Pinder's Ships

A few days ago I posted a bit about the CP blog story on Jefferson Pinder and his artwork at CORE.

Jennifer Motruk Loy, who is CORE's Director of Marketing (and a strong, proven supporter of our area's arts and artists) sent me a full perspective on the issue:

In response to Rachel Beckman’s City Desk Blog, Pinder’s Ships Have Sailed (4.25), I would like to clarify and address some key points not raised in Ms. Beckman’s piece that provide a full perspective on the story.

While it is unfortunate that Mr. Pinder’s work was de-installed by his curator (not "pulled off the wall") from the CORE lobby gallery prior to May 12, his work was installed on March 12, and remained on view for a full six weeks. This point was not only unreported in the article, but six weeks is an average if not slightly longer typical exhibition time in similar alternative spaces and true 'art gallery' spaces around town.

Perhaps even more unfortunate is that Mr. Pinder's work didn't receive this type of attention during its run so that more viewers could have enjoyed it. We welcomed the opportunity to share his work with our colleagues and clients, though did not commission the work or ask him to create work specifically for our space, as the article implies. In actuality, Mr. Pinder's curator was the one that approached CORE about installing Pinder's work in our space, and the ‘hundreds’ of announcement cards that were sent out included the CORE logo, not Mr. Pinder’s gallery was also responsible for sending out announcement cards, not the gallery, as reported. We wrote the press release, we included information on Mr. Pinder’s exhibition in our electronic newsletter and linked to him on our web site. Despite these efforts, CORE was never contacted by interested visitors, writers, critic or members of the media to view the show over the course of six weeks.

Though not a professional 'art gallery', the CORE lobby exhibition space has seen at least three other exhibitions by regional artists and is also used to display the firm's own art collection, and as business warrants, displays of the firm's professional architecture and design project boards. In showcasing the work of regional artists, our goal is not to draw hundreds of visitors, nor to engage in artwork commerce, but to enhance our space and engage colleagues and clients with examples of contemporary art, which we accomplished with this most recent exhibition and will do so again in the future.

Despite these non 'art gallery' characteristics of our space, Mr. Pinder saw some advantage to having his work on view at CORE, and could have made better use of the opportunity by reaching out to the press during the actual run of the exhibition which could have resulted in far better exposure and visibility for both he and his gallery. Finally, if content of the exhibition were in ANY way related to a need to remove the work prior to the anticipated closing date, it would have involved a meeting in person with Mr. Pinder to discuss the issues and a decision would have been made as to proceed or not to proceed with the exhibition. Content was not the issue, but we hope that these discussions bring Mr. Pinder the attention he deserves in anticipation of his first solo exhibition at G Fine Art in the fall.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Motruk Loy
Director of Marketing

ps thanks for the web site hits

Finalists Selected for Bethesda Painting Awards

$10,000 to be Awarded to Best in Show!

Nine painters have been selected as finalists for the Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition and exhibition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District. More than 200 artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. submitted work to the second annual competition created to exclusively honor painters. The work of the nine finalists will be on display at the Fraser Gallery from June 7 – July 12, 2006.

The top prize winners will be announced and honored on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 7pm at a private press event held at the Fraser Gallery, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E. The Best in Show winner will be awarded $10,000, second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000.

The nine artists selected as finalists are:

Paul Ellis, Washington, D.C.
Michael Farrell, Bethesda, MD
Haley Hasler, Charlottesville, VA
Scott Hutchison, Arlington, VA
Megan Marlatt, Orange, VA
Phyllis Plattner, Bethesda, MD
James Rieck, Baltimore, MD
Tony Shore, Joppa, MD
Andrew Wodzianski, Washington, D.C.

Entries were juried by Janis Goodman, Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art & Design and the visual arts reviewer for WETA's Around Town; Ron Johnson, Assistant Professor of Painting at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Barry Nemett, Chair of the Painting Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Catriona Fraser, director of the Fraser Gallery, is the non-voting Chair of the Bethesda Painting Awards.

A public opening will be held on Friday, June 9, 2006 from 6 – 9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. The Fraser Gallery is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in downtown Bethesda. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30am – 6pm.

The Bethesda Painting Awards were established by Carol Trawick in 2005 and she continues to be a beacon of light and a great example as a small business woman who puts her money where her mouth is.

Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Ms. Trawick is the owner of an Information Technology company in Bethesda, Trawick & Associates.

My business partner, Catriona Fraser, an award-winning photographer, curator and juror, is the non-voting Chair of the Bethesda Painting Awards. Ms. Fraser has directed the Fraser Gallery, with locations in Bethesda, MD and Washington, D.C. since 1996. Ms. Fraser is also the Chair of The Trawick Prize and Director of the highly acclaimed Bethesda Fine Arts Festival.

Russian Realism at Principle

A few days ago I visited Principle Gallery on King Street in Old Town Alexandria, to view their “Russian Realism 2006” exhibition.

Russian artists, like most contemporary artists coming from the once subjugated countries that were part of the Soviet Union’s axis of influence, are generally highly trained artists, with many years of formal schooling on the basics of drawing and painting, a form and manner of teaching which is (and has been) sadly missing from most American art school for many years.

And this exhibition is a terrific example of how any subject can be elevated from the mundane to the sublime by the simple power of art in the hands of a talented and skilled painter. A painting of smoked, dried fish, or even a cement factory, abandon their subject and become memorable as art.

I am not familiar with any of the Russian artists in this exhibition, but they all certainly show exceptional technical prowess, and a few also manage to cross the very fine line that distingishes a technically well-done painting from a technically well-done painting that is also an exceptional work of art based on other nuances such as presence, impact, composition and effect on the viewer.

Good show!

Silverthorne on Mel George

Alexandra takes a quick look at Mel George's work in our current "Compelled by Content II" exhibition. Read her thoughts here.

Things to do tomorrow

1. I will be the featured speaker at the Women's Caucus Networking Day, which starts at 9:30AM. My yakity yak starts at 10:15AM.

2. "Task" performance by by New York-based artist Oliver Herring (b. 1964, Heidelberg, Germany), in front of the Hirshhorn from Noon to 7PM.

3. Frank Warren discusses his worldwide phenomenom PostSecret (and signs books) at the Fraser Gallery starting at 7PM as part of the Bethesda Literary Festival. We will be serving our world famous Sangria.

The Power of the Web

The Fraser Gallery owes a HUGE thank you to Loudoun photographer Dave Levinson, who managed to help solve our Hotmail struggle with MSN.

Dave Levinson read about our email woes here, and then he sent me a note saying that he happened "to know a few folks at MS that I can ping about your problem." And he volunteered to help us out.

Dave then spent a long time today working the problems, talking to the gallery and to Microsoft and sometime this afternoon our email account was back online! We did lose two whole days of email correspondence, but it could have been a lot worse without his assistance.

And the man is not only a computer technowiz, but also a pretty damned good
photographer and even an art blogger!


See his photographs here and read his blog here.

Thanks Dave!

Duffy Juries The Art League

My most recent visit to the Art League was to see the All Media Show, which although subtitled "Emphasis on Sculpture" was anything but that.

The show was juried by sculptor William Duffy, who according to the Art League, "has neither juried for The Art League before nor been to the Torpedo Factory since the early 1980s. When asked whether he had any expectations, he said he had thought the art would be 'sentimental' and 'crafty' but it was not. Duffy said he was surprised by the level of fine art, and liked the mixture of fine art, academic art, and 'funky' art."

Mr. Duffy’s surprising ignorance of the level of artwork shown at the Art League, and his even more surprising lack of visits in over 20 years is endemic of artists and critics who often have a wrong sense of things in the art scene around our greater area because of their own artistic apathy to what goes on around them. Get out more often, and see things before you say anything about them.

Duffy also said, "I went into the selection process with a very open mind. I was looking for the unique, self-discovery or expression rather than a duplication of other styles, artists, or periods."

This immediately alarms me as well, as (in my mind anyway) it places Mr. Duffy in the immediate camp of "it must be new to be good."

This academic and most traditional belief that "duplication of other styles, artists, or periods" is an immediate bad thing, is these days itself a sign of an artistic mind not in tune with the ebbs and flows of the postmodern art scene, where anything and everything is art.

In fact, one could submit that the most influential artists on the planet today (according to Sotheby’s anyway), Gerhardt Richter, is nothing but an artist who duplicates "other styles, artists, or periods."

Also according to the Art League (and despite this outdated commentary):

"Duffy frequently commented that the artwork reminded him of a particular artist. Emily’s Dilemma (by D. Smith), a collage box was, according to Duffy, reminiscent of Joseph Cornell’s psychological boxes about his psyche. Precarious Positions (by C. Levin) reminded him of Jeff Koon’s ‘kitschiness.’ And the acrylic, My Space (by G. Murrill), had a crudeness and symbolism reminiscent of the work of French artist, Odion Redon."

Also according to the Art League:

"Duffy looked for art where he felt the artist saw art as part of them, where there was quite a bit of ‘uniqueness and depth of expression.’ The Newlyweds (by G. Lockhart), a bronze sculpture, was ‘very honest and expressive.’ He liked the ‘simplicity’ of the terra cotta sculpture, The White Dress (by J. Legg). Rhino (by C. Romano), stoneware displayed ‘lots of artistic experience with the medium, drawing, sculpture, and composition.’ Monet’s Garden (by G. Rando) was like ‘stained glass and I suggested it should have a light behind it.’ Configuration I (by A. Becker), a wood sculpture, which on initial touch one is afraid will fall apart, but one can play with it and it holds together. Nested Waves (by N. Falk), a glass sculpture made of two pieces of glass, had ‘interesting shapes’ and reminded him of public art.

But enough on Mr. Duffy, who should get out more often, and more on the show itself.

Having visited nearly every monthly Art League exhibition since the early 90s, and having juried it myself, let me say that it is very, very difficult to select a bad show.

Such is the immense talent pool that is the Art League’s artist membership.

My favorite piece in the show was another stunning watercolor by Jenny Davis. This piece, titled "Hands with Bangles," continues to establish the young Davis (daughter of equally talented watercolorist Tanya Davis) as one of the prime watercolorists in our area. Completely self-taught, the young Davis, who has just finished High School, already masters the most difficult of mediums in her obvious mastery over transparent watercolors. While I was there staring in rapture-like ecstasy at her watercolor, I was informed that Jenny had recently been accepted to the Torpedo Factory as one of its newest (and youngest) artist members and will soon have a studio there.

I also liked "Mother Sara" by Nancy Reinke, which has a slight dark attraction to the piece, and "Sunset" by Peter Ulrich, which is a most traditional watercolor of boats and ocean, etc., and yet proves that in the hands of a talented artist, sometimes the subject matter doesn’t really "matter" and we are seduced by the skill and facility of the artist.

The exhibition goes through May 1, 2006.