Year: 2011

If This Wall Could Talk

The Art League Gallery underwent a minor beautification procedure today after years of nails finally took their toll on one section of wall.

One might say it suffered for its art:


Nail holes from month after month of successive exhibits turned the drywall into Swiss cheese, rendering it unsuitable for hanging and necessitating repairs by gallant gallery volunteer Tom:


Now a brand new wall is waiting to leap into service. The only question: is it ready for this February’s installment of the wall-punishing Patrons’ Show?

Exhibits

Travel Workshop: Edinburgh Through the Eyes of the Artist

Art League instructor Robert Liberace has taken students to destinations including London, Rome, and Venice, but he says the upcoming travel workshop to Edinburgh, Scotland may outshine even those classic metropolises.

“We’re going to have a great time,” Rob says. “We’ve been to a lot of great places but I think this one will have a distinctive quality.” Among the reasons to go: a “wild, rough” countryside that stands in contrast to the curated, cosmopolitan city itself, and the ruined, “ghostly” — but still standing — abbeys, including Melrose Abbey, which he said will be the main attraction for him.

Students will be near the Old Town area of Edinburgh, home to the Royal Mile. Photo by Harshil Shah used under a Creative Commons license.

The centuries-old landmarks and millenia-old landscapes will be fodder for students’ sketchbooks, which will be their main tool for interpreting the sights. For less experienced artists, Rob says, “the desire and the interest is all you need” — along with paper and pencil.

On the nine-day trip, a typical day will start with breakfast with the group, followed by a morning excursion — either for drawing or for a museum visit — and another excursion after lunch. Students have lunch and evenings free, and can choose to skip an excursion if they want to.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Photo by Oliver Mallich used under a Creative Commons license.

The drawing excursions, generally in the afternoons, will satisfy any artist, Rob says.

“It’s one of the most beautiful areas in Great Britain,” he says. “You have this great range of visual experiences to take in.” Sketching sessions will take place in and around the city of Edinburgh, as well as farther afield, at the castles and abbeys. On the agenda: Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the National Gallery, and the castle Eilean Donan — to name only a few.

Eilean Donan castle.

The trip will take place April 1–9, 2012. There are only a few spots remaining! To learn more about the trip and how to register, visit our website.

Travel Workshops

Artist Opportunities For All

Hamiltonian Artists in Northwest DC sent this announcement for its fellowship program:

Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship Program
Deadline:  Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Hamiltonian Artists, a 501(c)3, is excited to announce its fifth annual open call to emerging artists to apply to our two-year Fellowship Program, aimed at aiding in the professional development of contemporary visual artists. What will you receive as a Hamiltonian Fellow?

–  Professional Development
–  An Annual Stipend
–  Five Exhibitions in the Gallery, as well as Off-sSite Exhibition Opportunities
–  Mentorship
–  Critiques
–  Access to Premier Arts Professionals
–  Involvement in the Vibrant DC Arts Community

Please refer to the website for application requirements, restrictions and forms.  The application process will close at 6:00 pm on on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, and any applications received after that date will not be considered. Please do not hesitate to email or call us at the gallery with any additional questions. Best of luck!

The following announcements for exhibitions, fellowships, and residencies are courtesy of FindArtInfoBank.com:

Call for Submissions – Peregrine Gallery – RI
Deadline: January 31, 12. Currently, Peregrine Gallery is accepting submissions to be considered for upcoming solo and group shows. The Peregrine Gallery is a new not for profit gallery space committed to showing the work of emerging artists. Qualifications: Original, framed, ready to hang 2-D work will be considered. How to Apply: Please contact the Gallery Director, K Lenore Siner at [email protected] or visit our website www.peregrinegallery.com for more information

Schweinfurth Art Center Announces Made in NY 2012 – NY
Deadline: January 13, 12. Made in NY is an opportunity for artists residing in New York State to showcase their work in a competitive juried exhibition. Two and three-dimensional work will be accepted including, but not limited to, painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics, fiber and media art. Artists may submit up to two artworks for consideration. Entry is free for members and $25 for non-members. All entries must be postmarked by January 13, 2012 to be eligible for consideration. The Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY, has issued a call for entries for our annual juried exhibition Made in NY 2012. The exhibition will be on view March 31 – May 20, 2012. The 2012 jurors are Richard Kegler, founder and lead designer at P22 type foundry in Buffalo, NY and Sydney Waller, art consultant, curator, and past director of Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. Visit www.myartcenter.org to view the exhibition entry form and instructions. Call (315) 255-1553 for more information.

Artist Warriors: Post Apocalyptic Adventure – VA
Deadline: January 3, 12. Imagine you are an artist surviving in the landscape of a post apocalyptic world. You become an art warrior documenting this inhospitable world with your art and creating fashions to move through it. The causes of this apocalypse could be real or media created. This show is all about letting your inner survivalist and your art warrior imagination go wild. Show is open to both 2- and 3-dimensional art as well as textiles such as clothing of apocalyptic era. This show is open to All Area Artist. Acceptance of all submissions is at the curators’ discretion. When your art sells you are asked to make a 20% donation (tax-deductable) to Del Ray Artisans. View the Call for Entry for details: www.TheDelRayArtisans.org/shows/calls/   Web Site: www.TheDelRayArtisans.org

18 more announcements after the jump: Continue reading Artist Opportunities For All

Artist Opportunities

Remind Your Representatives: Arts Matter!

DC in the Rain by Carolyn Gawarecki

Last week’s budget agreement for fiscal year 2012 averted a government shutdown, but also made large cuts to arts funding, including $9 million to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Still, things could have been worse: the $9 million decrease (to about $146 million) in President Obama’s proposed budget was less than the House of Representatives’ preferred $20 million cut to NEA. And the Arts in Education program at the Department of Education, eliminated entirely in earlier proposals, survived with a cut of about $1 million.

To stop and reverse these cuts to important arts programs, we need you to remind your representatives in Congress that arts and arts education matters to you. Write, call, or visit, and if you can, participate in Arts Advocacy Day this April with Americans for the Arts.

News

Q&A with Creativity Award Winner Samuel Miller

On Thursday we brought you an interview with Margaret Huddy, who won the Carol Zakaski Memorial Award for best watercolor in this month’s all-media show. The other award winner this month was Samuel Miller, whose unique sculpture — or three-dimensional still life — won the Adam Wishnow Memorial Award for Creativity and Innovation. Samuel mentioned painters Edward Hopper and Charles Burchfield as inspiration for the fictional hotel, which includes tiny figures and dynamic lighting on the inside. We asked him to tell us more about his work.

Hotel Wescott by Samuel Miller

Does this depict a real place?
No. The hotel facade is invented, but in the style of W.L. Stoddart, an architect who designed mid-sized urban hotels in the first half of the 20th century. The former George Mason Hotel building, still at Washington and Prince Streets, is one example of his work.

Your sculpture won the Adam Wishnow Award for Creativity and Innovation — what is your creative process like? How is this piece different from others of its kind?
I have had a long term fascination with the world of my grandparents, which has spawned various pieces over the years. Early on, I built  models and painted pictures of them in the style of a still life artist. Below is a photo of a model which I turned into a series of paintings. According to my mythology, the Hotel Wescott, like several of the three-dimensional pieces in my “Night Windows” series, has a specific time and date: 14th of December, 1938 at about 8:00 pm. Since I wasn’t alive then, I am left somewhat freer to imagine what it was like.

What materials did you use to create Hotel Wescott?
Various plastics, glass, wood, painted with Golden acrylic paints, LEDs and PIR motion sensor circuitry that turns on the lights in response to the viewer’s approach.

How do you describe your art? Is it model building, or sculpture, both, something else?
I consider myself a painter; here a painter of a three dimensional still life with lighted interiors and restricted viewing angles. The process is additive and subtractive like traditional painting with the extra aspects of determining viewing angles and lighting design.

Continued after the jump: Continue reading Q&A with Creativity Award Winner Samuel Miller

Artist Interviews

Holiday Favorites Revisited: The Gallery Gift Guide

You too can give the gift of creativity this season, with a little help from The Art League Gallery. So put a twist on familiar, traditional gifts and dust off your shopping list as we present a guide to creative gift-giving with artwork from local artists.

The December All-Media exhibit has lots of inspiration to offer:

Seven real swans-a-swimming might be a little too much, but these two silkscreen swans are much more manageable. (Swans by Nancy McIntyre)
Dolls are a classic gift. These happen to be oil. (Play With Me by Rena Silim)
Tell me this mask wouldn't be a hit at any holiday party. (Spirit Chaser by Noah Williams)
Trust us, Dad doesn't need any more ties. He'll enjoy these more. (Silk Thais by Suzanne Vigil)

More ideas after the jump: Continue reading Holiday Favorites Revisited: The Gallery Gift Guide

Exhibits

A Chat with Best Watercolor Winner Margaret Huddy

Torpedo Factory artist Margaret Huddy has been painting for decades, but this month she was selected by jurors as the recipient of the Carol Zakaski Memorial Award for best watercolor out of all the pieces juried into December’s All-Media exhibit at The Art League Gallery.

The winning piece was Trade Winds, one of many watercolors she’s painted of Washington monuments. The painting depicts the sculpture at the top of the Interstate Commerce Commission, from which the piece takes its name. We sat down with Margaret in her Torpedo Factory studio to chat about the watercolor and her art career.

Trade Winds by Margaret Huddy

Margaret is well-known for her paintings of monuments and her sycamore tree. “I love to paint white things … because I can have so much fun with the color,” she says, noting that height restrictions in DC allow plenty of light to reach the buildings. Trade Winds features pinks and purples highlighting the effects of light on the white facade.

For her larger works, including Trade Winds, Margaret works from her own photographs, “stomping around” to find her locations — generally when it’s cold and windy outside. Sun is important here, as well as the strong wind reproduced in Trade Winds. Margaret says she finds the camera helps to narrow the focus of her paintings. “I compose them with a camera,” she says. But for smaller works, she paints en plein air, giving the paintings “the life.”

Landscape has always been her passion, Margaret says, explaining that still lifes and other subjects haven’t caught her attention in the same way. And as part of a military family, she got practice in a variety of environments. “I know how to paint a palm tree; I know how to paint snow,” she says.

The military lifestyle was also responsible for her choice of medium, which she says fit the smaller quarters as her family grew. Until recently, Margaret had been working exclusively in watercolor since 1957, but recently has branched out into using gouache — and also acrylic, after taking a workshop with Peter Ulrich at The Art League School.

Margaret is facing a dilemma for the future, as her sycamore tree, which has been the subject of a series of paintings and its own book, is dying. “I’ve tried to fall in love with another tree, but I haven’t been successful,” she says. With the future of that series up in the air, she plans to continue working on smaller pieces and “enjoy painting landscapes wherever I am,” she says.

Margaret in her Torpedo Factory studio.
Artist Interviews

Creating a CD for Submission

Last month we shared tips from Art League member John Burgess’s lecture on Photoshop. Today, we dropped in on a brief tutorial on saving images to CD for submission to juried shows. Assistant Gallery Director Megan Fox gave the lesson.

Here’s her walkthrough:

  1. Retrieve images from your hard drive, camera, USB drive, or CD. Save them to your desktop for easy access.
  2. Edit (if necessary) and rename according to submission guidelines. To rename, click on the file name on the desktop to highlight it, then click a second time to edit it. Type the new file name and hit enter.
  3. Save to desktop.
  4. Create a “New Burn Folder” by either control+clicking on the desktop, or using the File menu at the top of the screen in Finder. Select the “New Burn Folder” option from either menu.
  5. Rename your CD if required. You can also name it during the burning process.
  6. Drag and drop the desired files into the burn folder.
  7. Once all the needed files are in the burn folder, insert a blank CD-R.
  8. Open the burn folder by double-clicking. At the top right of the folder, there is a “Burn” button. Click it to begin the burning process.
  9. Let the computer do the rest! Wait for completion confirmation from your computer before ejecting your CD.
Megan answering a question from the group.
Artful Resources

Calls for Entries in the Target Gallery and Philadelphia

The Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are looking for artists to exhibit, with entry deadlines early next year:

Target Gallery — Push Pull Play

Deadline: February 6, 2012. In celebration of VA Commission for the Arts Minds Wide Open Celebration of Children and the Arts, the gallery will host an exhibition that focuses on interactive, kinetic, toy inspired art. This is an all media show that examines the art of the toy, open to all artists nationally and internationally. Entry fee: $35. Application details here.

(The Target Gallery is also looking for artists for a solo exhibition in 2012.)

Craft Artists Wanted
Deadline: April 1, 2012. The 36th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 8 to 11, 2012, with a preview party on November 7. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.

The show serves as the Museum’s largest yearly fundraising event and is devoted to bringing wide public attention to the field of craft art. Cumulative 35-year contribution: $9.6+ million. Funds raised are used to purchase works of art and craft for the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to support exhibitions and education programs and to contribute to conservation and publication projects.

At the 2011 show, 18,255 visitors attended.  Out of the 195 artists exhibiting, 64 were new to the show.  Twelve (12) of the 64 artists new to the show were juried in under the emerging artist category. Entry fee: $50. Application details here.

 

Artist Opportunities

“Transitions” Opening Reception Tonight

This month’s solo exhibit in The Art League Gallery, “Transitions,” showcases the found-wood sculpture of Guy and Marco Rando. The opening reception is tonight, December 8, 6:30 – 8:00 pm.

Slight of Hand

The father-son show features Guy’s wood inlay sculpture and Marco’s kinetic sculpture, both highlighting wood in all its forms: wild and organic, smooth and tamed, unadorned and whimsical. The wood and other objects are recovered. “Working with recycled materials lessens the effect on the environment, but the wood we use also has that feeling of energy transfer, that it’s been in use,” Marco says.

Push Stroller
Potomac Wave

This is the first solo show here for the Randos, who have been Art League members since 2006. “Transitions” runs through January 2.

Drifter
Rabbit Stroller (foreground), Trinity, Tortuga, Potomac Wave (wall)
Butterfly Stroller (foreground)
Buddha Harmony
Events, Exhibits

Opportunities for Artists

Organizations in DC and New York are looking for artists to submit art, fill studio space, and participate in a project. Details below.

Photographers Wanted — Exposure 2011
Deadline: December 20, 2011. You’re invited to participate in Artists Wanted’s 3rd annual photography competition: EXPOSURE, an international call for photographers of all backgrounds who speak in the language of lenses and aperture. Submit your images for the opportunity to earn over $50,000 in awards, including a $10,000 grant and your own solo exhibition at the Aperture Foundation in New York City. Details here.

Request for Proposals — Glen Echo Park yurt studio
Deadline: February 1, 2012. The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture is seeking a visual artist to join the Park’s Resident Artists and to lease one small yurt studio space. Resident visual artists contribute to the creative community at the Park through active studios, classes, public events and art sales. The available yurt is a unique circular studio in a high visibility area of Glen Echo Park, along the pathway from the main parking lot. The studio is approximately 201 square feet, and is available for a 1-2 year lease starting on March 1, 2012. For images of the studio visit our Facebook page. To schedule a tour of the facility, contact Meredith Forster at 301.634.2223. Details here.

Call for Artists 62-plus — Art Cart
Deadline: see below. Art Cart: Saving the Legacy will select professional visual artists from the Washington, D.C. and NYC Metro areas for a nine-month project (September 2012-May 2013). This is run by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at the National Center for Creative Aging to help organize and document the artists’ work. Artists receive honoraria for public forums. To receive more information, please send your contact information to [email protected] or leave it at 202-895-9489. Info materials will be sent in January for a February deadline.

Artist Opportunities

Calls for Artists: DC and New York

Printmaking exhibition and award
Deadline: December 10, 2011. $500 First Place award. This exhibition is open to printmaking students age 18-24 in an MFA/BFA program in the following states: DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, NC, PA, VA, and WV. Of the 40 works selected by Joann Moser, Senior Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, one print will be selected for the $500 first prize award. Second and third place awarded as well. Entry fee. Details: http://washingtonprintmakers.com/programs/excellence-in-printmaking

Call for sketchbook project entries
Deadline: January 30, 2012. Art House Co-op is proud to announce our brand new project: The Limited Edition Vol. 1! The Limited Edition is a collaborative series of art books created by 5,000 artists from across the globe. Anyone — from anywhere in the world — can participate in the project. Sign up to receive a blank sketchbook in the mail, then fill it up and send it back. Your work will be cataloged in the Brooklyn Art Library in NYC and published in the Limited Edition art book series. Entry fee. Details: http://www.thesketchbookproject.com

Target Gallery call for proposals
Deadline: February 1, 2012. This call is open to all artists from North America working in all visual media. Proposals for exhibitions by both individuals and groups will be considered. The individual or group associated with the chosen proposal will receive a solo exhibition at the Target Gallery August 4 – September 2, 2012. The artist(s) will also receive a stipend and an exhibition catalog. Entry fee. Details: http://www.torpedofactory.org/galleries/targetcallforentry.htm

Artist Opportunities

Artist Opportunities Nationwide

Exhibition, residency, fellowship and teaching opportunities courtesy of FindArtInfoBank.com:

Montpelier All Hung, All Galleries – MD
Deadline: January 4, 2012. Begin the new year by submitting a work of art to the Montpelier all hung, all galleries. January 8 – 25, 2012, free public reception: Sunday, January 8, 2-4 pm. Drop-off date for artwork: January 4, 10 am-8 pm. The Montpelier Arts Center is delighted to offer an opportunity for all artists to exhibit their works during the biennial all hung. Each person may bring only one piece, which must be framed and matted with hooks and wire suitable for hanging. Artwork may not exceed 35 inches in any direction . There is no hanging fee or commission on the sale of work. Artists must be more than 18 years of age. Arrive early, first come, first hung! All artwork must be picked up on January 26, between 10 am and 8 pm. No exceptions! For more information email: [email protected]; http://arts.pgparks.com/Our_Facilities/Montpelier_Arts_Center.htm

4th Annual International Juried Exhibition: The A.D. Gallery, UNC Pembroke – NC
Deadline: January 10, 2012. “Ver(kitsch)en: verb, to make cheap.” An Exhibition of Contemporary Kitsch Art. Exhibition Dates: Friday, February 10- Friday, March 9, 2012. Submissions for this exhibition should reflect work that fits the theme of kitsch with a contemporary twist. Works in this show will examine the parameters of what is considered acceptable vs. clichéd and good vs. bad taste. What is taste and does it have relevance? Who dictates good or bad taste?   Artists should consider the varied aspects and applications of kitsch, from established and traditional, to more alternative approaches. Artists are invited to submit work in two-dimensional, three-dimensional, installation and digital media including video based media.For prospectus please visit: http://www.uncp.edu/a.d.gallery/news/4th%20Annual%20Juried%20Exhibition%20Prospectus.pdf. For inquiries please contact gallery director, Carla Rokes: [email protected]. Website: http://www.uncp.edu/a.d.gallery/news/

American Society of Aviation Artists International Aerospace Art Exhibition – MI
Deadline: April 15, 2012. The American Society of Aviation Artists (ASAA) announces a call to artists for a juried art exhibition, June 3 – September 8, 2012 at The Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum in Portage, Michigan. Artwork depicting any aerospace subject is eligible. Works appearing in prior ASAA exhibits are ineligible. Only original artwork will be accepted. Computer generated art is ineligible. Photographs, photo- offset lithographs, giclées, computer graphics, or other reproductions will not be accepted. True fine art prints are acceptable. This includes etchings, serigraphs, stone lithographs, and woodcuts, all of which are hand printed one at a time. $20 per entry for ASAA members; $40 per entry for nonmembers. Visit website for prospectus at: http://www.asaa-avart.org. Send entry form and check to: Michael J. O’Neal, 6 Nathan Drive, North Brunswick, NJ 08902 USA. Phone: (732) 735-6631 Email: [email protected]. Questions? Contact John W. Clark at [email protected] or call (623) 680-7592.

Many more listings after the jump! Continue reading Artist Opportunities Nationwide

Artist Opportunities

Q&A with “Small Works” Award-Winner Everitt Clark

Last month’s “Small Works” exhibit has closed to make way for this month’s all-media show, but Everitt Clark’s silver gelatin contact print, Cabin 2, winner of the Eleanor Boudreau Jordan Award, lives forever on Flickr. We asked Everitt, who will have a solo show in The Art League Gallery in 2013, to tell us more about this photograph and his work in general. (Our Q&A with Theresa Esterlund, last month’s other award-winner, is here.)

When and where was the photograph taken?
Everitt: This photograph was taken in the spring of 2006 in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, on the Tennessee side. I printed it in early 2007.

What was your inspiration or reason for creating Cabin 2?
The cabin in this image was one of many abandoned homes I came across in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was already beginning to return to a state of nature: the yard was overgrown, the wood warped and rotten, and the interior largely gutted. An approaching storm provided not only a breeze to stir the leaves, but my favorite kind of diffuse light, which brought out the delicate contrasts in the texture of the wood. The scene just had all the elements of a great photograph: a composition that composed itself, a seemingly banal but actually riveting subject, and that sense of a “decisive moment,” fleeting but indelible. I tried to do it justice.

Cabin 2 by Everitt Clark

Is it part of a series? If so, how did the series start, and how has it changed?
This picture is the second in a sequence of four cabin photographs — it’s the “slow movement” — and the sequence is part of a larger body of photographs I shot on a single two-week-long trip to the Smoky Mountains. I was painfully aware that I had never made a Landscape (with a capital “L”) of which I was proud; I was determined to remedy that situation. As it happened, I took a lot more pictures of decrepit buildings than I did of breathtaking vistas. I learned that I don’t have it in me to be like Ansel Adams. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (no disrespect to Ansel).

What would you like the viewer to come away with?
A sense that the sublime can be found in the humblest surroundings.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.  (Longfellow)

More from Everitt after the jump: Continue reading Q&A with “Small Works” Award-Winner Everitt Clark

Artist Interviews

An ArtFest to Remember

ArtFest Weekend is over: the Jewelry Show and Sale has shown and sold, demonstrations demonstrated, and the band has played its last song. The weekend’s events were a huge success, though, so in case you missed it (or if you just want to relive it) here are some photos from Friday night’s ArtFest party.

Rew Smith Band took over this sculpture classroom to perform some non-visual art.
The party was the opening for the weekend's retrospective show and sale of work by Nancy Reinke, including prints, drawings, paintings, rugs and other art.
The Art League School's stained glass department came to share and sell their work.
Many Art League School instructors were on hand to show what they do. Demos included pottery …
… the loom …
… forensic facial reconstruction …
… silk screen printing …
… and calligraphy, among others.

Thanks for joining us to kick off the holiday season! Same time next year.

Events

ArtFest Fever

Preparations are underway for tonight’s ArtFest party — the fun, free festival of art hosted by The Art League. The party starts at 6:00 pm at The Art League’s Madison Annex, 305 Madison St. in Alexandria. The 3-D instructional space will be open for special events including live music in the sculpture classroom, food and drinks in the fiber space, and artist demos from instructors including ceramicist Blair Meerfeld, fiber artist Sylvia DeMar, forensic artist Joe Mullins, and silk screen artist Nancy McIntyre.

Also from The Art League School, the stained glass and fiber departments will be on hand with students and instructors showing off and selling their work.

Today is also the start of the Jewelry Show and Sale and the Ceramic and Pottery Show and Sale, which will be going on during the party and continuing through the weekend. There are a wide variety of pieces to choose from, both functional and decorative, and affordably priced. Like all the ArtFest events, these sales are at the Madison Annex.

Tonight’s party also marks the start of a retrospective show and sale featuring art by Nancy Reinke, the late Art League and Torpedo Factory artist. The show continues through the weekend. For a full schedule of ArtFest Weekend events, click here.

Events

Turning Back Time with Sculpture

An earlier reconstruction by Joe Mullins

Art League instructor and forensic artist Joe Mullins has new work on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, using high-tech tools to learn more about a very old — and very young — mummy.

Joe reconstructed the face of the 2,500-year-old, 3-year-old boy using CT scans and 3-D sculpting software. He added muscles, other tissue, and skin to the CT scan in order to recreate the child’s face from his mummified remains, based on what researchers knew of his ancestry from the skeleton. (Age, ancestry, gender, mental disorders, surgeries, and some infections can all be found by studying the skull.) A 3-D printer created the bust on display in the Smithsonian exhibit, “Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt.”

Joe Mullins working on a facial reconstruction.

Joe will be at ArtFest this Friday with skulls and samples of some of his amazing work. He is also teaching a course on facial reconstruction starting in January (and another in the spring), where students will reconstruct a head in seven weeks, starting from only a skull.

The finished bust. By Joe Mullins
Art Classes

Artful Giving

With another Thanksgiving behind us, the Art League offers a friendly reminder that this month’s events make great opportunities for holiday gift-giving. Featuring unique works hand-made by local artists, these shows are one more thing to be thankful for as you plan for the holidays.

First, this month’s “Small Works” exhibit ends soon! Get down to The Art League Gallery by Monday to see the show, featuring smaller works by Art League artists in all media. These unique works are affordable for gift giving — starting at $45 — and suited to a wide variety of tastes.

Also in the gallery, the Holiday Ornament Collection is hanging until January 2, featuring dozens of handmade, one-of-a-kind ornaments perfect for a special present or starting a collection of your own, for as little as $10. Come find a present on our tree!

Last, but not least, this weekend is ArtFest! Starting at noon on Friday and continuing through Sunday, the Art League will be holding its annual Ceramic and Pottery Show and Sale as well as the Jewelry Show and Sale, at the Madison Annex on 305 Madison Street in Alexandria. A retrospective show and sale of late Art League and Torpedo Factory artist Nancy Reinke’s work, going on all weekend, will include prints, paintings, and other pieces for sale at affordable prices. You can also come — for free! — to see the shows and sales, artist demonstrations, live music, and food and drinks at the ArtFest Party from 6:00 to 9:00 pm Friday.

Exhibits

Q&A with “Small Works” award-winner Theresa Esterlund

This month’s “Small Works” exhibit in The Art League Gallery, which ends December 5, includes two award winners. Theresa Esterlund‘s collage, Variation, won the Anne Banks Collage Award. We asked Theresa to tell us more about her work.

What was your inspiration or reason for creating Variation?
Theresa: This piece is part of my Utopia series works, which are explorations of imagination that pay homage to artist Joseph Cornell. Against a common background, a topographical map of Mount Everest, I situate images in nostalgic, dreamlike settings to create a sense of stepping into a story. Many of the Utopia works express themes of introspection, feminine identity, and life journeys; as a body of work, they aim to take the viewer through the fantastical scenes to a place of personal reminiscence or discovery. This particular piece is a variation on Cornell’s ballet dancer works.

Variation by Theresa Esterlund

How did the series start, and how has it changed?
I began my Utopia series in 2009. It’s evolved both in process and content. Recently, I’ve begun layering in more papers and inks in some of these works (a technique I use in other collages more frequently). In addition, my newest pieces have themes that are more shaped by my study of yoga than of the images and ideas that Cornell used. I think that this newer work will actually evolve into a different series at some point.

What would you like the viewer to come away with?
I hope that viewers walk away with a sense of mystery and wonder. Ideally, they would create their own story from the piece, based on their memories, dreams, and personal stories.

More after the jump: Continue reading Q&A with “Small Works” award-winner Theresa Esterlund

Artist Interviews

ArtFest is this Friday!

Ceramics by Kim Hyu Ju

Are you ready for ArtFest?

The Art League’s popular annual open house party is this Friday, December 2, 6:00 – 9:00 pm, with more events throughout the weekend. For the low, low cost of admission — free! — you get to:

  • Watch demos by artists, including Art League instructor and forensic artist Joe Mullins
  • Visit the Art League School’s stained glass department artists with work for sale
  • Buy art (for gifts or yourself) at the Jewelry Show and Sale and Ceramic and Pottery Show and Sale, which start at noon and continue on Saturday and Sunday
  • See the Madison Annex, The Art League’s 3-D instructional space
  • Eat food, sip drinks and listen to live music by Rew Smith Band

All the events are at The Art League’s Madison Annex at 305 Madison Street.

ArtFest will also include a special retrospective show and sale of work by Nancy Reinke, the late Art League and Torpedo Factory artist. The show starts Friday at the party and continues on Saturday and Sunday.

Nancy Reinke

Music! Refreshments! Art and artists! ArtFest promises to be a blast, so don’t miss out on Friday’s party and the excellent holiday shopping opportunities throughout the weekend. This art party has been trending on the Web, including at DCeventjunkie, Alexandria Lifestyle, and our event partner the Pink Line Project. For a full schedule of events for the weekend, click here.

Events

Two New Opportunities for Artists

The Arts Council of Fairfax is offering fellowships to Fairfax artists, the Maryland Federation of Art is seeking submissions for an upcoming gallery, and both have deadlines in January.

Art on Paper — Deadline January 11, 2012 

The Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all artists residing in the United States and Canada to enter its thirty-fifth annual Art on Paper exhibition. Any original two or three dimensional works on or of paper following exhibition guidelines will be considered by the juror. The selected works will be on exhibit in the MFA’s Circle Gallery, 18 State Circle, Annapolis, Maryland from March 22 through April 22, 2012.

Details and submission guidelines are on the MFA website.

Strauss Fellowships — Deadline January 18, 2012

The Arts Council of Fairfax has announced the fifth annual Strauss Fellowships for individual artists. These grants recognize professional working artists’ achievements and their demonstrated history of accomplishments; they promote artists’ continued pursuit of their creative work. Artists in all disciplines including visual arts, creative writing, theatre, dance performance and choreography, film and new media, music composition and performance are eligible to apply. Applicants must reside in Fairfax County.

The application deadline is January 18, 2012. The Arts Council will hold a free grant writing workshop for interested applicants on November 12, 2011 from 10am to 12pm at 4022 Hummer Road, Annandale, VA 22003.

The Strauss Fellowships are awarded through a competitive grant program and recipients are determined by their work’s merit. No specific project needs to be carried out with the funds granted; Strauss Fellowships award outstanding achievement for work already completed. Awards range from $1,000-$5,000, and in previous years, up to eleven fellowships have been awarded.

More details are here.

Artist Opportunities

Holiday Ornament Collection 2011

Putting up a new exhibit in The Art League Gallery is always a joyous affair, but an even more festive sort of hanging took place today as the Holiday Ornament Collection arrived, along with branches to hang it on. Popular for holiday gift-giving, the collection was hung with care, despite the gallery’s lack of a chimney.

With over 100 unique, handcrafted ornaments for sale, The Art League’s tree is bursting with holiday cheer. Pat Miller, co-owner of the Alexandria store A Show of Hands and chairperson of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts, judged for prizes.

The Holiday Ornament Collection will be in The Art League Gallery through January 2.

Opaque Blue Swirl, a work in mouth-blown glass by Sally Ann Baynard, won best in show.

Exhibits

Calls for Artists, Coast to Coast

Courtesy of FindArtInfoBank.com:

Call for Exhibition Proposals – NY
Deadline: January 31, 12. The Lake George Arts Project Gallery Committee invites artists to submit exhibition proposals for the Courthouse Gallery 2013 exhibition season. Strong preference is given to work created within the past two years. Proposals for special exhibitions, installations, mixed media presentations, and performance art are welcome. The deadline for proposals is always January 31. For more information visit: http://www.lakegeorgearts.org/annual-call.htm, or contact Lake George Arts Project, Gallery Committee, 1 Amherst Street, Lake George, NY 12845, (518) 668-2616, [email protected].

Call for art: GOTHIC – CA
Deadline: December 31, 11. Gothic invites submissions from artists evincing a peculiar, perverse, idiosyncratic sensitivity, influenced by literature, movies, television and the tabloids, in painting, drawing, sculpture, illustration, fashion, graphic design, animation, photography, video, digital media, computer-based works, installation and performance. OCCCA’s museum of the macabre will display supernatural mutations, bizarre curiosities permeated by fantastic and pathological themes. Juror: Amy V. Grimm: Independent Curator and Assistant Professor of Art History & Museum Studies at Irvine Valley College. Details and Online Entry: http://occca.org/EXHIBITIONS.html#gothic

32nd Annual Juried Photography Exhibition – NY
Deadline: March 23, 2012. Smithtown Township Arts Council seeks entries for its 32nd Annual Juried Photography Exhibition The Hand-Made Photograph at the Mills Pond House Gallery, May 5-June 1, 2012. Juror: Christopher James. National call. Prospectus at www.stacarts.org/exhibits or email [email protected]. 660 Route 25A, St.James, NY 11780. (631) 862-6575. $45/3 entries. Cash Prize.

More listings after the jump: Continue reading Calls for Artists, Coast to Coast

Artist Opportunities

Photoshop Lecture for Artists

The Art League Gallery became a classroom, briefly, on Tuesday for a lecture on Adobe Photoshop by Art League member John Burgess. John, who gave another lecture Wednesday on exhibition-quality prints for photographers, spelled out the basics of Photoshop and answered questions at the free lecture, part of The Art League’s FotoWeek DC events.

Among the topics covered were how to get photos properly sized and onto a CD for electronic submissions and how to maximize quality during an image’s trip from camera to printer. John’s tips included:

  • Purchase an external hard drive and save images on both your computer and this hard drive, to guard against hard drive failure.
  • Use an organizing program, such as Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom, Aperture, or iPhoto, to manage large numbers of photos.
  • To print for exhibition purposes, aim for a resolution of 240–360 pixels per inch. Check the recommendations for the printer and the paper you’re using.
  • Use the histogram on your camera and adjust exposure to avoid clipping of shadows or highlights in your image.
  • Avoid using the sRGB color space because it loses some color information.
Histograms tell you about your photo's lighting at a glance.

John gave attendees a crash course in terminology, explaining color models (RGB, CMYK, CIE Lab), color spaces or profiles, which specify how a device differs from the standard color spectrum, file types (.jpeg, .tiff, .psd, Raw), and explained how to use color profiles to produce accurate color in files and prints.

He also used a picture of his granddaughter to show how to make her “pop” against the background by adjusting the curves (under Image>Adjustments) and colorized a black-and-white photo of himself by painting with masks:

Need a Photoshop lesson? The Art League School offers a Photoshop workshop this March (details and registration here), a workshop on using Photoshop for pictures of artwork, also in March (details), and later this month, a workshop on Photoshop for painters (details).

Events