Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Annual Call

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

Open call for Washington, D.C. area (the ole DMV) metro area artists for Torpedo Factory Art Center’s 2011 annual jury for artist members. Drop off date: February 28, 2011. The Torpedo Factory's annual jury will be held February 28 - March 3, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory houses more than 165 artists in combination studio/gallery space. The application form and submission requirements are available on their website www.torpedofactory.org/jury. Accepting submissions by emerging and established artists in all media.

Direct inquiries to Michele Hoben at mphoben@aol.com.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: April 30, 2011.

Call for Entries: The Graceful Envelope Contest - Artists everywhere are invited to participate in the 2011 Graceful Envelope Contest, conducted by the Washington (DC) Calligraphers Guild under the sponsorship of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

There is no entry fee.

This year's theme is "Time Flies," so design an envelope that explores good times, quality time, the times of our lives, time travel, or any other idea you have time to develop.

Address the envelope artistically to:
The Graceful Envelope Contest
Washington Calligraphers Guild
P.O. Box 3688
Merrifield, VA 22116.

This is the contest's 17th year. The Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum created and administered it until delegating responsibility to the Washington Calligraphers Guild in 2001. The National Association of Letter Carriers exhibits the winners, which are also exhibited online at www.calligraphersguild.org. The complete Call for Entries (including categories for children) is posted on the Washington Calligraphers Guild website or you may contact contest coordinator Lorraine Swerdloff at swerdloff@gmail.com.

Torpedo Factory Art Center Visiting Artist Program

Deadline: February 28, 2011.

The Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC) invites emerging and experienced artists to apply for one, two, or three-month residencies (June, July and/or August, 2011). The TFAC (www.torpedofactory.org) in Alexandria VA is home to more than 140 visual artists working in 82 studios. Artists create in a wide variety of media including painting, fiber, jewelry, ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. The TFAC is open to the public every day; visitors are invited and welcomed into studios to watch artists at work, ask questions, and purchase original art.

Visiting artists will be provided with studio space and will be able to display and sell original work. Finalists will be selected by yours truly.

There is no application fee.

Download the Prospectus and Application Form from www.torpedofactory.org/vap. Send questions to: vap@torpedofactory.org.

Ultra Realistic

It's always the hair that gets you out of the "ultra" mood...

Tonight at the Phillips

Millennium Arts Salon, in collaboration with the Phillips Collection, and sponsored by The DC Council on the Arts and Humanities, has a cool panel discussion at the Phillips tonight, Monday, February 7, 2011, starting at 6:00 PM.

Panelists will explore the topic of Washington artists with a special focus on African American artists and their contribution to the creative milieu of DC.

The panel will be moderated by Professor Emeritus and cultural historian Richard Long, Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta. The panel will include: Professor Adrienne Childes, Art Historian, University of Maryland; Billy Colbert, Artist, Washington, DC; Lisa Gold, Executive Director, Washington Project for the Arts; Judith Greenberg, Director, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC; and Claudia Rousseau, Art Critic and Art Historian, Montgomery College, Maryland.

Registration required here.

Select 2011

I was invited to participate in the WPA SELECT 2011 WPA Art Auction Gala, which will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 6:30 PM at 700 Sixth Street,NW in Chinatown. The space is owned by Akridge, who is providing a unique, approximately 20,000 sq. ft. space to showcase all the wonderful artwork that has been selected, while also allowing for 500 dinner guests. I dropped my artwork recently and the space looked terrific for an art event.

The WPA Art Auction Gala is usually one of the hottest tickets of the art season, routinely selling out several weeks in advance.

For 2011 the curators are:

· Vesela Sretenovic - Curator, The Phillips Collection

· Frank Goodyear - Assistant Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery

· Milena Kalinovska - Director of Public Programs, Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

· George Ciscle - Curator-in-Residence, Maryland Institute College of Art and Founder of The Contemporary Museum in Baltimore

· Helen C. Frederick - Professor & Director of Printmaking, George Mason University and Founder, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD

· Claire D'Alba - Assistant Curator for Art in Embassies

· Annie Adjchavanich, curator at HSPACE Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA.

Details here. By the way... here's the drawing that I will have at the auction:

Eve, Running Away from Eden. 15 x 39 inches. Charcoal on paper.
Circa 2010 by F. Lennox Campello

Select: the WPA 2011 Art Auction Exhibition includes work by Karin Abromaitis, Carlos Amorales, David Amoroso, Sarah Z. Barnes and Michael W. Anthony, Kyan Bishop, Margaret Boozer, Michael Borek, Kevin Bradley, Nicole Brugnoli Whipkey, Renee Marcus Butler, Colby Caldwell, F. Lennox Campello, Christine Carr, Mei Mei Chang, Chan T. Chao, Richard Chartier, Amy Chase, Natalie W. Cheung, Roman Cho and Tatiana Wills, Charles Cohan, Cynthia Connolly, Joseph Corcoran, Pepe Coronado, Roy Crosse, Matias Cuevas, Brian D. Dailey, Stephen Dallmus, Adam de Boer, Oletha DeVane, William Downs, Mia Feuer, Eric Finzi, Paul Frank, Helen C. Frederick, Breon Gilleran, Janis Goodman, Laura Jane Hamilton, Don Ed Hardy, Jessica Todd Harper, Leonard Harris, Davey Hawkins, Alexander Heilner, Pablo Helguera, Danny Heller, Tayo Heuser, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Ryan Hill, Michael Horsely, Karen Hsiao, Fleming Jeffries, Tendai Johnson, Elizabeth Kendall, Susanne Kessler, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Jae Ko, Magnolia Laurie, Pepa Leon, Adam Lister, Laurel Lukaszewski, Marco Maggi, Kimberly Manfredi, Isabel Manalo, Ben Marcin, Brooke Marcy, Gene Markowski, Virgil Marti, Allyn Massey, Patrick McDonough, Elizabeth McGrath, Jeff McMillan, Jaclyn Mednicov, Linn Meyers, Maggie Michael, Greg Minah, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Phil D. Nesmith, Carrie Nobles, Kendall Nordin, David Page, Ruth Pettus, Phyllis Plattner, Susana Raab, Kelly Richardson, Marie Ringwald, Stuart Rome, Debra Ruzinsky, Jim Sanborn, Emily Sartor, Kim Schoenstadt, Joyce J. Scott, Hadieh Shafie, Whitney Sherman, Mike Shine, Steven H. Silberg, Alan Simensky, Jenny Sidhu Mullins, Kerry Skarbakka, Jo Smail, Susanna Starr, C.R. Stecyk III, Daniel Steinhilber, Betsy Stewart, Mike Stilkey, Soonae Tark, René Treviño, Blake Turner, Lina Vargas De La Hoz, Eli Walker, Solomon Wondimu, Dave Woody, Sue Wrbican, and William Wylie

Pack it in

The grub is ready, firewood chopped and in the fireplace, the beer and wine are chilled, Little Junes has his football sweater on, and now we just await the start of the game. I'm still smarting at the worst-officiated Super Bowl in history (Super Bowl XL) and so in an anti-Steeler mood.

My prediction? The Packers will send four wide receivers to spread the defense and make the Steelers' secondary quite vulnerable.

Packers 24-17.