Artists & Makers Studios' anniversary

Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive and Wilkins Avenue in Rockville are proud to mark the organization’s third anniversary at two locations with  “at 3(three)” featuring the artwork of more than 150 resident artists in the galleries and studios of both studio centers. A five gallery exhibit will open for First Friday festivities between 6pm and 9pm on March 2nd, and will showcase artists open studios for browsing as well.

“at 3(three)”
A Grand Third Anniversary Celebration
Opening Reception
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Friday, March 2nd, 2018
Artists & Makers Studios 1
11810 Parklawn Dr., Suite 210
Rockville, MD 20852

and

Artists & Makers Studios 2
12276/12280 Wilkins Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852

From their news release:

Enjoy celebratory food and drink at A&M1 and tour the 3 main galleries and open studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville, along with Words Out Loud in the Compass Atelier from 7-8pm with Philip Wexler, Ellen Cole, and Martin Shapiro followed by open mic. Additionally A&M2 is proud to present wine and light refreshments along with more resident artists’ work in the galleries and studios, exhibits in Gallery 209,  the Montgomery County Camera Club with “Abstract Minimalism” by Ron Ames, the band Paradise Bill and theremin music by Arthur Harrison, all just 9/10’s of a mile from the flagship location on Parklawn. 

These exhibits at both locations open Friday, March 2nd, and continue through Wednesday, March 28th, 2018.  Viewing hours are 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Tuesday-Saturday, and Sundays/Mondays by chance or appointment.

 

Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville, established in October 2014 by artist and arts community builder Judith HeartSong, is a 13,000 sq. ft. facility is now home to 66 resident artists. Artists & Makers Studios 2 on Wilkins Avenue in Rockville is a 23,000 sq. ft. facility with 88 resident artists and more to come. A&M Studios is dedicated to providing a supportive and vibrant environment for artists to realize their creative goals - through studio practice, collaboration, education, opportunities, networking and connecting with the community beyond our doors. 

From the collection of Stuart Marshall Bloch and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch

Congressional Bank is featuring the inspirational works of five distinguished African-American artists to celebrate Black History Month. The Bank is pleased to present an exhibition of powerful pieces from the collection of Stuart Marshall Bloch and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch that will set the stage to publicly honor the culture of these artists.

"The Freedom Place Collection: Works by artists, Romare Bearden, Benny Andrews, Alma Thomas, Robert Freeman, and Richard Yarde" will be on display at the Congressional Bank branch located at 2101 K. St. NW, Washington, D.C. from February 8 - March 30, 2018 during the business hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

The Freedom Place Collection was amassed, and is owned, by Washington residents Stuart Marshall Bloch, Founding Chairman of Congressional Bank, and Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, president of the US-China Education Trust and United States Ambassador to Nepal, 1989-1993. The Blochs have been collecting works of African-American artists for over 45 years, and this exhibit highlights the culmination of their efforts. The name of the collection refers to the Freedom Place stop along the Underground Railroad, once located near the Bloch's former home where they lived forever 30 years.

 

Mr. Bloch plays a prominent role in supporting the Washington area community and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Black Student Fund since 1976.  He was a founding editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  Mr. and Ambassador Bloch endowed the FY Chang (HLS-1917) scholars program at The Harvard Law School. They also created and endowed the Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series at the University of Miami.  Stuart Bloch was the original patron (and landlord) of Zenith Square and Zenith Gallery back in 1978.

We are all very fortunate that the Bloch's want to share their wonderful collection with the Washington community and more.

Where: 2101 K Street NW, Washington DC 20037  

Show Dates: February 8 - March 30, 2018

Information: Margery Goldberg, 202-783-2963 art@zenithgallery.com 

Congressional Bank Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm

Call for artists

Deadline: March 30th, 2018. 

VisArts invites artists working in all media to apply for 2019 Solo Exhibitions in the Gibbs Street Gallery and Common Ground Gallery. 

The Gibbs Street Gallery offers exhibitions that explore the breadth of contemporary art featuring emerging to mid-career artists. Exhibits reflect a wide range of media and experimental approaches that offer the viewer unexpected interactions with art. The gallery is approximately 1,100 square feet with 16 ft. ceilings. It is on the street level with floor to ceiling windows along one wall. International, national and local artists are welcome to apply. The Common Ground Gallery features exhibitions that reflect the creative pursuits of artists from our community. The gallery is located on the second floor and is approximately 300 square feet. 

Artists must live in the Mid-Atlantic region to apply for a solo exhibition in this gallery. Applicants who have participated in a solo exhibition at VisArts within the past two years are not eligible to apply. 

Website: https://visarts.submittable.com/submit/98811/call-for-solo-exhibition-2019

An art fair coming to the DMV this fall

From the press release:

After Wowing Art Lovers in New York and Miami, Superfine! Brings its Unique, Inclusive Take on Art Fairs to DC This Fall 

More a haven for emerging contemporary art than a typical art fair, Superfine! is a sophisticated yet approachable means for real people to discover real, meaningful art, and to connect directly with artists and their representatives. Superfine! founders Alex Mitow and James Miille have devised a tried and tested non-traditional formula to build a better and more inclusive art market. Each fair is a unique cultural experience designed to inspire and inform while also providing a fun atmosphere where everyone's inner collector can shine. Following editions in Miami and New York that have succeeded in building new collectors while connecting established ones to the cream of the crop in emerging art, Superfine! DC will launch this fall at Union Market’s Dock 5 event venue in the historic Union Market neighborhood. 

 CLICK HERE FOR DC TEASER VIDEO

Superfine! DC will take place from October 31st to November 4th at the 13,000+ square foot Dock 5 venue at Union Market, a center of art and sophistication in DC’s urban core. The fair will host 85 exhibitors exhibiting under four exhibition platforms (Emerge, Elevate, Explore, and Establish).

One of the few leading contemporary art fairs open to both solo artists and galleries, Superfine! DC also recognizes the advent of non-traditional exhibition platforms such as mobile curatorial programs, artist-led galleries, and artist collectives. The fair’s Explore platform was designed to create space for 20 exhibitors that fit these criteria to exhibit within 16-linear-foot “mini-booths”, each creating unique multi-artist narrative presentations. 24 traditional brick-and-mortar galleries hailing from the DC metro area and around the globe will exhibit under the fair’s Establish platform. Solo artists new to Superfine! may choose 6’ wall spaces as part of the Emerge platform, where young collectors can have a field day discovering emerging artists with all work priced below a cap of $5,000. Artists may also apply to the Elevate platform, which will span 24 solo positions including past Superfine! exhibiting artists and first timers. Approachability is the name of the game at Superfine! with more than 70% of the artwork in the fair priced under $5,000 and each exhibitor also required to present multiple works in the under $1,000 price range. The overarching goal is to create a brisk art market open to all, where even the newest collector can find and take home work that speaks to them. 

Fair director Alex Mitow notes that “It is incredibly important to us that Superfine! DC embodies the capital’s unique position as a global city with rapidly swelling local pride in its arts and culture. With this fall’s fair, Superfine! will present a new, exciting, and approachable option for DC’s broad
range of art enthusiasts wherein they can discover and collect not only the best of the DC metro area, but also the best in global contemporary art.” The fair's release also notes that:

The typical exhibitor breakdown of a Superfine! fair is around 50% local, with the remainder hailing from as many as 20 different countries as well as the entire United States and Canada. Also unique among art fairs is the exceptionally high number of female artists and curators represented in the fair, who make up more than 60% of each fair’s exhibitor list.

As you dear constant readers know, I've been doing art fairs for over a decade now, and have seen multiple organizers try to decipher the DMV's art scene to run a successful art fair along the Miami and New York models - they have all failed so far or just given up (Art DC from the Art Miami family of fairs, and (e)merge). 

The folks who run Pulse and the worldwide set of Affordable Art Fairs also explored the capital region, but probably came to the conclusion that although the area has the second highest concentration of disposable income in the US, it is just not an "art conscious" or "art buying" public (my words, not Ramsay Art Fairs, LLC).

Don't misinterpret my words - the DMV has an amazing art scene, and our artists are amongst the best and most innovative on the planet, regardless of the narrative that some push about this being a backwater of the art world - it is simply not true and misinformed.

But this is a political town.

The main stream press could care less that (as an example), the group of once glass artists who "broke away" (no pun intendedd) from the vessel and the craft of glass as craft, and forced it to become just another substrate, are nearly all DMV artists. Or that the heart of the worldwide Glass Secessionism movement ticks in the DMV, or that the much maligned Artomatic is the world's largest open art show.

Politics is it... not art.

My best to these brave art warriors trying to break the mold again - I hope that you do well and that the fair is a success; good luck getting the Washington Post to notice you.

Trawick Prize Application Now Open - $10,000 Top Prize

The deadline to apply is Friday, April 6.

The 2018 Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards application is now available! 

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted. The jury will select up to 10 finalists for a group exhibition in Bethesda in September 2018. For more information and to apply:http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/trawick-application

Prizes:

• Best in Show - $10,000
• Second Place - $2,000
• Third Place - $1,000
• Young Artist (must be born after April 6, 1988 to be eligible for this category) - $1,000

2018 Judges:

• Christopher Bedford, Director, The Baltimore Museum of Art
• Valerie Fletcher, Independent Art Historian & Senior Curator Emerita, Hirshhorn Museum
• Michael Jones McKean, Artist & Associate Professor, Sculpture & Extended Media, Virginia Commonwealth University  

Deadline: February 22, 2018

REVEALED is an all-media exhibition that aims to examine the relevance and value of self-portraiture, through the individual artist’s varied approach to self-representation. 

The exhibition is open to all artists, national and international, over 18 years of age. The exhibition is juried by Nicole Down, Program Manager for Halcyon Arts Lab. 

Entry Fee: $25 for three artworks; $10 for each additional piece. 

Awards: Juror’s Choice $100; Director’s Choice $75. 

Apply Here: https://hillyerartspace.submittable.com/submit/106273/revealed

Amy Sherald at the David C. Driskell Center

Amy Sherald will be at the David C. Driskell Center in conversation with Dorothy Kosinski, Director of The Phillips Collection on March 29th at 6:30pm. 

This is a free, ticketed event and tickets will be available tomorrow, February 15th at noon on The Phillips Collection's website.

Parking is available at meters or at the Union Lane Garage adjacent to Cole Student Activities Building. Free parking is available at Lot 1 after 4PM.