Taxes: Foul Mood

I can't believe how many Samolians I have to send Uncle Sam by tomorrow, and to make matters worse, this year I'm also sending the Soviet Socialist State of Mary's Land a ton of rubles - in fact almost three times as much as Uncle Sam gets.

Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) seeks Executive Director

Deadline: Tuesday, April 18, 2006

This is quite a LATE announcement on the part of GRACE, with a deadline in just a few days.

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE), a well-established non-profit arts organization located in the Reston Town Center, seeks an executive director who will be a highly visible and effective leader able to take the organization to a new level of achievement. GRACE serves the Northern Virginia community through art exhibition and arts learning programs for all ages, including the innovative Art in the Schools (AIS) program and the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, one of the top ranked fine arts festivals in the United States. For detailed description of GRACE and its programs please visit their website at www.restonarts.org.

The executive director reports directly to the GRACE Board and is responsible for the overall direction and management of the Center overseeing an experienced staff of 4 employees operating with a $600,000 annual budget. The executive director should be a leader with the right combination of education, work experience, and talents to manage GRACE.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to lead in a "participative" team environment, to continue building an organization through proactive fundraising activities and community outreach, and to develop and manage within detailed budget. Ideally the candidate should also have an understanding of and appreciation for contemporary arts, progressive responsible management experience, excellent oral and written communication skills, and high degree of comfort working in a dynamic growth oriented organization.

Interested candidates should submit resume and letter of intent no later than April 18, 2006 to:

Greater Reston Arts Center
Search Committee
12001 Market Street Suite 103
Reston, VA 20190

Resumes and letter of intent may also be emailed to director@restonarts.org. No faxes please.

For more info:
Greater Reston Arts Center
t: 703.471.9242 or f: 703.471.0952 or info@restonarts.org

This announcement does not tell a salary range, but I can reveal to you that it's quite a well-paying job.

McNatt on Imboden

The Baltimore Sun's art critic finally takes a trip to Bethesda and reviews the great Connie Imboden exhibition at the new Heineman Myers Gallery.

Read the review here.

This coming Friday

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

We will open "Compelled by Content II", which is an exhibition of contemporary narrative glass curated by Catriona Fraser. This is the second iteration of an annual group exhibition of emerging and established contemporary fine arts glass sculptors from around the nation who use glass as their main medium to convey narrative ideas in a genre generally only associated with bowls and vessels.

The 2005 exhibition established a new footprint and direction for glass, and began the task of pushing it away from pretty, decorative art and towards narrative work with context and meaning. It generated a substantial amount of discussion, both pro and con, which at the last count included over 80 pages of comments on various art websites as well as several reviews in the printed media.

This exhibition brings the focus of the art to a place where it is no longer just about glass, but about artists who use glass in their process to tell stories, discuss events, narrate biographies and make social statements.

The exhibition includes work by Jeanne Brennan, Robin Cass, Mel George, Michael Janis, Carmen Lozar, Syl Mathis, Liz and Lindsey Mears, Michael Rogers, Alison Sigethy and Tim Tate.

An opening reception for the artists, free and open to the public, will be held on Friday, April 14, from 6pm - 9pm as part of the Bethesda Art Walk.

An artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance will take place at the gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM. The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance.

In the below piece, titled "Lost" by Carmen Lozar, a damsel in some distress, gently vomits from a pier.

Opportunity for [some] artists

Deadline: May 30, 2006.

For Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry Artists - The Hispanic AIDS Forum announces an open call for its Estampas de Vida, a juried contest featuring works by Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry visual artists, celebrating community, health, self-respect and self-esteem.

The winning art will be used to create a series of 10 "estampas" or cards that will be used to promote AIDS/health awareness within the Latino/Hispanic/Latin American ancestry communities.

They invite all Latino/a, or Hispanic, or Latin American ancestry visual artists to get involved with this project and make a difference in the community. There are no fees for submissions.

A total of 10 winners will be selected. Winners will be announced on June 12, 2006 via email and HAF webpage. Each will receive a $200 cash award. For more information and the full prospectus go to: www.hafnyc.org/estampas.

Joe Shannon

An exhibition of one of our area's most influential painters, Joe Shannon: Past and Present opens at Gallery Actaeon with an opening reception, on Sunday April 23, 2006 from 1-5 pm. Joe's gallery is at 21180 Beallsville Road, Dickerson MD. RSVP to 301-349-5858.

What is a Curator?

The University of Maryland’s Union Gallery presents, What is a Curator? A panel discussion on the topic of what it means and can mean to be a curator of contemporary art at the beginning of the 21st century. Tuesday, April 18, 2006, 5-7PM.

The panelists include:
Leigh Conner, Director of Conner Contemporary, Washington, D.C.
Annie Gawlak, Director of G Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
Scott Habes, Director of The Art Gallery, University of Maryland
Andrea Pollan, Director of Curator’s Office, Washington, D.C.
Stewart Watson, Director of Area 405, Baltimore, MD

The panel will be moderated by Jeffry Cudlin, Adjunct Professor of Art and Art Theory at the University of Maryland and art critic for the Washington City Paper.

The panel will be in the Prince George’s Room of the Stamp Student Union. Both the Prince George’s Room and the Union Gallery are located on the first floor of the Stamp Student Union on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Admission to the panel is free and open to the public.