Interns Needed

One of my absolutely top favorite artists around the DC area is the ubiquitous Mark Jenkins, the street artist genius that I call the "tape dude."

Mark has a few shows lined up and he is in dire need of some interns.

Anyone interested should email Mark at daylightdrama@yahoo.com.

SOFAlab is tomorrow

How and where do art and science - two seemingly disparate disciplines of intellectual inquiry - overlap? And, at that confluence, what can practitioners of both disciplines learn to expand their unique fields of knowledge and to affect consciousness?

SOFAlab on Nov. 5, 2009.

SOFAlab's keynote speaker, Tod Machover - Professor of Music and Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, the inventor of Hyperinstruments, a trained-Juilliard musician, and, the man Los Angeles Times deemed, “America's Most Wired Composer” - will bring his boundless knowledge of creative technology to the discussion. With each of Machover's innovations, such as his Hyperinstruments, Hyperscore, Brain Opera, Toy Symphony and MMH (Music, Mind and Health), he has intentionally explored the space where science and art collide and in doing so challenged traditional perceptions of both fields.

Expanding the discussion further, SOFAlab's panelists will include Maria Barbosa, Professor of Biology and a DC-based installation artist, Ernesto Barreto, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, and Brandon Morse, Professor of Digital Media at the University of Maryland and a DC-based video installation artist specializing in 3-D environments and animation software.

SOFAlab takes place on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 - 6pm reception, 7pm keynote address & panel at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1530 P Street, NW, Washington, DC. Free and Open to the Public.

For more information please contact the organizers: Helen Frederick, Shanti Norris, or Paul So, or view the event website at /www.hamiltonianartists.org/sofalab.

FotoWeek DC

So now I've got the press release and all the details on FotoWeek DC:

FotoWeek DC is one of the largest international photography festivals in the world, and it returns to Washington, DC with The FotoWeek DC Awards competition exhibition November 7 – 14, 2009 and an unprecedented roster of events and participating organizations.

Established in 2008, FotoWeek DC "celebrates the profession, the art and the sweeping influence of photography, embracing local, national and international communities of photographers, students, amateurs and the general public during its week long festivities in Washington, DC and the surrounding region."

"FotoWeek DC, in just two years, has evolved from a city wide photography festival to one of international scope,” said Theo Adamstein, Founder of FotoWeek DC. “Through our partnership with world-renowned photographers, we are thrilled to present numerous exhibitions, lectures and programs that encompass a broad spectrum of photography from editorial photojournalism to experimental fine art--and everything in between. This inspiring week-long festival celebrates what photography means to people today, from both a local and a global perspective.”

Highlights include:

• The 2009 FotoWeek DC Awards competition, which has received more than 3,500 images from photographers in 39 states and 28 countries. Photojournalism, editorial, commercial and fine art imagery from twenty-eight countries has been submitted both in single and series form, as well as in multimedia pieces that combine the strength of still images with video, sound and graphics. Open to professionals, amateurs and students with $21,500 in cash awards, including the $5,000 prestigious Spirit of Washington Award, the FotoWeek DC 2009 Awards are judged by a panel that includes many of the industry's most elite editors, photographers and executives. Awards in 12 categories will be presented at the National Geographic Society’s Headquarters on Thursday, November 5, 2009, and the finalists’ work will be featured in the Awards exhibition at FotoWeek Central 1, located at 3338 M Street NW.

• FotoWeek DC and curator Lucian Perkins, himself a Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist, will present special exhibitions of work never before seen in Washington, DC, including new images from Iraq, Russia, and Cuba. Also on view will be “Thy Brother's Keeper,” a powerful exhibition of work by twenty-five esteemed photojournalists who “chronicle the complex multidimensional issues related to global justice and human rights transgressions.”

• The FotoWeek DC Lecture Series, featuring renowned photographers including Tim Hetherington, Lincoln Schatz, Deborah Willis, Matthew Niederhauser, and Ernesto Bazan at American University’s Katzen Arts Center and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

• NightVisions, the first-ever, all night FotoWeek DC live photo shoot in which area photographers are encouraged to participate by shooting and delivering their images to FotoWeek Central 1 (3338 M Street NW) for immediate downloading, printing and displaying.

• NightGallery DC, where visitors will experience the ephemeral magic that comes when light meets surface during a dazzling display of multi-story, large scale projections on the façade of FotoWeek Central 1(3338 M Street NW) of finalists’ work from the FotoWeek DC Awards competition and of selected images from FotoWeek DC special exhibitions. Select buildings in Rosslyn (November 6-8) and Crystal City (November 8-10) will also feature projections, all beginning at dusk.

•FotoWeek DC's 2nd ANNUAL PORTFOLIO REVIEW DAY, Sunday, November 8, 2009 organized by The American Society of Picture Professionals and the Corcoran College of Art + Design, brings 20 nationally acclaimed photography professionals to review the work of participating photographers who sign up in advance.

• Multiple embassies sponsoring FotoWeek DC exhibitions and events, including the official opening reception on November 7, 2009 at the House of Sweden, co-hosted by the American Film Institute featuring “What Lies Beneath: Nature & Urban Landscape in EU Photography,” curated by Judith Turner Yamamoto.

• From DC to Maryland to Virginia, galleries and arts organizations throughout the area are presenting exhibitions, lectures, book signings and more. Whether displaying the work of local photographers or photography of national renown, the gallery community will be united by its focus during FotoWeek DC.

Please visit www.fotoweekdc.org for a full itinerary of events, registration for portfolio reviews, and donation opportunities.

The Little Junester...

That my friends, is Anderson Lennox Campello at eight weeks! The only nickname that seems to stick is Little Junes, a diminutive of Junior, which is what he was called when he was in his momma's belly and before he had a name. Poor kid, if it sticks he's gonna have to do some fightin' in school.

This Saturday: Anne Truitt at Osuna

Anne Truitt, "Untitled", 1972, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 96 inches
This Saturday, November 7, 2009, from 2-5 pm, my good friend and fellow Cuban-American Ramon Osuna will open Anne Truitt - A Selection of: Sculpture, Paintings, and Drawings. The show goes through January 9, 2010.

This Friday: Laurel Lukaszewski at Project 4

Project 4 will present a solo exhibition of new works by local ceramics artist, and my good friend Laurel Lukaszewski. The Opening Reception is this Friday, November 6, 2009 - 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

The conception of this body of work arises from the artist's interest in the Japanese phrase, "ichi-go ichi-e", which roughly translates to "one moment, one time" in English.

The simple and elegant individual porcelain forms that Lukaszewski creates for this exhibition become rich and expansive installations throughout the gallery.

While the artist is clearly inspired by specific forms from the natural world, her poetic installations come to evoke a more abstract sense of the transient beauty present in all of our experience, physical and emotional. Lukaszewski explains that the phrase "icho-go ichi-e", which derives from the Japanese tea ceremony, corresponds to the work in this exhibition serving "both as an encouragement to seize the day and as a memorial for what has been lost."

Laurel Lukaszewski has exhibited her work in galleries and institutions throughout the country, and was recently invited to participate in the ARTworks 2009 Artist Residency at the Holland Hall School in Tulsa, OK.

FotoWeek DC (I guess)

I haven't received a single press release from the FotoWeekDC people, without an argument one of the best things that has happened to DC photography ever... but I have received tons of individual press releases from the myriad of participating galleries, alternative art venues and museums.

Thus let me pick one to share the events with all of you:

The Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design is proud to support FotoWeek DC 2009 as a Palladium Sponsor – the highest level of sponsorship and the only cultural institution in this category. In addition to a full range of programming, the Corcoran will showcase artwork from the College of Art + Design at FotoWeek Central (3338 M Street, NW) during the annual photography celebration. Corcoran FotoWeek programming highlights include:

· Portfolio reviews on Sunday, November 8 from prominent photographers of all specialties

· Special guest lecture by artist Edward Burtynsky on Wednesday, November 11, who will discuss the “industrial sublime” in his work, including Edward Burtynsky: Oil, a large-scale photo exhibition now on view at the Corcoran

· The FotoWeek DC lecture series Saturday, November 14, featuring work from photographers in Cuba, Beijing, and Iraq.

Interesting choice of nations to feature... anyway, for details visit www.corcoran.org/fotoweekdc. For a full schedule of FotoWeekDC events and programs, visit www.fotoweekdc.org.