And the Trawick winner is...

Congratulations to Gary Kachadourian from Baltimore, winner of the 2013 Trawick Prize and who breaks my string of predictions but continues an established Trawick tradition of Baltimoreans doing well in the Prize competition! Well done!

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the top four prize winners on Friday evening during the exhibition’s opening. Gary Kachadourian from Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Adam Hager from Washington, D.C. was named second place and given $2,000 and Mariah Anne Johnson from Washington, D.C. was bestowed third place and received $1,000.

2013 Trawick Prize Finalists

Lauren Adams - Baltimore, MD

Selin Balci - Annapolis, MD

Travis Childers - Fairfax, VA

Adam Hager - Washington, D.C.

Mariah Anne Johnson - Washington, D.C.

Gary Kachadourian - Baltimore, MD

Kate Kretz - Colesville, MD

Caitlin Teal Price - Washington, D.C

The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, from Sept. 4-28, 2013. The public opening reception was held Friday, Sept. 13 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

Entries were juried by Cynthia Connelly, Visual Arts Curator at Artisphere in Arlington, VA; Alexander Heilner, Associate Dean of Design and Media Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore; and Vesela Sretenović, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

The Trawick Prize was established in 2003 by Carol Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda. She is the past Chair of both the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and Bethesda Urban Partnership, and also the Founder of the Bethesda Painting Awards. In 2007, Ms. Trawick founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation to assist heath and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County.

The Trawick Prize is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $126,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of over 100 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 and Lillian Bayley Hoover in 2012.

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

Xerox copy install by Gary Kachadoriuan

Sculptures by Adam Hager

Installation by Mariah Anne Johnson

Fall for the Arts at AU

American University's Fall for the Arts will bring neighbors, students, faculty, and friends together through art. The visual exhibition opened at the Katzen a couple of days ago.

The day will feature an afternoon of dynamic Courses and Workshops including orchestral conducting, the history of audio recording, a playwriting class, and a discussion of the role of interruption as a catalyst for art, to name just a few. Classes suitable for children are so noted in the descriptions. 

Surprise performances will pop up when you least expect them. The day will conclude with an early evening cocktail reception in the Katzen Arts Center and a Live Art Auction featuring local artists. 

The event is open to the public and an invitation is extended to local residents, patrons of the arts, parents of AU students, and the entire AU community.

Check out the details, the artists, and the terrific artwork here. 

There's an amazing Alan Feltus that someone will get for a steal! Also check out this gorgeous Tim Tate!

You can register here.

Ira Tattelman's Gaming opens Tonight!

Gaming is an interactive installation by Ira Tattelman that takes place in the Capitol Skyline Hotel Lounge, 10 I Street, SW.

 

The installation directly invites visitors to participate in the work by playing games on boards created by the artist on the wall in the space, referencing the games commonly played in bars. Instructions for eight games and the necessary pieces to play them will be provided. Participants are also encouraged to invent their own games using the boards and other game supplies made available as part of the installation.

Opening:  Friday Night, September 6 from 6-8pm

Location:  Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 I Street, SW
Exhibit:   August 31 through September 29 - part of Washington Project for the Arts Hothouse series

Opening next week

40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE
September 12 – November 2, 2013
Opening Reception September 12, 6-9pm, free and open to the public 

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) is pleased to present 40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE, from September 12 through November 2, 2013. A retrospective exhibition marking GRACE’s 40th anniversary, 40 for 40 celebrates the organization’s continuous engagement with contemporary art in the metro D.C. area since its founding in 1974. The show will feature a selection of forty artists who have exhibited at GRACE, or have been closely involved with the organization, over the course of the past four decades. 

Launching the 2013-14 exhibition season and the Greater Reston Arts Center’s 40th year of operations, 40 for 40 will feature works in a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, glass, and ceramics, the exhibition will celebrate the variety and quality of work that has been exhibited at GRACE since its inception. 

Speaking about the exhibition, Curator of Exhibitions Holly Koons McCullough said, “This show highlights the impact the Greater Reston Arts Center has had within the regional artistic community. Some of the artists on view in 40 for 40 literally founded the institution. Others had exhibitions here that would become important milestones in their careers. Still others exhibited works that have come to define GRACE’s unreserved embrace of contemporary art in this region, in all its diversity and vigor.” 

40 for 40 will present works by some of the pioneers of the institution, including Brenda Belfield, Judith Forst, Joan Kelly, and Connie Slack. These artists held positions on GRACE’s staff and board, and helped to develop the organization’s overarching mission of engaging and educating the community in contemporary visual art. 

Other works on view reflect GRACE’s more recent exhibition history, such as a luminous Mylar sculpture by Rebecca Kamen, a site-specific ceramic installation by Elizabeth Kendall, and cerebral wood-based sculptures by Foon Sham and Evan Reed. Together with works by the other noted contemporary artists featured in 40 for 40, these pieces reflect the broad-minded, progressive nature of GRACE’s exhibitions, particularly since the institution relocated to its current site in Reston Town Center in 2006.

“We are thrilled to be able to highlight the rich and vibrant history of the Greater Reston Arts Center,” notes Executive Director Damian Sinclair. “For over forty years the work of this organization has been central to the cultural growth in our region and we look forward to being a leader of the artistic community in the next forty years.” 

Most of the works in the exhibition are available for sale, and many of the artists are donating 50% of sale proceeds back to GRACE in recognition of the organization’s anniversary and in support of its future. 

Artists Represented in 40 for 40: Celebrating Four Decades of GRACE 

John Adams, Ann Barbieri, Joanne Bauer, Brenda Belfield, Ed Bisese, F. Lennox Campello, Michael Cantwell, Dickson Carroll, Travis Childers, Ellen Cornett, Laura Edwards, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Judith Forst, Heidi Fowler, Suzi Fox, Rik Freeman, Rebecca Kamen, Joan Kelly, Elizabeth Kendall, J.T. Kirkland, Craig Kraft, Robert Lobe, Dalya Luttwak, Carolina Mayorga, David Meyer, Marco Rando, Matt Ravenstahl, Evan Reed, Pam Rogers, Dana Ann Scheurer, Eveleen Severn-Sass, Foon Sham, Connie Slack, Robert Straight, Tim Tate, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Mary LaRue Wells, Millicent Young, and Andrew Zimmerman.

Public Programs:
Opening Reception
Thursday, September 12, 6-9pm. Free and open to the public.
40th Anniversary Family Day
40 for 40 public celebration and family day
Sunday, September 5, 2-5pm. Free and open to public.

Facebook's new terms of service and your pics...

Effective today (September 5th, 2013) Facebook has put into effect new Terms of Service and privacy policies that radically and significantly increase Facebook’s power to use your content and identity.

“The new Facebook Terms of Use have been modified to allow the company to sell virtually anything that is uploaded to the service, including all your photos, your identity and your data. Facebook has explicitly removed the privacy protection from the commercialization rights.”

Details here and good Q's and A's here.

New director for Clarice Smith

Effective October 1, Martin Wollesen will be the new executive director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park. An arts administrator at the University of California, San Diego, "he is known for developing innovative arts programs to involve students and the community. Wollesen plans to bring the same inventiveness to his new job as executive director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center that he did to his previous job in California."

Susie Farr, who is retiring after 14 years as executive director at Clarice Smith, was appointed to the Maryland State Arts Council in July of this year.  

Wollesen will be working with the UMD School of Music and also the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. He will also be overseeing the visiting artists’ program, raising funds and finding new ways to connect students and the public to the arts at the University of Maryland. 

Welcome to the DMV!

Wanna go to an opening Saturday?