Friday at the WaPo

Mercy me! Two visual art reviews in the WaPo in one day!

In Style, Gopnik surprises us again by reviewing another "local" (I mean "Washington-based") artist: Sam Gilliam's retrospective at the Corcoran.

And in Weekend, Michael O'Sullivan delivers yet more evidence why he's one of the few area art critics who truly knows "Washington-based" artists in this review of Options 2005.

And Thinking About Art's comments on O'Sullivan's review.

Can't wait to see the show!

Solo3 Opens Tonight

Solo3, a solo show in three parts by artists Alexandra Silverthorne, Joseph Barbaccia, and Pat Dunning opens tonight at Warehouse. The opening reception is from 6-8pm.

Tim Tate's Pad

Tim Tate's DC pad is becoming famous once again, this time appearing in an episode of "Small Spaces, Big Style" on HGTV this Thursday night at 8:00 PM.

Tate's apartment was transformed from a dull gray into a stunning pad by the amazing team of Sean and Rania of Scenic Artists.

Heading South...

I'm heading out to the Carolinas later today, but will be back by Friday, hopefully in time to make the opening for Prof. John Winslow as he opens his second solo show with us.

The opening for Winslow is this coming Friday at Fraser Gallery Bethesda from 6-9PM and it is part of the Bethesda Art Walk.

A free guided tour is also offered. See details of the tour here. Tours will begin at 6:30pm. Attendees can meet their guide at the Bethesda Metro Center, located at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Wisconsin Avenue. Attendees do not have to participate in tours to visit Art Walk galleries.

Congratulations

To area photographer Tracy Lee, whose erotica has been included in The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women.

Tracy Lee's work was last seen locally in Seven.

Blake again

I had been staying away from reacting to our "local" WaPo Chief Art Critic's musings lest I be recognized as a Blakemonger. But I bit the other day and now I find myself reading one of the oddest, most entertaining, off-kilter, intelligent, unexpected, "will someone please return the real Blake Gopnik" (NOT!) articles by someone claiming to be Blake Gopnik that I have ever read.

Read it here.

And then read Bailey's diss...ertation on the article here, which as usual, raises some good, interesting and valid points.

Atelier Yoyita

As a response to the tragedies of hurricanes Rita and Katrina, Atelier Yoyita in Jackson, Mississippi is creating, hosting and showcasing artists affected by the hurricanes at no cost to the artist, for 6 months to a year.

Interested and eligible artists should contact Dr. Gloria M. Norris through their website or via email at katrina@yoyita.com.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 1, 2005

The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus, invites proposals for exhibitions in the Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery.

Exhibition Dates: 8-10 exhibitions, beginning February 2006.

Proposal Deadline: Proposals must be received by 5:00pm on Thursday, December 1, 2005.

Eligibility: Open to artists and organizations throughout the northern Virginia area. Works can be in both two and three-dimensional formats. Exhibitions may be group or solo.

Entry Procedure: Please submit the following:
* A completed application form with each entry.
* A maximum of 12 slides that represent your work. Slides should be numbered and each should include your name and the title of the piece. Slides should be submitted in a clear plastic slide sleeve.
* A resume.
* A brief description of work to be considered for exhibition attached to application form.
* If you would like your slides returned to you, please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope large enough and with enough postage to return them.

Notification: Initial selection will be based on proposals submitted. Final selection may require studio visits. Finalists will be notified by January 6, 2006.

Terms: Artists/organizations are responsible for shipping/delivery/pick-up and preparation of works, as well as any unusual installation requirements. Northern Virginia Community College will insure works while on the premises. Artists must indicate insurance values for all works exhibited.

Information: For further information, contact Leslie White, Managing Director (703-845-6229) or Andrew McPherson, Gallery Coordinator (anmcpherson@netscape.net).

Submission: Send applications to:
Schlesinger Center/NVCC
Att: Exhibitions
3001 N. Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA, 22311

Applications received "Postage Due" will not be accepted.

OPTIONS 2005 Pics



Some early pics from the OPTIONS 2005 show and the Curator's Talk. I missed both, and will try to see the show soon. Comments and photos invited; please email them to me.

Dr. Libby Lumpkin discussing the work

And Dr. Lumpkin again

More photos here.

Artists' Market

Today is the Bethesda Artist's Market. The market runs from 10am-5:30pm inside the Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue. Nearly 30 local and regional artists will display and sell their original fine art and fine craft in the plaza outside our gallery.

See ya there!

Artists: Tell Jen How You Live!

(Thanks Alexandra)...

Jennifer Dalton has an interesting survey going on. How Do Artists Live?

It takes only a couple of minutes to complete; visit How Do Artists Live? here.

Gopnik on Buster

Blake Gopnik checks in with one of his once a year area gallery reviews and has a rare review of Kendall Buster at Fusebox. It's a good review of a superb show.

Fusebox, easily one of the best galleries in our area, sort of gets "screwed" by the WaPo on a general basis, as the regular "Galleries" column has never covered them, as Jessica Dawson has recused herself from covering Fusebox shows due to private reasons.

The only one time that "Galleries" covered Fusebox was when Glenn Dixon shared the column with Jessica for a little while, before he had a dispute with the WaPo and quit.

This could easily be solved if the WaPo just honored their earlier promises to hire another freelancer and return "Galleries" to a weekly column on Thursdays.

Meanwhile Fusebox gets screwed because they're never covered in "Galleries," and Blake gets screwed because he's forced to make up for that by actually having to write about a "local artist" (his words), and the rest of the galleries get screwed because the Chief Art Critic of the world's second most influential newspaper rarely writes about them/us.

This could all easily be solved by having the WaPo simply hire another independent freelancer to cover the two weeks of the month currently without gallery reviews.

He's back

Glad to see that Jeffry Cudlin is back at the City Paper.

Cudlin reviews "Kahn & Selesnick: The Apollo Prophecies" at Irvine and also Symbioland at Curator's Office.

We were beginning to get worried that the CP was Washingtonpostdownsizing* their visual arts coverage.

More please...

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*At the present rate, by the time 2005 ends, there will have been about four times more European/NYC fashion show reviews in the WaPo than gallery reviews. If you don't get it, you don't get it.

Holly Foss at Foundry

Our Georgetown gallerina, Holly Foss, is having an exhibition at Foundry Gallery, and the opening reception is tonight as part of the First Fridays Dupont Circle gallery crawl.

Using a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and one from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Holly has been documenting her Georgetown neighborhood through photography.

A few years ago Holly was driving through Georgetown, was involved in a serious car accident, and woke up many months later, following an extended coma, in Georgetown University Hospital. She writes:

All I know is I was lucky to be alive and for the first time took notice of so much I had missed before. In leaving the hospital and driving through Georgetown’s residential neighborhoods, I suddenly became aware of the neighborhood’s stylish detail and historic fabric – the facades, turrets, towers, portals, lintels, sills, fences, fire plaques – now became fascinating in their unusual way. And the easy transfer of lines from one building to the next worked in a way that only enhanced the dignity of these grand imposing structures. Having lived in both Boston and New York City provided an historical perspective enabling me to appreciate what make Georgetown so unique.

Holly Foss earned her BA at Wellesley College, where she also took classes in Photography at MIT. Her work has won many awards and been featured on television on WETA and Fox Sunday Morning news and has appeared in many of our local newspapers.

Tonight's reception at Foundry is from 6-8PM and Holly's show hangs through October 30th.

Options 2005 (first report)

It's just a little bit past midnight, and yet the emails are already pouring in about what a great opening Options 2005 hosted and as to the significant number of works that sold at the opening (around $15,000), which is always (as an art dealer's perspective) a good sign for a show designed to showcase new, emerging talent!

I am sorry that I missed the opening, but I am home and sore from some new cool hamstring-stretching routines that we learned tonite (we have a new Sensei, and she's really good!) Photos and more details later (of Options 2005 that is).

And let me be the first to send a virtual congrats to the WPA/C.

Transformer Auction

Transformer's 2nd Annual Silent Auction Benefit and Reception is coming on Saturday, October 29, 2005 from 7 to 10pm.

Hosted by Fusebox, the auction will feature over 40 original artworks and limited edition prints by some of our area's emerging and best known artists.

Details here.

Artists in the curated auction are:

Gabriel Abrantes
Ken Ashton
Lisa Bertnick
Kheshan Blunt
Chan Chao
William Christenberry
Mary Coble
Billy Colbert
Cynthia Connolly
Frank Day
Djakarta
Jason Falchook
Suzanna Fields
Sabrina Gschwandtner
Jason Gubbiotti
Linda Hesh
Lucy Hogg
James Huckenpahler
Jeff Huntington
Erick Jackson
Susan Jamison
Judy Jashinsky
Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick
Dean Kessmann
Avish Khebrehzadeh
Jae Ko
Bridget Lambert
Pepa Leon
Mike Lowry
Kevin MacDonald
Maki Maruyama
Mimi Masse
Maggie Michael
Jiha Moon
William A. Newman
Piero Passacantando
Beatrice Valdes Paz
Lucian Perkins
WC Richardson
Luis Silva
Jeff Spaulding
Dan Steinhilber
Zach Storm
Trish Tillman
Kelly Towles
Jason Zimmerman
Ian Whitmore

Tickets can be bought online here and then click on the tab for "auction."

Options 2005 Opening Tonight

Anybody who is anybody in our area's visual arts universe, and maybe even those who only frequent the same 2-3 galleries, but comment in general terms about all of our galleries and area artists, will be at the Options 2005 opening tonight.

I have my usual Thursday night martial arts class (and I missed last week's because of California travel), so I will miss the opening. The reception is from 6:30-8:30PM at the former Staples store in Georgetown (located at 3307 M Street, NW).

Someone please email me some comments and/or some photos of the opening.

New Blog

Andrew Wodzianski, who will be having his second solo exhibition with us opening next October 21st at our Georgetown gallery, will really be pushing the technology button in this coming exhibition through the use of innovative audio technology advances.

And in the next few weeks, our local media and you all will be hearing a lot in the DC area about Yellow Arrows.

More on that and Andrew's exhibition later; meanwhile, The Zodiac Group has a new variation on the art blog with Wodcast: A Blog dedicated to the use of technology for artist and audience interaction.

Visit Wodcast here.

Holy Cow!

I once warned people not to piss off that amazing human word-processing Carbon unit known as Bailey.

Read the evidence here.

Additions to the collection

Last night I went to the Art-O-Matic happy hour at Warehouse, and while there, I ran into Alexandra Silverthorne, who was busily hanging her show upstairs. Alexandra has one of the three second floor galleries; the other two being filled by the intelligent work of Joe Barbaccia and Pat Dunning.

So I went upstairs to look the work, and came away with two of Alexandra's photographs, which by the way: are a steal; and which by the way: are one of a kind Holga silverprints; and which by the way: she's donating half of the proceeds to Empower DC, Project Northstar, Charlie's Place, and other local organizations that provide services to DC's low-income and homeless residents.



The three person show is up for viewing now at Warehouse, and the opening reception is Thursday, October 13th, 6-8PM. Preview Alexandra's work here.