The 19th venue! Women Artists of the DMV!

Great news! One more venue - the 19th! - for the Women Artists of the DMV survey show!

I will be selecting about 50 or so more artists and the art will be displayed at the Falls Church Arts gallery in Falls Church, VA. This is how you inquire about being potentially curated into this 19th venue:

1. Send me an email ASAP to lennycampello@hotmail.com with Women Artists of the DMV on the subject line.

2. Put your website or Instagram links in body of email and where in DMV do you live or work. That's ALL! No attachments, no images, no resumes, etc.

DO NOT send me  Facebook DM or ask details in the comments below - Just follow the two simple directions above. I'm trying real hard to keep this all in one place logistically.

Deadline  is November 10 and no entries will be accepted or reviewed after that.

Let's do this!

ARTSpiration: Next opening for Women Artists of the DMV

 

Next Opening for Women Artists of the DMV

 

Finally! A response from the National Museum of Women in the Arts

As most of you know, I've been very disappointed with the apathy with which the Women Artists of the DMV survey show - which now has over 600 artists in 18 different venues) has been received by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which is located right here in the city of Washington, DC.

I've been emailing the National Museum of Women in the Arts with multiple offers to minivan their curators around some of the Women Artists of the DMV venues in order to expose them to a few hundred of the women artists in their own backyard.  Had been ghosted until a couple of days ago, when in response to "did you get my email?" query, I got the following: 

"I'm so pleased to let you know that NMWA's curators are, in fact, catching some of the venues of your show that are nearest to them. We are, of course, all impressed by the breadth of this project and the opportunity to see the work of so many DC artists." 

That's great, and so in return I asked them to send me the names of some of their faves so far...

Don't hold your breath.

Bootcamp for Artists!

Another opportunity (and for free!) to do my Bootcamp for Artists seminar!

Hosted by American University this time --- only 75 spots in the seminar...

Sign up here: Artist Bootcamp, with Lenny Campello Tickets, Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite

Congrats to the 2025 Trawick Prize Winners!

Maryland sweep!

My sincere congrats to the winners of the 2025 Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards! Out of more than 300 talented applicants, the jury chose these three as the 2025 award winners:

• Best in Show ($10,000): Danni O'Brien of Baltimore, MD
• Second Place ($2,000): Tara Youngborg of Elkridge, MD
• Third Place ($1,000): Bria Sterling-Wilson of Owings Mills, MD

The exhibition of the finalists' work will be on display at Gallery B from September 4 - 28. Gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, 12-5pm and Sundays, 11am-4pm. The opening reception will be held next Friday, September 12 from 6 - 8pm.

Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

The curious case of the non responding artist

One of the lessons learned from my ongoing Women Artists of the DMV survey show - one of many, all of which I will record here eventually - is how artists procastrinate and shoot themselves in the tuchis.

Here's the scenario:

As artists get invited to be part of the show as more spaces are added and/or walls open up, some of them ignore the invite email and after a few reminders get dropped off.

It's puzzling to me that after they receive an invitation to exhibit, they do not respond, and even after a second or third reminder, there are always some who just drop off - case in point: a couple of weeks ago I invited 52 artists to exhibit at the Universities of Shady Grove (USG) in Rockville.

Because USG it is a public space, the the USG Priddy Library managers must approve each work individually and ahead of time.

A week after I sent the invitation email with detailed instructions on what to do and key dates, only 18 of 52 invited artists had responded; after a reminder, another 12 responded; after a third reminder another 10 responded as directed, and 5 asked if I could switch them to another venues (answer was no) because "Rockville is too far" — as a result I could then move 12 artists from the wait list to USG, which I did!

Based on previous scenarios similar to this one with the other venues, this week I will receive emails from about half of the non-responding artists with reasons such as "I kept forgetting to do it", or "I was sick", or a dazzling assortment of reasons.

Just venting.