Alma Thomas

The Hirshhorn has some of the Alma Thomas paintings in its collection currently on exhibition.

Thomas, who lived most of her life (and taught art to children for many years) in DC, didn't even have her first solo show until she was 68 years old, and still managed to fit in retrospectives at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and what was then called the National Museum of American Art, and then became the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC.

She died in 1978, and many of the Thomas' paintings in the Hirshhorn collection were gifted to the museum after her death.

I find it a little curious that the Hirshhorn has eight Thomas in its collection, but only one Lois Mailou Jones, who was one of Thomas' professors at Howard (Thomas was Howard's first Art Department graduate in 1924).

Jones died in 1998. Time for some more gifts to the Hirsh...

Lecture

Next week, on Wed. June 7, 2006, at 12 noon, Michelle Greet, Assistant Professor of Art History, George Mason University will deliver a slide lecture titled "From Matta to Gego: Modes of Abstraction in Latin America" at the Art Museum of the Americas, a truly gorgeous, and often ignored, art space in our region.

Free and open to the public!

Bailey in the WaPo

Bailey is in today's WaPo.

See it here.

We have them too

An alert DC Art News reader points out that in the WaPo's District Extra, there is an article about how Michael A. Brown is getting political endorsements for his DC mayoral campaign in places outside the DC area.

So what's this story got to to do with the visual arts?

Apparently Brown was in Atlanta to raise funds for his campaign, which he last reported in March as having less than $12,000 in cash. Andrew Young endorsed him in front of a crowd of about 150 who paid $100 to attend a reception at an African American-owned art gallery.

Now this is something that has never happened in DC... or has it?

And what is it with WaPo's writers and their "generalizing" of art galleries or museums (describing them as "an art gallery" or in Big Al Carter's article, as "an art museum"), rather than telling their readers the name of that art gallery in Atlanta? Had it been a defense contractor, or any other business, we'd know immediately who it was.

And Mr. Brown, if you need to pick up some endorsements in our area, and need an excellent African-American owned art gallery to host the event, we have them too! I'll even tell you the name of some of them.

Zuik

As you can probably tell from the dearth of postings, I have been super busy and away from DC this week.

And tonite just back from Heineman-Myers where Argentine painter Martha Zuik had a nice artist's talk amidst some really good Argentine wine tasting... more on Zuik later.

Carter's Show

Another DC Art News reader points out that this link has all the info about the Big Al Carter museum show that the WaPo article failed to reveal.

Online grilling

Last Sunday's Washington Post Magazine did something quite out of the ordinary: it actually had a profile of a DC area artist: Allen D. Carter.

And one of DC Art News readers wrote to me that

"it's INFURIATING thru the whole article they keep referring to some museum in North Carolina where Carter's work will be featured in group show... after searching on the curator's name you can dig up The Louise Wells Cameron Art Museum. Would it kill them to mention the name of the museum? would this kind of writing be tolerated for a political story or a sports story? That town hall meeting that happened somewhere in North Carolina? That game that was played somewhere in the south? I dont think so..."

Good points!

And then today, the author of the piece, Mary Battiata, was online discussing the article (I was away all day and missed it!) and answering questions and yikes... was she grilled!

Everything is online here.

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.