Isla Abandonada

Artwork finds its way to a home 39 years later - this 1979 work done at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle in 1979 is now heading to a loving collector in Hialeah, Florida!

"Isla Abandonada (Abandoned Island)"
Oil and Acrylic on Gessoed Board, 8x10 inches, c.1979

Call for artists

APPLICATION OPEN FOR JEWISH VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION CURATED BY ORI SOLTES

Application is live for artists to submit for inclusion in a visual arts exhibition considering the issue of Authenticity and Identity. What makes a work of art Jewish? What makes an artist Jewish? Any artwork relevant to the topic may be included. 

The exhibition will be held at Adas Israel Congregation, curated by Ori Z. Soltes.

Curator Ori Z. Soltes is a professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. The former director and curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum he is co-founder of the Holocaust Art Restitution Project and author of numerous books and articles including Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; Fixing the World: Jewish American Painters in the Twentieth Century; and The Ashen Rainbow: the Arts and the Holocaust. The exhibition is directed by Robert Bettmann.

View the online submission at: https://authenticityandidentity.submittable.com/submit

The exhibition will be on display May 6 – June 2, 2020

Submission is free.

Artwork of any type may be submitted for consideration, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, digital media, sculpture, and more.

Artists may submit more than one item for inclusion, up to 4 pieces.

Artwork does not have to be newly created to be submitted.

Artists, collectors, gallerists, and estates, may submit artwork for consideration.

Selected artwork must be delivered to the site ready for hang, and picked up promptly post-exhibition.

The exhibition will occur at Adas Israel Congregation in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington D.C., 2850 Quebec Street NW DC.

The application period opens February 10 and will close March 20, 2020.

Selected artists/artwork will be notified by April 10, 2020.

The exhibition is produced in a partnership between Adas Israel Congregation and the Jewish Artists of the National Capital Region and through funding from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Adas Israel Congregation is the nation’s largest conservative synagogue, a vibrant, dynamic, multi-generational community that offers access to Jewish life for people of all backgrounds. For almost 150 years Adas Israel Congregation has been a flagship synagogue in American Jewish life and that tradition of leadership and excellence continues. The Jewish Artists of the National Capital Region is a community of area artists working to enhance the capacity of Jewish artwork to inform, inspire, and educate, and is supported in part by Hazon’s Hakhel Intentional Community incubator program.

Bummerooni!

Dear Local Writer,

On behalf of the Bethesda Urban Partnership and the 2020 Essay Contest jury, I would like to thank you for entering 2020 Bethesda Essay Contest. Our jurors truly enjoyed the opportunity to read work from a vast selection of area writers.

We received over 200 entries and while we appreciate your writing, your work was not selected. We thank you for your interest and hope you will consider applying to next year’s Essay, Short Story and Poetry competitions when a new panel of judges will select the winners.

If you’d like to join us to hear some of the winning essays and short stories read aloud, the Awards Ceremony & Reception will be held on Friday, April 17th at The Writer’s Center at 7pm. The Writer’s Center is located at 4508 Walsh Street in Bethesda, MD. 

Thank you again for sharing your work. We wish you the best of luck in your writing.

The Last Frida?

Wondering if this will be my last Frida in my 45-year-old love affair with her image?

"The Incantation of Frida Kahlo" by F. Lennox Campello
Charcoal and conte on paper 20x24 inches, c. 2020

This work will be at the Art on Paper fair which opens in New York on Thursday!

Art on Paper fair

The New York art fair Art on Paper is this week. 

We are in booth E23 - featuring the works of the uber talented Judith Peck, Sheila Giolitti, Mark Langley and yours truly! VIP preview is Thursday, March 5, 2020 6:00pm to 10:00pm!

Public Fair Hours
Friday, March 6
11:00am to 7:00pm
Saturday, March 7
11:00am to 7:00pm
Sunday, March 8

12:00pm to 6:00pm

Nubes Lloronas

The owner of this 1978 painting from my Cuba series would like to sell it - send me a note if anyone is interested - otherwise it is heading to auction.

I did this piece in my sophomore year at the School of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle. The written words on the island say: "Cachita, si puedes tu con Dios hablar, preguntale si sabe como me duele el alma, al sentir las nubes llorar... Llenas todas de tristeza... cuando sobre mi pasan al viajar..."

"Cachita" is what Cubans call the Virgin of the Charity of El Cobre, the patron saint of Cuba.  It translates to: "Cachita, if you can talk to God, ask Him if He knows how my soul aches when I feel the clouds cry... All full of sadness... when they pass over me..."

"Nubes Lloronas" (Crying Clouds)
27.5 x 37.25 inches, oil on board, c.1978

The Coronavirulization of America

As we prepare for the end of the world as we enter The Covidian Age, let me share what a Navy Chief told a bunch of us boot sailors as we reported to our first ship.

"Never forget," he said, "the first thing that a ship runs out of in times of war is shitpaper and then rags."