Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 26, 2011

Toys: Re-imagine, Re-invent, Re-discover
October 14, 2011 – January 8, 2012
Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center
Prospectus: click here
All media; small to large scale works; cash awards

This exhibit seeks works of art that use toys and children’s playthings as the inspiration, subject matter, and/or medium with the goal of creating playful, amusing, nostalgic, or poignant commentaries on the role of toys in our lives. We all hold fond memories of special toys that yielded hours of entertainment, and many of us can vividly remember when a treasured toy was lost, broken, stolen, or otherwise retired. For these reasons and more, toys can be a powerful art medium, conjuring up both treasured and difficult memories of childhood, past friendships, and other recollections.

From the utterly outrageous to the sappy and sentimental, this exhibit will include all media, small to large scale. The exhibit will be installed in the Main Gallery of the Arts Building, but a small number of outdoor works will be considered for the Sculpture Garden. Cash awards will be presented.

The exhibit will be up during Garden In Lights, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Art Center’s award-winning holiday light show. In the spirit of the holiday season, and with the thousands of families in mind who will visit during this festive time, the jury seeks works that are engaging, and fun, and above all, playful!

Rebecca D'Angelo on the book release party

Herewith some terrific photographs of the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book release party by the Washington Post's talented photographer Rebecca D'Angelo.

Alexa Meade and Victoria F. Gaitán

Jeff Spaulding, Andrea Pollan and Leigh Conner

Alexa Meade

Alexa Meade

Victoria and Alberto Gaitán

Academy 2011 at Conner

Erwin Timmers and Carolina Mayorga (in the background)

Erwin Timmers and Carolina Mayorga checking out the book

Leigh Conner

Me

Lida Moser and Dr. Alida Anderson de Campello

Steve Krensky, Lida Moser and Dr. Alida Anderson de Campello

Me again

Robin Rose

Academy 2011

Amy Lin

Amy Lin

Pat Goslee, Victor Ekpuk and Lynn Silvester

Manon Cleary

Renee Kitani and Margarida Kendall-Hull

J.J. McCracken

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

Deadline: October 31, 2011

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery seeks entries for the next “Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.” The juried exhibition is open to artists over the age of 18 who may submit portraits in any visual-art medium, including painting, drawing, sculpture, prints, photography, electronic and digital media.

Works must have been created after January 1, 2010.

Submissions may be submitted online at portraitcompetition.si.edu between September 1 to October 31. The work of finalists will be shown in a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, March 22, 2013–January 4, 2014. The grand-prize winner will receive a $25,000 cash award and have the opportunity for a separate commission to portray a remarkable living American for the gallery’s collection. In addition, entrants may be featured on face2face.si.edu, the gallery’s blog, as the competition unfolds. Please visit this website for more information about the submission process.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Sept. 1, 2011

Lehman College Art Gallery is looking for work indebted to the style and energy of comic book imagery for its upcoming exhibition Under the Influence: The Comics and Contemporary Art (Feb. – May 2012).

The exhibition will explore the topic through a broad range of media. Please send: 1) a CD with up to 5 jpgs,. 2) a printout of each image. 3) a resume. 4) a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return if you want materials back. Address:

Lehman College Art Gallery
Attn: Under the Influence: The Comics
250 Bedford Park Blvd West
Bronx, NY 10468

Book on Ebay stores

For some reason, some of you are having issues getting the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book on Amazon - an alternative is Ebay, where a few book dealers have the book now and it ships free! Check them out here.

In the WaPo

Check out the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book release party great photos by the Washington Posts's Rebecca D'Angelo for The Scene column - see the photos here.

Things we confirmed at the book release party

Last Saturday, as I scanned the large crowd that had braved the extreme heat to gather at Conner Contemporary’s gorgeous gallery space to celebrate the release of the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book, I also absorbed a dozen conversations going on at once, and soaked in a potent sense of artistic community that is the perfect evidence of how wrong some of the art writers around this town are when they describe our artistic community as the visual arts’ world equivalent of the Island of Lost Toys among other negative things.

Powerful and vibrant artistic community, emanating from the space itself, a spectacular gallery setting doing what art galleries have done for many of the District’s neighborhoods: leading the way towards the urban renewal of an entire community.

Intelligent and groundbreaking artistic community, rising from the directors of that space as well; Jamie Smith and Leigh Conner, not only hardworking gallery owners and directors, but forward thinkers who are in the middle of putting Washington, DC on the international art scene via the (e)merge art fair.

Talented and sharing artistic community, spilling from all the artists who came to the event and the many who sent in their best wishes. In that event we saw not only many of the artists in the first book, but also many others who were there to help celebrate the occasion itself.

Caring and generous artistic community, showcased by the multiple offers from other art spaces to host book signings and events related to the artists in the book.

I had not intended for this event to be a book sale event, but rather a celebration of the book itself, and only brought a handful of books with me, expecting that most folks would show up with their own copies, ordered online. For whatever reason, online outlets such as Amazon had quickly run out of their pre-publication orders, and most people had not received their copies, and thus the ones that I had brought with me, which I had purchased from the publisher directly, sold out within a few minutes.

I am told that Amazon has now begun shipping orders and have been re-stocked by the publisher. You can order a copy here or though your local neighborhood bookstore.

I also plan to have a couple more book signing events in the near future; stay tuned for locations.

Thank you to all of you, and now the work for volume two is about to begin!