Scam websites

Even the best of us get scammed! 

These are all scam websites - they all look legit, and even have Paypal payment options, run on secure servers, etc. They have dozens of mirror websites essentially selling the same things. Beware of them - I have reported them to the FTC, to their host servers, and plan to report them to the MD Attorney General. 

horgadis.com - which says it is located at 1303 Lighthouse Pl Spc 1303, Michigan City, IN 46360 - check out what's really there on Google Maps! According to WHOIS, the site has been active since March - probably cashing in like crazy! They have dozens of mirror sites with different URLs! Some of the mirror fake sites are takesprint.com, infaithwetrust.com and many others. The Paypal email associated with these in Paypal is payment.orientcircle.club@gmail.com

Same for www.susushj.co - They are scams! Email associated with that one is marshallmoorehamba383@gmail.com 

Also beware of this art scammer:

Subject: Mail order From: "Mary Boom" babaolomo07@gmail.com -- 

Hello Sir/ma Am Mary boom i will like to place an order from your store, and be making payment with credit card details. can i go ahead and send you the List of items Interested in Ordering . Thanks Mary Boom 

Developing Your Elevator Speech

 WSG PROGRAM: Developing Your Elevator Speech

Talking about art is important. Talking effectively within a socially accepted time frame is even more important. Very few us will be presented with unlimited attention that will allow us to frame what we do. Most say more than 30 seconds to place your work into context is about all you are ever going to get in most situations. Let’s face it, if you cannot distill your practice down to a couple of sentences, your work may have very little chance of resonating. No one can tell you what your work means, but, but without putting it into short statement, designed to entice further exploration, we take a real chance of not making the connections or building the audience that our work might deserve. This workshop will enable participants to hone their message into digestible descriptions that are versatile enough to adapt to different contexts, while focusing attention on artists’ practices in ways that respect the patience of listeners.    Register to Participate; meeting link provided upon registration.

Art Scam Alert!

 Beware of this mutant attempting to rip off artists:

Solomon woodson (solomonwoodson81@gmail.com)

Greetings... I am Solomon from Gadsden Alabama. I have been on the lookout for some artworks lately in regards to I and my wife's anniversary which is just around the corner. I stormed on to some of your works which I found quite impressive and intriguing. I must admit you're doing quite an impressive job. You are undoubtedly good at what you do.

With that being said, I would like to purchase some of your works as a surprise gift to my wife in honor of our upcoming wedding anniversary. It would be of help if you could send some pictures of your piece of works, with their respective prices and sizes, which are ready for immediate (or close to immediate) sales. My budget for this is within the price range of $1000 to $3500.

I look forward to reading from you in a view to knowing more about your pieces of inventory. As a matter of importance, I would also like to know if you accept a check as a means of payment.

2020 Trawick Prize Finalists announced and Baltimore dominates!

Seven Baltimore artists and one DC artist have been selected as finalists for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried competition and exhibition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District. More than 300 artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. submitted work to the 18th annual competition.

2020 Trawick Prize Finalists

• Erick Antonio Benitez, Baltimore, MD

• Cindy Cheng, Baltimore, MD

• Elliot Doughtie, Baltimore, MD

• Danni O’Brien, Baltimore, MD

• Nara Park, Washington, D.C.

• Ginevra Shay, Baltimore, MD

• Bria Sterling-Wilson, Baltimore, MD

• Daniel Wickerham & Malcolm Lomax, Baltimore, MD

The award winners will be announced on September 2, 2020. The Best in Show, first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000; third place will be awarded $1,000 and a Young Artist, a finalist who is younger than 30, could win $1,000.

The exhibit will be on display Sept. 4 – 26, 2020 at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Friday-Saturday, 12 – 4pm. During operational hours, social distancing will be enforced and face masks must be worn by all visitors.

The 2020 Trawick Prize jurors are:

Larry Cook, 2017 Trawick Prize Winner; Assistant Professor of Photography, Howard University

Carrie Fucile, Professor of Digital Art & Design, Towson University

Noah Simblist, Associate Professor of Art and Chair of Painting & Printmaking; Virginia Commonwealth University.

Founded by the amazing Carol Trawick in 2003, the regional competition is one of the largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. Ms. Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, also established the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2005. She has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. She founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007 to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County. The Foundation has awarded grants to more than 90 nonprofits in Montgomery County and funds the annual Trawick Prize and the Bethesda Painting Awards.

To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded more than $220,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 135 regional artists. 

Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Clever, 2003; David Page, 2004; Jiha Moon, 2005; James Rieck, 2006; Jo Smail, 2007; Maggie Michael, 2008; Rene Trevino, 2009; Sara Pomerance, 2010; Mia Feuer, 2011; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013; Neil Feather, 2014; Jonathan Monaghan, 2015; Lauren Adams, 2016; Larry Cook, 2017; Caroline Hatfield, 2018 and Oletha DeVane, 2019.

For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

ARTOMATIC 2.0 IS OFFICIALLY OPEN

ARTOMATIC 2.0 IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!

They have nearly 300 visual artists registered at www.artomatic.org! Take a scroll online and consider purchasing art to support our artist community.

BUY ART!

Top 10 Craft Artists at Artomatic 2.0!!!

ARTOMATIC 2.0

https://www.jra.org/jra-news/top-10-in-craft-artomatic-20

TOP 10 IN CRAFT: ARTOMATIC 2.0The James Renwick Alliance jurors selected their top 10 best craft to see at Artomatic 2.0

Jurors :

- Interior designer and collector, Judy Weisman

- Artist and past Artomatic awardee, Rania Hassan

- Collector and past JRA president, Clemmer Montague

- Collectors Sandy and Norman Michell

- Collector, photographer and arts consultant, Leslie Lane

RHODA BAER

LAUREL LUKASZEWSKI

MICHAEL JANIS

JOHN LITTLETON AND KATE VOGEL

SUSAN LARSEN AND PATRICK COLLENTINE

ERWIN TIMMERS

SHARRON PARKER

BOB TROTMAN

HILLARY STEEL

JRA Artomatic Committee : Rebecca Ravenal, Chris Shea, Tim Tate

Upcoming ARTOMATIC 2.0 JRA events

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Wednesday, July 29^th @ 7pm

The History of Craft in Washington, DC

The JRA presents an online ZOOM discussion on the history of art and craft in Washington DC by some of the leading experts on the subject: Brett L. Abrams, Rebecca Cross, Jaimianne Jacobin and Jack Rasmussen.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87935799872?pwd=R0FHYTRjQzRzKzQ3QUpMRDlkOHArZz09

Meeting ID: 879 3579 9872
Password: JRAart2020

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Wednesday, August 5^th @ 7pm

What Makes a Piece of Craft Exceptional?

The JRA will moderate an online ZOOM panel conversation on how craft collectors decide what makes a piece of art exceptional enough to add to their collection. The Conversation will have artists Rebecca Ravenal, Chris Shea, and Tim Tate, arts collectors Jere Gibber and J.G. Harrington and Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein and Dr. Judy Chernoff. This event will be moderated by arts supporter Chris Rifkin. Chris currently serves on the board of The South Shore Art Center and the Fuller Craft Museum, and is a Founding Chair of CraftBoston, a juried biennial exhibition of well-known and emerging artists in the United States.

Zoom link: ​https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83922305669?pwd=MTdYRnBzRnREMEFxS3ZQd0lMRXVDQT09
Meeting ID: 839 2230 5669
Password: JRAart2020

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The James Renwick Alliance (JRA) is an independent national non-profit organization that celebrates the achievements of America’s craft artists and fosters scholarship, education, connoisseurship and public appreciation of craft art. The JRA is made up of art enthusiasts, collectors, artists, educators, students and art professionals who share a passion for contemporary American craft. Founded in 1982, the Alliance fulfills its mission through public programs, educational trips, publications, recognition of craft artists, and financial support of museums and other non-profit organizations, including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

Artomatic 2.0 Registration is Officially Open

Visual Artist Registration is officially open!

The glitches have been fixed! Please note that you can register on a laptop or an Ipad; not on a mobile device just yet. I will let you know when mobile capability is ready. 

If you registered during the "glitch period", please do not re-register. You can now go into your artist profile and make edits. 

They will provide each visual artist with an "artist tool kit" of images to help you promote your work to your networks. These images include some generic art mediums and a customizable graphic for your own images or headshot. 

Registered artists: Look out for that email in the coming days. 

If there are any questions, please email info@artomatic.org. 

Artomatic website.