Washington Post's Bloggers Summit

Last week The Washington Post hosted a "DC Area Blogger Summit," and although I was invited, I was unable to attend, but luckily the fair Shauna Turnbull was able to represent Mid Atlantic Art News and reports below.

Also see the WaPo's own blogger Marc Fisher (who looks a lot like Dr. Frasier Crane) discuss the event here.

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Washington Post Boon for DC Blogs

By Shauna Turnbull, Art Addicts

On Tuesday, January 9, 2007, The Washington Post hosted a catered symposium entitled Blogging Unplugged. Nearly 100 DC area bloggers who are currently writing about sports, entertainment, politics, and other local happenings attended.

The symposium included three sessions:

(1) Discussion by executive writers of The Post and The Post.com on establishing collaborative exchange processes between bloggers and the paper;

(2) Mini-lecture on Legal Issues in Blogging, led by Attorney Jonathan Hart from Dow Lohnes, a Washington, DC law firm. Hart’s clients include The Online News Association; and

(3) Open idea exchange on The Post’s plans for increased visibility for local bloggers.

Event highlights included a demonstration of the WaPo’s online prototype. With further development, it will establish a DC Blog roll - a set of directories pointing print and online readers to area blogs.

The lecture on defamation and libel issues illustrated various protections afforded by the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Warnings and legal advice were provided on the risks bloggers (and Web editors – and for that matter, all writers) must consider in expressing fact versus opinion.

For expert counsel on these topics, please see Internet Law: A Field Guide by Jonathan D. Hart, available here.

Of most interest to DC art-focused web writers is the WaPo’s desire to highlight, demonstrate, and educate the public on the variety of information available in online portals – particularly in those areas the WaPo traditionally affords less than adequate coverage (e.g., Southeast development, Nationals' fans, and art..art... ART!!).

Future possibilities include allowing the public to vote on favorite sites or blogs, showcasing guest editors, attaching local advertising to sites, and building searchable databases by keywords and/or locations. Imagine a future where the Bethesda, U-Street, and Del Ray arts communities are inter- and intra-related online through a central news organization! Watch the WaPo or this site for further developments.

These and other creative ideas were supported by symposium panel experts:

- Jonathan Krim (Communications Strategist)

- Caroline Little (CEO of The Washingtonpost.com

- Editors and Columnists Jim Brady, Marc Fisher, Phil Bennett, Bob McCartney, and Bob Griner.

- Jacqueline Dupre of the Near Southeast Revitalization Blog.

Some members of the blogger community continued the successful event at the Post Pub after hours.

artDC

artDC will feature a select group of 85 galleries from Europe, Asia and the Americas, featuring all disciplines – including, painting, photography, sculpture, works on paper and video - to provide a dynamic cross-section of today’s multi-dimensional art market. DC area galleries and private dealers on the list include Douz & Mille, Hemphill, Conner Contemporary, Robert Brown Gallery, Adamson Gallery, Curator’s Office, G Fine Art, and others.

artDC will emphasize special sections within the fair, from the cutting edge SLICE (which I am told will be curated by Leigh Conner, the hardworking owner and director of Conner Contemporary) where visitors can discover the hottest trends in the art market, to galleries presented in the context of New Media installations that are reserved for digital and video art. Additionally, several diverse projects are underway to engage artists in outdoor projects, as well as feature the city’s numerous non-profit arts organizations.

Good news for artists: In addition to this, there is a juried open call in the New Media category for regional artists who do not have gallery representation. They have posted the call on the Flashpoint website here. The deadline is January 31, 2007.

Ilana Vardy is artDC's show director, and she has announced that artDC will partner with the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington as the fair’s preview night beneficiary. Vardy stated "we are extremely honored to work with the CAGW at this inaugural event as this organization reflects our mission to bring attention to both the non-profit art organizations and the flourishing gallery scene."

Many of the District’s museums and arts institutions will collaborate with artDC as part of an enriching education program. This program will include seminars, special tours and off-site activities throughout the four day fair. A detailed schedule of times and dates will be forthcoming.

Show hours will be Friday through Sunday, April 27th – 29th from 11AM until 7PM and on Monday, April 30th, from 11AM until 5PM. Friday is a free admission day. All other days general admission will be $12, $9 for groups of 10 or more and $6 for seniors and students.

artDC will kick off an opening night press and collector benefit preview for the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington on the evening of Thursday April 26th – ticket prices, hours and event details to follow.

Kathleen Ewing Gallery to Close Move

Alexandra over at Solarize This has some insider intelligence that reveals that the Kathleen Ewing Gallery, one of the District's oldest art galleries (and one who underwent a major expansion a few years ago) will close. Read her post here.

Without a doubt one of the leading photography venues in the nation, if Ewing does close it will be a major blow to the DC area gallery and specifically photography scene.

Update: The gallery will close its present location, but just because they're moving to a new location in the area. Great news!

Kirkland on Lin

Thinking About Art reviews the Amy Lin show at DCAC. Read JT's review here.

I've been harping on this for a while: Buy Amy Lin now.

artDC

OK, I've now received loads of good info on artDC and will be posting it later tonight... good news for artists as well, not just gallerists and dealers.

Come back later.

Curated Artomatic opens tomorrow

In Bethesda... read the WaPo's report on the subject here.

Traditional critics dismissed the earlier Artomatics because (mainly) it lacked a curator's hand. I'll be curious to see what they think now that it has the experienced hand of several successful and experienced gallerists as well as fellow artists.

My predictions (and I was really wrong in predicting media coverage of the DC City Hall Art Collection):

- Blake Gopnik, the intelligent and erudite Chief Art Critic of the Washington Post will (a) ignore it, or (b) write about it and dismiss it, or use it to continue to preach his dated Greenbergian agenda, or tell us about a work that could have been seen in a NYC gallery "a few years ago."

- Joanna Shaw-Eagle, the elderly and experienced Chief Art Critic of the Washington Times will cover it, and offer us a detailed description of the various shows at the various venues.

- Michael O'Sullivan, the savvy Washington Post's Weekend section Chief Art Critic (and the only WaPo critic in "tune" with the DC area art scene), will probably cover it and offer the only true insight into this mini AOM.

- Jessica Dawson, the young freelance writer who pens the "Galleries" column for the Style section of the Washington Post will either (a) ignore it, or (b) cover it in a small dismissive little mini-review.

- Jeffry Cudlin, the award-winning Chief Art Critic for the Washington City Paper, and who has participated in the last Art-O-Matic, may cover it (if his packed schedule as an Adjunct Professor at Maryland allows it), and offer us an intelligent review, but will probably highlight the weaknesses that exist in a commercially curated effort of a egalitarian idea.

- The bloggercritics who liked it before will like it again, and the ones who dismiss it before will come to it again with a pre-poisoned well and attack it again.

Let's see over the next few weeks if I've nailed this.

New DC area gallery

I mentioned it a while back, and today Rachel Beckman in the WaPo checks in with a story on the new Honfleur Gallery in Anacostia. Read it here.

Rachel's column includes this spectacularly provincial comment:

Rozina Knight, eating lunch next door at Younis Pizzeria, feels differently about the gallery. "I don't think that's something good for Southeast," says Knight, who lives in the neighborhood. "We need jobs and schools for our children. We don't need an art gallery."

It's not really Rozina's fault for feeling this way - we do need jobs and schools for all children, but a good art gallery is a key part of the cultural tapestry that makes a city flourish, and when cities and neighborhoods flourish, jobs and schools benefit, and Rozina's wish hopefully get a little closer to being realized.

Artist Imani Brown curated Honfleur's pre-opening show of tattoo artists' work titled "No Scratchers." It will include a couple of my Pictish Nation pieces. More on that later.