Opportunity for artists

Deadline May 1, 2014

Nature’s ARTcade –  A Regional Art Exhibition at Flag Ponds Nature Park – on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.  June 7 – June 29, 2014.  Indoor Gallery.  $2,000 in Prize Money. 

Curator:  Margaret Dowell, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, College of Southern MD.  

Prize Jurors:  Jayme McLellan, founder/director Washington DC’s Civilian Art Projects and Tom Horton, author and former environmental editor for the Baltimore Sun.  

Artwork may be any aesthetic, size and year of completion.  Artworks should in some way reflect inspiration from the natural world typical of the Southern Maryland Region.  

Entry  information at www.calvertparks.org/callforartists.  

Questions – call Anne Sundermann (Executive Director, Battle Creek Nature Education Society) at 301-204-4730.

Art Scam Alert!

It is amazing to me how clearly scammish these emails are, and yet still how many artists bite and lose work to these mutants... Beware of this art scammer, who apparently lives in the new US state of Stockholm:

From:     Mr Edwin Martez (allanbarry964@gmail.com)

Good day

We are interested in your Goods which you displayed in the site and we want to
purchase some of the products on this site for our ref. please send us more
information about your company for our ref. please send to our company
official email: address:

Best Regards

Mr Edwin Martez
Purchasing Manager
Edwin Associates
Address: 479 Allen Avenue,
By Charles Walter,
State : stockholm
Country : United States
Mobile Phone : 1-330-3436799
purchasing@gbpharrn.com

Gateway Arts District in jeopardy

The Dept of Housing and Community Development in Prince George's County have stated that they will not give a community development block grant to what have proven to be very effective arts and economic organizations in the Gateway Arts District.

County Council meetings are coming up Tuesday, Apr 8.

Even if you don't live in Prince George's County, this is the time to spend a few minutes and support an arts endeavor which has visible results.

Please sign here and say why you like visiting the Gateway Arts District.I've already done it!

Of the organizations that this affects and that is mentioned in the petition, and the PGC organization that I personally have had the most contact and sexperience with is the Gateway CDC, and I can testify that this hardworking lot already has had a profound positive impact not only on their surrounding community (already one of the largest concentration of artists' studios in the DMV) but also has become a key player in the visual arts tapestry of the DMV.

We need the CDC to keep working to improve PGC. Check out their web page for more info at : http://gatewaycdc.org/

Also, come to the Open Studio Tour 2014 on Saturday, May 10th. Also, organized by Gateway CDC, it features 100+ artists. It's just one of the many things the Gateway CDC is behind.

Philly

View from the hotel in Downtown Philadelphia... Right on Market Street...

Alchemical Vessels

Photos by the very talented DMV artist and Art Advisor Sharon Burton - they are images of the Alchemical Vessels show at the Joan Hisoaka Healing Arts Gallery in DC. Year after year this is one of the coolest shows of the DMV art season and it's not only a Who's Who of DMV Artists, but also an amazing and powerful proof of what gifted minds can create with just about any substrate.

At $125 a vessel, it is also a steal and for a great cause... Go buy one!

Details here.

And (of course) my contribution...

Suddenly, She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer. 2014 Charcoal on Vessel by F. Lennox Campello.

Asshole of the Week: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

(Via) U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) appeared on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell slamming U.S. efforts to provide Cubans with a Twitter-like social media network.

This was part of a broader, global Obama Administration program to provide connectivity to the censored citizens of closed regimes.

As a matter of fact, Senator Leahy has been a champion of these programs throughout the world, but apparently feels the Cuban people aren't worthy of the same support merited by Syrian, Iranians, North Koreans and the victims of other repressive regimes.

Here's language from Leahy's very-own 2014 State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill:

SEC. 7072. (a) Of the funds appropriated under titles 8 I and III of this Act, not less than $44,600,000 shall be made available for programs to promote Internet freedom globally: Provided, That such programs shall be prioritized for countries whose governments restrict freedom of expression on the Internet, and that are important to the national interests of the United States: Provided further, That funds made available pursuant to this section shall be matched, to the maximum extent practicable, by sources other than the United States Government, including from the private sector.

Thus, we ask Senator Leahy:

Is Cuba not a government that restricts freedom of expression on the Internet?

Is Cuba not important to the national interests of the United States?

Or, are Cubans just second or third-class citizens less deserving of Internet freedoms?

In Leahy's false outrage on MSNBC, he also stated:

“If you’re going to do a covert operation like this for regime change, assuming it ever makes any sense, it’s not something that should be done through USAID."

Really, Senator?

So how come your very own bill states:

Funds made available pursuant to subsection (a)  shall be—made available to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for programs to implement the May 2011, International Strategy for Cyberspace and the comprehensive strategy to promote Internet freedom and access to information in Iran, as required by section 414 of Public Law 112–158.

Senator Leahy should be commended for his global commitment and leadership on Internet freedom. However, Senator, be consistent -- for Cubans are no less deserving of these freedoms.

 And to the left (of course) that's Leahy all smiley with one of the Castro brothers, heads of the one of the most racist, repressive and brutal dictatorships in the world.

Go see this MFA show

Adrienne Gaither's MFA fine art thesis defense is on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 @ 6PM. It will be hosted by Deep Space Arts at The Warehouse (411 New York Ave, NE: 3rd Floor). This location is metro accessible (NOMA) and there is parking available. 

You want to go see this MFA show and you want to buy one of these paintings now...

Please RSVP by Friday, April 11, 2014.

This is why galleries do art fairs

Nassikas on the way to a collector's wall

That DMV artist Georgia Nassikas taking one of her paintings to get wrapped at the VIP Preview of the Affordable Art Fair last night.

That painting is now hanging on a wall of a very happy art collector in NYC.

If you want some passes to the fair this weekend, send me an email.

Go to this opening tomorrow!

"Suddenly, She Wasn't Afraid Any Longer"
Charcoal and Conte on Provided Clay Vessel
2014 by F. Lennox Campello

Opening April 4, 2014, the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery will host the return of Alchemical Vessels with an opening reception from 7-9 PM. Above is the image for the vessel that I've created and donated for this effort... Last year my piece went really early (first 10 or so)... just sayin'... cough, cough.

Alchemical Vessels brings together 125 local artists and 20 invited curators for a community dialogue on healing and transformation through the arts. Each artist will transform a simple ceramic bowl by means of his or her own personal aesthetic and medium, drawing inspiration from the bowl as a place of holding, open community, sacred space, and even the alchemical vessel. The show is an amazing grouping of Who's Who in the DMV art scene.

The ceramic bowl was selected as the fundamental element of the exhibition to symbolize creating a space where healing can take place—an idea at the heart of Smith Center's work and mission. Metaphorically speaking, Smith Center—the space and the work we do within our walls—resembles an alchemical vessel. People bring their everyday burdens, fears, and pains to us, and in this place of holding, we help transform those toxic elements into hope, light, wisdom and strength.

The Alchemical Vessels exhibition will open at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery on April 4th and run through May 16th, 2014, with the opening reception on Friday, April 4th, 7-9pm. The Alchemical Vessels Benefit will take place on Friday, May 2nd, with doors opening at 7pm. With a $125 Benefit-Vessel Contribution, guests will be admitted to the event and will select one of the 125 works on display to add to their own collections. 

For more information about the Alchemical Vessels 2014 Benefit, please visit www.smithcenter.org/benefit.

Artists: Eames Armstrong, Sardar Aziz, Karen Baer, Beth Baldwin, Michele Banks, Joseph Barbaccia, Carolyn Becker, Jessica Beels, Joan Belmar, Lori Anne Boocks, Anne Bouie, Amy Braden, Julia Brown, Karen O. Brown, Larry Brown, Amanda Burnham, Lenny Campello, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Mei Mei Chang, Peter Charles, Asma Chaudhary, Travis Childers, Eunmee Chung, Wesley Clark, Michael Corigliano, Sheila Crider, Candy Cummings, Anna U. Davis, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Tamara De Silva, Elsabe Dixon, Joel D'Orazio, David D'Orio, Chelsea S. Dobert-Kehn, Thomas Drymon, Nekisha Durrett, Victor Ekpuk, Laura Elkins, Dana Ellyn, Erica Benay Fallin, Felisa Federman, Jeremy Flick, Suzi Fox, Barbara Frank, Nancy Frankel, Shaunté Gates, Dawn Gavin, Bita Ghavami, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Melissa Glasser, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Sherill Anne Gross, John Grunwell, Nelson Gutierrez, Kristen Hayes, Eve Hennessa, Sean Hennessey, Linda Hesh, Matt Hollis, Leslie Holt, Jessica Hopkins, Karen Hubacher, Monica Jahan Bose, Barbara Johnson, Wayson R. Jones, J'Nell Jordan, Mila Kagan, Sumita Kim, Joan Konkel, Yar Koporulin, Walter Kravitz, Kate Kretz, Randall Lear, Heather Levy, Yue Li, Nathan Loda, Armando Lopez-Bircann, Laurel Lukaszewski, James Mahoney, J.J. McCracken, Donald McCray, Jayme Mclellen, Tendani Mpulubusi El, Komelia Okim, Amie Oliver, Luis Peralta, Michael Platt, Maryanne Pollock, Lynn Putney, Maria-Lana Queen, Beverly Ress, Kim Reyes, Glenn Richardson, Marie Ringwald, Amber Robles-Gordon, Pam Rogers, Lisa Rosenstein, Nicole Salimbene, Samantha Sethi, Matt Sesow, Amy Sherald, Shahin Shikhaliyev, Ellen Sinel, Casey Snyder, Susan Stacks, Dafna Steinberg, Jennifer Strunge, Lynn Sures, Lynn Sylvester, Ira Tattelman, Christine Buckton Tilman, Erwin Timmers, Ben Tolman, Novie Trump, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto, Laurie Tylec, Michael Verdon, Jodi Walsh, Jenny Walton, Ellyn Weiss, Stephanie Williams, Audrey Wilson, Sharon Wolpoff, and Carmen C. Wong.

Curators: Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Educator, Philanthropist and Founder of D.C.'s Duke Ellington School for the Arts | Jarvis DuBois, Independent Curator and Principal at J. DuBois Arts | Monica Jahan Bose, Artist and Activist | Anne L'Ecuyer, Arts Management Faculty at American University | Camille Mosley-Pasley, Photographer and Principal at Pasley Place Photography | B.G. Muhn, Professor of Art, Georgetown University | Michael O'Sullivan, Art Critic for The Washington Post | Dr. Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., NIH Physician, Fine Art Collector and; Past Board Chair, Washington Project for the Arts | Michael Platt, Artist and Professor at Howard University | Jennifer Riddell, Writer and Interpretive Projects Manager at the National Gallery of Art | Adah Rose, Principal at Adah Rose Gallery | Laura Roulet, Independent Curator and Writer | Molly Ruppert, Artist and Gallery Director at the Warehouse Theater | Terry Scott, Cultural Organizer and Independent Curator | Judy J. Sherman, Art Consultant and Principal at j. fine art | Thomas Stanley, Professor at George Mason University | Nuzhat Sultan, Independent Curator | Tim Tate, Artist and Co-Director of Washington GlassSchool | R.L. Tillman, Artist, Teacher and Curator | Dolly Vehlow, Fine Art Collector and Principal at Gallery O on H 

Planning Committee: Helen Frederick, Deborah Lesser, Wendy Miller, PhD, Kim Schelling, Timothy Schelling, and Ellyn Weiss.

VIP Night at AAFNYC

Our booth at the Affordable Art Fair New York City ... See images below.

It's VIP opening night and DMV artist and art fair rookie Georgia Nassikas is the first to break the ice with a pretty nice sale and an hour to go! Great work by Jodi Walsh and Anne Marchand getting loads of attention... drop me an email if you want a free pass to the fair tomorrow and this weekend in NYC.

Vanderbilt NAACP pissed off...

Derek Mason has been the new head football coach at Vanderbilt University for just a few months. For over a generation one off-campus tradition has been to paint a mural of the head coach on the side of a local business. Generally this occurs without controversy. Until, that is, the local chapter of the Vanderbilt NAACP took issue with the painting and started a petition to have it changed. The issue?

Read about the issue here. Personally, I think that the Vanderbilt NAACP should take a chill pill - In my visual opinion, this is not the case of the artist (Michael Cooper) wanting to portray Mason as in the "era in which black people's skin was darkened and their lips were made whiter in order to exaggerate their race in order to put them in a sharp contrast with the white race."

This is just partially a case of Cooper working from a photo (and never meeting the subject), but mostly a really bad mural painting in this Vanderbilt example, as Cooper seems like an otherwise quite apt muralist.

That lady who "restored" that ancient Christ fresco in that church in Spain and made The Christ look like someone from the Planet of the Apes still has the prize for the worst portrait ever...