Month: October 2013

Art Boats at Alexandria Seaport Day

This weekend was Alexandria Seaport Day down at Waterfront Park, an occasion for chowder, beer, kids’ activities, demonstrations — and Art Boats!

steve-prince-boats-1
They Came Before Columbus and Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, the two boats painted by Steve Prince.

These boats were constructed by the Alexandria Seaport Foundation (ASF), painted by Art League instructors Steve Prince and Patrick Kirwin and the ASF’s Anthony Ness, and sponsored by local companies to benefit the Foundation.

You may have read about the Seaport Foundation elsewhere on this blog. The Art League has partnered with this great organization in the past to support their programs by commissioning easels, sculpture stands, and most recently a new store counter. Through the years, Seaport Foundation participants have also joined our art classes through the Geri Gordon Scholarship Fund.

More pictures of the Art Boats:

Alexandria Seaport Foundation's Anthony Ness with his boat.
Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s Anthony Ness with his boat.
An Art League easel in progress at the Seaport Foundation.
An easel in progress at the Seaport Foundation.
The other side of Steve Prince's Art Boats, Your Blues Ain't Like Mine and They Came Before Columbus.
The other side of Steve Prince’s Art Boats, Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine and They Came Before Columbus.
Steve Prince works on an Art Boat.
Steve Prince works on an Art Boat.
Patrick Kirwin's Art Boat was sponsored by Covanta Energy, a company with programs that create energy from old nets and other marine waste.
Patrick Kirwin’s Art Boat was sponsored by Covanta Energy, a company with programs that create energy from old nets and other marine waste.

About the artists: Artist Steve A. Prince is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and he currently resides in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Prince received his BFA from Xavier University of Louisiana and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University. He is currently an Artist in Resident at Allegheny College. He is represented by Eyekons Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Stonemetal Press in San Antonio, Texas.

Patrick Kirwin is a representational painter working primarily in oils and acrylics and with various scales from easel painting to kilometer-long murals. Currently, he is teaching Drawing, Trompe L’oeil Painting, and Acrylics at The Art League, where he has been since 1994. Kirwin has also been a teacher at the Smithsonian and the Corcoran College, as well as teaching throughout the US and Europe. Kirwin takes commissioned work as well as exhibiting and painting his original paintings.

Events

Professional Development for Artists: Four Free Seminars

Art-League-Gallery

This Fall, The Art League Gallery is hosting a lecture series with experts speaking on issues related to professional development for artists. Topics will include:

  • Taxes (Thursday, October 3): understanding how tax laws apply to your art business
  • Copyright (Thursday, October 17): how to copyright your own work, and what fair use is
  • Web Design and Branding (Friday, November 1): establishing a brand and a website
  • Social Media (Friday November 8): connecting with your fans and making new ones

We’re also holding small group critiques (limited to 10 people) with Art League instructors Nick Xhiku (October 20) and Ted Reed (November 21).

These are all free, but space is limited, so email [email protected] to register today! These events should be great resources for artists looking for new ways to manage their art business and make sales. Click here for details on all our upcoming lectures.

Artful Resources

Artist Opportunities: October 1, 2013

Mosaic by Art League instructor Gene Sterud

See below for details on upcoming exhibits to enter and other announcements.  You can click the image above to view past opportunities posts. (This week’s banner: detail from a mosaic by Art League instructor Gene Sterud.)

This week, a roundup of opportunities already featured in recent weeks whose deadlines still haven’t passed:

Large Works @ The Art League
Deadline: October 4, 2013. This year, The Art League’s Large Works show will be juried by digital entry only. See the exhibit page for the full prospectus. More about Large Works >

Corcoran Community Art Fair
Deadline: October 5. The Corcoran’s second annual Community Art Fair is a juried exhibition and sale of fine arts and crafts made by D.C.-area artists. More about the art fair >

Seed pack art contest
Deadline: October 6, 2013. Every year, the Hudson Valley Seed Library creates a limited edition custom seed pack for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society based on the Philadelphia Flower Show theme. All 2-D and flat/relief 3-D mediums are accepted excluding photography. This includes but is not limited to painting, collage, paper cutting, carving, plant matter, encaustic. All works must be 8″ x 8″ square. More about the contest >

Flashpoint Gallery call for proposals
Deadline: October 18, 2013. Flashpoint Gallery in Northwest DC is accepting exhibition proposals for the 2014–15 season. Artists and independent curators presenting work in any medium may apply. More about the call for proposals >

Call for public sculpture
Deadline: October 25, 2013. The Howard County Arts Council is seeking up to 12 artists to participate in its ARTsites Public Art Competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from May 2014 – July 2015. The competition is open to all professional visual artists, aged 18 and older, with public art experience that is commensurate with this project’s scope. More on ARTsites >

Call for public sculpture (2)
Deadline: November 1, 2013. The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center in Portsmouth, VA is calling for proposals for a 2014 Outdoor Sculpture Display. More on the call for artists >

Residency
Deadline: November 29. Sandy Spring Museum in Sandy Spring, MD has issued an open call for proposals for residencies starting the winter of 2014.  Artists may be visual, literary, performing, or multidisciplinary. More about the residency >

Hillyer Art Space
Deadline: November 22, 2013. Hillyer Art Space invites artists to submit to its current Open Call for Artists for the 2014-2015 exhibition season. Artists must live the DC Metro area and can’t have had a solo exhibition within the past three years. More about Hillyer Art Space’s Open Call for Artists >

Studio space: Alexandria
Art studio available with onsite free parking and 24/7 access. Each artist has a key to the building’s main entrance and a studio key. All studios have full spectrum lighting with a color temperature matching sunlight. The building has nine studios ranging in size from 197 to 1,064 sq. ft. and a larger industrial space is available for a commercial artist or group of artists. Near intersection of Duke Street and S. Quaker Lane (2.5 miles from Torpedo Factory). Contact Liz Boynton 703-759-4227, cell 703-638-8369, [email protected].

Artist Opportunities

We Are Open!

By Art League instructor Nancy McIntyre.
By Art League instructor Nancy McIntyre.

While many of the free museums in DC are sadly shut down, and lots of the private galleries and museums charge admission, we want to take this opportunity to remind you: The Art League Gallery is open seven days a week — with or without a government shutdown — and always free!

Come by this week for your last chance to see the September exhibits, check out the rest of the Torpedo Factory studios, and get a coffee at Bread & Chocolate (free with federal ID)!

Connection by Tea Okropiridze, winner of the Shayna Heisman Simkin Award.
Connection, a tapestry by Tea Okropiridze, winner of the Shayna Heisman Simkin Award in the September All-Media Exhibi.
Sculptures from Kreshnik Xhiku's exhibit, "Structural Elements."
Sculptures from Kreshnik Xhiku’s exhibit, “Structural Elements.”

Gallery Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 10:00 am–6:00 pm
Thursday: 10:00 am–9:00 pm
Sunday: 12:00 noon–6:00 pm

Exhibits, News