The Art League is one of the nation's largest arts group with several thousand members from our area. They are sponsoring a couple of interesting panels and shows in the coming days:

In November, The Teacher as Artist show will showcase the artwork of both present and former Art League faculty members including well-known Washington artists such as Gene Davis, Paul Reid, Lou Stovall, and Jay Hall Carpenter.

This All-Media Membership Show is dedicated to all the outstanding artists who have been, and still are, the League's teachers.

The opening reception is this Sunday, November 7, from 3:00-5:00 pm and the show runs until Monday, December 6, 2004.

Then on Thursday, November 11, 2004 from 7:00-9:00 pm, Carol Dupre (who was savaged in the Washington Post a couple of years ago) will lead a panel of past and present Art League teachers in a discussion: Refuting the Taboo on Artistic Intelligence. Among other issues, she will explore the taboos that lurk, often quietly, in every classroom.

For event information, call 703-683-1780.

Washington Print Club's Panel Discussion of Print Collecting and Contemporary Printmaking.

On Saturday, Nov. 13, 2004 from 10:30 to Noon, and in celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Washington Print Club, the WPC and Georgetown University Art Collection are sponsoring a panel discussion of print collecting and contemporary printmaking.

The panel will be moderated by WPC Advisor Dr. Alan Fern, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, and curator of prints at the Library of Congress. The panel will include WPC founding members Mary Hewes and Herbert Franklin; Ruth Fine, curator of special projects in modern art at the National Gallery of Art; Scip Barnhart, printmaking instructor at the Corcoran College of Art and Design; Jane Haslem, Jane Haslem Gallery; Clifford Chieffo, emeritus professor of art at Georgetown University; Donald Saff, senior curator of prints and drawings at the Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation; and Mrs. Martin Atlas, collector.

The panel discussion will be held in McNeir Auditorium, on the main campus of Georgetown University.

More details here. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.

Want to Ask Jeff Koons a Question?

For the January-February 2004 issue, Flash Art is giving you the opportunity to interview Jeff Koons. As they've done twice this year (first with Vanessa Beecroft, then Maurizio Cattelan), the magazine is soliciting questions from people. They will present the best of these questions to Jeff Koons, and he will respond to them in an interview published in the Jan-Feb 2004 issue.

Please e-mail all questions to francesca@flashartonline.com Thursday, November 11, 2004.

James W. Bailey has of course already sent in a question: "Mr. Koons, at exactly what point in your "art" career would you admit to selling out your soul to the devil for the almighty American dollar, as well as any other international currencies that you have benefited from by selling your "art" work?"

Later today I will be in MHz TV discussing the recent Christie's and Sotheby's art auction sales as well as a couple of area art exhibitions.

New Painting Prize Announced

In June 2005, the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, a non-profit organization, will award $14,000 in prizes to painters from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

The Bethesda Painting Competition will be one of the largest cash awards in the United States given to a painter, with a $10,000 award for Best in Show. This competition will be an annual event that will bring much-needed media and critical attention to artists from this region.

In 2002, the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District created The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition awarding $14,000 in prize monies to contemporary artists in the Greater Washington, D.C. area.

The founder, Carol Trawick, is committed to annually honoring contemporary visual artists with this award. Ms. Trawick has generously made the same commitment to area painters. With the creation of the Bethesda Painting Competition (also funded by Ms. Trawick), they now have the opportunity to specifically recognize and honor area painters as well as build on Bethesda’s reputation as a well-respected arts community.

The search for jurors who are qualified to jury painting is now on, but this is great news for our area artists!

Van Gogh's great grandson murdered in Amsterdam

Greg Allen reports that Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who is the great grandson of Vincent Van Gogh was murdered on an Amsterdam street yesterday, apparently by Muslim extremists because of a short film by Theo titled "Submission" which had been broadcast on Dutch TV.

Per Allen, "Van Gogh and the film's writer, an "ex-Muslim" member of parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, had received numerous death threats and accusations of blasphemy."

James W. Bailey has the following words on this brutal murder:

Another Saint in the art world has given his life in the pure pursuit of his art.

Yesterday's savage and brutal murder in Amsterdam of filmmaker Theo van Gogh represents another direct assault by extremists on the universal concept of freedom of artistic expression.

The first line of protection that an artist, photographer, curator, musician, singer, dancer, choreographer or any other person involved in the arts enjoys in support of their art, is acceptance within the art world of the basic principles of freedom of artistic expression.

It is absolutely critical that every person in the arts, and more importantly, that every arts organization on the planet, subscribe to and advocate for a consistent definition of freedom of artistic expression that applies equally to every single artist.

Every voice in the art world needs to speak out condemning the slaughter of Theo van Gogh.

Every voice in the art world also needs to speak with clarity, firmness and resolve in support of a universally accepted definition of freedom of artist expression for every artist in this world.

Sincerely,

James W. Bailey
Experimental Photographer

Congratulations to President Bush on his victory. Now let's move on.

We'll get back to the world of our area's art scene later today. Come back.