Laura Roulet's Top 10

DC area ubercurator Laura Roulet needs little introduction, she's one of the major freelance curators in the DMV region, whose curatorial hand has been part of the Hirshhorn, Museum of the Americas, to name a few off the top of my head. She responds to my AOM call and sends me her top 10 artists in this year's Artomatic:

- Tim Tate and the Washington Glass School artists
- The group of artists from Sunderland, UK are outstanding, particularly Andrew Livingstone, Midori Shinmura and Theresa Easton
- Laurel Lukaszewski
- Jessica Van Brakle
- Johanna Mueller
- Mike McDermott
- Mark Jude
- Corwin Levi
- Stephanie Booth
- "Space Between", a collaboration between John M. Adams, J.T. Kirkland and Matt Sargent

DC Sktecher's AOM Top 10

DC Sketcher takes on my Artomatic top 10 challenge and sends me his/hers favorites:

Mei Mei Chang- 7th floor
Jessica Van Brakle- 9th floor
Jenny Walton- 9th floor
Dan D'Orio- 9th floor
Laurel Lukaszewski- 8th floor
Christian Tribastone- 9th Floor
Kelly Towles- 1st floor/Electric Stage
Meinir Wyn Jones- 5th floor
Andrea Roberson- 8th floor

I spent almost three hours last Saturday walking and checking out the 9th and 8th floor and some of the above are also on my list so far... but I have a lot of floors and artists still to see.

More on that later, and more on my thoughts why most art writers and critics are just ill prepared to write a review or commentary of something of the sheer scale of AOM and why they take the easy way out and throw away their journalistic ethics when they physically give up and trash the show rather than actually review it the same way that they would any other art show.

The answer lies in the time that it would take to write a fair review in proportion to what they are getting paid to write a review (quite probably the same as a gallery show that they can visit and form a good critical opinion in less than 15-20 minutes) rather than the multiple hours that it would take to do a fair assessment of AOM.

Capitalism strikes again in the otherwise progressive ranks of art criticism.

Arlington Open Studios Tomorrow

The public is invited to visit and celebrate the artwork of 14 greater Washington, DC-area artists working at Reeb Hall Studios from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. The artists will meet the public in their studios and discuss their work.

The artists, many of whom have been exhibiting in the Washington area for more than 20 years, include Shahla Arbabi, Anne McGurk, Cynthia Young, Alice Whealin, Lee Vaughan, Carol Lopatin, Kebedech Tekleab, Phil Loiterstein, Rick Weaver, Bruce Williams, Beverly Chello-Donnenfeld, Linn Woloshin, Jessica van Brakle and Mark Giaimo.

what: Reeb Hall Artists Open Studio Event
who: Artists of the D.C. metro region
when: Sunday, October 19, 2008, 1 to 4 p.m.
where: Reeb Hall, 4451 First Place South, Arlington, VA 22204

For further directions and parking information please call 202-280-8267. This event is free and open to the public.

Art Deals

Wanna get a Colby Caldwell for a $100 bucks? How about a Tim Tate for $100 Samolians? or an Amy Lin? or Melissa Ichiuji? Susan Jamison? Joshua Levine? Akemi Maegawa? Linn Meyers? Marianela de la Hoz?

Those blue chip artists and a ton more artists' works will be on display at the Corcoran first ever Art Anonymous fundraiser, benefiting the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s BFA Scholarship Fund.

Leading DMV contemporary artists will offer for sale original works alongside the creations of students, faculty, and staff of the Corcoran College of Art + Design and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. All works are only $100 —- the catch: all artwork is signed on the back, so the identity of the artist will remain a mystery until after the purchase.

Hard to disguise a Tim Tate or a Linn Meyers though...

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 6 p.m. Preview and Raffle, 7 p.m. Bidding Opens; Drinks and dancing until 11 p.m.

You have to RSVP for this event by May 1, 2008. For more information and to register, please click here or call (202) 639-1753.

Participating artists include: Irene Abdou, John M. Adams, Dana Aldis, Geoffrey Aldridge, Shahdeh Ammadi, Alida Anderson, Tim Anderson, Sondra N. Arkin, John Aquilino, Geoff Ault, Patricia Autenrieth, Jennifer Axner, Malena Barnhart, Jessica Grace Bechtel, Diane Blackwell, Lisa Blas, Raya Bodnarchuk, Tanya Bos, Richard Boswell, Mark Cameron Boyd, Joseph Bradley, James Brantley, Courtney Bratun, Lindsay Bratun, Julia Braun, Jean Brinton- Jaecks, Andrew Brown, Jason Bulluck, Renee Butler, Craig Cahoon, Colby Caldwell, F. Lennox Campello, Julie Carrasco, Stevens Jay Carter, Julie Casey, Gloria Cesal, Sarah Chamberlain, Amy Chan , Natalie Cheung, Nannette A. Clark, Lauren Clay, Michael Clements, Genevieve Cocco, Cindy Ann Coldiron, Tim Conlon, Bryan Conner, Sarah Coombs, Ellen Cornett, Patricia Correa, Adger W. Cowans, Robert Creamer, Christopher Cunetto, Emily Cunetto, Christopher Cunningham, Jasmine Daraie, John Deamond, Adam de Boer, Marianela de la Hoz, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Francks F. Deceus, Kate Demong, Jennifer DePalma, Rosanna Dixon, Nancy D. Donnelly, Joel D’Orazio, Katie Drenga, Nekisha Durrett, Steven Eson, Lori Esposito, Steven E. Frost, Lee Gainer, Lacey Gentry, Casey Goldman, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Liz Gordon & Anna (Na Kyung) Ahn, Melissa Green, Tom Green, Lauri Hafvenstein, Mohamed A. Hamo, Rion Harmon, Carol Harrison, Jonathan Hartshorn, Stephen Hay, Sean Hennessey, Dayan Herrara, Randall C. Holloway, Jackie Hoysted, Michal Hunter, Melissa Ichiuji, Megan Irving, Ema Ishii, Harry L. Jaecks, Chris Jamison, Susan Jamison, Ian Jehle, Ryan Carr Johnson, Sue Johnson, David Jolkovski, Adam Jones, Coty Jones, Benjamin Gray Jones, Courtney Jordan, Mila Kagan, Margaret Kepner, Amy Kincaid, Marti Deppa Kirkpatrick , Nick Kirkpatrick, Katherine Kisa, William Knipscher, Steve Lakatos, Nick Lamia, Joshua Levine, Gina Marie Lewis, Katie Lewis , Amy Lin, Heidi Lippman, Carol Lukitsch, Raymond MacDonald, Akemi Maegawa , Dana Maier, Susan Makara, Isaac Maiselman, Isabel Manalo, Joey P. Manlapaz, Katherine Mann, Nathan Manuel, Anne Marchand, James Marshall (Dalek), Madeline Marshall, Myra Maslowsky, Leah Matthews, Cory May, Lisa McCarty, John McDaniel, Joseph McSpadden, Robert Mellor, Ashleigh Nicole Meusel, Trace Miller, Adrienne Mills, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Camille Mosley-Pasley, Marci Nadler, Otto Neals, Emilia Olsen, Kerry O’Neil, Jonathan Ottke, David Page, Paulette Palacios, Chul Beom Park, Annie Peters, Brian Petro, Pamela Phillips, Ryan Pierce, Michael B. Platt, Nick Popovici ,Antonio Puri, Carole Rabel Nicoteri, Camden M. Richards, Marcel Richter, Charlotte Riley-Webb, Emily Rockwell, Andrew Roda, Lisa Rosenstein, Michael Knud Ross, Ron Rumford, Anna Samaha, Nancy Scheinman, Kahn & Selesnick, Mike Shaffer, Joanna Silver, Kristy Simmons, John Simpkins-Camp, Kerry Skarbakka, Paul So, Judy Southerland, Ashley A.. Sullivan, Lynn Sures, Zach Storm, Erik Swanson, Jordan Swartz, Tim Tate, Steve Taylor, James Stephen Terrell, Katurah L. Thomas, Kevin Tierney, Erwin Timmers, Susan Powell Tolbert, Patricia Truitt, Alexia Tryfon, Nicholas Tryfon, Katie Tuss, Linn Meyers and Bert Ulrich, Jessica van Brakle, Izel Vargas , Oliver Vernon, Ivi Volanska, Christopher Walker, Cheryl Warrick, Ellyn Weiss, Moon Young Wohn, Sharon Wolpoff, Antoinette Wysocki, Thomas Xenakis, Lindsey Nicole Yancich, Michelle Yo, Trevor Young, and Toopy Zerotree.

Peace Now!

Peace Now! opens with a reception on Friday, Feb 22 from 6-9 pm at the Warehouse Gallery in DC. Through April 6, 2008.

In observance of the 5th anniversary of the Iraqi War and as part of the March 19, 2008 "March for Peace" in Washington and other cities around the country, the Warehouse hosts its last peace exhibition. To the left is the room-dissecting Checkpoint Installation by Sondra Arkin in collaboration with Beth Baldwin.

Includes work by 40 artists including Matt Achhammer, JS Adams, Sondra N. Arkin, Beth Baldwin, Joan Belmar, BLK w/ BEAR, M.P. Brown, Travis Childers, Michele Colburn, James L. Cypher aka Joey Daytona, Richard L. Dana, Anna U Davis, Tom Drymon, John De Fabbio, Dana Ellyn, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff, Dara Friel, John Carlton Hagerhorst, Matt Hollis, Jackie Hoysted, Joseph Jones, Joroko, Mariah Josephy, Jenufa H. Kent, Lauren Kotkin, Heather Levy, Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette, Isabel Manalo, Anne Marchand, Carolina Mayorga, Patricia E. Ortman, Igor Pasternak, Jane Pettit, Mark Planisek, Sajeela Ramsey, Marina Reiter, Ann Ruppert, Julie Seiwell, Matt Sesow, Alexandra Silverthorne, Ira Tattelman, Gabriel Thy, Karen Joan Topping, Ruth Trevarrow, Jessica van Brakle, Mary Walker, Ruth Ward, Ellyn Weiss, Angela White, Andrew Wodzianski, Peter Wood... and me.

Academy 2007 at Conner Contemporary

Next Friday, July 6, Conner Contemporary Art in DC opens Academy 2007, the seventh year of their annual invitational survey dedicated to outstanding work by recent fine art graduates of the Washington - Baltimore area college art programs. The exhibition opens Friday, July 6th with a reception for the artists from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

The following artists were invited to exhibit by curators Jamie Smith and former gallery director, Karyn Miller:

PAUL CHAPMAN (George Washington University)
GRAHAM CHILDS (American University)
RUSSELL KELBAUGH (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
MAGNOLIA LAURIE (Maryland Institute College of Art)
JODI LIEBURN (Maryland Institute College of Art)
ISAAC MAISELMAN (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
TIFFANY MIELCAREK (Maryland Institute College of Art)
CHRISTINA MOST (Maryland Institute College of Art)
NATALIA PANFILE (Maryland Institute College of Art)
SANDRA PARRA (Maryland Institute College of Art)
DEBORAH ROCK (Catholic University)
NATHANIEL ROGERS (Maryland Institute College of Art)
BRIAN SYKES (University of Maryland)
JESSICA VAN BRAKLE (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
OLIVIA WOLFE (Georgetown University)