Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: October 26, 2009
If you read this blog then you know that I've been always very impressed with the BlackRock Center for the Arts gallery's 1500 square feet of exquisite gallery space. With its high white walls and beautiful windows strategically placed, this gorgeous gallery allows in just the right amount of natural light. BlackRock Center for the Arts is located at 12901 Town Commons Drive Germantown, MD in upper Montgomery County, about 20 minutes from the Capital Beltway (495).
They currently have a call to artists and the call is open to all artists residing in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC over the age of 18.
Original artwork only. All work must be ready for sale and to be presented in a professional manner to the public at the time of delivery.
This call will cover exhibits in the gallery from September 2010 through August 2011. An exhibit may include one applicant or a combination of applicants, based on the judgment of jurors (i.e., 1 or 2 wall artists may be combined with a pedestal artist). A jury will select the artists and create eight exhibits to be included in the exhibit year. The jury panel is comprised of my good friend and gallerist Elyse Harrison, Jodi Walsh, and yours truly.
Jurying: First Week of December
Notification: Early January
Exhibit Year: Sept. 2010 – Aug. 2011
How to apply: All correspondence will be done by e-mail, so contact Kimberly Onley, the Gallery Coordinator at konley@blackrockcenter.org and ask her to email you a prospectus.
Don't wait to the last minute! Get the prospectus now!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Postsecret's fifth book out
My good friend and DC artist Frank Warren is the brilliant mind behind's the planet's most successful art project ever: PostSecret.
And now a new PostSecret book: PostSecret Confessions on Life, Death and God, the fifth in a series of best-sellers, has been released.
And check out Frank on the Today show below:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
More about the book below:
And on Sunday, October 25, Warren will be at the American Visionary Art Museum, in Baltimore, MD where he will share the inspirational and funny stories behind some of the quarter million secrets that he has received on postcards. He will also project images of the secrets that were banned from the four previous PostSecret books.
Sequestered
Super hard-working DC artist Dana Ellyn has been in the news a lot lately for her irreverent paintings at a recent art exhibit in Washington that marked the first-ever International Blasphemy Day (Sept. 30) at the Center for Inquiry DC near Capitol Hill.... on CNN, then on USA Today, earlier on Religion News Service (that story received more comments than any other article in the history of their news service).
To see more about the show, read all of the articles and get links to additional stories, please visit Ellyn's website here.
One comment on the focus of the artwork (having done a few blasphemous drawings in my own lifetime): it's easy (and safe) to be blasphemous versus the Judeo-Christian religions, but where are the blasphemy paintings versus the Islamic religion? versus Hinduism? where's fat, bald Buddha in all of this? versus whatever it is that the Druze believe in? Why just pick on the two "safe" religions? Let's open up the whole can of artistic whup'ass on the opiate of the masses in all its versions.
Dana has a lot of stuff happening next:
* This Friday October 16: "Sequestered" solo show opening Reception at R. Coury Gallery in Savage, MD.
* Next Thursday Oct. 22: "P'arty" grand opening show at Long View Gallery in DC.
* December 5th: "Divinely Irreverent" solo show opening reception at Evolve Urban Arts Project.
* February 5th: "Til Death Do Us Part" two person show and wedding with Matt Sesow at DC's Long View Gallery.
* Larz from Mars - TV appearance.
Congrats to Dana and Matt!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Scotland calling
I used to go to Scotland once a year or so, and lived there from 1989-1992. I feel it calling me...
The Road to the Isles
A far croonin' is pullin' me away
As take I wi' my cromak to the road.
The far Coolins are puttin' love on me,
As step I wi' the sunlight for my load.
Chorus:
Sure, by Tummel and Loch Rannoch
And Lochaber I will go,
By heather tracks wi' heaven in their wiles;
If it's thinkin' in your inner heart
Braggart's in my step,
You've never smelt the tangle o' the Isles.
Oh, the far Coolins are puttin' love on me,
As step I wi' my cromak to the Isles.
It's by 'Sheil water the track is to the west,
By Aillort and by Morar to the sea,
The cool cresses I am thinkin' o' for pluck,
And bracken for a wink on Mother's knee.
It's the blue Islands are pullin' me away,
Their laughter puts the leap upon the lame,
The blue Islands from the Skerries to the Lews,
Wi' heather honey taste upon each name.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chinese Contemporary Art Market Plunges
The financial crisis has caught up to contemporary Chinese art. After a boom cycle in 2007 and 2008 that led many young works to sell for multiples of their original sale price, prices are beginning to fall: In fact, Chinese auction house Beijing Poly International Auction says business has dropped by about 50 percent.Details here.
Georgetown Gallery Gaze
Join the galleries of Georgetown this coming Friday for the launch of "Georgetown Gallery Gaze" every third friday from 6-8 for a movable feast of art, music and libations throughout Georgetown. Maps and details with the 13 participating venues are here.
Don't miss Cross Mackenzie's show, which has two local ceramic artists, Matthew Frietas and Tamara Laird. In his "Naked Raku Vessels", Freitas takes the ancient Japanese Raku firing technique "into the modern era with his dizzying designs. Each Raku vessel is unique, the cracks formed by the process of removing a piece from the kiln while still red hot and submerging it in a container filled with leaves or paper. A fire is ignited and the resulting smoke drenches the vessel and seeps into the cracks. The challenge is to balance control and serendipity. The degree of mastery Frietas demonstrates over what is essentially a capricious technique is what makes these pieces so impressive. He cuts through a layer of slip, which acts as a resist, and he draws with the smoke. In the 16th century, this unique firing method was more than a new approach to ceramics. It was a part of a lifestyle in which Zen ideals were paramount - expressed in ceramics by creating objects that appeared born of the earth. This is where Frietas parts with the tradition. Though his Raku is low fired and has the texture of something found in nature, his patterns are uniquely man made and dazzling."
Tamara Laird's "Paisley Monuments" are on view through October 12th at the United States Botanic Gardens in an exhibition called "Flora: Growing Inspirations". The show will bring these large vitrified glazed ceramic sculptures indoors for Cross MacKenzie's next exhibition. Laird's current work is based on the paisley motif, a universally recognizable pattern that has been used for thousands of years. Like Frietas, she looks to tradition as a point of departure and creates new and original works.
