Alchemical Vessels Opens Next Week!

"Suddenly, She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer"
Charcoal and Conte on Provided Clay Vessel
2014 by F. Lennox Campello

Opening April 4, 2014, the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery will host the return of Alchemical Vessels with an opening reception from 7-9 PM. Above is the image for the vessel that I've created and donated for this effort... Last year my piece went really early (first 10 or so)... just sayin'... cough, cough.

Alchemical Vessels brings together 125 local artists and 20 invited curators for a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. Each artist will transform a simple ceramic bowl by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium, drawing inspiration from the bowl as a place of holding, open community, sacred space, and even the alchemical vessel. The show is an amazing grouping of Who's Who in the DMV art scene.

The ceramic bowl was selected as the fundamental element of the exhibition to symbolize creating a space where healing can take place—an idea at the heart of Smith Center's work and mission. Metaphorically speaking, Smith Center—the space and the work we do within our walls—resembles an alchemical vessel. People bring their everyday burdens, fears, and pains to us, and in this place of holding, we help transform those toxic elements into hope, light, wisdom and strength.

The Alchemical Vessels exhibition will open at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery on April 4th and run through May 16th, 2014, with the opening reception on Friday, April 4th, 7-9pm. The Alchemical Vessels Benefit will take place on Friday, May 2nd, with doors opening at 7pm. With a $125 Benefit-Vessel Contribution, guests will be admitted to the event and will select one of the 125 works on display to add to their own collections. 

For more information about the Alchemical Vessels 2014 Benefit, please visit www.smithcenter.org/benefit.

Artists: Eames Armstrong, Sardar Aziz, Karen Baer, Beth Baldwin, Michele Banks, Joseph Barbaccia, Carolyn Becker, Jessica Beels, Joan Belmar, Lori Anne Boocks, Anne Bouie, Amy Braden, Julia Brown, Karen O. Brown, Larry Brown, Amanda Burnham, Lenny Campello, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Mei Mei Chang, Peter Charles, Asma Chaudhary, Travis Childers, Eunmee Chung, Wesley Clark, Michael Corigliano, Sheila Crider, Candy Cummings, Anna U. Davis, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Tamara De Silva, Elsabe Dixon, Joel D'Orazio, David D'Orio, Chelsea S. Dobert-Kehn, Thomas Drymon, Nekisha Durrett, Victor Ekpuk, Laura Elkins, Dana Ellyn, Erica Benay Fallin, Felisa Federman, Jeremy Flick, Suzi Fox, Barbara Frank, Nancy Frankel, Shaunté Gates, Dawn Gavin, Bita Ghavami, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Melissa Glasser, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Sherill Anne Gross, John Grunwell, Nelson Gutierrez, Kristen Hayes, Eve Hennessa, Sean Hennessey, Linda Hesh, Matt Hollis, Leslie Holt, Jessica Hopkins, Karen Hubacher, Monica Jahan Bose, Barbara Johnson, Wayson R. Jones, J'Nell Jordan, Mila Kagan, Sumita Kim, Joan Konkel, Yar Koporulin, Walter Kravitz, Kate Kretz, Randall Lear, Heather Levy, Yue Li, Nathan Loda, Armando Lopez-Bircann, Laurel Lukaszewski, James Mahoney, J.J. McCracken, Donald McCray, Jayme Mclellen, Tendani Mpulubusi El, Komelia Okim, Amie Oliver, Luis Peralta, Michael Platt, Maryanne Pollock, Lynn Putney, Maria-Lana Queen, Beverly Ress, Kim Reyes, Glenn Richardson, Marie Ringwald, Amber Robles-Gordon, Pam Rogers, Lisa Rosenstein, Nicole Salimbene, Samantha Sethi, Matt Sesow, Amy Sherald, Shahin Shikhaliyev, Ellen Sinel, Casey Snyder, Susan Stacks, Dafna Steinberg, Jennifer Strunge, Lynn Sures, Lynn Sylvester, Ira Tattelman, Christine Buckton Tilman, Erwin Timmers, Ben Tolman, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Laurie Tylec, Michael Verdon, Jodi Walsh, Jenny Walton, Ellyn Weiss, Stephanie Williams, Audrey Wilson, Sharon Wolpoff, and Carmen C. Wong.

Curators: Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Educator, Philanthropist and Founder of D.C.'s Duke Ellington School for the Arts | Jarvis DuBois, Independent Curator and Principal at J. DuBois Arts | Monica Jahan Bose, Artist and Activist | Anne L'Ecuyer, Arts Management Faculty at American University | Camille Mosley-Pasley, Photographer and Principal at Pasley Place Photography | B.G. Muhn, Professor of Art, Georgetown University | Michael O'Sullivan, Art Critic for The Washington Post | Dr. Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., NIH Physician, Fine Art Collector and; Past Board Chair, Washington Project for the Arts | Michael Platt, Artist and Professor at Howard University | Jennifer Riddell, Writer and Interpretive Projects Manager at the National Gallery of Art | Adah Rose, Principal at Adah Rose Gallery | Laura Roulet, Independent Curator and Writer | Molly Ruppert, Artist and Gallery Director at the Warehouse Theater | Terry Scott, Cultural Organizer and Independent Curator | Judy J. Sherman, Art Consultant and Principal at j. fine art | Thomas Stanley, Professor at George Mason University | Nuzhat Sultan, Independent Curator | Tim Tate, Artist and Co-Director of Washington GlassSchool | R.L. Tillman, Artist, Teacher and Curator | Dolly Vehlow, Fine Art Collector and Principal at Gallery O on H 

Planning Committee: Helen Frederick, Deborah Lesser, Wendy Miller, PhD, Kim Schelling, Timothy Schelling, and Ellyn Weiss.

2nd Tri-Annual Maryland State Artist Registry Juried Exhibition

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 19 I 6pm - 9pm
On View:  Thursday, September 19 - Sunday, November 10

Performances:
Thursday, September 19 I 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Performances by:  Margaret Rorison, A. Moon, Sara Dittrich, Maren Henson,  and Jason Sloan
Saturday, November 9 I 9pm - 11pm 
Performances by: Dominique Zeltzman, Shonnita Johnson, Ceylon Mitchell and Stephanie Barber

Join Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) this September, in celebrating a statewide, juried exhibition highlighting the wide range of artists and artwork featured on the Maryland State Artist Registry. The exhibition will take place at Maryland Art Place located at 218 West Saratoga St. from Thursday,September 19^th – Sunday, November 10^th. A reception will be held on Thursday, September 19^th from 6pm to 9pm.

Performances will be held during the opening reception on Thursday, September 19 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm and Saturday, November 9th from 9pm to 11pm. 

Visual Jurors: Dr. Susan J. Isaacs and Jeremy Stern
Performance Jurors: Ada Pinkston, Hoesy Corona, and Laure Drogoul

Participating Artists:

Visual Artists: Gregory Hein, Richard Weiblinger, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Saeideh Gilani, Judi Gunter, Acquaetta Williams, Kristina King, Cat Gunn, Alan Callander, Carmen Martini, Sylvie Van Helden, Gregg Morris, Amy Boone-McCreesh, Alizah Lathrop, Barb Siegel, Janet Olney, Magnolia Laurie, Elli Maria Hernandez, Megan Maher, Leslie Shellow, Amanda Burnham, Nick Primo, Hollis McCracken, Hsin-Hsi Chen, Maria-Theresa Fernandes, Saloni Shah, Shana Kohnstamm, Virginia Sperry, Stanley Wenocur, Betsy Packard, Patricia Autenrieth, Giulia Piera Livi, Christine Strong, Dominie Nash, Brad Blair, Sara Caporaletti, Janet Huddie, Danielle Fauth, Yam Chew Oh, Trace Miller, Helen Glazer, David Leonard, Paul Ford, Gregory McLemore, Daniel Humphries-Russ, Nilou Kazemzadeh, Don James, Osvaldo Mesa, Juan Rodas, Erin Fostel, Evans Thorne, Bruce McKaig, Taha Heydari, Nicole Stokes, Megan Burak, Roger James, Ram Brisueno, McKinley Wallace III, Rick Ruggles, Aubrey Garwood, Scott Ponemone, Margaret Huddy, Victoria Rouse, Ariston Jacks, Karen Warshal, LaToya Hobbs, Lauren Castellana, Florencio Lennox Campello, Aaron Oldenburg, Annette Wilson Jones, Mike McConnell, Linda Agar-Hendrix, Nicoletta de la Brown, Maren Henson, Amber Eve Anderson, Carrie Fucile, Noah McWilliams, Jackie Hoysted, William Richardson, Carolyn Case, Corey Grunert, Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, Oletha Devane, Kate Kretz, George Lorio, Anna Fine Foer, Robert Cantor, Mia Halton, Jason Patterson, David Page, Jowita Wyszomirska, Diane Lorio, Marcia Wolfson Ray, Tom Boram, Margaret Rorison, A. Moon, Sara Dittrich, Jason Sloan, Dominique Zeltzman, Shonnita Johnson, Stephanie Barber, Ceylon Mitchell, and Valerie Smalkin. 

Rousseau on the Studio Art Faculty of Montgomery College

Capitol Arts Network, the Washington area’s fastest-growing organization for professional and emerging artists, will explore the impact of “significant encounters” on artists and their work during March, with an exhibition produced by studio art faculty members at Montgomery College.

“For this exhibit, we have defined a ‘critical contact’ as an encounter that has had a significant impact on an artist,” said Claudia Rousseau, Montgomery College.  “Such encounters might be with a place, a book, a person, a particularly galvanizing moment. The exhibit could also be a consideration of critical encounters between or among species, cultures, technologies, economies, natural elements and many other things.”

The March show opens on March 3rd with a First Friday opening reception on Friday, March. 7, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Capitol Arts Network’s Urban By Nature Gallery at 12276 Wilkins Avenue in Rockville.  The exhibit runs through the end of the month.

 “The variety of approaches among the 22 participants in this exhibit is extensive,” Rousseau said.  “Among the most prominent subthemes are memories of certain places and the ways in which contacts with those places have had a lasting impact. This can be seen, for example, in the ceramics of Vidya Vijayasekharan, who also relates the theme to the globalization of things once limited to a small part of the world.” 

“From a very different part of the world, Megan Van Wagoner’s Standing Production recalls her childhood in the American Midwest.  Judy Stone’s installation titled Transmission also carries memory of a pivotal trip to Mexico,” she said.  “Another subtheme concerns specific contacts with a person or persons.  Perhaps most striking in this group are the works of Kate Kretz for whom the birth of her daughter had a significant impact.”  

“The often silent interaction between men in India is the point of contact for Daniel Venne.  The theme of exploration, whether physical or emotional is also the key for a group of artists including painter Wil Brunner,” she continued.

“Critical contacts between elements of nature are also a common theme, as in the photographs of Mary Staley and Grace Graham. Yet, perhaps the most compelling results of setting out this theme are the numerous interpretations of it in terms of the contact of the self with inner self or introspective examinations, as evidenced in the work of exhibit participants David Carter and Michaele Harrington.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Capitol Arts Network’s Rockville headquarters features studio space for more than 70 working artists artists plus classrooms, work and meeting areas and gallery and exhibition space where artists can work individually or side-by-side in a collaborative community setting. The center is conveniently located near Rockville’s Twinbook Metro station, in Montgomery County’s developing “Twinbrook Arts Zone,” which also includes the home of the Washington School of Photography.

This weekend: Gateway Artists' Open Studios

2018 Spring Open Studios

Saturday, May 12, 2018 from 12-5 p.m.

Gateway Arts District: Along Maryland’s Route 1 corridor

The artists of Maryland’s Gateway Arts District present the 14^th iteration of the Spring Open Studios on Saturday, May 12, 2018 from 12-5 p.m. The self-guided tour takes place in the Gateway Arts District along Route 1 in Prince George’s County, MD in the towns of Mount Rainier, North Brentwood, Brentwood and Hyattsville. 

The Gateway Arts District is the DC metro area’s largest arts district and houses internationally renowned galleries, studios, workshops and art spaces. Visitors have the opportunity to directly interact with artists in their studios and to connect with their artistic process.

34 Venues. 70 Studios. Over 100 Artists!

On Saturday, May 12, studios, art organizations, and galleries throughout the Gateway Arts District will open their doors to the public. The event is free and open to people of all ages. Over 100 individual artists participate in the event making the 2018 Spring Open Studios the region’s most prominent visual arts event.  Audiences can attend art openings, glass-blowing demonstrations or select artwork in an artist’s studio. This artist-led event presents a once-a-year opportunity to connect with the region’s most important and economically vital centers of art production. 

A free shuttle bus will make stops from Artists by the Tracks in Mount Rainier to Pyramid Atlantic in Hyattsville.

Between studios and gallery stops, the Gateway Arts Districts offers several new food and drink options along Route 1 including the recently opened Pizzeria Paradiso in Hyattsville, known for its outstanding pizza and wide selection of craft beers.  Pizzeria Paradiso will host a beer festival on May 12 from 12-5 p.m.

More information, including a self-guided map of the open studios, visit the events’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/2018springopenstudios in advance of the tour.

Make sure to stop at White Point Studio, 3708 Wells Ave., Mt. Rainier, MD 20782

Laurel Lukaszewski will be joined by her fellow resident artists Kate Kretz, Tamara Laird, Jo Ellen Walker, and visiting artist Pat Goslee. In addition, all of the neighboring studios will also be open, including the Washington Glass School, Otis Street Arts Project, Red Dirt Studio and Pyramid Atlantic up the road. They are all hoping to clear out a bit of their storage, so there will be great art-deals to be found :) 

Cudlin on Gopnikosities

My good friend Jeffry Cudlin, the award winning art critic for the Washington City Paper, offers an intelligent and readable counterpoint to my dissection of Blake Gopnik's comments on the Kate Kretz "Jollie as Madonna" painting.

Read Jeffry's good points here.

I think that the line between illustration and fine art is sometimes real and a lot of times blurred, and many times erased by history, and sometimes entire cultures could be wrong, otherwise we'd still be considering Ukiyo-e as illustrations and manuals, and packing materials for tea vases to be shipped to Europe.

We're both making exagerated claims in a sense... Duchampian followers have a great time spending time deciphering the many stories and angles and intricate issues in Velazquez's "Las Meninas," but the opposite and immediate reaction is delivered equally well and without much deciphering in Goya's "3rd of May."

So the answer is that both can fit into our appreciation of art. And if it wasn't for Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With," we'd have a very little footprint in contemporary 60's paintings of the Civil Rights struggle.



In some Rockwellian works like this one there's an example of an illustrator whose work crossed over and now - at least that piece and all the works from his civil rights imagery - crosses into fine art. It happened in the 1800s as well - Honore Daumier being the best-known example.



Were Gericault's "Medusa" to be painted today - say with the subject being Abu Ghraib, would that be art or an illustration? Oh wait - it has been done - Botero has done it and it's considered important political art!

In my opinion, and of course I'm opinionated and not necessarily right, Cudlin and many other writers are sometimes too wrapped up in theory and often resistant to just open up and enjoy the possibility of the simplicity of art for the sense of "just because..."

When I first started exploring, creating and writing about art 30 years ago, I too was all wrapped up in theory, and straining to find the meaning, the struggle, the clues, the angst, and the message in all the art that I was seeing. Without a message, the art was useless, I had been taught; if it stands on the shoulders of another artist, it cannot be good.

Among many other events that slowly changed my appreciation of art, somewhere along the lines I stumbled across a book titled: Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-Siecle Culture.

And all of a sudden, the vapid, sickly sweet, saccharine Romantic art of the Victorians became a whole new world of clues, deciphering images that had secret meanings to the Victorians, etc.

It was a triumph for what Duchampians believe should be good in art. Yet it was a Duchampian triumph wrapped up in a visual eye candy that looked more like parlor room art than fine art; And it made me realize that both camps could be accepted.

And now I refuse to believe that art has to do this or do that, or delay our reactions, of give us clues, etc. in order to be accepted as high art. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of hacks out there producing paintings that sometimes astonish in their vapidity and waste of canvas, but to take the galvanized, one-track train of thought that it's either a Duchampian success or it can't be real art, is a sure way to eliminate a lot of good art which simply may offer nothing but viewing pleasure.

Henri Matisse once said that "there is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted." I think most painters almost subconsciously do this. In painting anything, unless one is outright copying an existing work (as it is taught in many art schools to teach painting techniques), a good artist is always creating something new. Something that until that moment, when the loaded brush is applied to the canvas and allowed to deliver its content, has never been done in that exact stroke, or manner, or hue, or shape, in the entire history of mankind.

Take a look at the book... it's by Bram Dijkstra, who was a professor of English literature at the University of California.