Jessica Dawson has a really good piece in today's Galleries column in the Post.

She eloquently discusses the Maryland Institute College of Art's "Comics on the Verge" exhibition, although I would disagree with her that by presenting this exhibition, "the university makes a radical statement" and thus "contends that cartoonists are in a league with fine artists;" statements that she writes in her review opening lines.

As Jessica mentions later in the article, comic book art and artists have been finding their way to galleries and museums for years now, and although there's still somewhat of a mental segregation in the minds of "high art" segregationists, I think that the battle has been fought and won, especially now that anything and everything is art.

Thus, although this sounds indeed like a terrific exhibition, and I will go and see it (and comment on it later), my first reaction is to disagree with it being a "radical statement."

One of the very first pieces of artwork that I ever bought was a pen and ink drawing by Robert Crumb when I was living in Southern California in 1976. Back then I used to collect what we then called underground comic books, and I must admit that I was amazed when Bay area galleries started showing Crumb and other underground cartoon artists' works as art. By the middle 80's Crumb was an international cult artist, and even appeared in Newsweek and other magazines. In 1990 the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, included his work in an exhibit called "High and Low" which also featured work by other cartoonists; this was the crowning (14 years ago) of comic book art as "high art."

Another cartoon (and later book cover) artist that I purchased back then was Frank Frazetta, who was my childhood art hero and without a doubt the most influential illustrators (on other illustrators) from the 50's to the present. At one point Frazetta's book covers could guarantee so many sales, that book publishers would bid for his paintings and then hire a writer to create a story around the painting! His Death Dealer (shown to the left) is the best selling poster in US history and has been reproduced endlessly on paper, canvas, action figures and sculptures. This is all of course, very "low brow" art to most people - except Sotheby's and Christie's and art collectors, as Frazetta's originals now auction at incredible prices for a "low brow artist."

It's enlightening to read two art critics, both writing from important pulpits, write independently of each other about the same show. First this guy and later, this lad.

Note the stylistic differences, and how one critic brings the show to us, coupled with opinions and passion, while another rambles inaccurately about history and without an iota of proof, submits an erroneous theory.

Residency in Canada
Gibraltar Point International Artist residency Program
Deadline: March 29, 2004.
The Residency Program provides Canadian and International professional artists from all disciplines with a subsidized opportunity to live and work at the Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts on Toronto Island (Toronto, Canada) from June 1-30, 2004.

Ten solo artists will be selected. Information and detailed application procedures are available on the Artscape website.

For more info: Toronto Artscape, phone: 416.392.7834 x.2 or email Susan.

Yesterday I went to the press preview offered by the Corcoran for "The Quilts of Gee's Bend." This show is about the quilt-making tradition of a geographically isolated African-American community in southern Alabama. I will be reviewing it for a couple of magazines and also later here. The show opens to the public on February 14, 2004.

This coming Friday is the second Friday of the month, which means that it is time for the Bethesda Art Walk. Several galleries and art establishments participate, light food and refreshments are provided, as well as a free shuttle bus to take visitors around the galleries.

We will be opening our annual Contemporary Figurative Painting Show. This is our annual group show of gallery and invited artists around the nation working within the figurative genre opens this coming Friday, February 13 at Fraser Bethesda with a catered opening reception from 6-10 PM to welcome the artists as part of the Bethesda Art Walk. The exhibition runs from Feb 13 - March 10, 2004.

Included in this show are new works by GMU Art Faculty professor Chawky Frenn, recent recipient of a major positive review in the New York Times, New York's David FeBland, who continues to be our best-selling painter, New York painter John Jacobsmeyer, former Corcoran graduate and now San Francisco artist Douglas Malone, BP Portrait Prizewinner Zygimantas Augustinas, British painter Halen Bayley, Cuban realist Augusto Bordelois, our area's own Scott Hutchison, whose large nudes recently caused all the TV and press furor during his Fraser solo show, MICA graduate (and most recent winner of a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation grant) Andrew Wodzianski (his "Lucha Libre is shown) , New England painters Margaret McCann and Catherine Kehoe and several others.

Come join us from 6-10 PM for Washington's best sangria and some food.

Funding Opportunities for Artists:

Funding for Arts, Education, and Literacy at Barnes & Noble.
They consider requests for local support from organizations in the communities they served, including our area. Its giving focus is on literacy, the arts or education (K - 12). Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations serving the community where its stores are located. Artists can submit proposals through local non-profits. There are no deadlines for applications. Proposals should be submitted to the community relations manager or store manager at the local store.

A plan for promoting the program with Barnes & Noble should be included in the proposal, and the organization must be willing to work with the local store(s) on in-store programming. For further information, go here.

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Altria Group, Inc. announces its 2004 Visual Arts Request For Proposal.
The goal of this grantmaking initiative is to support the organization of a range of visual arts exhibitions that demonstrate some of the most significant, challenging, and innovative work that is being created in the field today. Grants will: foster artistic development; promote innovation and diversity; challenge the art form; present a bold examination of aesthetic, cultural or societal issue; and/or investigate the use of new materials and concepts. Eligible applicants include U.S. nonprofit organizations that are the organizing institution of the exhibition and not a tour site. Grant awards will range from $10,000-$100,000. For further information, go here.

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The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts fosters innovative artistic expression and the creative process by supporting cultural organizations that, in turn, support artists and their work. Grants are made on a project basis to curatorial programs at museums, artists' organizations, and other cultural institutions to originate innovative and scholarly presentations of contemporary visual arts. Projects may include exhibitions, catalogues, and other organizational activities directly related to these areas. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations. The deadlines for proposal are March 1 and September 1, 2004. For further information, go here.

For Sculptors:
Deadline: February 23, 2004

The Public Arts Trust Program of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County announces a Public Art Competition for Fairland Community Center and Library with a budget of $30,000. For details of this and other competitions, contact the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County

Opportunity for artists
Deadline: February 14, 2004
Montpelier Cultural Arts Center. All artists over the age of 18 are invited to enter the Laurel Art Guild's 35th Annual Open Juried Art Exhibition to be held at Montpelier Cultural Arts Center March 5-28.

This year's juror is Scott Habes, Director of the Art Gallery at the University of Maryland and formerly director of school exhibitions at the Corcoran College of Art. Entries must be postmarked no later than February 14.

For more information, call Margary Sampson at 301 604-6750 or to download an
entry form, go here.

Curator Needed
The District of Columbia Housing Authority is seeking a curator to develop an art show at one of their senior buildings in SE D.C. Interested curators should contact Ms. Layne' Spicer, Director of Housing Management at (202) 698-3409 or email her at lspicer@dchousing.org for further information.

Corcoran's Art + Law Series

Keeping Your Artwork Unique: Copyright and Trademark Law
When: Monday, February 9th at 6:30 in the Corcoran's Armand Hammer Auditorium - 17th and New York Avenue, NW (enter New York Avenue) Washington, DC
$40 general public
$30 for Corcoran Members
$20 for WPA\C Members
Corcoran Staff - Free

Please join attorney Kenneth Kaufman, a specialist in copyright, entertainment
and internet law, explains how to protect your artwork from unauthorized
reproduction and how to obtain compensation if this protection is violated. Mr.
Kaufman will place emphasis on evolving new technologies in the computer and
entertainment field. All questions will be answered!

Please contact Public Programs (202) 639-1770 to register for this course

Kathryn Cornelius hits the nail right on the head with this smart and eloquent discussion on "artspeak." Read it here.

Success as an Artist Seminar

Almost as soon as we opened our first gallery in Georgetown in 1996, artists began pouring in seeking representation. This continues to this day, and between visits, emails, packages in the mail, etc. we generally receive around 600 inquiries a year.

Because we obviously cannot represent or sell the work of such a huge number of artists, a lot of good, talented artists are turned away, after we have recommended follow on steps on what to do. However, in our first few months, Catriona soon discovered that she was spending most of her of time with emerging artists discussing many of the same things over and over, which generally consisted of giving out career advice about such things as gallery representation, contracts, grants, competitions, resumes, etc.

This was not only time consuming with scheduled appointments, but many unscheduled visits caused her to spend several hours a day just meeting with artists and essentially passing out the same information, over and over.

Then her mother came out with a brilliant idea: Why not come up with a structured, formal seminar for emerging artists to pass out this information as well as other important information. Not theory, not review of artwork, but practical advice, usable handouts and a forum to answer questions all at once.

We held our first seminar in 1999 – it was supposed to run for four hours but it ran for seven. So eventually we changed it to a full day, seven hour seminar, and have now presented it to nearly 1,000 artists and art administrators from nearly every Mid Atlantic states – with attendees coming from as far south as South Carolina.

It has been spectacularly successful in offering practical business advice to the emerging artist on many areas not covered by any art school curriculum that we know of. The information, advice and details taught at the seminar are not based on theory, but on actual practical experience and hands-on effects. That’s why it has been so successful!

In its seven hour format, the seminar covers a wide range of structured issues including:

1. Materials
Buying materials – strategies for lowering your costs, where and how to get it, etc.

2. Presentation – How to properly present your artwork including Conservation issues, Archival Matting and Framing, Longevity of materials, a discussion on Limited editions, signing and numbering, Prints vs. Reproduction, discussion on Iris Prints (Pros and Cons).

3. Creating a resume - Strategy for building your art resume, including how to write one, what should be in it, presentation, etc.

4. Juried Shows – An Insider's view and strategy to get in the competitions.

5. How to take slides and photographs of your artwork

6. Selling your art – A variety of avenues to actually selling your artwork, including fine arts festivals, corporate acquisitions, galleries, public arts, etc.

7. Creating a Body of Works

8. How to write a news release

9. Publicity – How to get in newspapers, magazines, etc. Plus handouts on email and addresses of newspaper critics, writers, etc.

10. Galleries – Discussion on area galleries including Vanity Galleries, Co-Operatives, Commercial Galleries, Non-profit Art spaces, etc.

11. How to approach a gallery – Realities of the business, Contracts, Gallery/Artist Relationship, Agents.

12. Outdoor Art Festivals – Discussion and advice on how to sell outwork at fine arts festivals, which to do, which to avoid, etc.

13. Resources - Display systems and tents, best juried shows and ones to avoid.

14. Accepting Credit cards – How to set up your art business.

15. Grants – Discussion on how to get grants in DC, Regional and National, including handouts on who and where and when.

16. Alternative Marketing - Cable TV, Local media

17. Internet – How to build your website at no cost, how to establish a wide and diverse Internet presence.

The seminar has been a spectacular success, and the feedback from artists can be read online at here and we continue to receive tremendous positive feedback on the practical success that this seminar has meant for those who have taken it.

The seminar lasts for seven hours and is now offered twice a year. It costs $75 and the next one is scheduled for February 29, from noon to 7 PM at our Bethesda gallery. It is restricted to 50 participants and interested artists can read more details or print a registration form online at www.thefrasergallery.com/seminars.html or just call Catriona at 301/718-9651. The seminar is held at the Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, in Bethesda. The gallery is one block from the Bethesda Metro stop on the Red Line. Ample free parking is also available

If anyone is attending the International Art Expo in New York, email me and I'll hook you up with some free passes.

For Printmakers:
Deadline: Apr 09, 2004
NATIONAL JURIED PRINT EXHIBITION at Lancaster Museum of Art. $2000 in awards. For a prospectus send an SASE to:
Lancaster Museum of Art
135 N Lime St
Lancaster PA 17602
Or call 717-394-3497 or email lmart@mindspring.com.

This year, The Art League is commemorating a 50-year legacy of supporting the arts and nurturing artists in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Art League, with its prestigious gallery and school, is the fruit of the work of thousands of artists and art patrons from the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area.

They currently have the Patron's Show on exhibit, one of their major fundraisers, where 600 area artists donate a work of art and historically all 600 are snapped by collectors through a raffle process. Through February 15. Following that, they will have (from February 19-23) their biennial Ikebana show, where designers of the Sogetsu school of Ikebana will create graceful Japanese flower designs in pottery handcrafted by Torpedo Factory artists. This show also features an Ikebana Arranging Demonstration and a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Today is the first Friday of the month, so the Dupont Circle galleries will host their openings and late hours. See you there from 6-8 PM.

Local photographer in next Christie's Photography Auction:

Several vintage photographs by legendary photographer Lida Moser,
represented by us, will be offered at the next Christie's New York auction on Feb. 17, 2004.

In 2002, Moser's photos sold as high as $4,000 at Christie's.

Lida Moser, who currently lives in Rockville, Maryland and is in her late 80s, has a distinguised career that started as a student in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines. She has also authored and been part of many books and publications on and about photography in the New York Times, New York Sunday Times, Amphoto Guide to Special Effects, Fun in Photography, Career Photography, Women See Men, Women of Vision, This Was the Photo League, and others. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81.

In 1950 Vogue (and subsequently Look) assigned Lida Moser to carry out an illustrated report on Canada, from one ocean to another. When she arrived at the Windsor station in Montreal, in June of that same year, she met by chance, Paul Gouin, then a Cultural Advisor to the Duplessis government. This chance meeting leads the young woman to change her all-Canada assignment for one centered around Quebec.

Armed with her camera and guided by the research done by the Abbot Felix-Antoine Savard, the folklorist Luc Lacourcière and accompanied by Paul Gouin, Lida Moser then discovers and photographs a traditional Quebec, which was still little touched by modern civilization and the coming urbanization of the region.

A portrait of Lida Moser, by Alice Neel, currently hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Several portraits of Alice Neel by Lida Moser are in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Her work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives, Ottawa, the National Galleries of Scotland, National Portait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, and many others. Moser was a member of the Photo League and the New York School.

The Photo League was the seminal birth of American documentary photography. It was a group that was at times school, an association, and even a social photography club. Founded in 1936 and disbanded in 1951, the Photo League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness and a social conscience that reaches photojournalism and street photography to this day.

Works by Moser can be seen online here. Buy Lida Moser now.

Jessica Dawson reviews Rembrandt etchings on display at St. John's College in Annapolis in her "Galleries" column in the Post today.

And in a rare two-visual-arts-day at the Post, Linton Weeks has a very large review of Winston Churchill photographs at the Library of Congress. Weeks (as far as I know) is not an "art critic" but he does a readable job in mostly describing the exhibition and give us a bit of historical background, which is what most hi-fallutin' art critics would have done anyway.

Woudn't it be nice to see (more often) a couple of different journalists write about the visual arts on the Post's "Galleries" day? All the time...

Of course, today "the galleries" were ignored, as Jessica went out-of-town and Weeks reviewed a museum show.

Maybe next week...

Right...

Grants for artists...
Once of the institutions created after Andy Warhol's undexpected death was Creative Capital.

Each year the award a lot of grants and this year the foundation will award up to 40 grants in the fields of visual arts and film/video. In the spring of 2004, Creative Capital Foundation will accept proposals for its 2004-05 grant cycle supporting work in the visual arts and film/video. Grants for performing arts and emerging fields will be available in 2005.

They have implemented a new application process: to apply for a grant, artists must first submit an Inquiry Form, which will be available February 16, 2004 on the foundation's website . The deadline for completed Inquiry Forms is March 15, 2004; those invited to apply will be notified in June 2004. As in past grant rounds, funded projects will receive approximately $400,000 in initial grants, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000. In addition, grantees are eligible for follow-up support totaling $900,000 to $1 million in the form of advisory services and additional financial assistance.

Address: Creative Capital Foundation, 65 Bleecker St 7th Fl, New York, NY 10012. E-mail: info@creative-capital.org. Tel: 212.598.9900 Fax: 212.598.4934

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DC Commissions on the Arts and Humanities: Small Projects Program.
Deadline: March 4, 04.
The Small Projects Program (SPP) offers grants up to $1,000 to District of Columbia individual artists and arts organizations. The program seeks to make grant funds more accessible for small-scale arts projects. Projects may include but are not limited to: Art presentations, Assistance in fundraising, marketing, and management, Documentation of artistic activities through photography, brochures, portfolios, and demo tapes, Conferences, workshops, or seminars that will enhance artistic and professional development.

Upcoming deadlines for Small Projects Program applications is Thursday, March 4, 2004, 6:00 pm. Workshops to help artists fill out applications will be held on the following dates: Thursday, February 26, 2004, 12:00 - 1:00 pm.

The SPP workshop will be held at the Commission's office at 410 8th St., NW, Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20004. Download the FY2003 Small Projects Program Guidelines and Application here. For more information on the Small Projects Program or to receive an application in the mail, please call Lionell Thomas at (202) 724-5613.

Cuban art and artists are superhot right now, and we'll have an avalanche of Cuban shows this year in DC. More on that later...

How to make them even hotter?

Answer: Eliminate or reduce access to their artwork.

Read the Art & Antiques magazine article "Crackdown ends U.S. Collecting Trips to Cuba."