Tonight is a big night at WSS!‏

One of my best pieces of advice, from the billions of great pieces of advice that I dispense on a constant and routine basis, is as follows:

Someone: "Master Lenster, I'd like to start collecting original artwork but have limited funds and do not know whom or what to collect..."

Me: "Why don't you start by visiting lots of art shows and seeing what your visual eye likes? Do not forget to visit lots of student art shows as well."

Someone: "Student art shows?"

Me: "Yes, young padwan... it is often at undergraduate art student shows, MFA shows and other art schools' art exhibitions where the undiscovered jewels may reside, often at a lower degree of Samolians..."

Tonight is the opening of the Washington Studio School's Annual Juried Student Show, a terrific event to which I've never been asked to jury, but which I would love to do so. I've been to several of these in the past, acquired work at some of them, and I can tell you that it is usually one of the best student shows in the DMV.

The opening of the Annual Juried Student Show  is tonight, Friday, September 11 from 6-8 pm. The show was juried by WSS Faculty Member Carolyn Reece-Tomlin, installed by Jo Weiss and Joanne Kaufman, and mentored by WSS's vastly talented and hard-working faculty.

The students selected by Reece-Tomlin are: Adele McGovern, Belen Eliot, Bill Thompson, Brenda Fox, Brigitte Zelenko, Courtney Applequist, Carol Blum, Catherine Antoine, Caroline Champetier de Ribes, Chris Marlow, Elisa Sarmiento, Elizabeth Naab, Erika Mosher, Gail Goodman, Gail Jensen, Jacqueline Sparks, Jay Ball, Jill Bateman, Joanne Lamm, John Graham, Karen Slovin, Karim Bouabdelli, Kathryn Kailian, Lara Fredrickson, Laurance Frierson, Leo Bottrill, Leslie Blackmon, Monette Melanson, Maria Uehara, Maria Schreiber, Michele Lurie, Mitsuko Tsuchiya, Pat Kraniotis, Peggy Greene, Phyllis Mayes, Phyllis Ruffer, Scott Cowcher, Scott Wiskoski, Siobhan Fisher, Tanya Yudelman-Bloch, Teresa Jarzynski, Tricia Garey, Yassir Islam.

As an aside, Caroline Champetier de Ribes wins the award for the best artist name!

Lest we forget



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

 

Black Artists Matter

Zenith Gallery and Zenith Community Arts Foundation Present:

"BLACK ARTISTS MATTER"

 

At the Marketplace at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

DC Convention Center- Hall E, Booth #540

801 Mt Vernon Pl NW, Washington, DC 20001

Showing select artworks from the

FREEDOM PLACE COLLECTION

Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, Benny Andrews, Robert Freeman & Richard Yarde. 

Other artists represented:
Doba Afolabi, Anne Bouie, Cassandra Gillens, Hubert Jackson, Gloria Kirk, Chris Malone, Curtis Woody and more.

Market Place Open to the Public

Show Dates:  September 17- September 19, 2015 

 

Zenith Gallery Information:

Margery Goldberg, 202-783-2963, margery@zenithgallery.com

Zenith Community Arts Foundation Information:

Ella Dorsey, 202-783-8005, zenithcommunityarts@zcaf.org 

For your Wednesday night

I will be the Chief Critiquer in David Mordini's and Sean Hennessey's new event "The Critique" at their Otis Street Art Project space tonight. 

The most expensive thing in the world is information; for artists it is information and critical feedback. Artists complain all the time about not having either one of these two.

 

This critique should be a really interesting time where you can listen not pnly as I give my professional opinion about the work Zofie Lang, Christian Tribastone, Ceci Cole McKinturff, and Nate Lewis!

I am probably the best opinion-giver on the planet because I offer it from many perspectives, not just from a pencil-neck geek art critic, but also from a professional artist with a few decades of worldwide experience under his size 36 belt plus an even more successful (and humble) art dealer with more experience on the subject than nearly all other DMV art dealers combined... so please come by and bring a note pad and clean ears.

You will learn a lot.
Also I will also be dispensing some gold nuggets on artists and arts fairs!

Everyone that is interested in hearing this conversation about these artists' original art - applicable to all -  is invited sit in on The Critique. The conversation is meant to be critical but constructive. The event aims to discuss what works, what doesn’t work, and to lead the artist toward possible resolutions or developments.

6:00 - 7:00 Meet and Greet with refreshments, and to see the Otis Street Arts Project space.

The Critique will begin at 7:00. Some works we will discuss will be jpgs, some will be actual pieces and each artist's work will be discussed for roughly 30 minutes.

RSVP on the event's Facebook Event Page
(not required for attendance) https://www.facebook.com/events/1649240928664730/

Artists' Websites: Michelle Banks

DMV artist Michelle Banks is one of the hardest working artists around the region.

Her work explores the marriage of art and science in a visual representation that maximizes the artistry of science and the science of visual art.

While many artists complaint about lack of opportunities, Banks grabs them by the horns and you can see her work several times a year around the region.

She writes:

Art and science may seem like opposites, but they can form beautiful partnerships. My work draws on biology, anatomy and neuroscience to produce paintings and collages that celebrate colors and forms that can often be seen only under a microscope.

You can find her artwork at the following local events this year:

September 1217th Street Festival
Washington, DC

September 26Barracks Row Fall Festival
Washington, DC

October 3Art on the Avenue
Alexandria, VA

October 4McLean Project for the Arts, Artfest
McLean, VA

If you can't make it to a festival, you can visit her online shop at Artologica.

This is what you need to do this Wednesday!

I will be the Chief Critiquer in David Mordini and Sean Hennessey's new event "The Critique" at their Otis Street Art Project space this Wednesday. 

 It should be a really interesting time where you can listen to my wealth of immense knowledge as I talk about the work of Zofie Lang, Christian Tribastone, Ceci Cole McKinturff, and Nate Lewis!

If you want to pick up some good and critical points about artwork - some brutal, but all constructive - from the perspective of one of the DMV's best-known art critics, who also happens to be an immensely successful artist, and an even more successful (and humble) art dealer (much to the chagrin of some)... please come by and bring a note pad and clean ears.

Also I will also be dispensing some gold nuggets on artists and arts fairs!

Everyone that is interested in hearing this conversation about these artists' original art - applicable to all -  is invited sit in on The Critique. The conversation is meant to be critical but constructive. The event aims to discuss what works, what doesn’t work, and to lead the artist toward possible resolutions or developments.

6:00 - 7:00 Meet and Greet with refreshments, and to see the Otis Street Arts Project space.

The Critique will begin at 7:00. Some works we will discuss will be jpgs, some will be actual pieces and ach artist's work will be discussed for roughly 30 minutes.

RSVP on the event's Facebook Event Page
(not required for attendance) https://www.facebook.com/events/1649240928664730/

I will also be bringing some signed artwork to dispense to attendees as I see fit... FREE ART!!!

Scotland!!!!!