Un-Censored drawing

Rebecca Anderson, a parent with two children at the high school, said she was offended to find a drawing of a topless woman, with both middle fingers extended upward in defiance, hanging at an art show last week at Cheltenham High School. The annual spring Unified Arts Show, which ran last week, features works by district students and is open to the public.

You can read the whole article, and see the offending artwork (which is pretty amateurish, but drives the point home as only representational art can) here. 

Library fines

I hate library fines... Don't get me wrong..... I understand why they exist and why we have to pay fines if we don't return books and movies back on time.

One needs official ID to get a library card...

One needs official ID to get a library card...

One needs official ID to get a library card...

Why aren't Progressives upset about this?

Edzell, Scotland

Great deal on a 1989 vintage piece at auction!

Bid for it here!

Art fairs

As you know, I keep preaching how important it is for art galleries to do art fairs... and how scary it is to pony up the gigantic expenses of doing an art fair... but, in most case (note that the "most it pays off" is versus spending $$$$ over advertising and opening expenses...).

In 2017 we are/did doing:

1. Affordable Art Fair New York (Spring)
2. Scope New York
3. SOFA Chicago
4. Affordable Art Fair New York (Fall)
5. Texas Contemporary Art Fair
6. Context Art Miami
7. Scope Miami Beach

Why? Because the numbers bear it all out! It has been over a decade of experience and empirical data and if you are a gallery and do not do art fairs --- you are nuts!

Artists' Websites: Lee Jaworek

Today I wanted to share the website of DMV area artist Lee Jaworek.

Lee Jaworek calls his art Artism® - seeing the world through the prismatic lens of Autism.  Lee is a young artist with Autism who tries to express his perception of the world through his art; the challenges -- the triumphs -- the beauty. 

Lee is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of Washington with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.  Since his graduation he has been pursuing a career in painting impressionistic and abstract works.  His paintings and prints have been exhibited in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Alexandria Virginia's Athenaeum Art Gallery, and at the Paula Poundstone Performance/Fundraiser at The Birchmere nightclub, as well as other galleries in the Washington Metropolitan area.  Most recently his "Sunflower" has been seen on CBS Sunday Morning as part of their sun art collection.  Lee has received a number of commissions from private collectors while currently  continuing to expand his portfolio. 

Lee's Artism® is characterized by vibrant colors, balance, and impact. He believes "each color is just as important as every other color." Since an early age, Lee has been attracted to the basic spectrum of colors in the rainbow, and has incorporated them in many of his works.  He is intense in his execution, and definite about his selection of subject.  Lee's sensory experience of light and color have a great deal of influence on his art.  Perhaps in viewing it, one may have a glimpse into an autistic person's perception of the world -- stunning, curious, perplexing, magical, beautiful -- Artism® .

Visit Lee's website here. 

Rousseau on Campello

Dr. Claudia Rousseau checks in at East City Art with an insightful review of my current solo show at Artists and Makers Studios II in Rockville:

The artist has always been fascinated by history, mythology, and the imagery of religion and legend.  These often overlap in his creative mind.  Having been stationed in Scotland for a number of years before returning to the United States in 1992, Campello became deeply immersed in the rich and mysterious history of the ancient Picts and Celts of Scotland and Ireland.  The spiritual connection that he developed to the place and its material and visual culture has become almost a second origin for him

Most people don't know that Dr. Rousseau was once considered one of the leading art critics in Latin America! We are lucky that subsequently, when returning to the US, she turned her formidable skills to the DC area - both in writing and in teaching!


Read the entire review here. 

Bethesda Painting Award Winners Announced

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District announced the top three Bethesda Painting Awards prize winners on Wednesday evening during the exhibition’s opening at Gallery B. Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann of Washington, D.C. was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; Carolyn Case of Cockeysville, MD was named second place and was given $2,000 and Kenneth Schiano of Chestertown, MD received third place and was awarded $1,000.

Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, RI, and Master of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has had solo exhibits at AIR Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, Rice Gallery at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD and Hamilton Gallery in Washington, D.C. She received artist in residence grants throughout the U.S. and in Austria and India.  Mann was a finalist in the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2008, 2009, and received second place in 2010 and third place in 2012. She received Best in Show at Rawls Museum in Courtland, VA in 2011 and was a semifinalist for the 2015 Janet and Walter Sondheim Award. In 2016, Mann was an Individual Artist Grant recipient from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

 

The eight artists selected as finalists are:

Amy Boone-McCreesh, Baltimore, MD

Carolyn Case, Cockeysville, MD

Frank Cole, Rockville, MD

Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, Washington, D.C.

Mike McConnell, Phoenix, MD

Kenneth Schiano, Chestertown, MD

Stephen Towns, Baltimore, MD

Trevor Young, Takoma Park, MD

A public opening will be held on Friday, June 9, 2017 from 6 –8pm. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in downtown Bethesda. The work of the eight finalists will be on display from June 7 - July 1, 2017. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12 – 6pm.

Entries were juried by Don Kimes, Professor of Art and Director of Studio Art Program at American University; Trace Miller, Lecturer and Assistant to Department Chair at Towson University and Dr. Cole Welter, Graduate Program Director, Professor of Art, Painting & Drawing at James Madison University.

 

The Bethesda Painting Awards was established by Carol Trawick in 2005. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is past chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, past chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and founder of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.

 

For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org.