Meet the Artist - DC

Rick Nahmias, L.A. photographer and creator of “The Migrant Project,” which was first a photo exhibit and activist project and is now a book, will be welcomed by the Mexican Cultural Institute in DC on Monday, March 31, from 6-9 pm. Come talk to Rick about the slow food movement, migrant workers, and what Americans can do to change attitudes about what we eat.

There is a book signing and reception at the Mexican Cultural Institute, 2829 16th St. NW, Washington D.C. Exhibition of photographs from The Migrant Project runs from February 21 through April 14.

Manon Cleary

There's a great interview of DC area artist Manon Cleary in The New Gay.

Read it here.

Student Show

Anne Arundel Community College will exhibit a student art show from April 4 through April 27 in the Pascal Center for Performing Arts Gallery, 101 College Parkway, Arnold, Maryland. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 .m. to 4 p.m. Fridays. Free. 410-777-222188 or www.aacc.edu.

Another blow?

"Not all in the art business are convinced by the investment rationale for art from Asia, a region notorious for fakes, poor authentication and high transaction costs,” says Mei Jianping, former New York City professor and the creator of Mei/Moses index, which tracks prices of western art.

Read "The Art Fund Racket" here.

Opportunity for printmakers

Deadline: 26 May 2008.

Washington Printmakers Gallery announces the eleventh annual small works exhibition, Washington Printmakers National Small Works 2008, juried this year by Ann Shafer, Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Baltimore Museum of Art. All artists residing in the USA and 18 years of age or older may submit original, hand-pulled, artist-made prints in any media; photographs and digital prints are ineligible.

Entry fee: $30 for up to 4 images. Preliminary selection will be made from slides or digital images (JPEG files no larger than 5 inches, 200 dpi). Entries accepted for exhibition must be archivally matted and framed under Plexiglas, wired and ready to hang. All entries must be for sale. First place award: a solo show at Washington Printmakers Gallery in August 2009; 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th prizes are merchandise awards from major art suppliers. Prospectus or further information may be downloaded from www.washingtonprintmakers.com, or by contacting Washington Printmakers Gallery at 202:332.7757 (e-mail wpg@visi.net).

GMU

As I walked up to the The Fifth Annual Visual Culture Symposium, “Intended to Provoke: Social Action in Visual Culture[s]” at George Mason University in Fairfax, the greeting bronze of the university's namesake had been decorated with a bozo wig and some sort of red Superman cape.

Mason's statue is at the street level, where creative students can get to it. In my old alma matter (University of Washington), they know better, and the other George is on a pedestal 20 feet or so above the crowd, where one needs a tall ladder to get to him.

Artperk

A new website where artists can locate display opportunities and gallery openings was launched last week, www.artperk.com. Based in the metro DC area, but listing national opportunities, this site does a few things most other websites of this type do not. You have the ability to search for opportunities by media (nice for sculptors and photographers, sometimes not allowed in juried shows), by location (if you’re partial to show your work only near your home), and other search parameters.

Also, it allows you to save the items you have found in our searches and receive emails as reminders. The site is free for artists, galleries, and everyone else. Galleries can create listings for a fee if they’d like front page placement and a few other advantages.

The owners of the site have reported that they will be adding new features weekly, including new types of opportunities such as jobs and residencies for artists, and articles on business and marketing.

Visit them here.