In ARTnews, Linda Yablonsky looks at artists doing self portraits or incorporating their images into their artwork. I am particularly interested in this theme, and some area artists, such as John Winslow, or Joe Shannon or Manon Cleary, or Chawky Frenn have for decades used their images as part of the story they tell though their paintings.

Another fascinating issue that artists (especially in the US) explore is race. If you want to catch up on the latest scientific evidence of what "race" means, then I suggest this Scientific American article.

December issue of ARTnews also has a focus on Washington, DC.

In case you missed it, Jessica Dawson looks at a very good show at DCAC.

DCAC is one of the great cultural jewels in our city.

We're spending Thanksgiving with Sheila Giolitti, who is not only a brilliant artist, but also a great cook!

She's the most recent Best of Show winner of the 48th Annual Boardwalk Art Show, which attracts about 200,000 visitors each June and is organized by the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. This show has $23,000 in cash prizes recognizing outstanding artistic achievements and it is highly competitive, with artists from all over the country applying for selection. Selected artists get a 11' x 10' feet space on the Boardwalk concrete surface. It's hard work, but a great opportunity for artists to sell their art directly to the public. Details and deadlines here.

This is how one lucks out in a NYC gallery onto an original Ida Applebroog, or John Baldessari, John Dugdale, Marcel Dzama, Tony Feher, Milton Glaser, Kiki Smith, William Wegman and many other talented artists (including quite a few DC area artists) for $50.

Keep an eye on the website as they do it every year and it's for a great cause.

Gallery plug:

William F. Stapp, who served as the National Portrait Gallery's first curator of photographs (1976-1991) and is now an independent curator and consultant will jury the 2004 Bethesda International Photography Competition. Most recently he curated the traveling exhibition "Portrait of the Art World: A Century of ARTnews Photographs."

The Bethesda International Photography Competition is our worldwide annual call for photographers. Nearly $1500 is cash prizes are awarded as well as a solo exhibition in our Georgetown gallery for the Best of Show winner. The exhibition will take place in our Bethesda Gallery from March 12 through April 7, 2004.

The 2003 juror was Philip Brookman, Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The 2003 Best of Show winner was Bay Area photographer Hugh Shurley, who will have a solo exhibit in our Georgetown space in 2004.

Prof. Margarida Kendall Hull, who taught for many years at George Mason University and exhibited locally at Gallery K (now closed), just had a very successful sold out exhibition at Galeria Sao Mamede in Lisbon, Portugal.

And another area artist, Andres Tremols has an ongoing exhibition of his new glass pieces at the America's Collection Gallery in Coral Gables, one of the Greater Miami area's best galleries.

The Gazette newspapers, which are owned by the Washington Post, have a front page story about the "controversy" caused by Scott Hutchison's large paintings of nude women in our Bethesda space.

What goes for "shocking" in art around here is quite different from what goes for shocking in NYC or LA.