Opportunity for Virginia artists

Deadline: February 5, 2007

By Our Heirs Forever: New Waves 2007 - On view March 29 - June 18 2007. Call to Artists "By Our Heirs Forever" is a thematic, juried exhibition of contemporary Virginia artists working in all visual arts media.

The selected works will be shown in the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia's galleries to coincide with the "Magna Carta" exhibition in spring 2007. All of the works in the exhibition will illuminate moments in history when individual rights and freedom were extended to include an ever expanding citizenry.

The exhibition will include the 1215 Lincoln Cathedral exemplar of Magna Carta, a Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence, James Wilson's original draft of the U.S. Constitution, a Lincoln ­signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, and artifacts from the Civil Rights and Women's Suffrage movements.

Submissions will be juried by Andrea Douglas, Ph.D., Curator of Collections and Exhibitions from University of Virginia Art Museum and Jack Rasmussen, Ph.D., Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, D.C.

The curatorial department at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (CAC) encourages conceptually driven works that provoke thoughtful viewer responses to the contemporary evolution of individual rights and freedom. Applicants are invited to open new avenues for discussion about the contemporary interpretation of the "rights of man." Works will be positioned as the continuation of punctuated points in the history of this dialogue. A very wide range of perspectives presented by these documents and philosophies are acceptable. New Media, Video, and Installation submissions are welcome. Magna Carta's tenets are posted online for your review at this website.

Tate Britain Triennial Exhibition 2009 seeks curator

Below is the actual call (from the Artists Foundation list server) for curators to apply:

Who’s making a difference in contemporary British art today? Who’s influencing others? And how do you make sense of it? Taking up a prominent new, senior role within the Tate Britain team, you’ll answer these questions with authority, intellectual depth and visionary flair, and have a highly visible impact at the heart of Tate. As the Curator of the 2009 Triennial exhibition, you’ll frame the zeitgeist in a thought-provoking yet accessible way to create an agenda-setting show of national and international significance. For Tate’s diverse public audience, it will be a show to remember. Alongside the Triennial, your curatorial acumen will be crucial in shaping the way in which Tate Britain represents contemporary art as it happens.

You could currently be working anywhere in the world, but your exemplary curatorial record and experience of leading large-scale projects will speak for itself. Your fresh insight into contemporary British art will spark debate amongst artists, critics and the wider public, and match our ambitions for Tate Britain’s contemporary programme.

For an informal discussion, please contact Judith Nesbitt, Chief Curator Tate Britain on +44 (0)20 7887 8960. For a full job description and to apply, visit our website. Ref: 6122/TB.

Our jobs are like our galleries. Open to all.

The PDF file with all the details is here.

Maybe the Sopranos?

Marcel Duchamp was once asked how many people he thought really liked avant-garde art. Duchamp answered: "Oh, maybe ten in New York, and one or two in New Jersey."

Rosetta DeBerardinis on "Aging" at Pyramid Atlantic

Well-known DC area artist and writer Rosetta DeBerardinis makes her debut today and will start covering the Greater DC area art galleries and museums on a regular basis for Mid Atlantic Art News. Rosetta is not only an accomplished artist, but also a well-known presence in the DC area art scene, and a widely published writer.

Gail Rebhan’s "Aging" at Pyramid Atlantic

By Rosetta DeBerardinis

It is rare that I want to see an exhibit twice, especially one on view outside of a major museum. But, local conceptual artist Gail Rebhan’s photo exhibit “Aging” currently on view at Pyramid Atlantic is so compelling that I crawled back to Georgia Avenue yesterday to see it again. It was well worth the trip.

Timing is everything, even in death. Using both her lenses and text, Rebhan chronicles her father’s mental and physical deterioration from 1994 to 2004. One of my favorites, “Why is it so hard?” is an image of a bespectacled elderly gentleman laying flat on his bed staring towards the heavens. Dressed in khaki pants, striped shirt, and a leather belt the text on the photo reads:

“I feel lonely and isolated.
I had a bad night.
Why does it take so long to die?
Am I being punished for what I did wrong?
Why is it so hard……
Sorry for being such a burden to you."

Rebhan uses everything: his medical records, prescription labels, his words, and a few of her own. This exhibit demonstrates her talent as a conceptual artist. Here, the idea is so captivating that you cannot ignore the message.

Remember when you discovered that first gray hair? Well, this exhibit is sure to evoke dialogue about getting old and may even make you feel young.
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Aging by Gail Rebhan - A critical graphic portrayal of the mental and physical deterioration that often accompanies the end of life. Dec. 2, 2006 through Jan. 13, 2007 at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland. 301-608-9101.

New Baltimore Gallery

Jordan Faye Block, who was the former director of Gallery Imperato in Baltimore has left Gallery Imperato and opened her own temporary space a couple of days ago, ago featuring a six-artist group show.

She'll continue to look for a permanent space for her new gallery, now called Jordan Faye Contemporary. The gallery's first show features works from Dawn Gavin, Lori Larusso, James Long, Kate MacKinnon, Cara Ober, and Michael Sandstrom.

O'Sullivan on the Collectors Club

"...Which brings me to the second reason invisibility is an important aspect of this show. If some of the artists' names (Eldzier Cortor, Lucille "Malkia" Roberts and others, for example) aren't household names, it may have something to do with the historical (and, to some degree, ongoing) struggle of black artists to be recognized in a museum and gallery culture that is still overwhelmingly white."

The WaPo's Michael O'Sullivan checks in with a timely and refreshing review of "Holding Our Own: Selections From the Collectors Club of Washington, D.C., Inc.," now on exhibit at the Arts Program Gallery of The University of Maryland University College and moving to downtown DC next month to Edison Place Gallery.

Read O'Sullivan's review here.

Congratulations

To DC area artists Joseph Barbaccia and Pat Goslee, whose work has been selected in a very difficult worldwide competition and will be published soon in the book titled "The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today."

200 artists were selected by a dozen jurors from all over the world as part of a huge competition sponsored by Erotic Signature.