Artist Opportunities: December 18, 2012

See below for exhibitions and other opportunities coming up! You can click the banner above to see past opportunities posts.

VisArts Residency
Deadline: December 21, 2012. The Fleur and Charles Bresler Residency at VisArts invites applications and proposals from local, national and international artists for an 8 week residency at VisArts at Rockville. The Residency offers artists a dedicated studio, a supportive environment and the gift of time to plan, research, construct and present proposed projects. For more information and to apply, click here.

More announcements below: Continue reading Artist Opportunities: December 18, 2012

What is Sumi-é?

We recently visited Betzi Robinson’s class to learn about the art of sumi-é (soo-me-eh), or brush painting. Betzi showed us how to paint a great horned owl (above) and sparrows (at the bottom of this post) and told us all about the art form.

Students from absolute beginners to accomplished artists take sumi-é classes, which include weekly classes and two-day workshops with instructors Charlene Fuhrman-Schulz, Aiko Erickson, and Betzi.

“You don’t have to have done any kind of art to start learning this,” Betzi told us, saying students take it for the fun and for the meditative process. In fact, the “calming and centering” art form was first brought to Japan from China by Zen Buddhist monks. Ceramics artists sometimes take the course to learn the techniques for decorating their ceramic work, Betzi said. Continue reading What is Sumi-é?