Bethesda Art Walk tomorrow

Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month and thus its time for the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating venues.

My picks are once again focused on the really interesting group show at the Neptune Gallery - look for Jody Mussoff to stand out, and then what looks to be one of the best landscape photography shows of the year at Fraser Gallery. The photo to the left, "In Vitro Complex No.V" by Anna Druzcz, is simply amazing.

Also check out "On Myth" - mixed-media work on canvas and paper by Rob Hauck at Waverly Street Gallery.

Next week look to the long-awaited opening of Amy Lin at Heineman Myers.

More DC area openings here.

Come again?

Minnesotan Ford W. Bell, a former Democratic candidate for the US Senate, is the new president of the American Association of Museums, replacing Edward H. Able, who retired last years after 20 years at the association. Able earned $249,794 in 2006, so it's a well-paid and important art position!

Bell was interviewed by Nicole Lewis for the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Read that interview here.

One question's answer sort of caught me a little off guard:

What are your priorities?

How can we partner with other organizations around promoting diversity in the field. I'd like to set up a fellowship program with some of the historically black colleges and universities. Also, in 30 to 40 years, when 50 percent of the country is Hispanic, the halls of Congress are not going to look the way they do today. If the people in Congress then have had no experience with museums it's going to be hard to get support. And high on my list is collaborating more closely with other groups, including the Association of Art Museum Directors. We are not competing; if we succeed in strengthening museums, there is plenty of credit to go around.

Surely I am misreading this answer and Bell is not implying that the Congress people of the future, simply because they may be 50% Hispanic/Latino/Latina will have "no experience with museums"?

What does that mean anyway? Visiting a museum? Serving on a museum board?

Why would someone who has been elected to Congress in 2037 or 2047 have less "experience" than someone elected in 2007 simply because they are from a different ethnic group?

Am I misunderstanding Bell's answer? What "museum experience" do current Congress people have anyway that would be different in 30 years because of the ethnic demographic change being predicted?

Or is he saying that currently Hispanics have no "experience" with museums and thus the American Association of Museums needs to start working with Hispanics so that in 30-40 years...?

This gives me a headache. Surely I am misreading this answer in some way. I have sent the American Association of Museums an email asking for a clarification; let's see what response I get.

Art Jobs

11 art jobs and internships in DC.

Great deals

A really good art heads-up: There are some great deals to be had in this online auction of 124 lots by New York's Daniel Cooney Fine Arts.

Happy Anniversary!

The Maryland State Arts Council just celebrated its 40th anniversary with an exhibit of work by 40 Maryland artists, curated by Oletha DeVane, through December 19, 2007.

Check out the exhibition here.

The Blogger Show Opening Video

James Kalm posted the below video about The Blogger Show opening in New York a few days ago.

I have this drawing in the show at a steal for $100 which will be all donated to the galleries to help with the costs of the show. Call Agni Gallery at 917/683-0643 if you want to buy it or email them at agnizotis@yahoo.com.

In addition to showing the opening, the videographer talks to a lot of blogging artists about Charlie Finch's recent anti-blogger article.

Green

Like nearly everyone on the proper level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I am very interested and concerned about green issues in general.

My wife is an alumni of Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC and because of that I am aware that all the construction going on there is on the leading edge of green architecture.

This is but one of many such projects going on around the nation. One of my cousins is one of 17 accredited "green" lawyers around the country, and she's now working with a task force to help counties and states "codify" the legal building codes of what makes a "green building."

I discussed with her that I thought that it would be ironic if "green buildings," once built, would then be filled with other enviromentally-colored objects, other than green, including art.

A green buildig full of possibly toxic objects? Does that muddy the "greenness" of the project?

I think so.

And thus a truly green project should whenever possible be then filled with green furniture, green appliances, etc.

Including green art.

In the Greater DC area, the only two green artists that I am familiar with are Erwin Timmers and Adam Bradley.

Both are exceptional sculptors who re-use artifacts, often discarded objects, to create works of art that are fresh and provocative. Both Timmers and Bradley have been doing this for years.

Timmers uses all kinds of objects, reuses common glass, etc. to deliver exceptionally intelligent sculptures which are so complex in character and materials that they are hard to label. See and hear Erwin discuss his work below:

Ever since he was an undergraduate student at GMU and then a graduate student at MICA, and now an Asst. Professor at a couple of DC area universities, Adam Bradley has been gathering metal and plastic car parts, rubber and other assorted junk and using them to create what can best be described as highly contemporary narrative works.

"Cast Iron" by Adam Bradley. Circa 2001
I am sure that there are other green artists out there - if so, drop me an email and a website address and I'll try to highlight some of you.

Be Green.

Update: NBC4 on Erwin Timmers