Stimulus at Nevin Kelly

In recognition of the challenging economic times, DC's Nevin Kelly Gallery, located at 1400 Irving Street, NW, #132, will showcase “Stimulus,” a group exhibition of works by more than twenty DC area artists at limited-opportunity prices.

The gallery has selected, a Tuesday evening (June 16), typically a slow night for galleries and other businesses, for the opening reception. Joining in the celebration, several local restaurants and other business will offer their own stimulus packages on opening night.

Show runs June 16 through July 11, 2009; Opening Reception, Tuesday, June 16 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

“We invite the public to come stimulate their minds and the local economy by supporting this exhibition,” says gallery owner Nevin J. Kelly. “While they are in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, we encourage them to take advantage of the specials being offered by some of our neighboring businesses.”

Kelly explains that “the concept and the name of the show are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the show has a serious side. In times like these, arts and artists tend to suffer disproportionately, and we are trying to remind people, by parodying the government's broader stimulus efforts, that local artists and local businesses need their support.”

Participating artists have been asked to price their works for this exhibition at least 15% below their norm. The gallery has agreed to reduce its standard commission to make up part of the difference. All works will be priced at $500 or less. For works over $100, there will be a limit of 3 works per artist. Kelly explains that limiting the number of works by each artist protects the concept of limited opportunity pricing and helps guard against an overall deterioration of the artists' price-points, “an important consideration for collectors,” he says, adding “if you want a work by one of your favorite artists at these prices, you need to buy it before somebody else gets it.”

Participating artists include: JOHN M. ADAMS, SONDRA N. ARKIN, JOAN BELMAR, TANJA BOS, ANNE BOUIE, MOLLY BROSE, MARY CHIARAMONTE, ANNA U. DAVIS, JENNY DAVIS, THOMAS DRYMON, STIRLING ELMENDORF, PAT GOSLEE, EMILY GREENE LIDDLE, LAUREL HAUSLER, J. FORD HUFFMAN, ROSALIND KENNEDY, MARK PARASCANDOLA, ANNELIESE SULLIVAN, MING YI SUNG ZALESKI, RUTH TREVARROW, CLAUDIA VESS, ELLYN WEISS and yours truly.

Local restaurants Commonwealth Gastropub, Pete's New Haven Style Pizza and Rumberos are offering dinner specials for the Stimulus audience on the night of the opening.

Radiance MedSpa, a neighborhood day spa, is also offering specials, and other local businesses are expected to sign up. Interested individuals can check the gallery's website for more information on participating businesses and their special offers.

The gallery is located half-a-block from the Columbia Heights Metro station on the Green Line, and all participating businesses are within a block or two of the Metro station.

See ya there!

Today's hero

They have been demonized by an art blogger whose reputation and popularity rests mostly on destructive criticism of nearly everything related to the artworld, and someone who has never had to guard anything in his life, but today's hero in the museum world, and the nation in general, is a DC museum security guard.

He is US Holocaust Museum security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who gave his life protecting others, shot by a Jew-hating artist, James Wenneker von Brunn.

Mr. Johns, we all thank and salute you, and all of you who stand as the first line of defense against all the would-be killers and haters in the world. You and your fellow security guards at the Holocaust Museum, and all other museums and security points in the nation, deserve our respect and gratitude.

This is from the Holocaust Museum:

Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns died heroically in the line of duty today. There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family.

We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory.

Rest in Peace... Fair winds and following seas Sir.

Museum Shooting Suspect Details

The man suspected of walking into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and opening fire Wednesday has a long trail of vitriol and vindictiveness.

According to the AskART Web site, which features the work of James W. von Brunn, he was born in St. Louis on July 11, 1920. The birth date jibes with real estate records of a James W. von Brunn who lives in Maryland. He is listed as living in either Annapolis or Easton.

Details from NPR story here and here.

President Obama issued the following statement in regards to the shooting:

"I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

"Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time."

AOM video

When I used to live in DC I used to be a talking head in MHZ TV's Artsmedia News program, directed by my good friend Harry Mahon.

Harry currently has the very cool video of AOM below.

Goodwill

Two paintings left overnight in a Goodwill donation bin in Toronto sold at auction for over $150,000 Canadian samolians (US$136,480).

Details here.

Art town: What’s brewing in lesser-known hot spots

Land as canvas: Albuquerque offers a full palette of art al fresco

By Robin Tierney

Art devotees know the way to Santa Fe, usually bypassing Albuquerque to the south. But expect that to change as ABQ creatives hasten urban and urbane renewal in New Mexico’s biggest city.

The art community there bears resemblance to the five dormant volcanoes that flank the city’s west side: smoldering disparate vents likely to become an inextinguishable force once erupting.

Signs suggest that time is drawing near, with art-centric events now erupting within and beyond ABQ’s revitalized Downtown arts district. New trolley, bus and rail choices make it easy to speed around.

At nearly every turn, there’s some gallery or mural or piece of public art. Nary a day goes by without an exhibition opening or art talk or sighting of artists at work on an installation, particularly with the “LAND/ART” collaboration that in early June unleashed a six-month tsunami of land-based art.

LAND/ART is a sprawling mega-variety show aiming to lay siege to senses and sensibility. Among the five dozen participants is Guggenheim Fellow Michael Berman, whose photos emanated from solitary wanderings through the desert. Basia Irland’s frozen carved books sow seeds as they melt in undernourished rivers. DJ Spooky weaves an acoustic portrait from field recordings made during journeys into Antarctic icescapes. Lynne Hull builds outdoor sculptures that double as wildlife habitat rescues.

A sense-shocking, mind-boggling array of photography, sculpture and mixed media burbles from downtown galleries such as 516 ARTS as site-specific installations emerge on the sacred lands ringing Albuquerque like an aura.

I plan to catch what’s taken root in LAND/ART when returning for another Albuquerque alt. art event: the GO! Arts Festival. The free downtown event runs Sept. 25-27. Several stages of local music and dance combine with contemporary art, making for a complete sensory assault.

Go! artists include Brandon Maldonado, whose “Los Fantasticos” paintings nabbed Best of Show at last year’s fest, and Daniela and Vladimir Ovtcharov, whose modern icons and other imaginaria are absolutely arresting.

The edgier visuals and vibe distinguish Albuquerque from other New Mexico artspots, says Christopher Goblet on the arts-boosting Downtown Action Team.

Now’s a good time to visit what “The Rise of the Creative Class” author Richard Florida dubbed the "Most Creative Mid-Size City." The arts offerings are diverse: Harwood Art Center (an old school) displays art from full-timers to homeless shelter denizens; Darryl Willison’s trippy comic cowboys color the walls at Old Town’s KISS café; Working Classroom’s new downtown space mounts eye- and brain-teasers from city kids. A new film festival’s set to debut late summer. And there’s always the green and red chile.

If you must go to Santa Fe, the brand new Rail Runner stops in downtown ABQ.

LAND/ART event guide (sites, openings, talks): www.landartnm.org

Go! Festival info: www.wwwdowntownabq.com/GO

Albuquerque visitors info: www.itsatrip.org

The Bethesda Painting Awards announced

The top four prize winners were announced last Wednesday evening during the exhibition’s opening at the Fraser Gallery, but I just found out today who the winners were.

Camilo Sanin, Composicion 4
Camilo Sanin from Jessup, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Heidi Fowler of Reston, VA was named second place and was given $2,000; Magnolia Laurie of Baltimore, MD was awarded third place and received $1,000, and Lillian Bayley Hoover of Baltimore, MD was given the “Young Artist” award and received $1,000. Congrats to all the winners.

The eight artists selected as finalists are:

Steve Adams, McLean, VA; Heidi Fowler, Reston, VA; Lillian Bayley Hoover, Baltimore, MD; Jeff Huntington, Annapolis, MD; Magnolia Laurie, Baltimore, MD; Katherine Mann, Baltimore, MD; Greg Minah, Baltimore, MD and Camilo Sanin, Jessup, MD.

Entries were juried by Ruth Bolduan, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Richmond; Patrice Kehoe member of the University of Maryland’s Art Department since 1977 and John Winslow, a Washington, D.C.-based painter and emeritus professor of art at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Perhaps it is just me, but it seems that the Best in Show winner is chanelling the Washington Color School painters. I do quite like Lillian Bayley Hoover's work.

Opening reception for the exhibit is this Friday, June 12th, from 6-9pm at the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda.


Lillian Bayley Hoover, War TV