Day: April 17, 2012

Local Artist Opportunities

See below for notes and announcements! Some of these opportunities have deadlines very soon:

  • George Mason University, Manassas Campus, is looking for a caricature artist for an event on April 26 (10-2). If anyone is interested, please contact Marit Majeske, 703/993-7741, [email protected] before April 18.
  • Registration for Artomatic is still open! The site crashed when we first posted about this last week, but they have added capacity to deal with the traffic, so try again if you haven’t already.
  • The XL-XS show by Maryland Federation of Art, previously mentioned in this space, has a entry deadline April 18. The show is for extra-large and extra-small works in two dimensions. For more details and online entry, visit the MFA website.
  • Alexandria studio for lease: An 11,500 sq. ft. warehouse is being remodeled for artists. It’s about 2.5 miles from the Torpedo Factory and near the intersection of Duke Street and S. Quaker Lane. The studios have full spectrum lighting. Onsite parking is free, and you will have 24/7 access. Each artist has a key to his or her studio and another key to the building’s main entrance. For information on the available studio space please contact Liz Boynton: [email protected] or 703-759-4227.
Artist Opportunities

Q&A with Award Winner Betsy Kellum

Artist Betsy Kellum won the Carol Bruce Pastel Award for The Ram, her piece in this month’s all-media show, in The Art League Gallery through April 30. Juror Joseph Di Bella said of the painting, “The nuanced color palette really allows the viewer to sense the light falling on the form. The progression from light to dark shows that the artist has the ability to modulate temperature. The colors are very transitional and soft. There’s a great quality of light in this piece.” We asked Betsy to tell us more about the piece, her other artwork, and her art education.

Is there a story behind The Ram? What was your inspiration or motive in creating the piece?
Betsy: I love animals and love painting them. I know of no other medium that can capture the texture of fur, hair, or fleece the way pastel can… probably because is it a dry, soft medium. Sheep are especially fun because of their coats, plus they are rather inactive, curious creatures, thus allowing for close up examination, both ways. This ram fellow was the main star in a previous painting called The Committee Meeting, and guess who was the chairman! I decided to showcase him in a large format, up close and personal. The dramatic lighting that day cast an array of color in the shadow areas that I couldn’t resist.

The Ram by Betsy Kellum

You won the Carol Bruce Award. Why do you work in pastel? What initially drew you to pastel and to realism in particular?
I knew Carol, and we shared space in Diane Tesler’s Wednesday class for several years. At that time I was learning to paint in oils, but was intrigued by what I saw Carol, Barbara Rachko, and some other pastellists doing. A friend and I shared a box of pastels, set up a simple still life, and painted it. That first painting was accepted into a local art show and got an award…. I was hooked! After an Art League workshop with Albert Handell and his introduction to working pastel on sanded paper, I fell in love with the versatility and brilliance of this wonderful medium. It always came easy to me.

Continued below: Continue reading Q&A with Award Winner Betsy Kellum

Artist Interviews

Today’s Critique with Deanna Schwartzberg

Today’s critique with Deanna Schwartzberg, who teaches abstract painting at The Art League School, offered a small group of artists constructive criticism on a variety of their works.

Deanna and the group set up a semicircle in the gallery. She offered ideas on composition, color, and other perspectives. The other artists present were asked for their thoughts on questions such as: do the relationships of form, color, and line create a composition that holds together? Does the work have its own voice, style, or vision? Does it show competency of materials and technique?

For future free enrichment events like this, make sure to read this blog or check the calendar on theartleague.org! They are also posted on this page.

Events

League of 25 Sculpture Competition Photos

Thursday night was the opening reception for the April exhibits in The Art League Gallery, and it also marked the launch of the League of 25 with a relay-style found object sculpture competition.

The League of 25 is a new society of Art League supporters who pitch in to fund an exhibit while having a little fun, and “Earth” was the first exhibit they funded. Donors were invited to partake in a recycled art challenge as part of the inaugural event. Some of the donors showed up on Thursday ready to showcase their creativity! Donors were divided into two teams, and each team was given a variety of found objects and recycled materials from which to build a sculpture. Each team was given 10 minutes to brainstorm, and then each team member had 2 minutes to make their artistic contribution individually, relay style.

Torpedo Factory artist Lisa Schumaier acted as judge. After a hectic few minutes of planning and frenzied construction, she selected the piece with the branches as the winning sculpture. Members of the winning team received Nancy Reinke woodcut prints, and everybody had a whole lot of fun recycling!

League of 25 member Jean Schwartz and judge Lisa Schumaier.
The winning sculpture under construction
The two completed sculptures.

Stay tuned for future League of 25 events! More photos below: Continue reading League of 25 Sculpture Competition Photos

Events

Support Arts Advocacy Day!

Today, hundreds of dedicated arts supporters from across the country have come together in Washington, DC for National Arts Advocacy Day, a united effort to tell Capitol Hill how important culture is to our communities, how much arts education means to our children, and how much the arts improve our daily lives.

As part of Arts Advocacy Day, you can send a letter to your members of Congress using an online tool. Be heard, and urge your representatives to fund the arts!

You can read more about Arts Advocacy Day here.

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