The 37th Annual Smithsonian Craft Show 2019

The 37th Annual Smithsonian Craft Show 2019 National Building Museum, 401 F St., NW, Washington DC April 11, 2019 to April 14, 2019

The Smithsonian Craft Show is a most prestigious juried exhibition and sale of contemporary American craft in art and design, held annually in Washington DC. Three jurors who are experts in the field and newly selected each year choose 120 artists from a large pool of applicants. Previous exhibitors must re-apply each year. No one is grandfathered into the show. There is no quota for any category of Craft Art. Artists are selected on the basis of the originality, artistic conception, and quality of their work. The show is produced by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. Proceeds from the Show fund grants that benefit the Smithsonian's education, outreach, research, and conservation  programs.

Application Dates: May 23, 2018 - Sep 14, 2018 Application Fee: $50.00

Late App. Dates: Sep 15 - Sep 21, 2018 Additional Late Fee: $25.00

APPLY NOW!

The Craft Show does not charge sales commissions. However, accepted artists are encouraged to donate an item for the Show’s on-line auction, raffle, or other fund-raising initiatives, the proceeds of which benefit the Smithsonian. ACCEPTABLE MEDIA CATEGORIES: Basketry, ceramics, decorative fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper, wearable art, and wood. The artist should apply in the category that best describes their medium. For instance, a jewelry artist using metal should not apply in the metal category. Other media not listed above may be included in the mixed media category when it is combined with one of the Show's established media. If applying under mixed media, please explain in your artist statement why mixed media is the appropriate category for your work. AWARDS: The Smithsonian Women's Committee recognizes outstanding work exhibited at the Craft Show by presenting a number of awards. The awards include Gold, Silver and Bronze levels of distinction, Excellence within select categories (such as jewelry, glass, ceramics, etc.), as well as several Exhibitors' Choice Awards. Cash awards range from $500 to $1500. "Honoring the Future Sustainability Award" of $1,000 will be offered for the fourth year. The purpose of this award is to educate the public about climate change and to inspire and model sustainable responses to this problem.

Making Waves: Paintings by John Aquilino

DMV artist John Aquilino's  seascape paintings will be on exhibit at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center Galleries this fall. This will be his second exhibit at NIH this year.

Low Tide, oil on canvas, 14" x 36"

"Making Waves: Paintings by John Aquilino"
NIH Clinical Center (Building 10), West Gallery
Bethesda, Maryland
September 14 - November 2, 2018

The mission of the Clinical Center's Fine Art Program is to pair art with medicine to promote healing, and benefits patients, caregivers, and employees. For the artwork that is available for sale, 20% of the proceeds will benefit the Patient Emergency Fund. The NIH Clinical Center Galleries are open to the public, but there will be a security check (see NIH map).

How to price your artwork

This article has some good advice and some bad advice --- but the key rule is: NEVER, EVER compete with yourself -- that means that you MUST keep your prices consistent and not all over the place... that only hurts you (and if you're represented by a gallery or dealer, their reputation, and thus yours...).

There is a well-known Oscar Wilde quote that goes, "When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss money.”

As an artist, you understand the making part of your job like the back of your hand. You could probably paint blindfolded and come up with a decent-looking piece. You have spent thousands upon thousands of hours honing your craft. What we often struggle with is the part that comes after we put that last final touch on an artwork—pricing.

Pricing is awkward. Setting a price on something that is so deeply personal and doesn't have a set market value is even more awkward. 

Especially at the start of your career, or if you don't have a nest egg to fall back on, you want (and need) to make sales, but you also don't want to sell yourself short. 

So, how do you start setting the prices for your artwork so you can get the salary you deserve? If you don't have a consistent history of selling your art in a particular price range or in a particular market, follow these seven rules to get started. 

Ways to Diversify Your Income and Make More Money as an Artist

If you want to make a full-time living as an artist or creative, it's not enough to rely solely on online sales or gallery representation. If you have been a professional artist for any number of years, you are probably already familiar with the slow seasons, with flopped shows, and rained out art fairs. It can be difficult to count any single income source. 

You don't put all your money on one horse, or all your eggs in one basket, so why do you want to get all of your income from one place?

The good news is that there are so many different ways for artists to make a living today. The better news is that most of these ideas require some work up front, but minimal ongoing labor. The best news is that as an artist, you already have the creativity to think of unique ways to grow your business.

Read the whole article here. 

Open House at Otis Street Arts Project

Super Casual Open House at Otis Street Arts Project
COME ON BY!
WHEN: Saturday September 8th
             1:30-4:30
WHERE: Otis Street Arts Project
               3706 Otis Street
               Mount Rainier, MD
WHO:   Gloria Chapa, Liz Lescault, Kirsty Little, David Mordini, and Lisa Rosenstein will all be there to welcome you.
             Other artists studios are open for viewing. The list includes Nick Alberti, Chris Boehner,  Ceci Cole Mcinturff, Beth Curren, Art Drauglis, Eric Gordon, and Sean Hennesey

Huge commission

A few months ago, before I knew that I had to deal with cancer resurgence, I agreed to do a huge commission for one of the nicest NYC art collector on the planet. It is essentially a multimedia family portraits which cuts across generations and comes together in an embedded video piece.

Here are some parts of the piece...

Getting my ass nuked every day in the middle of the day makes it harder to find studio time, but the work is moving along...

2018 Trawick Prize Finalists

Lori Anne Boocks, Germantown, MD
Clay Dunklin, Laurel, MD
Mary Early, Washington, D.C.
Jay Gould, Baltimore, MD
Caroline Hatfield, Baltimore, MD
Phaan Howng, Baltimore, MD
Timothy Makepeace, Washington, D.C.
Nicole Salimbene, Takoma Park, MD

Virginia gets shut out! I think that this is the first time that I recall this happening in the DMV's most prestigious art prize!

The exhibit will be on display Sept. 5 – 29, 2018 at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E. The award winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 5, 2018. The Best in Show, first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000.

The public opening reception will be held Friday, September 14 from 6-8pm. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

The 2018 Trawick Prize jurors are Christopher Bedford, Director of The Baltimore Museum of Art; Sukjin Choi, Head of Ceramics and Associate Professor of Art at James Madison University; and Valerie Fletcher, Independent Art Historian and Senior Curator Emerita at the Hirshhorn Museum.

Founded by Carol Trawick in 2003, the regional competition is one of the largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. Ms. Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, also established the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2005. She has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. She founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007 to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County. The Foundation has awarded grants to more than 90 nonprofits in Montgomery County and funds the annual Trawick Prize and the Bethesda Painting Awards.

To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded more than $220,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 135 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Cleaver, 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; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013; Neil Feather, 2014; Jonathan Monaghan, 2015; Lauren Adams, 2016 and Larry Cook, 2017.

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