Lauren Sherman on the new art fairs

Forbes' Lauren Sherman has an interesting article on the "other" art fairs at Miami and elsewhere.

Gallerists are holding their breath at Miami; I know now of four dealers in DC and Philly who have pulled out of the fairs in Miami because of economic fears.

On the other hand, I have been told that SOFA Chicago, after a dreadful start, ended up being surprisingly good for many galleries.

Read the Sherman report here.

Artists Websites: Priscilla de Lima

Greater DC area photographer Priscilla de Lima-Ledesma has been "assembling photos, video, art installations internationally since 1997," and her works focuses on social realism.

Visit her website here and her blog here.

Working and Surviving as an Artist Seminar

When: Wednesday November 19, 2008 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Working and Surviving as an Artist: Establishing and Maintaining Professional Relationships: The seminar will examine strategies and practices needed to work and survive as a visual artist. The seminar panelists: June Linowitz, artist and founder of ArtSeen, Inc; Ellyn Weiss, artist and curator; and Claudia Rousseau, PhD, art historian and critic.

The panelists will draw on their professional visual arts experiences as artists, curators, gallery directors, art historians and art critics to provide valuable strategies for conducting business in the visual arts world. Susie Leong, Director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County's Public Arts Trust will serve as moderator for the seminar.

This seminar is the first in a series on working as a visual artist. Reception & Tour 6:00 - 6:45pm Join them for a reception with light fare, open gallery, Cafritz Art Center tour and viewing of the Cafritz Art Center exhibition American Psyche, curated by the Brooklyn Arts Alliance and sponsored by Pyramid Atlantic and Montgomery College's Takoma Park/Silver Spring Visual Arts Department.

At the Lecture Hall of The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Art Center, 930 King Street, Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus of Montgomery College.

Registration is required. Advanced registration $20. Day of registration, $25.

Please visit www.creativemoco.com for more information, or contact Mark Puryear at 301-565-3805, or mark.puryear@creativemoco.com

Want some alabaster stones?

The Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County government in Maryland will be taking down pieces of white and tan alabaster stone from one of its buildings in Rockville soon.

They are striated in color (like bacon strips). I am not sure how long the pieces are, but I am told tha they are about 2-3 feet wide, 3/4 inch thick.

If you are a sculptor and would like to reuse it, then please contact Susie Leong at the Arts and Humanities Council, susie.leong@creativemoco.com, 301-565-3805, ext 26.

Have Art? Will Lend $$$$

One art-world business is booming: collectors looking to borrow against works they own, especially before the fall sales threaten to lower values. “We’ve been contacted by lots of people who are feeling some sort of margin call,” says Sotheby’s CEO, Bill Ruprecht. Other lenders have virtually stopped lending against art recently, but Ruprecht says Sotheby’s is still “very comfortable” doing so. (At 2007’s end, the auction house had $176.4 million loaned out; by the middle of this year, it was $212 million.)

Read the entire NY Magazine piece here.

Paper at Projects in Philly

No matter how you print, fold, layer or carve it, paper is often the primary media to which an artist applies their talent.

“Paper” at Philadelphia's Projects Gallery seeks to engage the audience in both the simplicity and the complexity, the universality and the uniqueness and even the humor of paper in the hands of about 20 multi-faceted artists.

Work by Henry Bermudez, Elizabeth Bisbing, Jim Brossy, Peter Gourfain, Frank Hyder, Florence Putterman, Alex Queral, and Caleb Weintraub. Also participating are Virginia Batson, Aubrie Costello, Michael Edwards, Talia Greene, Brooke Holloway, Itsuki Ogihara, Mia Rosenthal, Krista Rothwell, Gregory Farrar Scott, Heather Sundquist and yours truly!

“Paper” opens November 19th with an artists’ reception First Friday, December 5th from 6-9 p.m. The exhibition continues through December 20th.

Volkova at Flashpoint

A few years ago I curated the work of Ukranian-born photographer Elena Volkova into a few exhibitions around the Greater DC area, and she also showed at my former gallery. At that time I was attracted to her ethereal imagery of the Baltic and her sensitive treatment of the subject as shape and form, rather than what it was in itself.

Elena Volkova’s Airscapes, part of the inaugural, city-wide FotoWeek DC is a whole new line of subject matter that still shows this talented artist's sensitive eyes and hand.

“Airscapes is a collection of photo-based prints of clouds that deal with the human perception of boundaries and the essence of a subject against a background of nothingness,” says Volkova whose show opens Friday, November 21 from 5-7pm at The Gallery at Flashpoint and runs through December 20, 2008.