Makes my head hurt...

... an Arts Council project that typifies the standards we’ve come to expect from publicly funded art. Jarvis Cocker, the country’s foremost socialist pop musician, was sent to the Arctic for “inspiration” and to raise planetary consciousness, along with another two dozen artistic luminaries:

The ambition of the expedition was to inspire the creative team to respond to climate change... It was an amazing journey; 10 days of artistic inspiration, debate, discussion and exploration.

The ecological insights gleaned by Mr Cocker?

Men have produced a lot of great art over the centuries, or whatever... but... an iceberg kind of, basically, pisses on it.

Apparently this was a $250,000 publicly funded art project. Read all about it here.

Opportunity for Artists - Last Day to Apply!

Deadline: Nov. 20th, 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!

Wanna go to an opening today?

Georgetown ARTS 2009 has an Opening Reception on Thursday, November 19, 6-9pm, and my good friend and Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray will talk about the Georgetown art scene at 7pm.

The Show continues on Friday, November 20, noon-8pm, Saturday November 21, 11am-6pm at 1209 31st Street NW in G'town at the former Smith and Hawken space.

As noted above, the opening reception this evening will feature Govinda Gallery owner Chris Murray talking about the history and evolution of the Georgetown art scene - drawn from his 34 years as a central presence in the ever-changing Georgetown art world.

And the show will feature more than 25 Georgetown artists and will include painting, photography, and sculpture. CAG's Georgetown ARTS 2009 will also be highlighted in the new Georgetown Gallery Gaze that takes place on Friday evenings.

Artists in the show include:
Michele Banks ~ Dede Caughman ~ Betsy Cooley ~Arthur Day ~ Barbara Downs ~ Anne Emmet ~ Heidi Hess ~ Michele Jacobson ~ Bo Jia ~ Sidney Lawrence ~ Wendy Plotkin-Mates ~ Christopher Matthews ~ Starke Meyer ~ Elba Molina ~ Rosie Moore ~ Johanna Mueller ~ Emma O'Rourke ~Isabella Page ~ Larry Parlier ~ Hayley Pivato ~ Joan Shorey ~ Elizabeth Smythe ~ Polly Townsend ~ Dariush Vaziri and Homayoun Yeroushalmi.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: February 5, 2010

What is disability? -- An International Call for Postcards

VSA arts invites your participation in a collaborative art project. They’re taking a creative approach to investigate the different ways people interpret the same word: disability. The call is open to everyone around the world — people of different cultures, ethnicities, geographic locations, and abilities. You do not have to consider yourself an “artist” to participate.

Please contact Liza Key, Artist Services Coordinator, at efkey@vsarts.org to receive a shipment of printed calls for the project (available while supplies last). Additional copies of the postcard and alternative formats are uploaded to this website.

The deadline for receipt of postcards is February 5, 2010. VSA arts will curate an exhibition, both online and in Washington, D.C., to represent the submissions as part of the 2010 International VSA arts Festival held June 6-12, 2010.

Everybody is a curator

Shaquille O’Neal, the 7’1” all-star center with the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, has discovered that art is no slam dunk.

Moonlighting for the first time as a curator, O’Neal is overseeing “Size DOES Matter,’’ an exhibition on the theme of scale in contemporary art coming in February to New York’s nonprofit Flag Art Foundation.

Read about it here.

Tape Sotheby's: Go to jail

An artist's attempt to turn the exterior of Sotheby's into a piece of art by stringing masking tape across it Tuesday morning gained something other than artistic recognition--20 hours in jail...

Read all about it here.

WOW Mr. Gopnik!

"That makes her show one of the best I've ever seen in a commercial gallery in Washington."

Read the Washington Post's chief art critic do something he rarely does, review a local DC gallery as he raves about the photographs of Terri Weifenbach at Civilian.

Read it here.

More please Mr. Gopnik.