This July, we’re inviting artists to transform The Art League Gallery with installation art. We’re calling the exhibit “Not a Box.”
All Art League member artists are invited to enter. Entry is online only, and the deadline is June 1, 2016.
If you’ve never created an installation before, never fear! We’re here to help out. Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about this exhibit — and if you have any not answered here, please get in touch with Gallery staff at 703-683-1780 or [email protected].
What counts as installation art?
Installation art is any site-specific artwork — that is, anything executed as part of a space instead of simply being hung on the wall or displayed on a pedestal. Artists are encouraged to use this opportunity to engage with and transform a space within the Gallery.
We have limited space in the Gallery, but there is no restriction on size. The juror will choose pieces that will adequately fit the space we have. Artists can submit small or large installations.
Modular Wall Installation: Right Triangle (Magenta) by Alex Paik, installed at ODETTA (2015). Gouache, colored pencil, paper, nails. Dimensions variable. (Alex Paik is the juror for “Not a Box.”)
Do I choose the specific part of the gallery that my installation will go in?
If you have specific requirements, include that information, but leave some flexibility in your proposal: the juror and Gallery Director will ultimately decide which area will best showcase the artwork.
Can I work with another artist?
Yes, and we encourage you to do so!
What are the possibilities/limits on what I can hang from the ceiling and put in the wall?
We have a 60-pound weight limit, but are open to ideas from the artist for installation. If you have specific questions for installation, please contact the Gallery at 703-683-1780 or [email protected].
Can The Art League supply audiovisual equipment for multimedia works?
Yes, but we have limited equipment. Please contact the Gallery if you have questions.
Can I submit a drawing/plan/visualization of the installation as my image?
Yes! Artists are allowed to submit up to three images per submission (up to three submissions). A drawing/plan/visualization is encouraged.
Where can I look for inspiration?
Artist Ines Seidel has a Pinterest board, Presenting Art, with lots of ideas for unusual ways to install artwork.
As we do with many of our themed exhibits, The Art League is pinning ideas to our board Inspiration for AL Exhibits.
Finally, the Renwick Gallery currently has an exhibit of nine installations. You can see “Wonder” through May 8.
Where do you go to find affordable artwork by accomplished local artists?
We’re going to let you in on a little secret called Gallery 75.
Nestled inside The Art League Gallery here in the Torpedo Factory, this gallery-within-a-gallery is open only to artists who are juried into three of our shows per year. It used to be called the Bin Gallery — after, well, the bins — but this year, we renamed it in honor of the year it was founded. It’s a nicer name, don’t you agree?
Gallery 75 has three parts:
the framed and 3-D pieces on the walls and in the cabinets, which change every two months (we post images on Flickr just like with our regular exhibits)
the unframed pieces in the bins, arranged by artist’s last name
The bins are arranged by artists’ last names, and we also have special bins for local scenes and pieces under $100.
Not all our artists are featured online, so you’ll want to come in person to see what’s available. The framed and sculptural works change bimonthly, and the unframed bin pieces change at least every six months, so come early and come often!
By the way, if you’re wondering what exactly we mean by “affordable” artwork: right now you can find unframed pieces for as low as $45, and numerous works, framed and unframed, under $100. Be sure to search around to find the artists and artwork that speak to you!
Untitled, oil on board, by Margaret Cerutti. Winner of The Art League Best in Show Award.
Sometimes, it takes just a sketch to say what you want to say. That’s particularly true in the case of this untitled painting — by Margaret Cerutti, an Art League and Torpedo Factory artist — that appears in our March Open Exhibit.
“I’m so impressed that the artist was able to make such a small area of paint say so much,” said juror Zoma Wallace of the painting, which she selected for The Art League Best in Show Award.
The artist is currently in Amsterdam on one of The Art League’s travel workshops, but we reached her so she could tell us more about her painting:
What was your goal with this painting? If you had to give it a title, what would it be?
Margaret Cerutti: My goal — the subject’s profile and heavily textured skin beckons you to address the sense of pride, self-confidence, and wisdom that comes with age. If titled, it would reflect those aspects.
How did you know when it was finished?
You realize when you have made your “artistic statement” and there is nothing more to be added or deleted. You have said what you want to say. It is all there …
How does your creative process differ for a portrait as opposed to a plein air painting?
In any painting I do, there needs to be something about the subject that I want to capture or investigate further. In a portrait, it is usually an emotion, a sense of attitude, a special look, or interesting body feature that I want to emphasize.
In plein air, it is more about the light and how it transforms a landscape, capturing atmospheric interest or interesting color relationships.
Last Winter Snow, oil on linen, by Margaret Cerutti
What’s one tool that you couldn’t live without?
I have more than one. One of my favorite brushes is the Isabey cat’s tongue. How your brush behaves is everything, and this one, especially in a size 1 or 2, is wonderfully consistent for sharp details and laying in small areas of color. I love a sharpened brush handle for scratching in details.
I also like to use black and white reference photos. It refreshes your thoughts when the subject matter is not there. You review them, and put them away. Then, let your own color sense go wild!
What are you working on now?
I am working on two commissions of children’s portraits. In these instances, the focus is on innocence and delicacy of features… quite different from my piece in The Art League show!
Deadline: April 1. In association with Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts, Our Daily Bread presents “Artful Living,” an art exhibition and community event. Proceeds from event benefit ODB’s families and the Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts Festival Scholarships Fund. No fee to enter.
Art League exhibits
Deadlines: April 1, May 6, June 1. The Art League has three exhibits coming up that will be juried by online entry only. Artists do not need to be Art League members to enter “Tabletop.” To see all current online entry opportunities, visit theartleague.submittable.com.
May Open Exhibit: open to current Art League members. Artists can enter any work made within the last 10 years. Juror: Lisa Golightly.
Tabletop: open to all artists. “Tabletop” is an exhibit of ceramics and other functional art forms designed for food, drink, and the table. Jurors: McKenzie Smith (ceramics) and Kate Lydon (other functional art forms).
Not a Box: open to current Art League members. An exhibit of installation art. Juror: Alex Paik.
CSA
Deadline: April 10. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts invites artists and artist teams residing in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, to submit proposals for participation in a Community Supported Art initiative. Built upon the traditional Community Supported Agriculture model that provides opportunities for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farmers, Community Supported Arts (CSA) will provide a unique way for collectors to acquire original art from regional artists.
Sensory art
Deadline: April 12. For “Making Sense” at McLean Project for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic artists are invited to submit work exploring the senses or the experience of sensory perception. Juror: Nora Atkinson.
Prints
Deadline: May 21. The 19th Annual Washington Printmakers’ National Small Works Exhibition features selected prints by artists from across the nation. Hand-pulled prints, digitally printed images, or photographs completed in the past two years are eligible.
Art League solo exhibits
Deadline: September 23. Entry is now open for 2018 solo artist exhibits at The Art League. Entry is open to all Art League members.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Art for an asteroid
Deadline: March 22. (Free to enter; no prizes or sales.) Share with NASA — and with the universe — a creative work that will ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu.
Insect art
Deadline: March 23. For Swarm: Invasion of the Insects at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, artists are invited to submit works inspired by insects — creatures that represent 90% of animal life on Earth.
VisArts
Deadline: March 30. VisArts in Rockville, MD invites artists working in all media to apply for 2017 Solo Exhibitions in the Gibbs Street Gallery and Common Ground Gallery.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
Touchstone fellowship
Deadline: March 31. The Touchstone Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists (2016-2018) provides an emerging artist (who has not been represented by a commercial gallery in at least 10 years) with a two-year membership at Touchstone Gallery in downtown D.C. This guarantees a solo exhibition as well as participation in gallery group shows, mentorship, and a presence on our website.
2-D art: Flora or Fauna
Deadline: March 31. Still life with roses, fields of hay, owls in a tree and humans being human— these are just a few from thousands of possibilities for artistic exploration in the Maryland Federation of Art’s themed Flora and Fauna exhibition. Any original fine art 2-D artwork depicting the broad range of animal and plant life are the possibilities for juror consideration. Entries are open to all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.
Sittable art
Deadline: April 1. Each year, the Old Takoma Business Association commissions artists to create imaginative outdoor sculptural seats made from a portion of recycled materials for the reCYCLE Public Art Project. Artists are paid $100-$500 per seat depending on complexity.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Bower Center
Deadlines: April 6. The Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford, VA has two exhibits with the same deadline.
Trawick Prize
Deadline: April 8. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites eligible artists to enter theTrawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted.
Touchable art
Deadline: April 11. Please Touch, an all-media exhibition at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, invites national and international artists to submit interactive works. Visitors will be encouraged to touch and engage with the artwork, so all work must be safe to touch. The juror is Virginia-based artist and curator, Cynthia Connolly.
Workhouse Arts Center
The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA has four upcoming deadlines:
Deadline: April 15. The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society seeks entries for a juried art exhibition at the Ned Smith Center for Nature & Art in Millersburg, PA.
Graffiti artists
Deadline: April 22. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in partnership with the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) seeks graffiti artists and artist teams to design, create and install aerosol murals that inspire the various communities in which they will be placed. Selected artists will be required to work with youth interested in graffiti art (ages 14-18) by introducing and refining each student’s artistic skill in the discipline of graffiti style sketch work and aerosol mural painting.
Solo opportunity
Deadline: May 2. Sweetwater Center for the Arts invites emerging and established artists who reside within 200 miles of Pittsburgh to submit artwork for an opportunity to have an eight-week solo exhibition in our gallery.
Botanical art
Deadline: May 12. Smithtown Township Arts Council seeks entries for juried fine art exhibition “Of A Botanical Nature” at the Mills Pond Gallery in St. James, NY. A call for original artwork that reflects the beauty and uniqueness of flora in a realistic or representational style.
Creative reuse
Deadline: May 31. The inaugural Re:NEW Festival seeks submissions from artists and performers across the U.S. that explore the themes of creative reuse, transformation, and sustainability in thoughtful, engaging, and diverse ways. Maximum project budget: $3,000. Apply early! Deadline isMay 31, but entries will be reviewed on a rolling basis and early application is encouraged.
Installation exhibit
Deadline: June 1. “Not a Box” is open to all Art League members. Artists are invited to transform a space in the gallery. Collaborations and multimedia works are encouraged.
Young artists with disabilities
Deadline: June 1. (Re)Invention: Art + Innovation + Disability + Design is a juried exhibition of emerging young artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, that aims to showcase artwork created at the intersection of technology, innovation, and disability.
Art about animals
Deadline: June 3. Smithtown Township Arts Council (NY) invites submissions for its upcoming juried fine art exhibition: “Animals in Art – Our Partners on the Planet” at the Mills Pond Gallery. Juror/Judge Tim Newton. Artists are encouraged to share their artistic vision of animals, both domestic and wild.
Public sculpture
Deadline: July 1. Four locations around the City of Fredericksburg, VA have been selected for the display of public sculpture from October, 2016 to September, 2017. Liability insurance provided. Stipend of $2000. Artist responsible for delivery and removal.
Oil painters
Deadline: ongoing. If you are a high-level oil painter, interested in using your oil-painting skills to animate on a film, and available for training and employment between January and August of 2016, send in your portfolio! Loving Vincent will be the first fully painted feature film.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
Open call
Deadline: ongoing. The Craddock-Terry Gallery at Riverviews Artspace accepts submissions from 2D, 3D, performance, and video artists on a continual basis. The Craddock-Terry is a 2,500 square foot; street-level contemporary exhibition space in Lynchburg, Virginia’s revitalized downtown.
Encore Reception: Saturday, April 23, 5:00–7:00 pm on
In her 2016 solo exhibition, Earth House, Rosemary Luckett shifts her topical focus from human formed earth blankets to living organisms—beings who readied the world for humankind and who continue to support human lives now. To describe the nature portion of the human-biosphere story, she concentrates on mixed media collage, and a book of poems about these enigmatic images.
“I’ve become more appreciative of how complex biosystems are, and the delicate relationships between other life forms and us,” she states. “In this series of collage artworks I pay attention to divine articulations of the Natural World by meditating on living things, air, soil, and water.” While concentrating on a few of the myriad life forms that beckon to her, Luckett cuts, pastes, paints, and writes poetry. Some of her images are obvious masks, while others vary in composition. Mixed materials include recycled bubble wrap, cloth, and plastic netting along with papers and photographs.
Luckett is also inspired by Northwest Coast Indian transformation masks and Southwestern retablos. Some of her works are framed in wood shrines to emphasize their iconic nature. The framework around her thinking was built in part by writer Loren Eisely (The Immense Journey) as she pondered the impressive achievement and adaptive competence of living creatures who preceded humans, begetting more diverse and complex forms over 3.5 billion years on a fiercely wild and often inhospitable planet.
Earth House is Luckett’s sixth earth-themed solo exhibition at Touchstone Gallery. Her work commemorates Earth Day month, a time to meditate on our connection to our Earth home. TFAA Associate Artist, Luckett has soloed several times at Touchstone Gallery and other galleries in the region. She teaches collage at The Art League School in Alexandria and maintains a studio in the woods of northern Virginia.
A Moment’s Peace, acrylic on canvas, by Deanna Schwartzberg
Deanna Schwartzberg: Then and Now March 30–April 29, 2016 Salon de las Artes, Embassy of Uruguay, 1913 I Street NW, Washington DC (Gallery hours Mon–Fri, 10:00 am–4:00 pm)
Opening Reception: March 30, 6:00–8:00 pm
Artist Talk: April 12, 10:30 am
Over a long career, Deanna Schwartzberg has gained her reputation as an abstract artist and instructor in abstract painting. This survey of her work begins in the year 2000, when her art first begins to focus on the figure as it relates to the natural world. In the paintings and assemblages of Deanna Schwartzberg we enter a world of color and light that invites us to contemplate the shared presence of humanity and nature. In several series,each with different focus and meaning, a figure of near life-size proportions merges with elements of nature creating an energy that flows throughout.
Schwartzberg’s art has incrementally gone from total abstraction to creating a visual manifestation of her thoughts and ideas about the natural world. It is her roots in abstraction that allow her to uniquely express these ideas. In describing her process the artist says; “I work toward creating an ambiguity in the way I approach my subject matter, thereby allowing the visual experience to take precedence over the narrative. To do this, I often find the most compelling forms in places where they are not expected. I use color to bathe a figure in light, or lose it in its surroundings. Turning negative shapes into positives, I weave the color and allow forms to reveal themselves.”
Ms. Schwartzberg works in a series format allowing one painting to generate the next. To quote the artist, “I am often well into the series when I begin to discover what it is truly about. Generalities become specifics, and as I go deeper into the painting process I become more involved with the painting in a formal way as well as bringing my own thoughts and feelings to it.” This exhibition covers selected works from the artist’s series: WaterBorn, Figure as Metaphor, Memory of the Senses, Primal Connections and others.
Every so often, we like to share some of what we’re enjoying on the Internet. In this edition: New tools for digital artists, drip-free spouts, and more …
Painting meets sculpture with a helpful push from technology: the Tilt Brush, coming soon from Google, lets you paint in three dimensions in virtual reality. You can even make room-sized creations and walk around them. This should be very, very cool — let us know if you get one, so we can play experiment with this new art form.
In the category of the more conventional digital drawing tool, Apple recently released the Pencil, their new stylus. Here’s one glowing review (drawn with the Pencil).
Unless you like playing Jackson Pollock at teatime, you’re probably not a fan of drippy teapots. And, it can be a bit of a mystery why some teapots drip when poured and others pour cleanly. But one scientist has answered the question of how to make the perfect spout. Check it out, ceramicists!
It’s never too late to become an artist! The Art League is full of artists who only began their art practice later in life, after (or during) a career in a different field. Add to their stories these profiles of five late bloomers who changed the art world.
Have an hour to kill? Plop down and read this January Washington Post article by Dan Zak about a local photographer you haven’t heard of, by the name of Chris Earnshaw.
For when you need a nice, fuzzy, satisfied feeling on repeat: Oddly Satisfying Videos of Paint Colors Mixing. We can confirm that they hit the spot, although frankly, we don’t think it’s that odd.
Journey by Kay Fuller, winner of the Evelyn Turner Memorial Award for Abstraction.
It was just over 10 years ago that Kay Fuller picked up a paintbrush for the first time. This month she received the Evelyn Turner Memorial Award for Abstraction, and we asked her some questions for the first of two artist Q&As in March:
What was your goal with Journey?
Kay Fuller: My goal with Journey was to create an abstract with a suggestion of a mountainistic landscape. Also, I wanted to have a path to the mountains and beyond.
How long have you been a painter? What got you started?
I started painting the summer of 2005. My husband, Bob, and I met an artist (Janice Beck) at the Highland’s Festival in 2004 and fell in love with her work. She told us that she taught watercolor painting in Provence, France, and we signed up to go the following year. After that introduction, I took every class I could find, especially at The Art League School.
I was still working when I started, so I had limited painting time. I got into a few shows at The Capitol Hill Art League in 2007 and more, locally in 2008. I was fortunate enough to be juried into the Baltimore Watercolor Society and Potomac Valley Watercolorists. I retired in 2012 and devoted much of my time to entering shows locally and on the national level. Most of my time now is spent painting, entering shows, schlepping and fetching art, and playing my flute.
Journey (detail)
What different media do you use in your paintings?
I enjoy using watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, and oil paint. Each media lends itself to a different type of painting.
Who are some of your biggest artistic influences?
Certainly, I must thank Janice Beck with getting me started. We continue to travel to Europe to paint with her each year. Many local Art League School instructors have influenced my painting, including Rachel Collins, Jackie Saunders, Marsha Staiger, Susan Herron. However, I must say Steve Fleming was the one who suggested that I pursue abstraction for a year and that opened me up to a new way of painting.
What was it like to shift into abstraction? Where do you get inspiration for your abstract works?
I had no idea what I was doing when I started painting abstractly. I took from some great teachers —Mary Todd Beam, Pat Dews, and Carol Barnes — and soon learned how to create abstract designs from photos. Many of my paintings are inspired by rock formations, cracks in masonry walls, etc. There are the standard designs patterns that work well with abstraction, i.e., cruciform, high horizon, low horizon, cantilever. The photos are often in one of these design patterns but these are just starting points.
“I suppose it is finished when it no longer needs any surprises.”
I paint my abstracts intuitively, using my right brain. Patterns develop as the paint dries on the surface and I go with or incorporate those patterns into my work. One thing builds off of something put down previously.
My left brain is much more in control when I paint representationally. I try to replicate what I see. My creativity is less active. Maybe I will be able to blend the two some day.
When you work abstractly, when do you know you’re finished?
I put every painting on the mantle for at least a week. Sometimes I put a piece of colored paper or tape in an area that needs a little surprise element. If it improves the piece I paint it in. I suppose it is finished when it no longer needs any surprises.
What’s one tool that you couldn’t live without?
My scrapers (credit cards, putty knives, pieces of cardboard, etc.) I love scraping paint on and scraping paint off; scraping through paint or mediums. I enjoy creating texture in my paintings with the help of scrapers.
What are you working on now?
I am resting now, after getting a collection of 17 pieces together to hang at The Arts Club of Washington. This collection of Down to Earth abstractions will be on exhibit until March 26. Getting that show together exhausted me, temporarily, but I am sure I will be working on something soon. I am going to be taking a workshop with Mark Mahaffey at Kanuga next month, so that should get my creative juices flowing.
Deadline: March 30. VisArts in Rockville, MD invites artists working in all media to apply for 2017 Solo Exhibitions in the Gibbs Street Gallery and Common Ground Gallery.
Watercolor
Deadline: April 15. The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society seeks entries for a juried art exhibition at the Ned Smith Center for Nature & Art in Millersburg, PA.
Solo opportunity
Deadline: May 2. Sweetwater Center for the Arts invites emerging and established artists who reside within 200 miles of Pittsburgh to submit artwork for an opportunity to have an eight-week solo exhibition in our gallery.
Functional art
Deadline: May 6. “Tabletop” at The Art League is an international, juried exhibit of ceramics and other functional art forms designed for food, drink, and the table. The jurors are McKenzie Smith (ceramics) and Kate Lydon (other functional art forms). Entry is open to all.
Botanical art
Deadline: May 12. Smithtown Township Arts Council seeks entries for juried fine art exhibition “Of A Botanical Nature” at the Mills Pond Gallery in St. James, NY. A call for original artwork that reflects the beauty and uniqueness of flora in a realistic or representational style.
élan Magazine
Deadline: ongoing. Any individual active in the fine arts or performing arts and who also lives, works, exhibits or performs in the Northern Virginia area is encouraged to send a press kit, portfolio or web site information to élan Magazine.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Workhouse Arts Center
The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA has four upcoming deadlines:
Deadline: March 16 (early bird February 16). Art Speaks on the Bay is held in Mathews, VA and is open to all Virginia artists age 18 and up.
City of Fairfax
Deadline: March 17. The City of Fairfax has two events for artists later this year: the Fall Festivaland the Holiday Craft Show.
Surreal photography
Deadline: March 19. Artists are invited to submit original, two-dimensional photographic images forSurrealism at Del Ray Artisans.
Art for an asteroid
Deadline: March 22. (Free to enter; no prizes or sales.) Share with NASA — and with the universe — a creative work that will ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu.
Insect art
Deadline: March 23. For Swarm: Invasion of the Insects at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, artists are invited to submit works inspired by insects — creatures that represent 90% of animal life on Earth.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
Touchstone fellowship
Deadline: March 31. The Touchstone Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists (2016-2018) provides an emerging artist (who has not been represented by a commercial gallery in at least 10 years) with a two-year membership at Touchstone Gallery in downtown D.C. This guarantees a solo exhibition as well as participation in gallery group shows, mentorship, and a presence on our website.
2-D art: Flora or Fauna
Deadline: March 31. Still life with roses, fields of hay, owls in a tree and humans being human— these are just a few from thousands of possibilities for artistic exploration in the Maryland Federation of Art’s themed Flora and Fauna exhibition. Any original fine art 2-D artwork depicting the broad range of animal and plant life are the possibilities for juror consideration. Entries are open to all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.
Sittable art
Deadline: April 1. Each year, the Old Takoma Business Association commissions artists to create imaginative outdoor sculptural seats made from a portion of recycled materials for the reCYCLE Public Art Project. Artists are paid $100-$500 per seat depending on complexity.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Bower Center
Deadlines: April 6. The Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford, VA has two exhibits with the same deadline.
Trawick Prize
Deadline: April 8. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites eligible artists to enter theTrawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted.
Touchable art
Deadline: April 11. Please Touch, an all-media exhibition at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, invites national and international artists to submit interactive works. Visitors will be encouraged to touch and engage with the artwork, so all work must be safe to touch. The juror is Virginia-based artist and curator, Cynthia Connolly.
Graffiti artists
Deadline: April 22. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in partnership with the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) seeks graffiti artists and artist teams to design, create and install aerosol murals that inspire the various communities in which they will be placed. Selected artists will be required to work with youth interested in graffiti art (ages 14-18) by introducing and refining each student’s artistic skill in the discipline of graffiti style sketch work and aerosol mural painting.
Creative reuse
Deadline: May 31. The inaugural Re:NEW Festival seeks submissions from artists and performers across the U.S. that explore the themes of creative reuse, transformation, and sustainability in thoughtful, engaging, and diverse ways. Maximum project budget: $3,000. Apply early! Deadline isMay 31, but entries will be reviewed on a rolling basis and early application is encouraged.
Installation exhibit
Deadline: June 1. “Not a Box” is open to all Art League members. Artists are invited to transform a space in the gallery. Collaborations and multimedia works are encouraged.
Young artists with disabilities
Deadline: June 1. (Re)Invention: Art + Innovation + Disability + Design is a juried exhibition of emerging young artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, that aims to showcase artwork created at the intersection of technology, innovation, and disability.
Art about animals
Deadline: June 3. Smithtown Township Arts Council (NY) invites submissions for its upcoming juried fine art exhibition: “Animals in Art – Our Partners on the Planet” at the Mills Pond Gallery. Juror/Judge Tim Newton. Artists are encouraged to share their artistic vision of animals, both domestic and wild.
Public sculpture
Deadline: July 1. Four locations around the City of Fredericksburg, VA have been selected for the display of public sculpture from October, 2016 to September, 2017. Liability insurance provided. Stipend of $2000. Artist responsible for delivery and removal.
Oil painters
Deadline: ongoing. If you are a high-level oil painter, interested in using your oil-painting skills to animate on a film, and available for training and employment between January and August of 2016, send in your portfolio! Loving Vincent will be the first fully painted feature film.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
Open call
Deadline: ongoing. The Craddock-Terry Gallery at Riverviews Artspace accepts submissions from 2D, 3D, performance, and video artists on a continual basis. The Craddock-Terry is a 2,500 square foot; street-level contemporary exhibition space in Lynchburg, Virginia’s revitalized downtown.
Kim Bernard and collaborators aboard Sisyphus, the square-wheeled “boat.”
Studying the natural world, asking questions, working collaboratively — it’s like art and science were made for each other.
That may not seem obvious at first, but artist Kim Bernard has had great success wedding the creative to the scientific process. She’s the first-ever artist in residence in Harvard University’s physics department, and April 2–3, she’ll be bringing those collaborative skills to a workshop at The Art League!
What does an artist in residence do in a physics department?
Kim Bernard: Get inspired mostly! During my residency, I’ve sat in on lectures and labs, used the departments equipment and collaborated on several projects: three supersized pinwheels for an outdoor sculpture park, a square wheeled boat for a People’s Sculpture Race and a kinetic sculpture of 50 springs and balls driven by a motor.
Third Wind by Kim Bernard
How did this residency come about? Will it continue after you leave or is it a one-time thing?
One of the physics faculty learned of my work through an exhibit at Boston Sculptors Gallery. He saw a relationship between my kinetic sculpture and physics and asked if I wanted to “do something” in the physics department.
I believe the department would like to have another artist in residence, but that’s yet to be determined. My residency has been rather informal and we’ve designed it as we’ve gone along.
Which came first for you – science or art? And how did your work evolve to where it is today?
Art. I’m not a physicist or scientist. My work is an exploration of movement. Physics is the study of matter in motion, through time and space, so there’s obvious overlap. I found that in order to make kinetic sculpture, I needed to understand some fundamental physics principals. This opened the door to the beauty of science.
What’s the goal when art and science get together?
Both art making and science explore unchartered territory, where there’s trial and error, failure and discovery. If there’s a goal at all, it’s to look at science as a visually rich resource from which to create while gaining insight. Most of us are visual learners, but we also learn when we do, with our hands and develop a deeper understanding through making.
Interference Pattern (1958) by Berenice Abbott
Can you give an example (or more) of an art/science collaboration that you think worked well?
There are so many … I’ve been looking lately at the photography of Berenice Abbott. She documented science with her photography in the 1950s at MIT. Her photography stands on its own, as art, but the subject matter is science.
What do you have planned for your workshop at The Art League?
This workshop is just as much about creativity as it is about science. Participants will work collaboratively to generate a plethora of science inspired projects, playing with materials on hand to create some rough and ready prototypes. If nothing else I hope participants get charged up, inspired and leave with their heads full of ideas for future work.
Can you give an idea of a project students might work on in this workshop? What kind of materials or prototyping equipment might they work with?
I’ll be inundating them with science visuals as a jumping off point for projects and will provide paper, cardboard, hot glue, markers, and lots of ‘surprise’ recycled materials. Nothing precious or intimidating. The projects will be of their own design and only limited by their imaginations.
Wave Phenomene II by Kim Bernard.
Does an art/science collaboration necessarily need to be sculptural?
No, not at all: 2-D, 3-D, multi or mixed media — anything goes.
What kind of experience in art or science do I need in order to attend?
No experience necessary, just an open mind and a willingness to explore.
Deadlines: April 6. The Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford, VA has two exhibits with the same deadline.
Trawick Prize
Deadline: April 8. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites eligible artists to enter the Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC. All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video will be accepted.
Graffiti artists
Deadline: April 22. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in partnership with the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) seeks graffiti artists and artist teams to design, create and install aerosol murals that inspire the various communities in which they will be placed. Selected artists will be required to work with youth interested in graffiti art (ages 14-18) by introducing and refining each student’s artistic skill in the discipline of graffiti style sketch work and aerosol mural painting.
Creative reuse
Deadline: May 31. The inaugural Re:NEW Festival seeks submissions from artists and performers across the U.S. that explore the themes of creative reuse, transformation, and sustainability in thoughtful, engaging, and diverse ways. Maximum project budget: $3,000. Apply early! Deadline is May 31, but entries will be reviewed on a rolling basis and early application is encouraged.
Young artists with disabilities
Deadline: June 1. (Re)Invention: Art + Innovation + Disability + Design is a juried exhibition of emerging young artists with disabilities, ages 16-25, that aims to showcase artwork created at the intersection of technology, innovation, and disability.
Public sculpture
Deadline: July 1. Four locations around the City of Fredericksburg, VA have been selected for the display of public sculpture from October, 2016 to September, 2017. Liability insurance provided. Stipend of $2000. Artist responsible for delivery and removal.
Open call
Deadline: ongoing. The Craddock-Terry Gallery at Riverviews Artspace accepts submissions from 2D, 3D, performance, and video artists on a continual basis. The Craddock-Terry is a 2,500 square foot; street-level contemporary exhibition space in Lynchburg, Virginia’s revitalized downtown.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Workhouse Arts Center
The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA has four upcoming deadlines:
Deadline: March 11. The South-Atlantic Juried Exhibition is open to all professional artists who reside in Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Artists are invited to submit up to three works completed within the last two years and not previously shown at The Montpelier Center for Arts and Education. All artwork must be for sale.
BlackRock Center for the Arts
Deadline extended: March 14. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is currently accepting proposals for solo and group exhibitions to be presented from January 2017 through December 2017. Visual artists, independent curators, and coordinators of artist collectives and arts organizations who live or work in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, or West Virginia are encouraged to submit Exhibition Proposals.
Road Trip
Deadline: March 15. Gallery Underground announces “Road Trip,” a national juried art competition. All-media artists, sculptors, and photographers are invited to create visual works that portray the subject of a road trip – literally, figuratively, and metaphorically.
Delaplaine juried exhibit
Deadline: March 15. The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, MD, announces a call for entry. All media are eligible. Artwork for exhibition must have been completed in last 2 years and not previously exhibited at the Delaplaine. More about the 2016 National Juried Exhibit →
Virginia artists
Deadline: March 16 (early bird February 16). Art Speaks on the Bay is held in Mathews, VA and is open to all Virginia artists age 18 and up.
City of Fairfax
Deadline: March 17. The City of Fairfax has two events for artists later this year: the Fall Festivaland the Holiday Craft Show.
Surreal photography
Deadline: March 19. Artists are invited to submit original, two-dimensional photographic images forSurrealism at Del Ray Artisans.
Art for an asteroid
Deadline: March 22. (Free to enter; no prizes or sales.) Share with NASA — and with the universe — a creative work that will ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu.
Insect art
Deadline: March 23. For Swarm: Invasion of the Insects at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, artists are invited to submit works inspired by insects — creatures that represent 90% of animal life on Earth.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
Touchstone fellowship
Deadline: March 31. The Touchstone Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists (2016-2018) provides an emerging artist (who has not been represented by a commercial gallery in at least 10 years) with a two-year membership at Touchstone Gallery in downtown D.C. This guarantees a solo exhibition as well as participation in gallery group shows, mentorship, and a presence on our website.
2-D art: Flora or Fauna
Deadline: March 31. Still life with roses, fields of hay, owls in a tree and humans being human— these are just a few from thousands of possibilities for artistic exploration in the Maryland Federation of Art’s themed Flora and Fauna exhibition. Any original fine art 2-D artwork depicting the broad range of animal and plant life are the possibilities for juror consideration. Entries are open to all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.
Sittable art
Deadline: April 1. Each year, the Old Takoma Business Association commissions artists to create imaginative outdoor sculptural seats made from a portion of recycled materials for the reCYCLE Public Art Project. Artists are paid $100-$500 per seat depending on complexity.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Touchable art
Deadline: April 11. Please Touch, an all-media exhibition at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, invites national and international artists to submit interactive works. Visitors will be encouraged to touch and engage with the artwork, so all work must be safe to touch. The juror is Virginia-based artist and curator, Cynthia Connolly.
Installation exhibit
Deadline: June 1. “Not a Box” is open to all Art League members. Artists are invited to transform a space in the gallery. Collaborations and multimedia works are encouraged.
Art about animals
Deadline: June 3. Smithtown Township Arts Council (NY) invites submissions for its upcoming juried fine art exhibition: “Animals in Art – Our Partners on the Planet” at the Mills Pond Gallery. Juror/Judge Tim Newton. Artists are encouraged to share their artistic vision of animals, both domestic and wild.
Oil painters
Deadline: ongoing. If you are a high-level oil painter, interested in using your oil-painting skills to animate on a film, and available for training and employment between January and August of 2016, send in your portfolio! Loving Vincent will be the first fully painted feature film.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
The Biennial Ikebana Exhibit closed Sunday, and so it’ll be another two years until these unique floral installations return to the Gallery.
If you missed this brief exhibit, here are some photos (and a video) to give you a sense of what it looked like. Ikebana returns in 2018!
Ikebana artist: Sheila Advani Painting: Marcia Dale Dullum Vessel: Viviane JohnsonIkebana artist: Carol House Painting: David Carter Vessel: Carla AmerauAt left: Ikebana artist: Patricia Painter Painting: Robert Liberace Vessel: Kirke MartinIkebana artist: Carla Amerau Painting: Connie Slack Vessel: Carla AmerauIkebana artist: Cathy Houston Painting: Delna Dastur Vessel: Masami BryantIkebana artist: Marie Baumann Painting: Betsy Anderson Vessel: Carla AmerauIkebana artist: Jane Redmon Photograph: Pete Duvall Vessel: Robert RosselleIkebana artist: Susan Sikorski (using own vessel) Painting: Marsha StaigerIkebana artist: Rosalie Ingenito Silkscreen: Laura Huff Vessel: Carla Amerau
The following installations are not pictured above, but can be seen in this Facebook album by Bryan Jernigan, an Art League instructor and a painter with a piece in the exhibit.
Ikebana artist: Elizabeth Berry
Painting: Nancy Pane Fortwengler
Vessels: Jennifer Bernard Hatfield
There’s a new restaurant in Shirlington with a unique connection to visual art: it’s not just on the walls, but created in front of you while you watch and dine.
Palette 22 opened February 22 with three Art League artists as part of its first class of resident painters, printmakers, and mixed media artists: Lizzy Lunday, Andrea Cybyk, and Jennifer Schmidt. They each spend time each week working with the restaurant as their studio and gallery. We chatted with the restaurant’s art director, Cara Leepson, about the execution of this concept:
What’s involved in being an art director for a restaurant? Is this something you’ve done at other restaurants?
Cara Leepson: As the Art Director for Palette 22, I’ve developed the Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program, worked with a small internal committee to select an inaugural group of featured artists, and curated the artwork on display throughout the restaurant. I also coordinated the selection of the mural artists to create site-specific, commissioned artworks, which will be replaced by something new after about a year. I have not ever done anything like this in other restaurants, as my experience and background are in the commercial gallery and institutional contemporary art museum world.
White Noise by Jennifer Schmidt, from the January exhibit at The Art League, “Muted.”
What’s your background in art?
I graduated from Georgetown University with an MA in Art and Museum Studies and went on to work at Hillyer Art Space, a non-profit contemporary art gallery in Dupont Circle. I then moved on to Glenstone in Potomac MD, a private collection of contemporary art, where I worked for over two years. This is my first “restaurant” job and my first position outside of the more traditional art world setting.
Plenty of restaurants display art for sale — what’s different about Palette 22?
Art in restaurants is certainly not a new idea, however, bringing art to the forefront of the dining experience like we’re doing at Palette 22, truly is. In addition to the original artwork on the walls, we have artists working in the space, eager to engage the guests in their creative process. Artwork covers every corner of the restaurant, including the bathrooms. As a guest, it’s impossible not to be engaged with artwork during your time in Palette 22.
Color Strands 14-3 by Andrea Cybyk, honorable mention in the March 2014 “ColorField” exhibit at The Art League.
Can artists still apply for future residencies? Are there any restrictions on what kind of art can be created live in the space?
At the moment, we are not accepting any applications or submissions for consideration, but we will re-open the call for submissions at the end of March for the next AIR iteration. We generally encourage artists working in all media to apply, however, because it is a restaurant space first, and there is food and drink preparation happening, we cannot allow toxic materials, work that requires power tools, or work that otherwise requires safety equipment or protection of the artist. This still leaves a lot of room for different types of work, in both 2-dimensions, wall-mountable 3-dimensional small scale sculptures, and freestanding small-to-medium sized sculptures for our display shelving.
It’s time for a little Spring color, don’t you think?
The 2016 Biennial Ikebana Exhibit opened today, and we took a little photographic tour to show you just a little of the arrangers’ handiwork. Here are some detail shots of the artwork and arrangements:
What is Ikebana? It’s the Japanese name for the art of flower arranging. The Ikebana artists who created the installations you’ll see in this exhibit belong to the Sogetsu School of Washington, DC. Sogetsu teaches an Ikebana with no limits — a kind of all-media assemblage art with a focus on plant life.
For this exhibit, each arrangement is inspired by and paired with a painting or photograph by an Art League or Torpedo Factory artist. The vessels, likewise, come from Torpedo Factory or Art League ceramicists.
Because these flowers are cut, this is a short exhibit! Come see it by Sunday, March 6 before the blooms say goodbye. There are also two special events you’re invited to:
Reception: Thursday, March 3, 6:30–8:00 pm. There will be a performance by taiko drummer Mark H. Rooney from 6:45 to 7:15 pm.
Flower Arranging Demonstration: Saturday, March 5, 2:00 pm
Deadline: ongoing. If you are a high-level oil painter, interested in using your oil-painting skills to animate on a film, and available for training and employment between January and August of 2016, send in your portfolio! Loving Vincent will be the first fully painted feature film.
Touchstone fellowship
Deadline: March 31. The Touchstone Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists (2016-2018) provides an emerging artist (who has not been represented by a commercial gallery in at least 10 years) with a two-year membership at Touchstone Gallery in downtown D.C. This guarantees a solo exhibition as well as participation in gallery group shows, mentorship, and a presence on our website.
Art about animals
Deadline: June 3. Smithtown Township Arts Council (NY) invites submissions for its upcoming juried fine art exhibition: “Animals in Art – Our Partners on the Planet” at the Mills Pond Gallery. Juror/Judge Tim Newton. Artists are encouraged to share their artistic vision of animals, both domestic and wild.
Installation exhibit
Deadline: June 1. “Not a Box” is open to all Art League members. Artists are invited to transform a space in the gallery. Collaborations and multimedia works are encouraged.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship
Deadline: March 1. The 9th annual open call for the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship is now open. Advancing the professional development of emerging visual artists, the two-year program serves as a steppingstone for the next generation of contemporary artists in Washington, DC.
Public art
Deadline: March 4. The Howard County Arts Council is seeking up to 12 artists to participate in itsFifth Annual Juried Public Art Competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from August 2016-July 2017. HCAC’s goal is to make art more accessible to the entire community by placing sculpture at sites throughout Howard County.
Solo shows
Deadline: March 7. Arlington Arts Center is accepting submissions for their 2016–17 Solo Exhibitions. Artists who produce cutting-edge contemporary art in any and all media, and who live or work in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, or Pennsylvania may submit exhibition proposals.
Workhouse Arts Center
The Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA has four upcoming deadlines:
Deadline: March 11. The South-Atlantic Juried Exhibition is open to all professional artists who reside in Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Artists are invited to submit up to three works completed within the last two years and not previously shown at The Montpelier Center for Arts and Education. All artwork must be for sale.
BlackRock Center for the Arts
Deadline extended: March 14. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is currently accepting proposals for solo and group exhibitions to be presented from January 2017 through December 2017. Visual artists, independent curators, and coordinators of artist collectives and arts organizations who live or work in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, or West Virginia are encouraged to submit Exhibition Proposals.
Road Trip
Deadline: March 15. Gallery Underground announces “Road Trip,” a national juried art competition. All-media artists, sculptors, and photographers are invited to create visual works that portray the subject of a road trip – literally, figuratively, and metaphorically.
Delaplaine juried exhibit
Deadline: March 15. The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, MD, announces a call for entry. All media are eligible. Artwork for exhibition must have been completed in last 2 years and not previously exhibited at the Delaplaine. More about the 2016 National Juried Exhibit →
Virginia artists
Deadline: March 16 (early bird February 16). Art Speaks on the Bay is held in Mathews, VA and is open to all Virginia artists age 18 and up.
City of Fairfax
Deadline: March 17. The City of Fairfax has two events for artists later this year: the Fall Festivaland the Holiday Craft Show.
Surreal photography
Deadline: March 19. Artists are invited to submit original, two-dimensional photographic images forSurrealism at Del Ray Artisans.
Art for an asteroid
Deadline: March 22. (Free to enter; no prizes or sales.) Share with NASA — and with the universe — a creative work that will ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu.
Insect art
Deadline: March 23. For Swarm: Invasion of the Insects at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, artists are invited to submit works inspired by insects — creatures that represent 90% of animal life on Earth.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
2-D art: Flora or Fauna
Deadline: March 31. Still life with roses, fields of hay, owls in a tree and humans being human— these are just a few from thousands of possibilities for artistic exploration in the Maryland Federation of Art’s themed Flora and Fauna exhibition. Any original fine art 2-D artwork depicting the broad range of animal and plant life are the possibilities for juror consideration. Entries are open to all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.
Sittable art
Deadline: April 1. Each year, the Old Takoma Business Association commissions artists to create imaginative outdoor sculptural seats made from a portion of recycled materials for the reCYCLE Public Art Project. Artists are paid $100-$500 per seat depending on complexity.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Touchable art
Deadline: April 11. Please Touch, an all-media exhibition at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, invites national and international artists to submit interactive works. Visitors will be encouraged to touch and engage with the artwork, so all work must be safe to touch. The juror is Virginia-based artist and curator, Cynthia Connolly.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
by Danni Dawson Carla Hall Paper Doll, oil on canvas and mylar, by Danni Dawson.
Long ago, Carla Hall — chef, Top Chef finalist and co-host of The Chew — was an Art League model. The teacher in those classes, Danni Dawson, recently got a chance to paint Hall one more time, and took the opportunity to create a different kind of portrait.
It was for an exhibit titled “Women Chefs: Artists in the Kitchen,” which you can read about in the Washington Post. Chefs and artists were paired up for portraits. Dawson’s “paper doll” portrait of Hall, now part of the Student/Faculty Show through February 28, combines different looks by using detachable, magnetic mylar sheets. Visitors can attach different fragments of the painting to see Hall in different outfits, put her hair up or down — or change a chicken from mid-strut to freshly roasted.
Here’s what artist Danni Dawson had to say about this portrait:
“I have painted a lot of portraits through the years with some very special clients: Sandra Day O’Connor, Frank Saul, and Nigel Morris, to name a few. Carla and I have known each other for years; she posed for my classes at The Art League School in Alexandria years ago. We decided to do a paper doll after Carla had seen one I did of my neighbor.
Carla came and posed for pictures that I took with me to Italy, and I painted most of the painting at my studio there. This portrait has been a lot of fun. It is great to be able to let go and think of different things like a change of clothes, a mobile still-life. Changing the painting each day. This is the first time I have felt as free as when I am sculpting.
Carla and I lost contact for a few years. I was watching her on TV and I didn’t want to bother her. Then I called her and we started a new project. This has been special for both of us, as Carla renews her roots in the art world and I renew mine in cooking. I make my own pasta from nettles, tomatoes, mint, etc. I pick up sauces from friends in Italy and here.
Painting portraits is special because one meets so many people from different walks of life, and then you have to try to find them in a painting or sculpture, so that the painting doesn’t just look like them but has the feeling of them.”
Carla Hall Paper Doll by Danni Dawson in two different configurations.
Help us spread the word about The Art League! The Washington City Paper Best of Poll is going on now, and The Art League is up for Best Art Class, Best Art Gallery, Best Arts and Culture Non-Profit, and Best Arts Blog.
This curious, versatile little tool looks like a paintbrush, except on the brush end is a flexible silicone tip.
So what can a color shaper (AKA colour shaper, clay shaper, and paint shaper) do?
Watercolor: use the color shaper to apply masking fluid. After it dries, it peels easily off the tip instead of ruining one of your brushes!
Pastel: use it to create fine lines or to blend.
Oil and Acrylic: use it to remove paint, whether to undo a mistake or to sign your name (as seen at the end of this video). You can also experiment with using it to push and pull paint or create textures in thick paint.
Ceramics and Sculpture: use it to shape and smooth small areas of clay. Can also be used to apply wax resist or remove portions of glaze and slip. The Kemper Wipe-Out tool, marketed to ceramic artists, is double-ended and used by painters as well.
More: cake decorators use them as well, apparently! What else have you used a color shaper for? Let us know in the comments!
The Art League Store carries Colour Shapers by Royal Sovereign Ltd. in two shapes: the angle chisel (seen below and above) and a cup chisel. The colors represent the bend of the silicone tip: gray is firmer, white is softer. Prices range from $8.41 for size #2 to $15.88 for #10, and the Wipe-Out Tool mentioned above is $5.69.
Deadline: March 22. (Free to enter; no prizes or sales.) Share with NASA — and with the universe — a creative work that will ride aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its journey to the asteroid Bennu.
Insect art
Deadline: March 23. For Swarm: Invasion of the Insects at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland, artists are invited to submit works inspired by insects — creatures that represent 90% of animal life on Earth.
2-D art: Flora or Fauna
Deadline: March 31. Still life with roses, fields of hay, owls in a tree and humans being human— these are just a few from thousands of possibilities for artistic exploration in the Maryland Federation of Art’s themed Flora and Fauna exhibition. Any original fine art 2-D artwork depicting the broad range of animal and plant life are the possibilities for juror consideration. Entries are open to all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.
Sittable art
Deadline: April 1. Each year, the Old Takoma Business Association commissions artists to create imaginative outdoor sculptural seats made from a portion of recycled materials for the reCYCLE Public Art Project. Artists are paid $100-$500 per seat depending on complexity.
Touchable art
Deadline: April 11. Please Touch, an all-media exhibition at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, invites national and international artists to submit interactive works. Visitors will be encouraged to touch and engage with the artwork, so all work must be safe to touch. The juror is Virginia-based artist and curator, Cynthia Connolly.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
National exhibition
Deadline: February 23. The Academy Center of the Arts (Lynchburg, VA) Annual National Juried Art Exhibition is open to U.S. residents, 18 years or older, working in the following disciplines; painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, fiber, glass, ceramics, wood, metal and mixed media. No photography accepted.
Photography exhibit
Deadline: February 24. The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO has issued a call for artists for Night, juried by Sean Corcoran.
Military personnel
Deadline: February 27. “The Art of Freedom: Peace, War, and Everything in Between” will showcase artwork by veterans and the military community using the creative process to promote healing, and provide insight into artistic expression as a tool for understanding the transition from military to civilian life.
I Eat Therefore I Am
Deadline: February 29. “I Eat Therefore I Am” will be at Sipma Contemporary in Trenton, NJ. Artists are invited to express their take on food, body image, need, nourishment, obsession, and compulsion, anything that pertains to the human condition in question.
Photography competition
Deadline: February 29. The Allegany Arts Council is pleased to announce the call for entries into the Allegany National Photography Competition and Exhibition, to be held at the Saville and Schwab Galleries in downtown Cumberland, Maryland through the entire month of April 2016.
Brooklyn residency
Deadline: February 29. Wayfarers in Brooklyn, NY is now accepting applications for their Summer Artist in Residency Program. The program awards one artist the opportunity to develop a body of work in the supportive environment of Wayfarers, where ten other working artists have studios.
Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship
Deadline: March 1. The 9th annual open call for the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship is now open. Advancing the professional development of emerging visual artists, the two-year program serves as a steppingstone for the next generation of contemporary artists in Washington, DC.
Public art
Deadline: March 4. The Howard County Arts Council is seeking up to 12 artists to participate in itsFifth Annual Juried Public Art Competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from August 2016-July 2017. HCAC’s goal is to make art more accessible to the entire community by placing sculpture at sites throughout Howard County.
Solo shows
Deadline: March 7. Arlington Arts Center is accepting submissions for their 2016–17 Solo Exhibitions. Artists who produce cutting-edge contemporary art in any and all media, and who live or work in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, or Pennsylvania may submit exhibition proposals.
Regional juried exhibit
Deadline: March 11. The South-Atlantic Juried Exhibition is open to all professional artists who reside in Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Artists are invited to submit up to three works completed within the last two years and not previously shown at The Montpelier Center for Arts and Education. All artwork must be for sale.
BlackRock Center for the Arts
Deadline extended: March 14. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is currently accepting proposals for solo and group exhibitions to be presented from January 2017 through December 2017. Visual artists, independent curators, and coordinators of artist collectives and arts organizations who live or work in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, or West Virginia are encouraged to submit Exhibition Proposals.
Road Trip
Deadline: March 15. Gallery Underground announces “Road Trip,” a national juried art competition. All-media artists, sculptors, and photographers are invited to create visual works that portray the subject of a road trip – literally, figuratively, and metaphorically.
Delaplaine juried exhibit
Deadline: March 15. The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, MD, announces a call for entry. All media are eligible. Artwork for exhibition must have been completed in last 2 years and not previously exhibited at the Delaplaine. More about the 2016 National Juried Exhibit →
Virginia artists
Deadline: March 16 (early bird February 16). Art Speaks on the Bay is held in Mathews, VA and is open to all Virginia artists age 18 and up.
City of Fairfax
Deadline: March 17. The City of Fairfax has two events for artists later this year: the Fall Festivaland the Holiday Craft Show.
Surreal photography
Deadline: March 19. Artists are invited to submit original, two-dimensional photographic images for Surrealism at Del Ray Artisans.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
Among the hundreds of pieces currently hanging in the Gallery for the Student/Faculty Show, you’ll notice 20 have gold stickers and five have stickers and ribbons.
As you might guess, those mark the pieces recognized with awards by this year’s judge: Mira Hecht, a DC-based artist who teaches painting at The Corcoran College of Art and Design. Congratulations to the artists! Here are all the winners:
Constance Pena’s Portrait Study won the John Foreman “Keeping the Life in Life Drawing” Student Award.Radishes by Kaye Jones was the winner of the Potomac Valley Watercolorist Award.I’m Torn by Joanne Mazarella won the Jennie Lea Knight Creativity Award.Box by Irene Gomberg won the Dennis Davis Award for ceramics.River Farm by Donald Rogich won the Landscape Award.
These are the 20 artists recognized with Equal Merit Awards:
Marian Bruno, Spark, cricula cocoons & merino wool
Dennis Crayon, Blue Magdalene, oil
Barry Dunn, Urban Wall, photography
Berit Jarama Estabrook, Evening Call, acrylic
Christian Arthur Fisher, Untitled, acrylic
Wayne Frost, Confluence, silk screen
Margaret Gamboa, Pearl Before Swine, sterling silver & pearl
Diane Kresh, Stories, mixed media
Monica Kruszka, Dreamscape #1, mixed media
Meredith Ledford, Untitled, acrylic & charcoal
Margaret Lindsey, The 5th Avenue Gig, oil
Deborah Mahnken, Scottish Moors, pastel
Barry Marlin, Sheba, ceramic
Molly F. McCracken, Storm, acrylic
Russell Mikel, Standing Whip, steel
Jeanette Monachello, Tree of Life, plasma cut sheet
Samantha Shelton, Fawns Dale, etching
Steven Spayd, Pulcinella Aeternam, acrylic & mixed media
Kathy Sullivan, Red-Tailed Hawk, watercolor
David Wagner, Samson at the Park, pastel
For the complete program, see the exhibit page. To meet many of these artists, come to the closing reception this Sunday, February 28, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm!
Double Dreams (detail) by Besrat Kebide, a student in Kathlyn Avila-Reyes’ ceramics class.
With thousands of students in our classrooms every year, it’s no easy feat to share with you what they do. But one of the best ways to see for yourself is happening right now!
We call it the Student/Faculty Show. Every year around this time, the students and instructors of The Art League School exhibit their handiwork in our gallery. You can see it through Sunday, February 28!
While you’re here, you can see our Young Artists Student Show on the second floor of the Torpedo Factory for examples of projects from our children’s and teen classes.
Student artwork
If this exhibit has you feeling inspired to grab a paintbrush, pencil, chisel, blowtorch, or camera, head on over to our class catalog. When you visit the exhibit in person, each student piece is labeled with the class it was made in.
Student artworkNight Nest, steel, by Mai Pham, a student in Metal Sculpture with Donna ReinselPaintings and prints by Art League studentsThe Student ShowStories, mixed media, by Diane Kresh, a student in Collage with Rosemary Luckett.The Orchard Guardian, ceramic and cement, by Yvette Jacob, a student in Carlos Beltran Baldiviezo’s ceramics class.Artwork by Art League instructors Delna Dastur, Marsha Staiger, Nancy McIntyre.Fish Lips by ceramics instructor Kathlyn Avila-ReyesInstructor artworkSculptures and ceramics by Art League studentsThree-dimensional work by students in sculpture and fiber classes.
If you’re new to painting, choosing the right tools can be pretty overwhelming. Just like with colors, there’s a huge variety of paintbrushes to choose from.
So here — in broad strokes — is The Art League guide to paintbrushes. See below the graphic for more resources!
Other tips
The quality of hair and the manufacture process make a big difference in how a brush holds and distributes paint, and how it retains its shape and spring.
Try starting with just a few brushes, then invest in different sizes, shapes, and styles as you learn what you need.
Always feel free to ask at The Art League Store if you need help selecting the right brush for the job. Our supply store is staffed by working artists.
It’s hard to decide what part of the Patrons’ Show Fundraiser is most beautiful. Is it the artwork itself? The community coming together for a night devoted to art? The artists and volunteers whose generosity makes it possible?
For these artists, the most beautiful part might be the awards they received. These awards are determined by this year’s judge, Dorothy Moss (Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery) and the votes and picks of the ticketholders:
Clemente Best in Show for Contemporary Realism: Wendy Donahoe
Clemente Faculty Award: Marsha Staiger
Clemente Collector’s Award: Cynthia Richmond
Torpedo Factory Artist Award: Carol Levin
Geri Gordon First Choice Artist Award: Nancy Fortwengler
Van Landingham Awards: Kay Springwater & BJ Anderson
Congratulations, and thank you to all the artists who make the Patrons’ Show Fundraiser possible!
Deadline: February 27. “The Art of Freedom: Peace, War, and Everything in Between” will showcase artwork by veterans and the military community using the creative process to promote healing, and provide insight into artistic expression as a tool for understanding the transition from military to civilian life.
Public art
Deadline: March 4. The Howard County Arts Council is seeking up to 12 artists to participate in its Fifth Annual Juried Public Art Competition for a temporary outdoor exhibit from August 2016-July 2017. HCAC’s goal is to make art more accessible to the entire community by placing sculpture at sites throughout Howard County.
Regional juried exhibit
Deadline: March 11. The South-Atlantic Juried Exhibition is open to all professional artists who reside in Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Artists are invited to submit up to three works completed within the last two years and not previously shown at The Montpelier Center for Arts and Education. All artwork must be for sale.
BlackRock Center for the Arts
Deadline extended: March 14. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is currently accepting proposals for solo and group exhibitions to be presented from January 2017 through December 2017. Visual artists, independent curators, and coordinators of artist collectives and arts organizations who live or work in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, or West Virginia are encouraged to submit Exhibition Proposals.
StoriesToArt
Deadline: March 31. StoriesToArt empowers art lovers to select exclusive pieces of art or commission art, music or poetry inspired by their own – or a loved one’s – stories and memories.
UGallery
Deadline: Ongoing. UGallery offers emerging and established artists professional gallery representation online, working solely on commission. There is a one-time $5 application fee.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Food art
Deadline: February 16. This March, Capitol Hill Art League hosts its annual DC-metro area Open Call juried art exhibit based on the theme Appetite for Art. 2-D and 3-D work will be accepted.
Del Ray Artisans
Deadline: February 20. March Melee – An Art Bash at Del Ray Artisans is an opportunity to submit your best and brashest art — big or small.
Deadline: March 19. Artists are invited to submit original, two-dimensional photographic images for Surrealism at Del Ray Artisans.
Painting award
Deadline: February 19. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites eligible artists to enter the Bethesda Painting Awards. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC.
National exhibition
Deadline: February 23. The Academy Center of the Arts (Lynchburg, VA) Annual National Juried Art Exhibition is open to U.S. residents, 18 years or older, working in the following disciplines; painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, fiber, glass, ceramics, wood, metal and mixed media. No photography accepted.
Photography exhibit
Deadline: February 24. The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO has issued a call for artists for Night, juried by Sean Corcoran.
I Eat Therefore I Am
Deadline: February 29. “I Eat Therefore I Am” will be at Sipma Contemporary in Trenton, NJ. Artists are invited to express their take on food, body image, need, nourishment, obsession, and compulsion, anything that pertains to the human condition in question.
Photography competition
Deadline: February 29. The Allegany Arts Council is pleased to announce the call for entries into the Allegany National Photography Competition and Exhibition, to be held at the Saville and Schwab Galleries in downtown Cumberland, Maryland through the entire month of April 2016.
Brooklyn residency
Deadline: February 29. Wayfarers in Brooklyn, NY is now accepting applications for their Summer Artist in Residency Program. The program awards one artist the opportunity to develop a body of work in the supportive environment of Wayfarers, where ten other working artists have studios.
Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship
Deadline: March 1. The 9th annual open call for the Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship is now open. Advancing the professional development of emerging visual artists, the two-year program serves as a steppingstone for the next generation of contemporary artists in Washington, DC.
Solo shows
Deadline: March 7. Arlington Arts Center is accepting submissions for their 2016–17 Solo Exhibitions. Artists who produce cutting-edge contemporary art in any and all media, and who live or work in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, or Pennsylvania may submit exhibition proposals.
Road Trip
Deadline: March 15. Gallery Underground announces “Road Trip,” a national juried art competition. All-media artists, sculptors, and photographers are invited to create visual works that portray the subject of a road trip – literally, figuratively, and metaphorically.
Delaplaine juried exhibit
Deadline: March 15. The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, MD, announces a call for entry. All media are eligible. Artwork for exhibition must have been completed in last 2 years and not previously exhibited at the Delaplaine. More about the 2016 National Juried Exhibit →
Virginia artists
Deadline: March 16 (early bird February 16). Art Speaks on the Bay is held in Mathews, VA and is open to all Virginia artists age 18 and up.
City of Fairfax
Deadline: March 17. The City of Fairfax has two events for artists later this year: the Fall Festivaland the Holiday Craft Show.
Philadelphia craft show
Deadline: April 1. The 40th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, a juried exhibition and retail sale, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from November 10 to 13, 2016, with a Preview Party on November 9. The jury will accept 195 craft artists.
Alper Initiative
Deadline: none. The Alper Initiative for Washington Art accepts general exhibition submissions from Washington area artists and curators of all ages, medium, and backgrounds.
Exhibit proposals: Richmond
Deadline: ongoing. Artspace in Richmond, VA has an exhibition season running from January to December. The Exhibition Committee reviews proposals throughout the year. Proposals may be submitted at any time. Proposers will be notified whether they have been placed on the exhibition calendar for the coming year.
The iOS app Art Thief started as a personal challenge and became a serious project. Now, hundreds of people are using it to prepare for this year’s Patrons’ Show Fundraiser. We asked its creator, Steve Roberson, to write this guest blog post.
To understand why someone would write an app, like Art Thief, that would be used by a few hundred people only once a year, you have to understand a bit about the Patrons’ Show.
There really are a whole host of reasons to love the Patrons’ Show. My wife and I go with a group of friends who bring wine and tasty snacks, so there’s a fun social component. There is a great range of art, and the lottery dimension adds excitement.
It is also incredibly interesting to observe how varied peoples’ tastes are. It can be so surprising to watch some pieces go early on that you have no interest in whatsoever, and an equally pleasant surprise to be called near the end of the event and still be able to get something you like. We were once called within the last 20 names and still managed to get a piece from one of the hundred or so we had on our list.
But it’s not always easy. We enjoy reviewing the art and making a list of pieces we like, but the actual drawing can be nerve-wracking. It was particularly painful our first year. We understood the process, but completely underestimated how fast it went. We tried to scramble through the many pieces of paper we had and mark off the artwork that had been taken by others. So stressful!
The following year we adopted a system that had been created by friends. It worked well, but it was still paper-based, and that bugged me.
You see, I’m a web developer, and the group I go to the Patrons’ Show with has programmers and other IT professionals in it. Managing your list of artwork at the Patrons’ Show felt like an information technology problem to us. But unlike the web applications I typically work on, this would have to be something that worked standalone. Access to the Internet during the night of the drawing is unreliable, at best. A phone or tablet app was a natural platform.
In the past I explored iOS, the operating system that runs iPhones and iPads, but I hadn’t done any programming for iOS beyond tutorials and experimentation. But now I had this idea for a project. Something where I understood the need. Something that I could sink my teeth into.
I decided that I’d try to build a bare bones app, with the minimum feature set to be useful at the drawing. Just good enough where I could prove to myself that it could be a reasonable solution to the problem.
This initial, one-screen version of Art Thief was built over the 2014 holidays so that a few in my group could try it out at the 2015 Patron’s Show. It worked pretty well. Not only did it use very little battery power on our devices, it was easy to keep up at the drawing. Plus, it was a great learning experience. Using it at the 2015 show let us know what worked, what didn’t, and of course, filled us with ideas of what features would be great to have just in case I felt overly ambitious. After the 2015 show, Art Thief became a full blown hobby.
Code was written and rewritten as key features were added. In the Spring of 2015, I reached out to Whitney Staiger and Suzanne Bethel of The Art League. In all honestly, I was a little nervous. Would they like it? Would they be put off by the name, Art Thief? I didn’t know.
Whitney and Suzanne were great. Their enthusiasm, insights and suggestions provided a great perspective. In fact, everyone I’ve interacted with at The Art League has been warm and generous. It’s really a wonderful community.
Art Thief was further revised and the app was submitted to Apple for review in the Fall and approved for the App Store a week later. My goal was for 100 people to use the app. After all, there are only 700 or so tickets sold, and if you’ve come in previous years, it’s likely that you already have some sort of system in place.
I’m pleased to say that as of this writing there have been over 350 downloads. And I’m more pleased to be contributing back to an event and community I enjoy and respect.
