WPA\C Presents: PostSecret

At last!

Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Association (WPA\C) is hostng the PostSecret exhibition, a public art project founded and curated by Frank Warren and first debuted in the much maligned (in the DC press that is) Art-O-Matic.

Nothing like spectacular success to make all the AOM critics eat crow, uh?

The opening reception (and fundraiser for Kristin Brooks Hope Center) will be held on Wednesday, December 14, from 6:00-10:00 p.m. ($10.00 suggested donation).

Warren's instructions were simple, and judging from his spectacular achievements, the results have been perhaps one of the most successful public art projects in history!

"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything --- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative."

In November of 2004 Frank Warren printed 3000 postcards inviting people to share a secret with him.

He then handed these out at Artomatic, in art galleries, slipped them in pages of library books, then slowly, the secrets began to find their way to his mailbox. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and some of the cards are themselves works of art. As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project.

PostSecret has grown into a global phenomenon and (in my opinion) is the most flagrant missing piece of the 2006 Whitney Biennial!

Exhibition Information:
LOCATION: 3307 M St. NW Washington DC (The former Georgetown Staples store)

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, December 15th, 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

FUNDRAISER: Wednesday, December 14th, 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Exhibition Dates: December 15, 2005 – January 8, 2006
Exhibition Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 6:00 – 10:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 2:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. or by appointment through WPA\C.

The book, PostSecret Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives compiled by Frank Warren, with a foreword by Anne C. Fisher, Ph.D. will be available for purchase during the exhibition, along with the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Artist 2006-2007 Artist Directory.




See ya there!

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: December 31, 2005

The 2005 National Photo Awards is now accepting entries. Open to all amateur, emerging and professional photographers. A separate monthly print competition is also available. The competition offers cash and prizes for the winners in the various categories. Winners will be selected in several categories. $9.00 for each photo entered into the monthly competition, $14.00 for each single photo or $28.00 for each series entered into the main competition.

To request your 2005 entry forms and view past winners, contact:
2005 National Photo Awards
59456 330th St
Warroad MN 56763 or call 218-386-2100 email awards@mncable.net

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Deadline: January 27, 2006

The 2006 Bethesda International Photography Competition. Open to all photographers 18 years and older. All photography not previously exhibited at the Fraser Gallery. The maximum dimension (including frame) should not exceed 40 inches in any direction. $950 in cash prizes. Details and entry forms here or email the Gallery for an entry form or send a SASE to:
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814
301/718-9651
info@thefrasergallery.com

Silverthorne on Group Show

Alexandra Silverthorne checks in with a quickie review of our current Winter Group Show in Bethesda.

Read the review here.

The Evolution of a Drawing

Another one of the recurring themes that I continually revisit in my own artwork is the imagery of Saint Sebastian.

A few years ago I did a massive ink wash drawing of St. Sebastian. I was titled "St. Sebastian in a Dissolving Gene Davis Landscape," and I think that it eventually sold through Sothebys.com. It looked like this:



Anyway... that ink drawing was supposed to be the anchor for an oil painting that I never created, but the image of the martyr remained with me, and a couple of days ago I finished the following piece, which is charcoal on 300 weight paper, and about 4.5 inches by 16.5 inches.



This piece will be at my show opening next Friday at Fraser Gallery Georgetown. See more of the work for that exhibition online here.

Washington Glass School Moving Sale

The Washington Glass School is getting kicked out of their spaces due to the eminent domain "rights" of the city and in order to build the Nats' new stadium.

And thus they are hosting a Holiday Sale and Open House at their current spaces on Half St. SE. today.

This will be their final day at the old location before the big move, so they will be selling off every piece of glass and artwork thats in situ rather than move it.

Lots of food, art, glass, and music.

When : Saturday, Dec. 10th from 2 to 6pm - free of charge.
What : Washington Glass School's Holiday Party and Open House
Where : at the Washington Glass School
1338 Half St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
202-744-8222

Plenty of free parking right outside or they are 1 1/2 blocks from the Navy Yard metro (green line) on Capitol Hill.

ArtHelps Update II

I know that I've already reported on the ArtHelps auction, but I've got some more info and because this is an important auction for a good cause, I wanted to pass on more details.

Assuming everyone who bid and won comes back to claim and pay for their night's claim, they will surpass a total bid amount of $30,000 -- which also includes about $4,000 in bids for travel packages and about $14K coming from the art from the ArtHelps collection that was auctioned and will be divided three ways: to Food & Friends, DCAC and to the event itself.

The remaining $12,000 in bidding was done on donated works from artists and galleries who stepped up to the plate to raise some money and raise some awareness about art life in the DC community.

It's my hope that next year more galleries and more artists and more bidders will make the 2006 ArtHelps even more successful.

Bethesda Art Walk tonight

The snow has been cleared and the galleries will be open!

This is the second Friday of the month and thus it's the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating venues and with free guided tours.

And we will have our annual Winter Group Show, featuring an entire gallery full of new work by the artists that we represent as well as invited work by several past competitions prizewinners.

We will also be showing three small miniatures by our latest artist that we're now representing: Marianela de la Hoz.

If you recall, I fell in love with her work when I first saw it at the Mexican Cultural Institute a while back. I then visited her in San Diego, and now she will be part of our represented artists. For this group show she has created three small egg temperas with the usual play on imagery and words that attracted so much attention at the Cultural Institute and more recently at Scope Miami.

In this group show we will have three pieces by Marianela:

1. "Ideas Necias, mi cabeza-pelota bota" ("Stubborn ideas, my ball-head bounces") Egg tempera on board, 5.3 x 2.1 inches.

2. "Camina aparentemente libre" ("She walks pretending to be free") Egg tempera on board, 4.5 x 2.7 inches.

3. "Adiós de Tintorería" ("Farewell drycleaners style") Egg tempera on board, 5.3 x 3.1 inches.

More images of other artists here.