Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Wayson Jones Artist Talk

Montgomery College’s Visual and Performing Arts Department presents Artist in Resident Wayson Jones Artist Talk on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022, at 1 PM. 

The Montgomery College Visual and Performing Arts Department of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus presents the first artist talk of Fall Semester 2022 featuring artist in residence Wayson Jones. He is a painter, musician, and spoken-word artist. A virtual artist talk will be given at 1pm on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022.  This event will be held via ZOOM webinar. A workshop with the artist will be held on November 1, 2022, at 1:10 pm in room # CF 218 at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, 930 King Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Both events are free and open to the public. Please go to www.montgomerycollege.edu/artsinstitute to register for the artist talk.  

About the Artist 

Wayson R. Jones is a painter, musician, and spoken-word artist. He received a degree in music from University of Maryland and later went on to perform with renowned poet Essex Hemphill, as part of Washington DC’s burgeoning Black LGBT arts scene of the 1980s and ‘90s. His visual art is informed by these experiences and by an exuberant approach to materiality and process. Wayson has had solo shows at BlackRock Center for the Arts, Arts/Harmony Hall, and the Northern Virginia Community College Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Gallery and he is the recipient of a 2017 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council. His work has been purchased by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Maryland/National Capitol Park and Planning Commission, MGM National Harbor, and The Hotel at the University of Maryland, and is in private collections in the DC area and nationally.  

Monday, September 12, 2022

The curious case of the Washington Commanders and Washington state

Phone ringing...

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Hello...

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Hey! Is this Fill in the blank Graphic Design?

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Oh, yeah... yeah - can I help you?

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Yeah... hey we need a design for our new team name for our mugs and stuff...

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: No worries - I can have something back to you in a few days...

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Great! We'd like our new "W" on top of the outline of Washington

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Cool! Email me your new "W" and we'll design a great new graphic!

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Great... I'm sending it over now.

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: OK man! Just got it -- I'll just put it on top of an outline of Washington!

Two days later and $20K in design fees later...

Phone ringing...

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Hello...

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Hey! Is this Fill in the blank Graphic Design?

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Oh, yeah... yeah - can I help you?

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Hey man... this is the Washington Commanders... I just got your email with the design - looks great!

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Who's this again?

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: This is the Washington Commanders???

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Oh yeah man... sorry... did you get my email with the new design?

Someone in the Washington Commanders team: Yeah... looks great man!

Fill in the blank Graphic Design: Thank you man!


Then this goes up for sale... cough... cough...

Washington Commanders mug with Washington state on it



My studio

Technically the laundry room of my house... but - hey! you gotta do whatcha gotta do!

The basement studio of American artist Florencio Lennox Campello


Sunday, September 11, 2022

Lest we forget



Studio View, 9/11 Oil on Canvas c. 9/11/2001 by David FeBland

"Studio View, 9/11"
Oil on Canvas c. 9/11/2001 by David FeBland

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Satan came to Memphis

Satan wears many faces - this one came to Memphis a few days ago...


Friday, September 09, 2022

American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center - The Fall shows

 7 Fall Exhibits Open Saturday at AU's gorgeous Katzen Museum...

Make-BelieveGeorgia Saxelby and Devan ShimoyamaKallos: Maria KarametouSitting Pretty: Two Hundred Years of American Portrait Painting from the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of ArtHaunted KoreasMina Cheon with Kim Il SoonSingularities and Infinities: Shanthi Chandrasekar and Michael AlbrowNan Montgomery: CounterpointMore Clay: The Power of Repetition
Ongoing Exhibition:Glorious GlassWorks by Annette Lerner

Thursday, September 08, 2022

The 2022 Trawick Prize winners are...

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the 2022 prize winners during last night’s awards reception. 

WonJung Choi and Carol Trawick
WonJung Choi and Carol Trawick

WonJung Choi of Richmond, VA was awarded the prestigious “Best in Show” title and received the $10,000 top prize. Caryn Martin from Baltimore, MD was named second place and given $2,000; Robert Martin from Staunton, VA was bestowed third place and received $1,000; and Evie Metz from Henrico, VA was awarded the Young Artist Award and received $1,000.

WonJung Choi, was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. Her series of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and installation explores the power of her every changing identity in the making. She’s studied the process of mutation and evolution undertaken by diverse organisms to adapt to their current surroundings reflecting her hybrid identity through the continuous interactions between herself, contemporary culture and society. Choi received her Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, Korea. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, and has been awarded residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design and Artists Alliance Inc. (AAI) in New York as well as a fellowship at Vermont Studio Center.

2022 Trawick Prize Finalists

MK Bailey, Washington, D.C.

WonJung Choi, Richmond, VA

Marcia Haffmans, Richmond, VA

Ali Kaeini, Richmond, VA

Caryn Martin, Baltimore, MD

Robert Mertens, Staunton, VA

Evie Metz, Henrico, VA

Judith Pratt, Orange, VA

Entries were juried by Alexis Assam, Regenia A. Perry, Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art at The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VFMA); Thomas James, Visual Arts Curator at Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD; and Maria del Carmen Montoya, Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Spatial Practices, Director of Graduate Studies, M.F.A. in Fine Arts and Social Practice, Studio Arts Program.

Founded by 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, MD. 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 $260,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 160 regional artists.


 


The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, until October 2. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday-Sunday, 12 – 5pm.