I cant wait to read this book

"A Cuban woman who moved to New Orleans in the 1850s and eloped with her American lover, [her name was] Loreta Janeta Velazquez, fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy as the cross-dressing Harry T. Buford.

As Buford, she single-handedly organized an Arkansas regiment; participated in the historic battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh; romanced men and women; and eventually decided that spying as a woman better suited her Confederate cause than fighting as a man.

In the North, she posed as a double agent and worked to traffic information, drugs, and counterfeit bills to support the Confederate cause. She was even hired by the Yankee secret service to find 'the woman . . . traveling and figuring as a Confederate agent' — Velazquez herself."

This is sort of a Cuban-Southerner-Confederate "Fidelio." I will do some more research on this subject which is sure to become my next series of drawings.

Loreta Janeta Velazquez hereby displaces Cuban Confederate Colonel: The Life of Ambrosio José Gonzales by Antonio Rafael de la Cova and the definitive biography of a Cuban and Confederate rebel; as my next obsessive subject.

Get the book here.

Online statistics are a tremendously valuable tool for anyone trying to do business on the Internet. They can also be seductive and maddening.

For example, our gallery website gets about 525,000 hits a month, but this last October it received a whooping 1,048,825 hits (our first month over one million hits) and 48% of those hits came on October 7, 2004.

I called my ISP to verify that this was correct and not a blip in their stats program, and the stats are correct.

So now I'm going crazy trying to figure out what happened on October 7, 2004 to cause nearly half a million people to come to our gallery website.

And the closest answer that I can come up with, is the fact that on October 7, 2004 I was on the Kojo Nmandi show!

But that fact alone cannot equate to 458,448 hits in one day, and in reviewing the show's audio files, the website is never given out or mentioned. And most of the hits came during hour three of that Internet day, whatever that means. And 36% of the hits that month came directly to the gallery URL, which means that those people knew our website; only about 5% of the hits came through referral from search engines.

Next is for us to review our October sales and see how many Internet sales we had in October.

For Women Photographers

Secondsight's next meeting will be held on Friday, January 28, 2005. The guest speaker will be Connie Imboden.

Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. Secondsight is committed to supporting photographers at every stage of their careers, from students to professionals. Each bi-monthly meeting includes an introductory session, a guest speaker, portfolio sharing and discussion groups. Each photographer will have the opportunity to present their work within a small group of other photographers, ask for constructive criticism, gain knowledge or simply share their artistic vision and techniques.

For more info visit Secondsight's website.

More Questions for our WaPo critic art test

My DC Art Test seems to have raised some interest among some of you.

DC area artist Rosetta DeBerardinis adds the following questions:

1. What is Gallery magazine?
2. Who was DC artist Alma Thomas?
3. What is the group Americans for the Arts?
4. Where is Penn Quarter?
5. Which DC artist is known for his hearts?
6. Which was the first contemporary art museum in America?

While James W. Bailey (as it is to be expected) submits one of the longest questions ever devised for an DC Art SAT:

"If you found yourself being extradited to permanent life-long exile on a remote non-populated island (Navassa Island near Haiti comes to mind) because of a perceived subversive piece of art criticism printed in the Washington Post that severely disturbed the national security interests of the United States, and you could choose to take with you one work of art from any living contemporary artist, or any one work of art from any private or museum collection in the world (including the Mona Lisa from the Louvre), what piece would you choose and why?"

That's an easy one for me. I would take Adam Bradley's lifesize sculpture Please. There's enough knives and hardware in that piece to help half a dozen people survive and even start a small war on that island.

New Gallery in Town

Emma Mae Gallery, founded by Sandra Butler-Truesdale, opened last month in Washington. The new gallery is located at 1515 U Street, NW in Washington, DC. For further information call 202-667-0634 or 202-246-6300

Currently on view there are works by Sandra Butler-Truesdale, John Zaire El-Badr, Afrika Midnight Asha Abney and many others.

Opportunity for artists

Montgomery College Drawing National II

Deadline: January 20, 2005 (snail mail entries)
January 21, 2005 (email entries)

Exhibition dates February 21 - March 11 at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD. Open to artists living in the United States. All drawing media. One to three entries. No entry fee, no commission, return shipping paid for mail-delivered work. No size restrictions. Work must be ready to hang, presented in a professional manner. Insurance.

Approximately 35-40 works will be exhibited. Looking for straight, creative, and unusual approaches to drawing.

Juror: Sarah Stecher, Associate Professor of Art, Montgomery College. 301-251-7649, Email her here.

View and download prospectus here.

Some DC area art jobs

Deadline: January 17, 2005
Job: Assistant Director of the Art Gallery at the University of Maryland.

The Assistant Director works closely with the Director in the overall management and administration of the Gallery's exhibition program, permanent collection, education program, and fundraising.

The successful candidate will fulfill the following requirements: Possess a bachelor's degree. Must have 2-3 years experience in a museum of gallery setting involving exhibitions, handling art objects, and grant writing. Excellent organizational, time management, and oral and written communication skills. Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks and deadlines. Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to interact with a diverse public. Additionally, the preferred candidate will: Possess a bachelor degree in art, art history, or related fields. Possess a graduate degree. Demonstrate academic training in art history and/or art and understanding of current museum standards.

Salary: Low to mid 30's

For best consideration send a letter of application, resume or curriculum vitae and three names of references by January 17, 2005 to:

Dorit Yaron
Deputy Director
David C. Driskell Center
2108 Tawes Fine Arts Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

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Job: Assistant Professor in Graphic Design: American University

Deadline: Until filled

Assistant Professor rank. Tenture Track. Beginning Fall 2005. Qualifications: MFA or equivalent terminal degree in the discipline. Teaching and professional experience preferred. The applicant should be knowledgeable of current issues in design, the demands of the professional field and the tools, technologies and resources inherent to the discipline. Expected familiarity with theoretical issues of graphic design as well as its historical background. Ability to contribute to the teaching of interactive and experience design courses a plus.

Responsibilities: Teach courses in graphic design at the undergraduate level, basic through advanced levels; stduent advising, including mentoring women and minority students. Scholarship/Creative work: active professional in the field. University service: serving on Department, College and University Committees. Salary is competitive and dependent on qualifications and experience. Applications will be reviewed beginning January 15, 2005 and continue until the position is filled.

Selected candidate will begin appointment working at facilities located in a brand-new building. Visit www.design.american.edu and www.american.edu for further information on the University and design program. Include letter of application stating teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, a minimum of 20 slides or disk media with samples of own work and (if available) examples of students' work, and printed writing samples if any.

Salary: Competitive and dependent on qualifications and experience.

Send materials along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for their return, and three letters of recommendation to:

Graphic Design Search Committee
Department of Art
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington DC 20016-8004