Finalists Selected for Trawick Prize

Ten artists (from nearly 400 submissions) have been unanimously selected as finalists for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, funded by the generous Carol Trawick and chaired by the fair Catriona Fraser.

The top prize winners will be announced and honored on Sept 7 at 7PM at a special press event held at Creative Partners Gallery.

A total of $14,000 will be awarded, including $10,000 to the Best in Show winner. The jury members for the competition are Dr. Thom Collins, Executive Director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD; Andrea Pollan, an independent curator, fine arts appraiser and art consultant and Olga Viso, the new Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

The finalists are:

Christine Buckton Tillman (Baltimore)
Bernhard Hildebradt (Baltimore)
Dean Kessmann (Washington, DC)
Michele Kong (Baltimore)
Gabriel Martinez (Washington, DC)
Maggie Michael (Washington, DC)
Jiha Moon (Annandale, VA)
Daniel Sullivan (Baltimore)
Sonia Denise Tassin (Baltimore)
Jason Zimmerman (Washington, DC)

Of these artists, I am only familiar with the work of Kessmann, Maggie Michael and Jiha Moon. All three of them are superb artists.

My bet: Jiha Moon, who has made me eat my words when I first saw her work at the Arlington Arts Center a few months ago; my recommendation to all of you? Buy Jiha Moon now!!! For more information call 301-215-6660 (ext 20 or 16).

Studio Space Available

Private studio space in Old Town Kensington's Antique Row features private entrance, great light, and a large window. Hot & cold running water, air conditioned, private parking lot lit until midnight. $255 per month. Call Morris Parker at 301-949-5333.

Arts Dean Job

Instructional and College Dean for the Arts.

Montgomery College, a multi-campus community college located in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, is seeking an Instructional and College Dean for the Arts.

Starting salary $71,365-$121,576 per year.

Education & Training: Position requires a Master's degree in one of the arts disciplines, arts management, or in a closely related area; a Doctorate in one of these areas is preferred.

To submit an online application please visit this website.

Doggie Days

The Mid City Artists will be having a Summer Group Show through August 20 at Raven Arts, 1833 14th Street NW, 2nd Floor. And today and tomorrow, they will be participating in the neighborhood's Dog Days of Summer activities (August 6 and 7).

The Mid City Artists will also host an Artists' Reception, Thursday August 11th, 6-8pm.

Dog Days of Summer will be held on Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7th. Merchants all up and down 14th Street, P Street and U Street and up to W Street will participate this year. This is the 6th annual sidewalk sale event and in past years, thousands of shoppers, diners and people just out for a fun afternoon have shown up for this event.

Homerun

Donald Kuspit goes yard.

Read it here.

Alice Neel

I'm looking forward to "Alice Neel’s Women", which will be opening at the National Museum of Women in the Arts on October 28.

Not just because I am a huge Neel fan, but also because the exhibition features a portrait by Neel of our own Lida Moser.

Neel did four portraits of Lida Moser in her lifetime. I am not sure which one(s) is included in this exhibition. I've been writing and calling the NMWA for the last two years (to find out), and so far they've ignored me.

Lida Moser was one of Alice Neel's closest friends, and I love to hear her stories about how in the 40s, 50s and 60s Neel's work was ignored by the critics and art world because she refused to change her work to "fit" the prevailing abstract styles in vogue during those years.

Lida Moser also recalls how, when Neel began to get recognition in the 1970s, especially after her retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1974, male artists in the NY art scene openly resented her success because she was a woman.

Moser also experienced this same form of resentment (from male photographers) when she was given photographic assignments by Vogue, Look, Life and other such magazines that she worked for.

Today's female artists stand on the shoulders of both these wonderful women.

See work by Lida Moser here and by Alice Neel here.

The Power of the Web

Thanks to the several lawyers who contacted me offering to help the local artist being ripped off by a NYC gallery.

I'll keep track of the issue and report as warranted.