Reston Report

Back from jurying the 15th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston, which expects to gather anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 art lovers this weekend to check out 150 artists and artisans from around the nation.

The jurying was brutal work, as there were many talented artists, and it also seems like sales were going gangbusters (Marvin Blackmore sold a $25,000 piece while we were jurying around!).

Also ran into Bailey, who was a volunteer at the show and was delivering lunches and water and sodas to the artists.

And Kirkland also benefited from the first day of the show, as one of his pieces sold at the GRACE gallery. His solo looks really good and clean (more on that later).

Anyway, we awarded the best in show to Chris Plummer, a really young printmaker from Kentucky with some deeply interesting woodcuts.

I also liked the work of Michigan artist Helen Gotlib, but couldn't swing a prize for her (she won a prize last year).

Also of interest were the amazing retablos of Nicario Jimenez, last seen locally at an exhibition last year in the Corcoran.

Other prizewinners included woodturner Kim Blatt, sculptor Valerie Bunnell, watercolorist Randy Eckart, an amazing young minimalist jeweler by the name of Geoffry Giles, who won the First Prize in the Crafts category, and the always intelligent photographs of Vincent Serbin.

And I also fell in love with the furniture of Damian Velazquez: this guy is amazing and affordable!

Update: Bailey's report here.

Saturday Assignments

If you're in an artsy mood and want to hang around Bethesda, you can start your day by attending the artists' talk at Fraser Gallery at 2PM and then walking over to the opening of the new exhibition at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art.

First: Many of the artists from the current Compelled by Content II exhibition will deliver an artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance at the Fraser Gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM.

The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance. There will be plenty of sangria at hand.

Then Heineman-Myers Contemporary Art opens its second show ever with an exhibition of new works by acclaimed Argentine painter Martha Zuik. The opening for Zuik is from 6-9PM.

Restonin' Today

I'll be in Reston all day, one of three jurors selecting the prizewinners for the 15th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston, Virginia. About 150 artists from all over the country, a few thousand dollars in prizes, tons of bucks in sales, and between 60,000 - 80,000 people attend, look at and buy art at the festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday. Details here.

Missed it!

Weekend section writers had their Friday online chat this morning, but I missed it as I hadn't seen them on the schedule.

Lots of beach questions, but someone asked:

Washington, D.C.: While I understand that there is concern for cultivating the "new" reader (i.e., the under-35 demographic) it seems the Weekend section believes that the cult of celebrity is what is of chief concern.

Why else has the erudite O'Sullivan been assigned to waste his talents interviewing Hollywood celebrities when the Metro area under-35 crowd really HUNGERS to read more in-depth analysis of why the young artist Laurel Nakadate creates artwork that is "almost sickening in its soul-deadness" yet this very "soul-deadness" has "undeniable power" WHY IS THAT this reader wants to know?

This 32-year-old reader finds the celebrity interview sickening in its soul-deadness. It is noteworthy, that today's thought provoking piece on artwork featured in a local commercial gallery occurs when O'Sullivan has not split his focus with Hollywood.

I want more of The Weekend section HERE, not in Hollywood.

Michael O'Sullivan: I think there's a question buried in there somewhere, and I'll try to address it, along with another point only implicitly raised by my erudite questioner. Laurel Nakadate's work is powerful for exactly the paradox you've put your finger on -- not despite, but because of its sickening soul-deadness. There's a kind of power in art that makes us angry, or scared, or even nauseated. Not everyone may like that feeling. I kind of welcome it. I think this would have been clearer if I had written more extensively about Nakadate's work, instead of including her with four other artists showing in three different galleries housed under the same roof. I wanted to get them all in though, even if only briefly, since they're all worthwhile shows in my opinion. Other questioners (and perhaps even this one) in previous chats have wanted more coverage of local art. That's what I'm trying to do, with occasional "round-ups" of multiple shows like this, which are, of necessity, less in-depth than if I had devoted all my attention to a single artist.

The questioner is referring to O'Sullivan's review of Nakadate in today's Weekend. Read that here.

Submit your questions (for next week) to the Weekend staffers here.

Here Comes the Judge

I'll be jurying a couple of art related events this weekend:

First of all, I'm one of three jurors selecting the prizewinners for the 15th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston, Virginia. About 150 artists from all over the country, a few thousand dollars in prizes, tons of bucks in sales, and between 60,000 - 80,000 people attend, look at and buy art at the festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday. Details here.

Today is the deadline for the 10th Annual Greater Washington, DC International Fine Arts Competition, which I juried back in 1997 and which I will jury again this year. Drop off entries by the gallery today!

Recent AU Acquisitions

Recent acquisitions of AU's Watkins Gallery and the Katzen Collection are on view at the Katzen Arts Center now and will be through June 18, 2006.

This exhibition of acquisitions, the first since the museum opened in July 2005, features work by several Washington-based artists — there's a stone sculpture by Jim Sanborn, Noche Christ’s folk-like painting of a fantasy harem, a color abstraction by Howard Mehring, as well as contemporary art from by New York color field painter Jules Olitski and California funk artist Roy De Forest.

Artists' Talk This Saturday

Many of the artists from the current Compelled by Content II exhibition will deliver an artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance at the Fraser Gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM.

The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance.

Artists on Artist

Open Studios This Weekend

The Mid City Artists are having their joint open studios this weekend May 20-21, 2006.

Details and map here.

Transformer Changes

As reported by Adrian Parsons a few days ago, Transformer’s Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Victoria Reis as Executive Director of Transformer as of May 16, 2006.

Jayme McLellan, who co-founded Transformer together with Reis in 2002, resigned from her position as co-director of Transformer to become the Interim Executive Director of Women & Philanthropy - a national leadership organization of grant-makers.

Good luck to both!

Schafer on Bisese

Karen Schafer discusses Ed Bisese at Neptune Gallery.

Read it here.

Louie The Fish

I've received at least a dozen emails from readers telling me that they've also received emails from Louie The Fish.

And this one:

Hi Lenny,

I was just now going to post to you about the scam.

I, too received email from the same person (who calls himself Mclaren Welis from the UK) beginning in April (and I have art on the MD State Arts Council website).

I don't know if I'm the person that is refered to in your posting today. I think not since I didn't recognize the postmark, only that the stamps were from Benin (a country next to Nigeria).

I was skeptical as well from the first contact in April, but via email, he said the same thing, interested in purchasing several of my artworks. I'm so glad you've posted the warning.

The person who manages the MD State Art Council's website is aware of this, and posted a warning to artists who are on the registry. (Well, that was before I got the check yesterday -- also for an additional $3000, which I suspected was phony).

I talked to the manager at the bank, and he called the bank that the check was written on, and of course, its no good. The manager said they would have deposited it in my account, not knowing it was phony, made the funds available to me. And, a week later, when they would have learned that it was a bad check, would have debited my account.

I'm sure the person "Mclaren" would have contacted me and asked me to send him the extra $3000, or an amount just under, saying something like, he could make it profitable to me... or for my troubles, keep an extra $500 or whatever.

The bank manager said this past month another customer came in w/a similar check. That person was contacted by email from someone supposedly interested in renting an apartment, and received a check for thousand/s more than the agreed amount.

The police advise me to not respond to any email from this Mclaren Welis and not to return the check. I just got another email from Mclaren today asking for a response.

Thank you again for posting to your blog about this creep.

Be careful!

Art Fraud Alert

Received the following from a DC ART NEWS reader:

A DC area artist and I were both contacted by a Mclaren Welis with a yahoo account -- supposedly from 36 Greenfield Wrexham UK LL11 2NR (Wales) to buy our artwork -- that he discovered on the Maryland State Arts Council website.

I thought it was legitimate because I googled the address and found an artist who lives nextdoor at 34 Greenfield, a glass artist by the name of Chris Bird-Jones who is affiliated with the Arts Council of Wales... so my brain made the connection that Chris Bird-Jones had introduced Mclaren Welis to arts council databases and Mclaren was out to buy directly from artists.

The other DC artist received a check today that is for exactly $3000 more than the cost of her artwork and the shipping fees. The check came in an envelope with a very weak cancellation mark from Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

These scams have come to be associated in the public mind with Nigeria due to the massive proliferation of such confidence tricks from that country since the mid-eighties, although they are often also carried out in other African nations, including Togo, Cte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Africa, and increasingly from European cities with large West African populations, notably London, Amsterdam and Madrid, and lately also Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Canada.

So I finally emailed Chris Bird-Jones who informed me that there is no 36 Greenfield.

Chris Bird-Jones, whose work is displayed on the Arts Council of Wales website was recently a victim of a similar scam where a person with the name Lineaux Swave wanted to buy Bird-Jones' artwork... a fradulent check (aka Akwukwo, chekere, pepper in Nigeria) was sent to Bird-Jones and the matter is now in the hands of the police and the bank.

We fall mugu (To be fooled, to become victim of advance fee fraud); Supposedly a check is in the mail to me

This must be going all round the Maryland State Arts Council website; it's called an Advance Fee Fraud or a 419 scheme.

And just today I received an email from someone named Luis that says:

From: Luis Mackarel
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 5:53 PM
To: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject: Paintings

Hello,
I came across your paintings from maryland state council website and i will appreciate it if you can let me know if the works displayed on the website is still
available and prices of eachwork.
Regards,
Luis

I intend to answer Louie The Fish and at least make him waste the envelope and some stamps as he sends me my Akwukwo check.

Nestor Hernández (1960-2006)

I am shocked to learn today that my good friend Nestor Hernández passed away after a short bout with cancer.

Hernández was a DC-based photographer of Afro-Cuban descent (Afro-Cuban father and African-American mother).

Raised in DC, he didn't speak Spanish, but that didn't stop him from understanding it from his heart, and from visiting his father's enslaved homeland and re-discovering his Cuban roots via his photography, which he exhibited in many art venues, both in the DC area, nationally, and in Cuba, throughout the years.

Nestor was introduced to photography in High School through the Urban Journalism Workshop of the D.C. Public Schools, and then he was on the staff of the Capital Children’s Museum as photographer-in-residence for many years.

Hernandez then became the chief photographer for the D.C. Public School system, even as he continued to visit Cuba, and then to start photography projects dealing with children in Ghana, and most recently Mali.

We exhibited Hernandez photographs as part of our gallery's grounbreaking De Aqui y de Alla (From Here and From There) survey of contemporary Cuban art from Cuba and from the Cuban diasphora and in several group shows after that.

His photographs have been included in many shows Washington, D.C. and various American cities, as well as in Havana, Cuba and Accra, Ghana, and his photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Casa de Africa museum and Galería de Arte René Portocarrero in Cuba, Asafo Gallery in Ghana, the Cuban Art Space in New York and the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.

He was a member and past president of FotoCraft Camera Club, and was the 2001 recipient of the "Photographer of the Year" award, given by the Exposure Group, African American Photographers Association. In 2002 he received the "Outstanding Emerging Artist" award, and in 2003 an Artist Fellowship Grant, both from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

With Port of Harlem, he developed the "Our Children, Our World" photography exhibit featuring the works of children from Ghana, Cuba, Washington, D.C., and Gary, Indiana. After a successful run in Washington, D.C., the exhibit opens in Gary later this summer, as an official event celebrating Gary's 100th anniversary.

And this Wednesday Tuesday, Nestor's photographs will be included in the Arlington Art Center's Love, Loss and Longing: The Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families, which opens May 16 and runs through June 3, 2006. The exhibit features photos by Nestor Hernández, Jr. and Juan-Sí González and text by Drs. Jeanne Lemkau and David Strug. The opening reception is May 16, 6:30- 9pm. This exhibit will then tour nationally through the end of 2007.

As with most artists, Hernández died with little money. Burial contributions are being accepted by his father:

Nestor L. Hernández
4007 53rd Street
Bladensburg, MD 20710

We will all miss you hermano!

Weekend Report

Two things to report on: Bethesda Fine Arts Festival and Kirkland's solo opening at GRACE.

It ended with a huge downpour, but for the most part the weather stayed good and around (my guess) 30-40,000 people attended the 3rd annual Bethesda Fine Arts Festival on the streets of Bethesda last weekend. I did quite well, selling about a dozen drawings and maybe 20 prints or so. The mixed media artist from Georgia who was across from me sold over $15,000 on Sunday in a twenty minute span, and the photographer next to me was in a constant sell-mode on both days (and this was his first show). On my other side, Norfolk artist Sheila Giolitti also did gangbusters, including one major sale to Carol Trawick. See the prizewinners here in a few days as soon as the website is updated.

JT Kirkland's solo show at GRACE went well, with a couple of sales including JT's largest sale so far and a new high for the Kirklands. Congrats to JT!

Online Discussions on Criticism

Arts Journal is hosting an online debate about the changing nature of culture and cultural journalism. They've invited 15 critics, bloggers and editors to take part.

You can read it here.

What to do tomorrow

First of all, drop by the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival and check out the artwork of 130 contemporary artists from around the nation.

Then later that evening trek out to Reston and visit JT Kirkland's solo exhibition "Framed," at the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) in Reston, VA. There will be a reception for the Kirkmeister on Saturday, May 13, 2006 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. And just in time (like the NSA story in USA Today), DCist has a great studio visit by Adrian Parsons to JT's place. Read it here.

If you don't get it...

From the transcripts of the Weekend staff online session this AM (italics are mine):

Potomac, Md.: Can we get more art reviews?

"On Exhibit" usually has one large or two joined reviews, but there are usually multiple movie and multiple theatre reviews ...

So can we have more art reviews in Weekend?

Style section now only does about 24 "Galleries" column a year ... so we're really starving for something to read about our local galleries!

Please ...

Joyce Jones: Michael O'Sullivan (who will most likely join me on this answer) does an exceptional job of covering a very large art scene. Since he began covering art for the section, Weekend has done more features on galleries than ever before. But speaking as the person who has to try to come up with a representative mix of all the entertainment options out there, I have to say that we try to divvy our space based on the popularity (and thus reader interest) in different topics. I listen to reader feedback, like what you're giving me now. And I also look at research into how people in this area spend their leisure time. Movies are a big draw and our coverage reflects that. We try to give both theater/dance and art exhibits a relatively equal shake though we structure the coverage differently. The mini art reviews idea is a good one, but our space constraints make it difficult to add a lengthy feature like that. Though week to week our section varies a little in size, over the course of a year it averages to a set amount of non-ad space each week. That's all we have to work with; we can't just go as big as we want. If that were the case, we would be twice as big each week.

Michael O'Sullivan: I know it can be frustrating. I have a list on my computer of somewhere between 100 and 200 art spaces (commercial galleries, nonprofits, alternative exhibition spaces, universities, embassies). That's not even counting the museums. And don't get me started on Baltimore, which has a very lively art scene, and whose boundaries with the DC art community are very porous. We try to distribute our coverage fairly, but given a limited amount of space--and the fact that I am, despite rumors, merely human--it's going to be impossible to make everyone happy.

So Ms. Jones (the very nice Weekend section editor) clearly states that she tries to divvy our space based on the popularity (and thus reader interest) in different topics.

Translation: We believe that our readers are more interested in movies, theatre, dance, and music than in art.

She also stated that: We try to give both theater/dance and art exhibits a relatively equal shake.

Are we reading the same Weekend section?

Homework assignment for one of the DC ART NEWS readers: Go to your local library, select the last 10 Weekend sections and count the number of:

(a) Theatre reviews and mini-reviews

(b) Dance reviews and mini-reviews

(c) Visual Arts reviews

While it is true that gallery reviews have significantly improved since O'Sullivan took over the "On Exhibit" column, I think that Ms. Jones may be surprised as to how much more of (a) and (b) Weekend does than of (c).

Let the data speak! Email me your homework assignment and I will post them here.

WaPo's Weekend Staff Online

The WaPo's Weekend staffers are online at 11AM today answering questions about Weekend and its coverage.

You can email your question to them here.

Target grants

Deadline: May 31, 2006

Target Stores provide local grants ranging in value between $1,000 and $3,000. To apply, complete the application form available on their website and deliver it to the Target store in your community.

Contact information is available through the Target website.