Monday, November 06, 2023

King Street Gallery: “BLUE - Visual and Performing Arts Department Faculty & Staff Exhibition”

King Street Gallery at Montgomery College Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus presents: “BLUE - Visual and Performing Arts Department Faculty & Staff Exhibition”. 

King Street Gallery at Montgomery College Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus presents: “BLUE: Visual and Performing Arts Department Faculty & Staff Exhibition”. The exhibition will run from November 27, 2023, to January 5, 2024, with an opening reception to be held on Thursday, December 7, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Attendance is free and open to the public. 

My Little Pony by Kai Fang
My Little Pony by Kai Fang

Following the gallery’s 2023-2024 season theme, “Blue,” each artist was tasked with interpreting this open concept within their own artistic practice and includes works in Animation, 2D Design, 3D Design, Ceramics, Craft, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture.  

Artists participating in the show include Michael Anthony, Adriana Baler, Michael Booker, Kevin Bowman, Pablo Callejo, Leeanna Earp, Miriam Ewers, Kai Fang, Mieke Gentis, Brandon Geurts, Michal Hunter, Wanjin Kim, Kate Kretz, Matthew McLaughlin, Jake Muirhead, Carrie Rennolds, Alzira Ruano, Amare Selfu, Megan Van Wagoner, and Jenny Walton. 

Gallery hours are Monday -Thursday 8-5 pm and Friday 8-4 pm. The college and gallery will be closed December 23, 2023 – January 2nd, 2024. 

Gallery Address: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, 930 King Street, Silver Spring, MD 20912 

Sunday, November 05, 2023

Writing a Stronger Grant Proposal: Tips and Procedures for Creating Effective Applications

 Writing a Stronger Grant Proposal:

Tips and Procedures for Creating Effective Applications
with
Elizabeth Ashe
Presented by The Washington Sculptors Group
Monday, November, 20, 2023
7:00 - 8:30 pm (on zoom)

Have you applied for a grant? Is it routine for you, or has a part of the process kept you from even trying? This panel will demystify the process. 

We will outline what to include and what to leave out. All grants are different, so we will describe criteria for deciding what grants may be right for you. We will discuss strategies for finding partnerships that strengthen your application, and when it is best to seek them. We investigate the specific local organizations that distribute grant money, such as the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, ArtsFairfax and Arlington Commission for the Arts. Most importantly we will help you rewrite normal art documents into strong narratives for grants.

About the Speaker

Liz Ashe began writing grants in 2018 when she was Administrative Director for Zenith Community Arts Foundation (ZCAF). She has received 20 grants to date, ranging from programs at ZCAF, to helping individual artists and other small nonprofits, to supporting her own studio work and curatorial projects. She earned her MFA in Creating Writing from Chatham University, and her MFA in Multidisciplinary Art from MICA. Liz works at the Katzen Arts Center at American University.

Register in advance for this meeting here.

This discussion will be recorded for posting on the WSG YouTube channel. Registration will be deemed consent to be recorded.

This panel discussion is part of WSG’s ongoing series of professional practices talks for artists.

Saturday, November 04, 2023

Pollock-Krasner Foundation

Artists can apply to the Pollock-Krasner Foundation by submitting an online application.

Requirements for consideration are the application form, a cover letter, a current resume including an exhibition record, and ten digital images of current work with a corresponding identification list. All applications will be promptly acknowledged and considered. Please do not send application forms by mail, fax or e-mail. A crucial part of the application process is based on the Committee of Selection’s review of each artist’s images. The Foundation will only accept images completed within the past ten years. The Foundation urges artists to send the highest quality images of their work.

All that you need to apply here.

Friday, November 03, 2023

Copyright Law for Artists

 Tuesday, November 7, 2023

11am 
*CAH/WALA presents: Copyright Law for Artists and Creatives w/ Washington Bar Association*Free admission courtesy of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) as part of The Business of the Arts Professional Development Series (BOA)

Register below

Tue. Nov. 7, 2023 - Copyright Law for Artists and Creatives info & registration (Free Admission)


Wednesday, November 01, 2023

The Joy and the Limits of Picking Yourself

A guest post by the super hard-working DMV artist Michele Banks!

The Joy and the Limits of Picking Yourself

A dozen years ago, Seth Godin wrote a blog post called Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself. It was a rallying cry for creators to bypass the gatekeepers and simply get on with doing what they want to do. Can’t get a book contract? Self-publish. No record deal? Start posting your songs online.

Godin says, “It’s a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying, “I pick you.” Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you–that Prince Charming has chosen another house–then you can actually get to work.”

Michele Banks - Detail from Purkinje Neuron in Black and Indigo, Ink on Yupo, 2023
Michele Banks - Detail from Purkinje Neuron in Black and Indigo, Ink on Yupo, 2023

Godin’s piece, which came out as I was starting to sell my art online, was tremendously heartening to me. After some bruising encounters with galleries and juried group shows, it was encouraging to consider that there might be another way. Who needs gallery representation? So what if a curator won’t choose you? You can get out there and find your own audience.  And so I did: I’ve sold thousands of paintings in the intervening years.  

Yes, thousands, and I not only painted them all, I matted them, photographed them, described them, listed them, packed them in cardboard and took them to the post office.

I take great pride and satisfaction in the fact that I did all those things myself.

I picked myself, and it worked.

But of course I didn’t do it all on my own.                     

And of course I could not completely avoid gatekeepers.

I started out selling online on Makers Market, a sadly short-lived joint project by Make Magazine and BoingBoing. I applied, and I got picked. And as a result, Make and BoingBoing shared my work with a huge audience, one I might never equal on my own.(After Makers Market folded, I opened my Etsy shop)

Pick me! From the Cells to the Stars, a 2011 watercolor, was featured in BrainPickings, giving me a publicity boost. Indigo Coronavirus (ink, 2020) was acquired by the National Academies of Science, a little institutional cred.
Pick me! From the Cells to the Stars, a 2011 watercolor, was featured in BrainPickings, giving me a publicity boost. Indigo Coronavirus (ink, 2020) was acquired by the National Academies of Science, a little institutional cred.

I still make a big chunk of my income from selling my art at festivals. And quite often festival jurors do not pick me, but if I want to get my work in front of their audience, I have to keep applying and submitting to the judgement of those gatekeepers. There’s no setting up a tent on my street and declaring myself a fine art festival.

Yes, I could rent an apartment in another city, set up a studio, and call it a residency.

Yes, I could set up an online fundraiser for myself and call it a grant.

But I have not done that.  I’ve applied for grants and residencies the usual way, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  After years of blanket rejection, I stopped applying for gallery shows. But I have not stopped showing in galleries!  Anything I’ve shown in a gallery over the last six years has been a product of, yes, waiting around to get asked. Sorry, Seth.

Do I have a point here beyond “it’s complicated?”

Yes.

Picking yourself is completely valid as a mantra and a strategy. You really do have to pick yourself, to put yourself out there, to present your work to the public and say, “look at this thing I made.”  By all means, make a great website, a stunning Instagram account, an online shop, a newsletter. Those are all things you can create and control on your own.

But most creators at some point must engage with gatekeepers. You need shows. You need publicity. You have to choose between the effort of creating all this on your own or applying and hoping to get picked. Because gatekeepers are also boosters.

I doubt that most people get into the business of running galleries or art festivals or giving out grants because they crave the adrenaline rush of rejecting artists. (Okay, some of them might, but let’s not go there) They do it because they want to support artists and provide them with a platform for their work. As an artist, you can and should build your own platform, but it’s fine to stand on someone else’s now and then. It’s probably bigger than your personal platform, and can maybe boost you up a little higher.

I believe in the message of picking yourself: it’s essential. But the part where Godin says “no one is going to select you” is far too harsh. It’s true that toiling over your art in obscurity and simply waiting for a genius grant is unlikely to succeed. But if you make good work, tell your story compellingly, choose your opportunities thoughtfully, and cultivate your network with kindness, you put yourself in position to get picked.

New Art

I have not forgotten that by far the most important people who pick me are the buyers of my art!  While I’ve mostly been busy painting dozens of brains and neurons for the upcoming Society for Neuroscience meeting, I’ve recently added 15 new paintings to my Etsy shop, including watercolor brains, viruses in both watercolor and ink, and several new sayings of the Algorithm.  Find them here.

Upcoming DC Art Events

I have a few more IRL events in DC before the end of the year! Find me here

November 11-15: Neuroscience 2023

November 18: Dumbarton House Makers Market

December 2:  Dupont Circle Holiday Pop-up

Thank you so much for reading. I’m new to this, so if you enjoyed this piece, please share it with others and subscribe to read more.



Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop will offer Unleash your Creative Spirit

On Saturday, November 11, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop will offer Unleash your Creative Spirit, a collage workshop with Teaching Artists Carolina Mayorga and Sharon Burton.

Date: Saturday, November 11, 2023

Time: 2:00-4:00pm

Location: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), 545 7th St. SE, Washington DC 20003

Cost: $15 (please pay in advance by calling 202-547-6839)

On Veterans’ Day, CHAW will offer a collage workshop to honor veterans and caregivers. 

Led by Teaching Artists Carolina Mayorga and Sharon Burton, participants will create a collage to honor themselves, veterans, and caregivers. Unleash Your Creative Spirit will offer participants an opportunity to celebrate creativity, self-expression, and a sense of community while exploring one of the most enjoyable and relevant art forms. Light refreshments will be served.

Monday, October 30, 2023

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

You know you can't hold me forever

I didn't sign up with you

I'm not a present for your friends to open

This boy's too young to be singing

The blues, ah, ah

                               - Elton John 

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Delna Dastur at Fred Schnider Gallery in Arlington

The Fred Schneider Gallery in Arlington will be showing a new body of work by DMV artist Delna Dastur to include paintings and drawings, in a solo show starting on November 10.  

The reception is on November 11, 2023 from 5-8PM  The artist will also be giving a talk on December 9th from 5-7p.m. 

Embracing Arlington Arts interviewed Dastur for this show and you can visit that interview here.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Friday, October 27, 2023

"Ninety Degrees" by Isabel Manalo

Ninety Degrees

By Isabel Manalo

Show Runs: November 4 - December 31, 2023

Artist Talk: Sunday, Nov. 5 at 4pm


GASLIGHT Gallery

 3 Roads | 118 East Church Street, 118 East Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Isabel Manalo is an Artist’s Artist. She is a pro who not only maintains her own studio practice and exhibition schedule, but also guides countless other artists with aesthetic and academic counsel. Manalo’s paintings possess an uncommon transcendence and mysticism. Yet they are essentially simple and familiar in their subject matter, often with her two young daughters engaged in exploration and wonder amid the natural world. The jewel-like glances of vivid translucent color so musically applied to the picture plane provide a sense of hopeful providence and even joy. Manalo has been exhibiting her work internationally since 1999. Her art works are included in several public and private collections, such as the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the permanent collections of U.S. Embassies in Bulgaria, Philippines, Kazakhstan and Nepal. Manalo is currently an Adjunct Professor at American University and George Mason University and serves as an Artist Mentor at Lesley University in Boston, MA. She is the Founder and Chief Collaborator of The Studio Visit, an art journal featuring artist interviews with artists in their studios.

“Lately painting for me has become a release and expression of my drawing process. That which is more immediate, gestural, imperfect and ephemeral and yet still driven by a highly saturated palette and layering of marks and pattern. Images of faces and bodies comingle with familiar plant life and foliage and bouquets of flowers that have been given and received in all the exchanges of hello's and goodbyes. Cues from media of current events pop up as does the pre-colonial script from the Philippines.”

                                                                                - Isabel Manalo


Thursday, October 26, 2023

Exhibition Featuring the work and words of Roy Utley

Live! From the Chair

Exhibition Featuring the work and words of Roy Utley

Opening reception this Saturday October 28, 3-6PM

Live! From The Chair is an exhibition featuring the works of Roy Utley at Otis Street Arts Project. The exhibition draws its name from a collection of poems he wrote while receiving chemotherapy, which were inspired by his personal journey through life and illness. These works reflect his never ending resolve to learn to live in peace, hoping he can help others to do the same.

Art by Roy Utley

The "Live! From The Chair" anthology that serves as the exhibition's inspiration is the heart of the exhibit. It is a wall that amplifies voices from around the world, sharing stories of those who've been "in the chair," to remind everyone that illness doesn't define them and that they're not alone in this experience. Additionally, Roy's seminal work, "The Art of Peace," is a map in the form of a digital logic circuit diagram. It illustrates a mechanism of self awareness and sentience, developed to help people on their own path to live in harmony and peace. Roy will also be honoring individuals who had a profound effect on and inspired him by being able to truly live in peace with a dedicated wall.

Gallery Hours: Saturdays 12-4, M-F by appointment

Otis Street Arts Project

3706 Otis Street

Mount Rainier, MD

20712

Exhibition October 28- December 2, 2023


Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Judith Olivia HeartSong

Judith Olivia HeartSong is the founder and Executive Director of Artists & Makers Studios 1 - MD (located at 11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210, Rockville, Maryland 20852 and soon at asecond location in MD - also locations in Oro Valley, AZ, San Gabriel, CA, and North Hollywood, CA).

This human is clearly a shaker and a mover in the visual arts tapestry of the DMV (and multiple other places)... but she's also one of the nicest Earthlings whom I have ever had the pleasure to have worked with multiple times in the past (and soon again in the future).

Learn more about her in the below video.


Tuesday, October 24, 2023

WPA Open Call: Where should we start?

2023-2024 Open Call: Where should we start?

Info Session: Tomorrow Wednesday, Oct. 25, 6:30pm (Virtual) 

From the WPA:

WPA's 2023-2024 Open Call welcomes proposals for one-night only events that will be presented in different locations around DC. DC-area artists are invited to imagine programs that will challenge WPA towards new unimagined directions for future project development in response to the question: “Where should we start?”

Your program can respond to this question in any way that interests you and supports your research. The program you propose may take any form, including: film screening, workshop, conversation, performance, book presentation, and beyond. As this call is designed for anyone from the DC-area to apply, so should your event be designed for anyone from the DC-area to attend. While proposals for virtual events are not accepted, hybrid events are welcome.

We will produce two (2) Open Call programs this season, in February and April 2024 respectively. Each presentation will receive a budget of $3,500.

To learn more about this opportunity, join us for a virtual Information Session on Wednesday, October 25 from 6:30–7:15pm. RSVP Here.

DETAILS & APPLICATION HERE

Monday, October 23, 2023

The curious case of the snatched Chagall

Two things to learn about this story:

 A painting by artist Marc Chagall was stolen from a Midtown art gallery late last month, according to the NYPD.

The painting is valued at over $5,000, police said. Three suspects broke into Carlton Fine Arts and took the painting around 2:12 a.m. on Sept. 25, authorities said on Friday.

 In the article we learn that the Chagall was valued at $5,000.

$5K for a Chagall? I was curious and thus I went to Christie's and found out that indeed, one can grab an original Chagall for around that price - check them out here.

More importantly, and a lesson for artists...

Do you know what happens if one of your works is stolen from a gallery show?

Another lesson on the importance of having a gallery contract that would specify what happens in the event that happens!

Stay tuned and I'll tell you what usually happens!

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Deeming Memorial Fund

Support grants ($500 - $2000) to individual feminist women in the arts with primary residence in the US and Canada.

Applications from feminist writers and visual artists who are women (cis and transgender) or nonbinary and:

  • Exhibit high quality and originality in their work.
  • Use feminism as their central interpretive lens.
  • Value both personal and political changes that promote freedom and agency for women.  
  • Validate differences that intersect with gender such as race, ethnicity, and class.
  • Express an inclusive vision of social justice while focusing on justice for women. 

APPLY HERE.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

New to the DC Art collection!

Now and through December 15, you can see the FY 2024 Art Bank Program Finalists in a very cool exhibition in the Commission’s first floor galleries, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5:30 pm at 200 I (Eye) Street Gallery SE.  There’s photography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, textiles, and more! The gallery is free and open to the public.

Installed in the gallery are the works of Barbara Januszkiewicz, Bradley Stevens, Bria Edwards, Carol Rowan, Cathy Abramson, Charles Jean-Pierre, Cheryl Edwards, Cory Oberndorfer, Daniel Rios, David Fulton, Davide Prete, Debra Jean Ambush, Elaine Wilson, Elizabeth Ashe, Eric Celarier, Erwin Timmers, Gail Shaw-Clemons, Gary Kret, Gayle Friedman, George Tkabladze, Ivan Sigal, Jacqueline Crocetta, James Terrell, Jonathan Monaghan, Joseph Hamilton, Judith Peck, Judith Southerland, Julia Bloom, Julie Byrne, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Justyne Fischer, Kasse Andrews-Weller, Khanh Le, Len Harris, Leslie Holt, Lexis Marie Jordan, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Lina Alattar, Lory Ivey Alexander, Madeline Stratton, Mariah Bonner, Marilyn Gates-Davis, Mentwab Easwaran, Michael Sirvet, Michele Banks, Michelle Lisa Herman, Nami Oshiro, Pixie Alexander, Rania Hassan, Rashad Ali Muhammad, Rashin Kheiriyeh, Regina Miele, Roderick Turner, Sarah Bentley, Sayeh Behnam, Sean Dudley, Selena Jackson, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Sheila Blake, Sheila Crider, Sondra Arkin, Steve Wanna, Tea Okropiridze, Tom Kim, Valerie Theberge, Walter Bo Bullock, Zofie King, and Zsudayka Nzinga.

As you can see from the list, it includes many of the DMV art superstars, but I am particularly pleased to see also many names which I do not know, which means new fresh artwork being added to the City’s collection.  I am also happy to see that many of the artists whom I gave good scores in the selection process made it to the finals!

Congrats to all of them!


Friday, October 20, 2023

Culturally responsive literacy motivation through diverse children's literature

This paper describes the implementation of a high-intensity reading tutoring intervention program using culturally responsive literacy practices centered on diverse children’s literature intended to uplift the needs and priorities of primary grade students experiencing literacy learning challenges. First, we present a critical review of the research on student literacy motivation and student identity. Next, we propose a culturally responsive literacy motivation model that re-conceptualizes student literacy motivation through culturally responsive literacy practices and literacy identity dimensions. We provide qualitative findings from tutor and student participants that reflect interconnections between dimensions of student literacy identity and literacy motivation through culturally responsive literacy practices. We provide implications and recommendations for literacy educators, researchers, and policymakers, along with a resource section for literacy educators.

Read the paper here

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Artists showing at Superfine DC


Meet the artists showing at the 2023 Superfine DC Art Fair this weekend!