-3.  For more information, visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-7990.

Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is this weekend

The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, produced by the Greater Reston Arts Center, is a top-rated annual juried outdoor street festival held in the heart of the elegant and bustling Reston Town Center. The three-day event attracts over 50,000 patrons and provides an interactive experience to view, purchase, and experience art directly from the unique and talented artists who have created it.

50,000 people looking and buying art!

Check out the participating artists from all over the nation... here.

This is your weekend art event... See ya there!

 Festival Hours OPEN to the Public:

Friday, May 17 - 5pm - 8pm
Saturday, May 18 - 10am – 6pm
Sunday, May 19 - 10am – 4pm

Maryland Art Place announces two new calls for entry

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is currently seeking applications for a Regional Juried Exhibition opening in September 2013 and IMPACT 2013 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore.

CALL FOR ENTRY: RegionalJuried Exhibition

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is seeking artists working in a diverse range of media for a Regional Juried Exhibition, opening September 19, 2013. The exhibition is intended to explore the contemporary, cultural climate of Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Submissions will initially be vetted by MAP’s Program Advisory Committee and juried by Kristen Hileman.

My good friend Kristen Hileman is the Curator of Contemporary Art and Department Head at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Hileman organized Seeing Now: Photography Since 1960 (2011) and Anne Truitt: Perception and Reflection (2009-10), the first full career museum retrospective of that artist’s work.  Hileman oversaw a full reinstallation of the BMA’s contemporary collection in November 2012 for the museum’s newly renovated wing for contemporary art.  At the time of the re-opening, the contemporary wing featured a major site-specific commission created by Sarah Oppenheimer and an exhibition of Zwelethu Mthethwa’s photography.

Prior to coming to Baltimore, Hileman was the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.  She was also adjunct faculty at George Washington University and the Corcoran College of Art and Design.  Before her appointment at the Hirshhorn, she was the curator of the Arlington Arts Center, where she organized exhibitions of work by artists from the Mid-Atlantic region. Hileman received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park (2001) and her B.A. in International Studies from American University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa (1995).

Please visit this website for complete submission guidelines.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Monday July 1st.


Harwood Art Center invites artists to submit works for consideration in "Disaster/Resilience," Harwood Art Center's 4th annual international exhibition program dedicated to the artistic exploration of contemporary social justice issues.

Learn more and submit your works here.

In Georgetown...

Spiderman Naked

Spiderman Naked
Charcoal, conte and embedded appropriated video. 13x8 inches matted and framed to 26x20 inches
2013 by F. Lennox Campello

Detail of Spiderman Naked

Update: Now in a permanent collection in Miami, Florida!

When art fairs bite...

Art fair blues...

Check out former DC artist and now hard-working Brooklyn gallerist Marina Reiter's experience with the Verge Art fair that went away and took her money... read it here.

Call for Photo and Video Submissions

HEMPHILL is pleased to present two projects by free[space]collective in the exhibition Artist-Citizen, Washington DC, on view June 5 through July 27, 2013. Artists Michael Dax Iacovone and Billy Friebele utilize the city and its residents as an essential tool for the creation of their work. The DC Photo Grid is an aggregated map of the city generated from user-submitted photographs, and the DC Crowd-Sourced Video Project offers a constantly looping portrait of the city as viewed by its inhabitants. We invite you to participate by submitting your photos and videos following the instructions below.

DC Photo Grid
The space of Washington DC is made up of government buildings, businesses, and domestic dwellings. What's left over is the public space of parks, streets, and sidewalks. This is a crowd sourced public archive of that free space.

Instructions:
The photo must be taken within the border of Washington DC.
The photo must be taken in outdoor public space.
You must locate the square mile the photo was taken in and indicate the mile along with the submission.
You must enter the date the photo was taken.
Click to SUBMIT a photo.

DC Crowd-Sourced Video Project
This evolving participatory video project will be exhibited at HEMPHILL for the Artist/Citizen exhibition in June and July of 2013. We will edit video submissions together, fading them on top of each other to create a time-based portrait of the city. The most recent submission will be edited into the looping video displayed in the gallery, replacing the oldest video on the loop.

Instructions:
Videos must be of public space in Washington, DC.
Please do not exceed 1 minute in duration.
Video can be submitted either by emailing a youtube or vimeo link to dcphotogrid@gmail.com or you may send video to this email address using a file sharing site such as yousendit.com or wetransfer.com.
Click to SUBMIT a video.

free[space]collective Mission:

We see the city as an evolving system in a constant state of change. Each person’s experience within the changing city is different and valuable. We are interested in initiating dialog through encounters in public space and using art as a vehicle for community engagement and interaction. We believe in starting a conversation, and then setting it free to evolve with the input of the people who share those spaces.

 HEMPHILL
1515 14th Street NW
Washington DC, 20005
202.234.5601
gallery@hemphillfinearts.com
hemphillfinearts.com

DC Artist bound for Venice Biennale

Christopher Baer

Recent work from the White on White series on display throughout the 2013 Venice Biennale at Ai Reali, located a few steps from the Rialto Bridge. Opening Reception | Weds May 29th, 6 - 9pm | Venice, Italy Hosted by Ai Reali, Castello, Campo della Fava 5527 In addition to the Washington DC studio, Baer is producing work in a new studio in rural VA, two hours south of DC.   For more information about process, upcoming exhibitions and studio life, visit Baer's online visual journal or christopherbaer.com.  Daily blatherings on Twitter.

Sharon's Letter

Dear Friends, 

Please donate $30+ TODAY to fight cancer!  Read below to see why!

In 2012, I participated in the Marin Olympic Triathalon with Team in Training.  I swam .93 miles, biked 22 miles, and ran 6.2 miles in 3.5 hours.  In support of my efforts, 49 people helped me raise over $2,500 to find better cures and treatments for cancer.

It is 2013 and it is time for me to up the ante!  I am going to do TWO Olympic Triathalons, with Team in Training, which have more difficult courses and a larger monetary goal of $3000.

May 5th - Wildflower, CA - .93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run

June 30th - Pacific Crest, OR - .93 mile swim, 28 mile bike, 6.2 mile run

Last fundraising letter, I told you all about how I have a piece of my ass where my toe used to be. Threatened by a possible future spreading Melanoma, half of my toe was chopped off and a piece of my backside was put in its place. But that's ancient history.

Unfortunately, what isn't history...is cancer.  It is still kicking around affecting the people we know and love.  I can think of three of my peers (women in their 30's) who had to endure chemotherapy this year.  And that pisses me off!

If cancer also makes you mad, take 2 minutes and donate $30+ to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society from my fundraising page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/paccrstr13/spieczenik

In the great words of my favorite author Dr. Seuss, 

 

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!” 

So, I'm going to take my half-toe,

And we're going to have fun.  

Kicking Cancer's ass 

As I Swim, Bike, and Run! 

Thank you for the love and support.  Even if you can only donate one dime, please add your donation to the cause.  Ever cent counts.

Sincerely,

Sharon Pieczenik

Young Photographer

This is the latest work in my series of paintings/drawings with embedded electronic components. It is titled "Young Photographer Worshiping at the Altar of Contemporary Photography." It has three small LCD screens embedded into the piece that play about 200+ images of famous photographs, rotating every 3 seconds or so.

Young Photographer Worshiping at the Altar of Contemporary Photography
Watercolor, charcoal and gesso with embedded electronics
8x20 inches, matted and framed to 20x28 inches.

Detail

States of Mind at UM

OPENING RECEPTION THIS THURSDAY -  MAY 9, 5-8PM

MAY 9 – JUNE 22, 2013

States of Mind is the University of Maryland's first nationally juried exhibition, juried and curated by the Stamp Gallery’s student staff. Please join them in celebrating the opening of this fantastic show!  

For more information about the show visit their website.

My pick for this show?: Check out Adam Bradley's work

Gateway Open Studio Tour & WGS Annual Open House

Gateway Community Development Corporation (CDC) presents the 9th Annual Gateway Open Studio Tour on Saturday, May 11, 2013, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., in Prince George's County's Gateway Arts District. 

Home to one of the D.C. metro area's most innovative and exciting arts scenes, the Gateway Arts District brings together professional artists representing almost every visual arts medium. 

The day will end with an Opening Reception and After-Party at the Brentwood Arts Exchange (5pm - 8pm) and the 39th Street Gallery (5:30pm - 8pm). Both are located at 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD.

Reserve your seat for the Open Studio Tour Complimentary Shuttle here.

And as you go around these tours, this Saturday it will be also the Washington Glass School's annual Anniversary Party and Open House....12 years and counting!  

While you're there do not forget to drop by Red Dirt and Flux Studios! It will be a great day to drop by and see what makes this area so hot for art and sculpture!

What : Washington Glass School Annual Open House and Anniversary Party
When : Saturday, May 11th from Noon to 5pm.
Where : Washington Glass School
             3700 Otis. St.
             Mt. Rainier, Md  20712
             202-744-8222

Go Gallery-Hopping with a Contemporary Art Collector

How do you get started collecting art if you’ve never done it before? Go from art outsider to insider in a single afternoon with Laura Roulet.

 Guided by Laura, visit five or six contemporary art galleries in the bustling 14th Street-U Street NW corridor. Meet with gallery directors to learn about the art on view. Laura will show you how to approach forming a collection, how to get invited to openings, how to evaluate galleries and more. Once you’re sufficiently embedded in the scene, finish with a glass of wine on your last stop.

Details here.

An Open Letter from Arts on the Block

Dear Fellow Artist:

 

Both of us have rarely asked fellow artists for a contribution to any the various arts organizations we‘ve been involved with over the years, unless the artist is rolling in money (an all too rare state), but we’re making an exception now. We’re both on the board of directors of a non-profit organization called Arts on the Block (AOB), and it could use a little help financing a very important part of its mission, which as an artist we think you’ll appreciate.

 

AOB's signature program involves high school students, many of whom are  economically disadvantaged, but all of whom identify themselves as creative types and lovers of art.  Mosaics are what the students (called apprentices at AOB) focus on, and over the years they have created a number of great public and private murals in the DC area. As a team the apprentices work with a public or private client to design a mosaic, and then they build it. Through this program AOB does a truly remarkable job of fostering art, life, and business skills. (You can see some to our apprentices’ work by going to the AOB website www.artsontheblock.org and clicking on Buy & Commission Art.)

 

A unique cornerstone of the program described above has been paying the apprentices a stipend while participating in the AOB program. This stipend is a important teaching tool as it adds concrete value and incentive to their creative work. The appentices have historically been paid $30 a day for their participation in the program. 

 

So why are we asking you for money now? Arts on the Block, like the vast majority of non-profit art organizations, is trying to weather the current economic woes. Unlike most non-profit art organizations AOB consistently stays out of debt;.This, however, can lead to budget cuts. Thus, we’re hoping you will contribute $30 for one of our apprentices for one day in the AOB program. We will not stop you if you’d like to finance 2 days for $60, or even a  whole week for $150. But, again, We’re hoping you will at least  consider financing an outstanding young artist for one day’s participation in the of Arts on the Block program.

 

Here's a link for donations: https://npo.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=64-0958139  

 

Or you can mail a check to:

 

  Arts on the Block

  11501 Georgia Ave.,  Ste 104

  Wheaton, MD   20902-1952

 

Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated.

 

 Best,

Richard Dana and June Linowitz

MCA announces Curate Maryland

Sponsored by Maryland Citizens for the Arts, Curate Maryland is a new series of "on-the-ground" experiences designed to highlight and promote the arts in cities and towns from across the state of Maryland. 
 

Each Curate Maryland event will spotlight a selection of one town's local arts organizations while fostering dialogue about issues that concern arts advocates at all levels of governance. The series is a site-specific celebration, one city or town at a time, for art lovers from around the state.

The first Curate Maryland event is May 18 in Hagerstown, and features visits to The Washington County Arts Council, The Maryland Theatre, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, with performances, tours, refreshments and workshop discussions throughout.  

The event is free with RSVP to Brian Francoise at 410.467.6700 or at brian@mdarts.org.

Potomac Vallery Watercolorists

A little while ago I had the pleasure of selecting the prizewinners for the Potomac Vallery Watercolorists at the beautiful Green Spring Gardens, and although over the years I’ve had the honor and pleasure (and luck) of judging my fellow artists many, many times (by my last count almost 300 times now!), one fact is always a constant and solid, never-changing, ever-present, add some more metaphors for “you can count on this” fact: It is never easy!

A second constant is that I am always refreshed and surprised by the spectacular diversity and pluralism of visual ideas that artists can deliver. This is the main reason that I really, really like putting together, organizing and jurying art shows.

And even after all these years and all these shows, I was still astounded by the quality and wide ranging of sources used by the artists who gave me the honor to review their work for this beautiful show at Green Spring Gardens. And in case you don't already know this: the most difficult (technically) of all visual arts media is watercolor. The difference between a great watercolor painter and the rest of us is that a great watercolor painter knows how to incorporate their mistakes into the final painting.

And I can honestly say that this was not only one of the most difficult (and most fun) shows to whittle down to a select few prizewinners, but also one which truly puts together a remarkable sampling of the evolving capacity of the artistic mind to educate, entertain, baffle, lead, record, interpret, upset, delight and make us proud to be part of the visual arts component of the human race. 

The exhibition also underscores a mostly overlooked fact in this age of post-modernism: the wondrous ability of the visual arts to be both beautiful and yet remain contemporary.

This show also surprised me by how far the artists went to explore contemporary issues of all flavors as they related to the focus of the subject matter (generally speaking... flowers) and driven by the gorgeous garden settings – in some cases by delighting the viewer with a fresh and delightful take on traditional subjects such as Toni Bragg's "Bulb of a Different Sort" which delivered the visual beauty of one of my all-time favorite things on this planet (garlic) and in others by cheering the gargantuan power of color married to enviable technical skill as in Kate Niner's "Pasta for Dinner" (which won the Best of Show)... memo to Kate: You need a website!

When you come and see this show, you will walk away (as with any group show) with a variety of thoughts all fighting to control your private reaction to it. You may have come with a pre-conceived idea of seeing "flower" art and trying to understand what people mean by adding that adjective in front of the word "art." 

But you will walk away also with multiple new reactions, hopefully including a realization that art, regardless of the label, should and must always stand as art, first and foremost. And you will also walk away with the refreshing and never-ending breath of fresh air that good art injects into our daily lives.

Come see this show and join me in applauding the always-evolving skill and intelligence of contemporary artists who wield brushes, pencils, charcoal sticks, palette knives, computers, metal, stone, found objects and ideas to punch the solar plexus of our minds with ideas and reactions.

 Green Spring Gardens
4603 Green Spring Road
Alexandria, VA
April 29 - June 24, 2013

Reception: Sunday, May 5
1 - 3 p.m., Horticulture Center

Freya Grand at Plan B

The Doc gets good news...

Congrats to my amazing wife, Dr. Alida Anderson, who just got tenured at American University!

Art Fair dynamics

From a post almost a decade ago:

One of the more eye-opening things in attending an art fair is seeing the dynamics that go onto the decision to buy a piece of art.

Put together a few thousand people, paying an entry fee to enter the fair, an assortment of dealers, and a huge diverse variety of offerings and it's an education in people watching.

The married couple:
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I like it- it's just what we've been looking for."
"Where would we put it?"
"We have a couple of spots that it'd fit."
"Do you really like it."
"Yeah, how about you?"
"Yeah, I kinda of like it."
"Should we get it?"
"If you want it."
(five minutes later)
"Let's think about it."
"OK" [To me] "Do you have a business card?"

The couple (not married):
Her: "Do you like it?"
Him: "Sssoright"
Her: "Where would we put it?"
Him: "Dunno."
Her: "Do you really like it."
Him: "So'OK.. Yeah, how about you?"
Her: "Yeah, I kinda, sorta, really like it."
Him: "Dunno though"
Her: "What? You don't like it?"
Him: "If you want it."
(five minutes later)
Him: "Let's think about it."
Her or Him: "OK" [To me] "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Woman (SW) with a Woman Friend:
SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!"
Friend: "Yeah... it's nice"
SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!"
Friend: "I have a friend who does work just like this..."
SW: "I am really drawn to it!"
Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?"
Friend: "Yeah... it's OK"
SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like."
Friend: "There's a few more booths we haven't seen."
SW: "I think I'm going to buy this."
Friend: "Are you sure?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?"
(five minutes later)
SW: "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Woman (SW) with a Man Friend:
SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!"
Friend: "Yeah... Cool"
SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!"
Friend: "I think it's a lithograph" [it's actually a charcoal]
SW: "I am really drawn to it!"
Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?"
Friend: "I have something like it... I got it cheaper though..."
SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like."
Friend: "You like lithographs?"
SW: "I think I'm going to buy this."
Friend: "Are you sure?"
SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?"
(five minutes later)
SW: "Do you have a business card?"

The Single Focus Dream Buyer:
[Walks straight up to one piece, never looks at the rest of the work in your booth]
"I'll take this"
[Me] "Thank you... it's a very striking charcoal drawing - will be that be a check or charge?"
"Charge"
[Me] "I can send you more information on this artist..."
"That will be great - I love this work - it's exactly what I'm interested in!"
[Me] "I have a few more pieces here, would you like to see them?"
"No, thanks..."

The "I'm glad you're here guy (IGYHG)":
IGYHG: "Hey! I've been looking for you!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you?"
IGYHG: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
IGYHG: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
IGYHG: "Well, let me look at what you've got!"
[three minutes later]
IGYHG: "Well... I'm glad you're here... see ya next year!"


The "I Shudda Bought It Last Year Guy (Shudda)":
Shudda: "Hey! You're here again!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..."
Shudda: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
Shudda: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
Shudda: "Well, let me look at what you've got!"
[three minutes later]
Shudda: "Where's that really good watercolor of the fill-in-the-blank?"
[Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist."
Shudda: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?"
[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---"
Shudda: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..."
[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..."
Shudda: "I shudda bought it last year"
[Walks away]
Shudda: "You gonna be here next year?"

The "Where's That Piece Guy (WTP)":
WTP: "Hey! You're here again!"
[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..."
WTP: "... been walking this whole fair specifically looking for you!"
[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!"
WTP: "Howsa been goin'?"
[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..."
WTP: "OK... last year I saw this piece... it was a fill-in-the-bank and I should have bought it then! "
[Me]: "Yeah... that is a nice piece."
WTP: "I've been thinking about it for a whole year"
[Looks around the booth and doesn't see it]
WTP: "Do you still have it?"
[From here there are two paths...]
Path One -
[Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist."
WTP: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?"
[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---"
WTP: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..."
[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..."
WTP: "I shudda bought it last year"
[Walks away]
WTP: "You gonna be here next year?"
Path Two
[Me]: "Let me get it for you... I have it in the back!"
WTP: "Great"
[I bring it out and give to WTP]
WTP: "Yeah this is it! It's great!"
[Me]: "This artist has done really well this last year and ---"
WTP: [Handing it back] "Excellent! I'm glad you still have it... until what time are you going to be here?"

SF morning

Little Junes having his morning constitutional at Cafe Bellini in San Francisco while mom was presenting two papers at a conference.

Want free artwork for your non profit agency?

The Art Connection in the Capital Region (ACCR) is currently accepting applications from nonprofit community service organizations within the Greater Metropolitan Washington, DC area interested in receiving a permanent collection of artwork for their agencies.

ACCR is a nonprofit organization that enriches lives by expanding access to original works of visual at within under served communities throughout Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

By bringing art to more members of our community, we are contributing to the creation of nurturing environments and providing individuals who might not otherwise have the opportunity, to experience the beauty, inspiration and hope that art enables.

The types of organizations with which ACCR partners serve their clients directly and include: homeless and battered women's shelters, children's centers, mental health facilities, and low-income senior housing agencies, amongst several others.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

* Be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization

* Provide direct services to the residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland or Northern Virginia

* Have space to place artwork in public areas of the agency that is safe and accessible (administrative offices are generally not considered unless regularly used for public programming)

* Have no funds for in-house art purchases

To learn more about ACCR, to view recent placements, or to download an application, please visit: www.artconnection-cr.org

Please direct questions to: jcavnor@artconnection-cr.org

Airborne

Heading to San Francisco for the weekend as the Professor has two papers to present at a conference there and I am hand-delivering a major video piece to one of the top video collectors in the world.

Alchemical Vessels Opens Tonight!

Join me for this exclusive benefit event at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery and add one of the 125 Alchemical Vessels works to your own collection! Opening is tonight - Friday from 7-9 PM.

This unique exhibition will feature the work of 125 artists, hand-selected by 16 invited curators (including yours truly) , to engage in a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. Each artist will transform the ceramic bowl by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium, drawing inspiration from the bowl as a place of holding, open community, a circle of care, sacred space, nourishment, and even the alchemical vessel.  

100% of the ticket sale proceeds will go to support Smith Center’s life-enhancing work and programs for people living with and recovering from cancer.

Ticket information:

- Benefit tickets $125: 125 Benefit tickets will be sold, and each ticket holder at this level will be given the opportunity to select a piece of art. Priority will be given by the order in which the tickets were purchased—so the first to buy a ticket will be awarded first pick of the 125 works, and so on. All 125 works will remain in the show until after the closing of the exhibition on June 7, at which time the new owners can pick them up.

- Supporter ticket: $50: This price level is good for entrance to the Benefit only. Ticket holders at this level do not get to keep a piece of art.

If you have trouble purchasing tickets, please call 202.483.8600 or email them at outreach@smithcenter.org. 

See the Facebook Event for more photos from the Artists!

Benefit attendees will also be invited to the Artists' Closing Reception for Alchemical Vessels on June 7, 2013!

My donation to this event is below. I debated what to create, and in the end, I gessoed the bowl and once again delivered the visage of the most transformative artist that I know: Frida Kahlo.

The Secret Substance of Frida Kahlo
Charcoal, conte and graphite on gessoed ceramic

Seldom has human history seen an artist so transformed by destiny, events and the agony of constant pain as Frida Kahlo. When Kahlo's young body was nearly destroyed and re-arranged by a horrible accident in her youth, where the young art student was impaled on a handrail that pierced her vagina and emerged through her chest, her agony transformed her into another being who then proceeded to gift onto the world some of the most spectacular portraits of pain that we've ever seen.

The intense brutality of pain transformed Kahlo with the same intensity that a thermonuclear reaction transforms its surroundings. She became a being submerged in constant pain for the rest of her life, both physical (she underwent dozens of surgeries) and mental (she experienced many miscarriages and was never able to have a child). And that transformation was the catalyst the propelled her to paint her own image as a mirror of the pain in her life, and in the process to become one of history’s great artists.

In the process, Kahlo transformed all of us, as a little bit of her artistic alchemic powers infect all of us who become hypnotized by her portraits; the power of her gaze, the eloquence of her eye brows and the intensity of her face, all leave a little bit of the secret substance that changes artistic matter from the mundane to an aspiration to the sublime.

Next month...

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival - May 11 & 12

Saturday, May 11, 10am - 6pm

Sunday, May 12,  10am - 5pm

130 artists from throughout the United States and Canada will converge in Bethesda's  Woodmont Triangle for the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival. Along with booths of fine art and fine craft, the festival will feature live musical, great eats from Bethesda restaurants and a children's activity area. 

Join them for a unique shopping experience in downtown Bethesda. Browse jewelry, furniture, painting, photography, sculpture and more. 

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.

More info.