Contact your Senator

I have just learned that Senator Tom Coburn will likely offer a floor amendment in the Senate that would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) by $5 million in FY 2006. I ask that you take a minute to contact your Senators and urge them to vote against this amendment.

As you may recall, the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 9 passed an amendment that increased FY 2006 funding for the NEA by $5 million.

However, Senator Coburn's floor amendment would remove this increase, thereby flat-funding the agency at this year's level.

We expect that Sen. Coburn will offer his amendment later today. The full Senate will likely vote on the amendment tomorrow morning. Please send a message to your Senators by 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 28, to ensure that they vote against this decrease in arts funding.

Contact your Senator here.

Early starts for Seven


Mark Jenkins installation for Seven, titled "Tres Marias," has already been installed in the trees outside the Warehouse Theatre and Galleries; inside Kelly Towles is already laboring on a wall, and Alessandra Torres will soon start on transforming a room.

Seven's opening is this Thursday starting at 6PM.

Art Critic Bingo

Here's how you start your Monday morning: Art Critic Bingo!

P.S. Thanks James!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline June 30, 2005.

The Bethesda Artist Market, featuring fine art and crafts for display and sale, is accepting submissions for Sep 11 and Oct 9, from 10am-5pm. Participating artists are selected by members of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District Advisory Committee.

The Bethesda Artist Market is held in the Bethesda Plaza, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. Artists must be 18 years of age or older. All fine art and fine crafts are accepted including, but not limited to, painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media, clay, wearable fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, paper, ceramics and wood.

Application form is on www.bethesda.org or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Artist Market
c/o the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Or call: 301-215-6660.

The Seven Chosen

Artists selected for SEVEN are listed below; about a third of them are completely new to me. The rest I either knew their work, or who they were in some way or form. I think it is a powerful lesson on the importance of keeping your work "out there," no matter where "there" is, so that the work is "seen."

There are some well-known, experienced and recognized names on this list, people like Manon Cleary, Chan Chao and Sam Gilliam, as well as hot, young new artists like Lisa Bertnick, John Lehr and Kelly Towles.

Also young emerging artists like Alessandra Torres, Ben Tolman and Susan Jamison (who's in the current issue of New American Painting and also hangs in the Strictly Painting V exhibition at McLean). And also artists whose work I've rarely seen anywhere around our area, such as Gary Medovich, Rebecca D’Angelo, Sonia Jones, Lou Gagnon and Fae Gertsch.

This exhibition, having been curated by a gallerist, defines a show from the perspective of a curatorial eye aimed at perspective of intelligent, strong and visually powerful art and art ideas; this is my view from the ground-level; not the 10,000 foot level of a museum office.

As such, it is very painting-centric show at at time when painting (in spite of the constant attack from academia and the written word) seems to have regained center stage in the international art arena.

It is not a competition between the genres, and because of the agenda, prejudices and humanity of my selection process, in the end, Seven somewhat places painting at the center of attention, although I suspect that a strong showing by WPA/C photographers and what I expect to be a very memorable performance by Kathryn Cornelius, and an arresting installation by Alessandra Torres, will definately gather a big share of the public and media attention as well.

Here's the list:

Virginia Arrisueño
James W. Bailey
Joseph Barbaccia
Lisa Bertnick
Margaret Boozer
Mark Cameron Boyd
Adam Bradley
Scott Brooks
Lisa Brotman
Jonathan Bucci
Diane Bugash
Graham Caldwell
Chan Chao
Manon Cleary
Kathryn Cornelius
Rebecca Cross
Richard Dana
Rebecca D’Angelo
Margaret Dowell
Mary Early
Chris Edmunds
Victor Ekpuk
Michael Fitts
Adam Fowler
Lou Gagnon
Fae Gertsch
Sam Gilliam
Matthew Girard
Pat Goslee
Kristin Helgadottir
Linda Hesh
Maremi Hooff
Michal Hunter
Scott Hutchison
Melissa Ichiuji
Susan Jamison
Michael Janis
Mark Jenkins
Sonia Jones
David Jung
J.T. Kirkland
Sonya Lawyer
Tracy Lee
John Lehr
Joey Manlapaz
Matthew Mann
Amy Marx
Jeanette May
Maxwell McKenzie
Gary Medovich
Adrianne Mills
Allison Miner
Peter Photikoe
Sara Pomerance
Marie Ringwald
Molly Springfield
Tim Tate
Erwin Timmers
Ben Tolman
Alessandra Torres
Kelly Towles
Rick Wall
Frank Warren
Sarah Wegner
Andrew Wodzianski
Denise Wolff
Samantha Wolov

Painting Here... Painting There

The WaPo's Michael O'Sullivan does a nice job of jointly reviewing our current show at Bethesda (The Bethesda Painting Awards) and the "Strictly Painting V" exhibition at the McLean Project for the Arts.

Read the Washington Post review here.

I went to the "Strictly Painting V" opening last night (more on that later), but in my opinion, Nora Sturges stole that show! Her work is absolutely amazing.

Wanna go to an Opening Tonight?

Traveling With Gulliver, featuring Karen Joan Topping, Ian Jehle, Alan B. Callander, Ben Claassen III, and Peter V. Donovan at the District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC).

The artists' collaborative KIOSKdc (Karen Joan Topping, Ian Jehle, Alan Callander) and "Dirtfarm" cartoonist Ben Claassen III present an exhibition titled Traveling with Gulliver which uses the four lands visited by Gulliver to showcase four original works of drawing, video, installation and cartoon by the artists.

The opening reception is from 7-9PM. Read the WCP review here.