Women as Rocks at Sea heading to Sweden

The two pieces below were done as art school assignments at the University of Washington in wonderful Seattle in 1979. After 35 years they are heading to a collector in Sweden. I must have done 100 or more of these while I was in school there (1977-1981), but the vast majority of them I sold while I was one of the artists selling art at the Pike Place Market during those same years. I found these recently while looking for something else...

Woman Rock XXIII
Watercolor on Paper, c.1979

Woman Rock IV
Watercolor on Paper, c. 1979

Opportunity for Artists

HOTHOUSE: ImPRINT

Deadline: January 17, 2015

WPA is currently accepting submissions for Hothouse: ImPRINT, an open, juried, group exhibition of works by WPA member artists as part of our Hothouse Exhibition series at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. Hothouse: ImPRINT is an exhibition that aims to highlight the personal creative process through visual art in combination with written language. 

In addition to being included in the exhibition, selected artists will work with Juror, Robert Bettman, to write articles about their work and their creative process for publication in the arts magazine Bourgeon. 

More info here.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

The Catcher in the Rye

"Catcher in the Rye"
2013 Charcoal and Conte on Paper
40x30 inches
In a private collection in Virginia Beach

"Catcher in the Rye"
1990 Charcoal and Conte on Paper
14x11 inches
Available

What the Cubans are saying...

Cuban dissident leaders react to President Obama's announcement to normalize relations with Castro's brutal and racist dictatorship:


"Sadly, President Obama made the wrong decision. The freedom and democracy of the Cuban people will not be achieved through these benefits that he's giving -- not to the Cuban people -- but to the Cuban government. The Cuban government will only take advantage to strengthen its repressive machinery, to repress civil society, its people and remain in power."

-- Berta Soler, leader of The Ladies in White.

"[Alan Gross] was not arrested for what he did, but for what could be gained from his arrest. He was simply bait and they were aware of it from the beginning... Castroism has won, though the positive result is that Alan Gross has left alive the prison that threatened to become his tomb."

-- Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger and independent journalist, 14ymedio.

"The Cuban people are being ignored in this secret conversation, in this secret agreement that we learned today. The reality of my country is there is just one party with all the control and with the state security controlling the whole society. If this doesn’t change, there’s no real change in Cuba. Not even with access to Internet. Not even when Cuban people can travel more than two years ago. Not even that is a sign of the end of the totalitarianism in my country."

--Rosa Maria Paya, daughter of murdered Christian Liberation Movement leader, Oswaldo Paya.

"[Obama's announcement] is horrible and disregarding the opinion of [Cuban] civil society sends a bad message. The acceptance of neo-Castroism in Cuba will mean greater support for authoritarianism in the region and, as a consequence, human rights will be relegated to a secondary role."

-- Antonio Rodiles, head of Estado de Sats.

"Alan Gross was used as a tool by the Castro regime to coerce the United States. Obama was not considerate of Cuban citizens and of the civil society that is facing this tyrannical regime. In Miami, Obama promised that he would consult Cuba measures with civil society and the non-violent opposition. Obviously, this didn't happen. That is a fact, a reality. He didn't consider Cuba's democrats. The betrayal of Cuba's democrats has been consummated."

-- Guillermo Fariñas, former Sakharov Prize recipient.

"The Obama Administration has ceded before Castro's dictatorship. Nothing has changed. The jails remain filled, the government represents only one family, repression continues, civil society is not recognized and we have no right to assemble or protest... The measures that the government of the United States has implemented today, to ease the embargo and establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, will in no way benefit the Cuban people. The steps taken will strengthen the Castro regime's repression against human rights activists and increase its resources, so the security forces can keep harassing and repressing civil society."

--Angel Moya, former political prisoner of the Black Spring (2003).

"We are in total disagreement with what has transpired today. It's a betrayal of those who within Cuba have opposed the regime in order to achieve definitive change for the good of all Cubans."

-- Felix Navarro, former political prisoner and co-head of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU).

"It's discomforting that the accounts of the Castro regime can grow, as the first step will be more effective repression and a rise in the level of corruption."

-- Jose Daniel Ferrer, former political prisoner and co-head of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU)

"This is a betrayal that leaves the democratic opposition defenseless. Obama has allied himself with the oppressors and murderers of our people."

-- Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," former political prisoner and head of the National Resistance Front.

"I feel as though I have been abandoned on the battlefield."

-- Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, former Cuban political prisoner and U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

Opportunity for Artists

National Call For Entry: IMPRINT 2015
Maryland Art Place’s Annual Print Project

Application Deadline: February 1, 2014

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is pleased to announce a national open ‘Call to Artists’ for the 2015 edition of “IMPRINT," an annual program initiated by MAP staff in 2012 to highlight one contemporary artist who has demonstrated excellence within their selected media. MAP’s Program Advisory Committee (PAC), Staff, and Board of Trustees, collectively reviews all submissions to select IMPRINT artists.

IMPRINT Goal: To support artists by increasing the visibility of their work and by promoting sales. IMPRINT artists benefit by being highlighted on MAP’s website and through the sale of a funded artist print reproduction. MAP will also sell the reproduction at its annual benefits or offer them as sponsor incentives, which furthers the artist name and work. The selected artwork will officially launch in conjunction with MAP’s Annual spring benefit, Out of Order.

Artists can submit up to 3 images. There is an application fee of $5 dollars per image (paid via Click&Pledge) and is FREE for MAP members. The full application and call for entry can be downloaded at: http://mdartplace.org/opportunities/imprint

For more information, contact Paul Shortt at paul@mdartplace.org or call 410.962.8565.

Welcome home Alan Gross

Welcome home Alan Gross; thank you for what you tried to do so valiantly for Cuban Jews - you are a true hero.

Most nations on the planet have formal relations with Cuba... and Canada, Spain, Italy, France, etc. are heavy investors on Cuba and its thriving tourist business with the West.

What has this decades-long relationship with multiple western democracies done for the average Cuban and his lack of basic rights and freedoms?

Zip.

Cuba remains, and will remain until the Castro brothers are removed from power and tried for crimes against the Cuban people, the most repressive, racist and brutal regime on the planet.

Restoring relations between the US and Cuba was probably inevitable given the singular global perspective of President Obama, but to think that this will be of some benefit to the Cuban people is not only naive, but intellectually dishonest.

I hope that I am wrong.