Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Elephant

Anderson Campello - Elephant June 2012
Anderson Campello, Elephant, Mixed Media on paper, 11x14 inches, circa 2012

Hoyt Call for Artists

Mid Atlantic Competition


Deadline for Submissions: August 3, 2012

October 9 – November 2, 2012
Public Reception: Sunday, October 14, from 2-4pm

The 2012 Hoyt Mid Atlantic Juried Art Exhibition showcases artists from the Mid Atlantic Region: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West Viginia, Virginia and Washington, DC.

Juror:  Yours Truly

2012 Mid Atlantic Prospectus page 1
2012 Mid Atlantic Prospectus page 2

Opportunity for Artists


Join us to put on a one day
Addiction and Art Exhibition
at the
IntNSA Conference
Annual Education Conference of the International Nurses Society on Addiction
Artists are invited to submit original artworks on the theme of drug addiction and recovery (drugs include alcohol, tobacco, illegal or prescription drugs). Artists accepted for the show will be asked to attend the exhibition to discuss their work with visitors 5:30 - 8:00 PM on September 5, 2012. Submissions will be juried because there is limited exhibition space. Conference attendees will select the prize winners (1st $300, 2nd $200 and 3rd $100)
The exhibition will be at the
Madison Hotel, 1177 15th St., NW Washington, DC
September 5, 2012
Deadline for Submissions: August 1, 2012
For submission details download the call at addictionandart.org/shows.html#intnsa_call

Monday, June 18, 2012

Mici on Parris

Bora Mici has an interesting article titled Being a Local Artist - An Insider's Perspective in the Gaithersburg Patch...
"Preparing and designing a solo show is a great responsibility since you represent yourself, your art, your view of the world," said Parris, of Gaithersburg, who is now a veteran of the local art scene..
Read it here.

Laura Roulet's AOM Report

My good friend Laura Roulet is one of the most active and hottest DMV area independent curators; she went to Artomatic and here's her report:
As a local independent curator, who has been around for awhile, I am a fan of Artomatic. It is a truly fun and useful Washington tradition. Every time I visit,  I see it as a chance for discovery of a fabulous, new artist. Granted that it’s a bit of a needle in a haystack search, and this year with 1,000+ artists, the haystack has reached perhaps unmanageable proportions. Visual overload has become a serious factor in appreciating what Artomatic has to offer. However, I also have come to appreciate some unique services offered by Artomatic:

AFFORDABLE ART
Artomatic has art for every taste, often at truly affordable prices, and I believe that original art always beats posters, commercial replicas, etc. By purchasing original art, you are helping to support/encourage a human being and acquiring something unique. Much better then mall art.

POST SECRET
At 500,000 and growing, this project by Frank Warren (which got a start at Artomatic) is a great example of the type of participatory, successful artform that can spring from the Washington community.

NICHE ARTISTS
Artomatic alerts the public to the best wedding photographer (Amber Wilkes), pet photographer (Lee Anderson), pet portraitist (Sheppard Bear), and bacon photographers (Rebecca and Eric Gordon). Who knew?

PEEPS
Gotta love them!

LOCAL SCHOOLS/WORKSHOPS
I noticed that local institutions such as the Washington Glass School, Glen Echo Pottery, DC Glass Works, Critical Exposure and PG County artists posted signage identifying and giving further exposure to their artists. Great idea.

CRAZY STUFF
Lego art by 11 year olds, black light art, money mosaics, pet paintings juxtaposed with gay porn (8th floor). All I can say is, wow.

After combing through all nine floors, I have some advice for artists about what helps it work for viewers:

Presentation counts. I know curation is verboten at Artomatic, but let’s face it, the artists who “curated” their own space, painting the wall, taking care in arrangement,  putting their name on the wall, leaving business cards, perhaps coordinating with another artist to create a distinctive space, look the best. Painting the wall black or scribbling on it doesn’t count.

MY TOP FOURTEEN (some are new discoveries, some were a delightful relief from all the other stuff. And yes, I definitely could have missed some greats given the circumstances):

Julia Bloom

Mei Mei Chang

Pierre Davis

David D’Orio

Mo Fogarty

Lori Goldberg

Pat Goslee

James Halloran

Robert Kincheloe

Rahshia Linendoll-Sawyer

Jessica Murray

Thomas Petzwinkler

Henrik Sundqvist

Edmond van der Bijl

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Last day at the beach

Exhausted but happy and heading home tonight... throngs of people at the Art festival...

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Award!

Last night I had to miss the award ceremonies, but today I found out that I had won one of the show awards - a "Friends of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art" award!

A lot less windier today and much better sales!