“Perspective” and Sage Chandler’s “The FOWL MOOD Show” both come to a close Sunday, July 2.
Stop by before they’re gone forever!
Last Weekend to View June Exhibits
Month: June 2017
Artist Opportunities #377
On Tuesdays, we gather a variety of artist opportunities around the DC area and beyond. Find one below and enter today — good luck! Click here for recent opportunities posts, and submit your opportunity listing here.
Monthly exhibit opportunities
The Art League’s (Alexandria, VA) new exhibit year runs July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. All artists are welcome to join and enter monthly juried exhibits. For more information about joining as an exhibiting artist member, visit our website.
Maryland artist awards
Deadline: July 21. Individual Artist Awards are grants awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive application process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence.
Beer vessels
Deadline: August 15. The District Clay Gallery (Washington, DC) will hold its first Annual Beer Drinking Vessels Invitational from September 29 to October 25. Ceramic artists are invited to apply to the invitational by sending up to four photos.
Shino ware
Deadline: September 22. The District Clay Gallery (Washington, DC) will hold its 2017 Shino Splendor Exhibition from October 29 to November 26. This exhibition celebrates one of the most exciting and historic ceramic glazes in all its amazing variation and beauty.
Submissions for Alternative Art and Literature Magazine
The Matador Review is an online literature and art quarterly. We publish four issues annually: the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter issues. We invite all unpublished literature written in the English language (and translations accompanied by the original text) as well as many forms of visual art. All work must be electronically submitted to [email protected] with “Submission: Name, Title” in the subject line (for example, “Submission: Jane Smith, 5 Poems”). More information here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
VCU Hospital
Deadline: July 1. VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital is seeking artists to submit digital images of original artwork available for purchase for the new facility being built in South Hill. This opportunity is open to artists living in Virginia and North Carolina.
Culture Shock
Deadline: July 2. Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) invites national and international artists to apply for Culture Shock, an exhibition exploring the influence of pop culture and street art in contemporary works. Artists working in pop, street, graffiti, and mural art styles are encouraged to apply.
Holiday Market 2017
Deadline: July 6. The 2017 Downtown Holiday Market will be held in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood in Downtown DC with the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture as its backdrop. There is room for 58 exhibitors each day, with exhibitors rotating through.
Black and white
Deadline: July 10. Specto Art Space, a new gallery coming to the Harrisonburg, VA area later this year, is seeking applicants for its September international juried show “Black & White: 2017.” Media accepted: photography, digital art, graphic design.
Hyattsville Arts Festival
Deadline: July 14. The 10th Downtown Hyattsville Arts Festival is operated by the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation (CDC). “Arts & Ales” spans 3 city streets, will welcome an anticipated 5,000 visitors, and features over 100 artists and artisans in 5 media categories, alongside a music stage, food vendors, sponsors, community groups, and now for the second year, 20+ craft brewers. Our goal is to exhibit a range of high-quality, multi-dimensional, visual works from across our region. We feature local Gateway Arts District artists and Hyattsville Community Arts Alliance artists, but welcome submissions from all Applicants.
Design competition
Deadline: July 14. To mark 100 years of service, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area is commissioning one local artist (or team of artists) for an original design to be painted on a canvas which will be displayed at their headquarters on Georgia Ave NW.
Glow
Deadline: July 21. Art selected for “Glow” at the Athenaeum (Alexandria, VA) will convey a sense of lightness or hope emanating from something dark. Entries may be literal, figural, allegorical, or abstract. Artists who live or work in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia may enter.
Athenaeum
Deadline: July 21. The Athenaeum Invitational celebrates the visual arts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It is a theme-based event featuring the works of both specially-invited artists who have exhibited in the Athenaeum Gallery in the past, as well as works selected through an open call for submissions.
Being Sentient
Deadline: July 25. The Will’s Creek Exhibition is a national juried exhibition of contemporary American art hosted by the Allegany Arts Council at its professional Saville and Schwab galleries in Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is Being Sentient/Sentient Being. Traditional media, as well as installation, video, kinetic, sound, and performance art, are eligible.
Virginia photographers
Deadline: August 1. Compelling Images from Virginia Photographers celebrates professional, original photography with varied aesthetics from around the Commonwealth of Virginia. Open to all artists living in Virginia, this exhibition is held at the d’Art Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
Wearable hat art
Deadline: August 1. The Wearable Hat Show at Artists & Makers Studios (Rockville, MD) will be curated by Steven Krensky and a mystery juror. Artists in the metro area are invited to make a statement through the art of the hat. It must be functional, but need not be comfortable.
FEAST proposals
Deadline: August 1. F.E.A.S.T. at VisArts 2017 (Rockville, MD) calls for proposals that help envision and frame the future. What voices, stories, platforms, food, services, or experiences are currently missing or hidden?
2-D art
Deadline: August 14. The National Juried Art Show at Larkin Arts (Harrisonburg, VA) is a national juried visual art competition and exhibition that is open to any artist who is a resident of the United States and is over the age of 18, working in two-dimensional media.
Artist trading cards
Deadline: August 15. Artist trading cards are small, baseball-card sized works of art that can be traded with other artists as a way to get creative, connect with other artists, make contacts, and collect great art! This on-going by-mail exchange is hosted by Jennifer Hines. There are three deadlines per year.
Maryland exhibit proposals
Deadline: August 15. The Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College (Bel Air, MD) invites artists, artist groups and curators working in any medium or format to apply for our 2018-2020 exhibition seasons. There is no application fee or commission on sold work.
Human trafficking
Deadline: August 15. Central Virginia Justice Initiative is accepting entries for the People Are Not Products benefit exhibition which will be held at Verizon Gallery in the The Ernst Community Cultural Center, Annandale Campus, NOVA. Artists must be residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia. Artwork relating directly or indirectly to human trafficking (slavery in the form of labor or sex trafficking) is encouraged. Please do not submit work that is sexually graphic in nature.
DC residency
Deadline: September 6. The CHAW Gallery Residency (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Washington, DC) offers six weeks of time and space to an artist or team of artists each year to experiment and realize new work. In 2018, CHAW will host the Gallery Resident Artist or Artist Team from March 1 through April 14.
Show proposals
Deadline: Ongoing. ArtSpace Herndon (Herndon, VA) invites submissions for solo shows and thematic group shows from artists 18 years and older.
Plans for the Fourth?
Want to spend your Fourth of July creatively?
While The Art League will be closed July 4 — getting ready to unveil our new exhibits — there are plenty of festive and artsy events happening in the DMV. Check out the round-up on Culture Capital!
(You can still see our current exhibits through July 2!)
Hirshhorn is Hiring Mentors for ARTLAB+
Are you an artist with experience working with teens?
The Hirshhorn Museum writes:
If you or someone you know fits the following descriptions please be in touch. We are looking for individuals with strong skills in the following areas:
Art
- Be proficient with at least two of the following art mediums: video production and editing, graphic illustration, 3D modeling and printing, animation, digital photography, beat-making, spoken word and/or rap, DJ’ing, audio engineering, computer programming, or video game design.
- Knowledge of contemporary artistry and practices and able to connect real-world professional knowledge to programs.
- Able to focus on process instead of product.
- Familiarity with modern and contemporary art history and able to make connections between programs and Hirshhorn content and special exhibitions.
Working with Teens
- Experience teaching/facilitating programs for youth audiences (age range for these programs are 13-19).
- Excellent at facilitating fun, engaging experiences for teens that invite them to fully and creatively participate.
- Be able to connect with underserved and at-risk youth.
- Develop curriculum that encompasses an inter-disciplinary and user-led approach.
Administrative
- Able to create and keep calendars, timelines, and deliverables schedule.
- Able to maintain communication with educational staff and managers.
- Maintain library of participant data and run reports and stats as needed.
- Maintain equipment, computers, and software.
We are looking for individuals who can commit to 15-30 hours per week, and programs occur weekdays, 4:00–8:00 pm. In addition, some weekend and daytime hours may be required.
Interested? Please send a note, CV, and/or portfolio to Linsay Deming at [email protected] with the subject line Mentor_LAST NAME.
For National Selfie Day, Our Favorite Self-Portraits
“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” — Frida Kahlo
Why do people make self-portraits? Frida Kahlo, a famous self-portraitist, gives one reason. Here are some others:
- Convenience: A self-portrait uses the subject that’s always at hand: the artist. (Of course, they became more practical when affordable mirrors hit the market.)
- Money: When hiring a model isn’t an option.
- Fun: Don’t tell us these artists didn’t get a kick out of hiding themselves in paintings.
- Introspection: As Kahlo suggested, painting oneself is a way of investigating the person you know best. It’s also an opportunity to say something more.
- Empowerment: A self-portrait is a way of celebrating oneself and holding up the version of yourself you want the world to see — especially if you don’t see people like you in the art canon.
In an age in which we keep both a mirror and a phone in our pockets, the self-portrait is more popular than ever. To celebrate National Selfie Day today, we’re sharing some of our favorite blog posts about self-portraits. Read the posts below and see why you think these self portraits were painted, photographed, and collaged:
What are some of your favorite self-portraits? Why do you think they were created? Let us know in the comments!
Del Ray Art Project Invites Passersby to “Soar”
We heard about a cool art project happening in our city, and wanted to share it with you:
“This is humanity here,” Nancy Belmont says, gesturing toward thousands of stones piled next to the sidewalk here in Del Ray. The stones below are painted with words and phrases like “guilt,” “self-doubt,” “perfection,” and “anxiety.”
As part of her latest community art installation under the #WeLiveBig project, Belmont has been inviting people to write their burdens on these stones. After feeling the weight of the stone, they symbolically leave it behind, and put up an origami bird.
“Feel the lightness created by letting go and hang a bird to symbolize your freedom,” the sign for Soar instructs. The initial batch of 1,000 birds lasted only three days, and the stones keep running out too — the wheelbarrows are almost empty. In other words, there’s been a huge response to the project. Soar began June 1 and runs through June 24, when community members are invited to help close out the project (details below).
Art in the community
For Belmont — who runs a business in leadership development and culture-building — calling herself an artist is still difficult.
“I don’t consider myself an artist in the traditional sense,” Belmont says. Nevertheless, this is the latest successful art project she’s helmed. It started with Courage Wall, a chalkboard where participants could finish the thought, “I wish I had the courage to…”
Courage Wall, and another project called Unity (below), have spread to other communities.
Soar was inspired in part by the film The Way, about pilgrims who carry a rock with them on their journey. Similarly, the stones in Soar symbolize people’s burdens, and show that people don’t carry those burdens alone, Belmont says.
“This is humanity here.”
Like the #WeLiveBig projects before it, Soar was inspired by messages that Belmont heard over and over in her work: shared sentiments about courage and fear that she wanted to address on a large scale. “My job is to listen,” she says.
Tips for artists
For artists who may be interested in pursuing a public art project, Belmont has some helpful tips:
- Location: Finding space is the biggest obstacle, she says. And using public land means jumping through a lot of hoops and planning up to a year in advance. For that reason, Belmont has been lucky to have an empty lot she can use. She recommends approaching property owners to see if they’d be open to letting you use their space.
- Funding: Belmont used GoFundMe to pay for materials for her most recent two projects.
- Testing: Test your materials beforehand for durability, weatherproofing, etc.
- Maintenance: Things will need fixing on a regular basis. Also, if your project invites public comment like this one does, you’ll want to check on it daily (or more) for inappropriate messages and drawings.
- Interactivity: Making projects accessible to the public, and to kids in particular, is important to Belmont. In addition, she’s found that including a kinetic or physical aspect to the interaction (e.g. lifting and replacing a stone) makes it more impactful.
- Branding: Have one title for your project that you use consistently. Also, make it Instagrammable, and suggest a hashtag so people will share it!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVCuN93h5nc/
Bringing Soar to a close
This Saturday, June 24, will mark the close of the Soar installation. At Well Ray, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, you’ll be able to find Nancy at a painting station. You’re invited to find a rock, marked with a problem you identify with, and paint over it, turning pain into beauty. Then, you can take home the rock you’ve painted.
You can find Soar on the 2200 block of Mount Vernon Avenue in Alexandria, VA through June 24, 2017. (You can’t miss it — just look for the orange and pink birds.)
Artist Opportunities #376
On Tuesdays, we gather a variety of artist opportunities around the DC area and beyond. Find one below and enter today — good luck! Click here for recent opportunities posts, and submit your opportunity listing here.
Bicycle art
Deadline: June 27. Reston Bicycle Club (RBC) and Arts Herndon invite all 2D artists to enter the Reston Century T-Shirt Art Competition. All 2-dimensional media are acceptable including painting, drawing and photography with the theme “Ride Safe/Ride Fun.” $800 in prizes.
Hyattsville Arts Festival
Deadline: July 14. The 10th Downtown Hyattsville Arts Festival is operated by the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation (CDC). “Arts & Ales” spans 3 city streets, will welcome an anticipated 5,000 visitors, and features over 100 artists and artisans in 5 media categories, alongside a music stage, food vendors, sponsors, community groups, and now for the second year, 20+ craft brewers. Our goal is to exhibit a range of high-quality, multi-dimensional, visual works from across our region. We feature local Gateway Arts District artists and Hyattsville Community Arts Alliance artists, but welcome submissions from all Applicants.
Maryland exhibit proposals
Deadline: August 15. The Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College (Bel Air, MD) invites artists, artist groups and curators working in any medium or format to apply for our 2018-2020 exhibition seasons. There is no application fee or commission on sold work.
DC residency
Deadline: September 6. The CHAW Gallery Residency (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Washington, DC) offers six weeks of time and space to an artist or team of artists each year to experiment and realize new work. In 2018, CHAW will host the Gallery Resident Artist or Artist Team from March 1 through April 14.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
VCU Hospital
Deadline: July 1. VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital is seeking artists to submit digital images of original artwork available for purchase for the new facility being built in South Hill. This opportunity is open to artists living in Virginia and North Carolina.
Culture Shock
Deadline: July 2. Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) invites national and international artists to apply for Culture Shock, an exhibition exploring the influence of pop culture and street art in contemporary works. Artists working in pop, street, graffiti, and mural art styles are encouraged to apply.
Holiday Market 2017
Deadline: July 6. The 2017 Downtown Holiday Market will be held in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood in Downtown DC with the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture as its backdrop. There is room for 58 exhibitors each day, with exhibitors rotating through.
Black and white
Deadline: July 10. Specto Art Space, a new gallery coming to the Harrisonburg, VA area later this year, is seeking applicants for its September international juried show “Black & White: 2017.” Media accepted: photography, digital art, graphic design.
Design competition
Deadline: July 14. To mark 100 years of service, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area is commissioning one local artist (or team of artists) for an original design to be painted on a canvas which will be displayed at their headquarters on Georgia Ave NW.
Glow
Deadline: July 21. Art selected for “Glow” at the Athenaeum (Alexandria, VA) will convey a sense of lightness or hope emanating from something dark. Entries may be literal, figural, allegorical, or abstract. Artists who live or work in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia may enter.
Athenaeum
Deadline: July 21. The Athenaeum Invitational celebrates the visual arts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It is a theme-based event featuring the works of both specially-invited artists who have exhibited in the Athenaeum Gallery in the past, as well as works selected through an open call for submissions.
Being Sentient
Deadline: July 25. The Will’s Creek Exhibition is a national juried exhibition of contemporary American art hosted by the Allegany Arts Council at its professional Saville and Schwab galleries in Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is Being Sentient/Sentient Being. Traditional media, as well as installation, video, kinetic, sound, and performance art, are eligible.
Virginia photographers
Deadline: August 1. Compelling Images from Virginia Photographers celebrates professional, original photography with varied aesthetics from around the Commonwealth of Virginia. Open to all artists living in Virginia, this exhibition is held at the d’Art Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
Wearable hat art
Deadline: August 1. The Wearable Hat Show at Artists & Makers Studios (Rockville, MD) will be curated by Steven Krensky and a mystery juror. Artists in the metro area are invited to make a statement through the art of the hat. It must be functional, but need not be comfortable.
FEAST proposals
Deadline: August 1. F.E.A.S.T. at VisArts 2017 (Rockville, MD) calls for proposals that help envision and frame the future. What voices, stories, platforms, food, services, or experiences are currently missing or hidden?
2-D art
Deadline: August 14. The National Juried Art Show at Larkin Arts (Harrisonburg, VA) is a national juried visual art competition and exhibition that is open to any artist who is a resident of the United States and is over the age of 18, working in two-dimensional media.
Artist trading cards
Deadline: August 15. Artist trading cards are small, baseball-card sized works of art that can be traded with other artists as a way to get creative, connect with other artists, make contacts, and collect great art! This on-going by-mail exchange is hosted by Jennifer Hines. There are three deadlines per year.
Human trafficking
Deadline: August 15. Central Virginia Justice Initiative is accepting entries for the People Are Not Products benefit exhibition which will be held at Verizon Gallery in the The Ernst Community Cultural Center, Annandale Campus, NOVA. Artists must be residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia. Artwork relating directly or indirectly to human trafficking (slavery in the form of labor or sex trafficking) is encouraged. Please do not submit work that is sexually graphic in nature.
Show proposals
Deadline: Ongoing. ArtSpace Herndon (Herndon, VA) invites submissions for solo shows and thematic group shows from artists 18 years and older.
20 of Our (Other) Favorite Art Blogs
What art blogs do you go to for news, tips, and resources? This one, of course. (You can subscribe to our weekly email here.)
But, as the Cubists taught us, there’s always room for more than one perspective. Here are 20 of our other favorite art blogs, split into five categories:
- The art world
- The arts in DC
- Creativity and inspiration
- Running your art business
- Art lessons & tutorials
Happy reading!
Blogs about the art world
These art blogs will get you up to speed on what’s happening now with reviews of exhibits, news about art-world controversies, and interviews. For similar blogs with a more local perspective, see the next category.
1. Hyperallergic (home page →)
The go-to site for news, reviews, essays, and more about the global art world. Hyperallergic is based in Brooklyn, but the thoughtful news, reviews, and other articles come from contributors nationally and internationally. With many posts daily, it’s hard to encapsulate the breadth of coverage here, but there’s always something to read.
2. artnet news (home page →)
- Read this: “Art Fair Economics”
Where Hyperallergic is keenly focused on the ideas, politics, and power dynamics of art, artnet is the place to go for news about the art market: auctions, fairs, and the like. This blog aims to be a resource for anyone who wants to keep on top of the international art market.
3. The Aperture Blog (home page →)
Aperture publishes a print magazine, but their blog also features web-only content — all about photography, just like the magazine. You’ll find plenty of reviews, essays, and interviews about mostly contemporary photographers. (For more tutorial- and gear-focused photography blogs, see below.)
Blogs about the arts in DC
Washington, DC is full of culture, and it’s not all at museums (though three museum blogs are featured here). Don’t miss what’s happening in your backyard!
4. East City Art (home page →)
East City Art is your best bet for reviews, features, and news about events and exhibits around DC. This blog is premised on the idea that there’s more to DC art than what you can find on the Mall and in NW.
It can be tough to keep up with all the gallery openings, but they manage to do it! East City Art also puts on the Emulsion show and annually publishes a print magazine quarterly.
5. Broad Strokes (home page →)
- Read this: “Go Figure! Amy Sherald at NMWA”
Like all good museum blogs, the blog for National Museum of Women in the Arts features a mix of content: not just what’s in their collection, but what’s going on with women artists all over the world. (You may know this blog, and the museum, as the genesis of the #5WomenArtists project.) Check out their Art Fix Friday posts for links to the week’s most interesting articles and exhibits to see.
6. Eye Level (home page →)
Eye Level is the official blog for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery, which means it has tons of great material to work with. We love museums’ behind-the-scenes posts, and you’ll find them here. As a DC institution, this blog includes local posts as well as posts about American art in general.
7. Experiment Station (home page →)
- Read this: “What is a Dithyramb?”
The Phillips Collection’s blog has lots of contributors who post about exhibits, conservation, installation, events, music, and everything else going on at Phillips. It’s also illustrated by Elizabeth Graeber. Because different posts are written by different people, you’ll get lots of perspectives: how visitors react to artwork, what staff members saw on their vacation, and so forth.
8. Daily Campello Art News (home page →)
- Read this: “Guerrilla Framing Techniques”
Local artist and writer Lenny Campello has posted here since 2003, making it one of the oldest art blogs on this list. He posts news about the local arts scene, including criticism, events, exhibit opportunities for artists, links to news stories, scam alerts, and photos of his works in progress.
Creativity and inspiration art blogs
These art blogs spotlight individual artists’ work, not necessarily in exhibits but presented as ain’t-it-cool inspiration, ripe for sharing.
9. The Jealous Curator (home page →)
- Read this: “Laura Hendricks”
Danielle Krysa, a.k.a. the Jealous Curator, shares images of amazing contemporary artists. If you’re featured on The Jealous Curator, you’ll know you’ve made it! This blog is heavy on images, light on text, which is just fine with us.
Krysa also hosts a podcast, Art for Your Ear, which we featured in our podcasts post.
10. BOOOOOOOM (home page →)
- Read this: “Tiny Landscapes Painted in Mint Tins”
That’s Booooooom, with seven o’s. Here, you can find all kinds of artist spotlights and features, with the occasional bit of news thrown in.
11. Hi-Fructose (home page →)
This quarterly contemporary art magazine also publishes articles in a blog. Like the other blogs in this category, it’s one to bookmark just to see what kinds of projects other artists are working on.
12. Creators (home page →)
This Vice project doesn’t focus only on visual art, but there’s plenty of that to be found. They also publish some news articles (after all, it is a news organization).
Blogs about running your art business
For working artists, navigating galleries and websites and art fairs presents a variety of pitfalls. These art blogs are here to guide you. (For similar articles, see this blog’s Artful Resources section, with articles about things like creating a website or pricing your artwork.)
13. Art Biz Blog (home page →)
Alyson Stanfield’s long-running blog is full of great advice, both for motivating yourself in the studio, and marketing your artwork. The author is a curator, educator, and collector who has been coaching artists with career advice since 2002. She also publishes a podcast.
14. Arts Marketing Blog (home page →)
This blog is from the National Arts Marketing Project at Americans for the Arts. You’ll find it most useful if you work for an arts organization, but it’s also useful for artists working on their own website, email, and similar marketing projects. See the post linked above for tips on your artist brand, for example.
15. The Abundant Artist (home page →)
- Read this: “How to Write Grants for Your Art Project”
With the motto “dispelling the starving artist myth,” Cory Huff’s website has lots of articles, videos, and other resources on Internet marketing for artists — both how-to’s and best practices. What to do with your email list? What to blog about? How to start your Facebook fan page? The answers are here. Look for plenty of helpful guest blog posts with real-world examples, too.
Art lessons & tutorials
These art blogs are for artists who are still learning — in other words, all of us. Motivational, reflective, and instructional, they feature articles with specific tutorials or exercises.
16. EmptyEasel (home page →)
This blog could go in either this category or the one above: EmptyEasel provides tutorials on both making your art and selling it. This one is worth a deep dive into the archive.
17. The Painter’s Keys (home page →)
- Read this: “Salon des refusés”
“Dear artist …”
That’s how Canadian painter Robert Genn begins each of his twice-weekly “letters” to artists. In the comments, you’ll find lively discussions among his substantial following, making this as much a community as a blog. There’s lots more to see here, too, including calendars, links, and a huge collection of art quotes.
18. Artist Daily (home page →)
This is actually one of five blogs published by Artist Daily, with others focused on specific topics including painting and drawing. These tutorials focus on traditional, representational drawing and painting techniques (which are helpful to learn even if realism isn’t your end goal).
19. Light Stalking (home page →)
Tutorials for beginning to experienced photographers are the forte of Light Stalking. As the post linked above notes, there’s always something new to learn.
20. Digital Photography Review (home page →)
Instead of tutorials, this is where you’ll find reviews and discussions of all the latest gear. (There are a few lessons sprinkled in, too.) If you’re a photographer who’s focused on equipment, you probably already read this site religiously.
Are there any other art blogs you love reading? Let us know in the comments!
Juror Talk June 24: David Carter on Perspective
If David Carter’s juror statement got you thinking about perspective and its artistic possibilities, you won’t want to miss his talk on Saturday, June 24:
Considerations of Perspective in Visual Art
Juror Talk with David Carter
June 24, 2017, 2:00–3:00 pm
“[Linear perspective] was a creative breakthrough that revolutionized western art, and its pervasive influence is still with us today. But is it correct? Is it merely a technical tool, or does it also reveal purely aesthetic principles? From the beginning, its inventors understood that the apparent correlation between strict perspective theory and human vision was not perfect. So how and why is perspective so relevant to visual art? This talk will briefly explore some of the highlights of perspective’s virtues and inadequacies.”
This talk is free to attend, but we ask that you RSVP on Eventbrite. We hope to see you there!
Artist Opportunities #375
On Tuesdays, we gather a variety of artist opportunities around the DC area and beyond. Find one below and enter today — good luck!
Holiday Market 2017
Deadline: July 6. The 2017 Downtown Holiday Market will be held in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood in Downtown DC with the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture as its backdrop. There is room for 58 exhibitors each day, with exhibitors rotating through.
Virginia photographers
Deadline: August 1. Compelling Images from Virginia Photographers celebrates professional, original photography with varied aesthetics from around the Commonwealth of Virginia. Open to all artists living in Virginia, this exhibition is held at the d’Art Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
Human trafficking
Deadline: August 15. Central Virginia Justice Initiative is accepting entries for the People Are Not Products benefit exhibition which will be held at Verizon Gallery in the The Ernst Community Cultural Center, Annandale Campus, NOVA. Artists must be residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia. Artwork relating directly or indirectly to human trafficking (slavery in the form of labor or sex trafficking) is encouraged. Please do not submit work that is sexually graphic in nature.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Art of Engagement
Deadline: June 12. Touchstone Gallery in Washington DC is seeking entries for “Art of Engagement,” a National Juried Show scheduled for August 4–24, 2017. Artwork entries should reflect present-day issues and concerns. Juror: Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center.
The Art League: July Open Exhibit
Deadline: June 16. Open exhibits at The Art League are open to all current exhibiting artist members. There are no restrictions on medium, process, theme, or content. The juror for the July Open Exhibit is Lucila Biscione.
Studio space: Rockville
Deadline: June 16. VisArts invites applications from local and national artists for studio space at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland. The Studio Artist Program provides a unique opportunity for a dynamic individual artist or collaborative artist team to experiment, create new work, evolve an existing body of work or develop a project in a stimulating, supportive environment. Lease period: September 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018.
Resist
Deadline: June 16. This summer, Zenith Gallery (Washington, DC) presents an exhibit titled Resist in honor of the latest resist movements captivating the globe. We invite professional artists to submit works that interpret and reflect on the state of our world today.
Art Impact USA
Deadline: June 16. Climax: The Best of the Best at Pepco Edison Place Gallery (Washington, DC) highlights what the artist feels is his or her best work, most inspiring message, and/or most sublime visual imagery. Only 2D wall art will be juried; no nudity. This is Art Impact USA’s Second Annual Juried Art Exhibition.
VCU Hospital
Deadline: July 1. VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital is seeking artists to submit digital images of original artwork available for purchase for the new facility being built in South Hill. This opportunity is open to artists living in Virginia and North Carolina.
Culture Shock
Deadline: July 2. Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) invites national and international artists to apply for Culture Shock, an exhibition exploring the influence of pop culture and street art in contemporary works. Artists working in pop, street, graffiti, and mural art styles are encouraged to apply.
Black and white
Deadline: July 10. Specto Art Space, a new gallery coming to the Harrisonburg, VA area later this year, is seeking applicants for its September international juried show “Black & White: 2017.” Media accepted: photography, digital art, graphic design.
Design competition
Deadline: July 14. To mark 100 years of service, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area is commissioning one local artist (or team of artists) for an original design to be painted on a canvas which will be displayed at their headquarters on Georgia Ave NW.
Glow
Deadline: July 21. Art selected for “Glow” at the Athenaeum (Alexandria, VA) will convey a sense of lightness or hope emanating from something dark. Entries may be literal, figural, allegorical, or abstract. Artists who live or work in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia may enter.
Athenaeum
Deadline: July 21. The Athenaeum Invitational celebrates the visual arts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It is a theme-based event featuring the works of both specially-invited artists who have exhibited in the Athenaeum Gallery in the past, as well as works selected through an open call for submissions.
Being Sentient
Deadline: July 25. The Will’s Creek Exhibition is a national juried exhibition of contemporary American art hosted by the Allegany Arts Council at its professional Saville and Schwab galleries in Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is Being Sentient/Sentient Being. Traditional media, as well as installation, video, kinetic, sound, and performance art, are eligible.
Wearable hat art
Deadline: August 1. The Wearable Hat Show at Artists & Makers Studios (Rockville, MD) will be curated by Steven Krensky and a mystery juror. Artists in the metro area are invited to make a statement through the art of the hat. It must be functional, but need not be comfortable.
FEAST proposals
Deadline: August 1. F.E.A.S.T. at VisArts 2017 (Rockville, MD) calls for proposals that help envision and frame the future. What voices, stories, platforms, food, services, or experiences are currently missing or hidden?
2-D art
Deadline: August 14. The National Juried Art Show at Larkin Arts (Harrisonburg, VA) is a national juried visual art competition and exhibition that is open to any artist who is a resident of the United States and is over the age of 18, working in two-dimensional media.
Artist trading cards
Deadline: August 15. Artist trading cards are small, baseball-card sized works of art that can be traded with other artists as a way to get creative, connect with other artists, make contacts, and collect great art! This on-going by-mail exchange is hosted by Jennifer Hines. There are three deadlines per year.
Show proposals
Deadline: Ongoing. ArtSpace Herndon (Herndon, VA) invites submissions for solo shows and thematic group shows from artists 18 years and older.
See a Screening of “The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography”
The Washington Jewish Film Festival is hosting a screening of Errol Morris’s The B-Side on June 27:
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
Tuesday, June 27, 7:30 pm | Edlavitch DCJCC
Portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman found her medium in 1980: the larger-than-life Polaroid Land 20×24 camera. For the next thirty-five years she captured the “surfaces” of those who visited her Cambridge, Massachusetts studio: families, Beat poets, rock stars, and Harvard notables. As pictures begin to fade and her retirement looms, Dorfman gives Errol Morris an inside tour of her backyard archive.
Looks like a fascinating film for anyone interested in photography, film, or portraiture! Tickets and all the details are on WJFF’s website.
“Perspective” in Space and Time
About the author: David Carter began teaching for The Art League School in 1991. That same year he began teaching as an adjunct professor of art at Montgomery College (MC) in Germantown, MD. In 2001 he became a full time professor at MC, where he also served as department chair from 2008-2014. At MC, Carter typically teaches courses in drawing, design, color theory, painting, and art history, and also continues to teach a variety of courses for The Art League.
His work, primarily oil painting and drawing, has been exhibited in solo and group shows on the east coast and across the country. He has completed numerous public and private mural commissions in different parts of the U.S., and worked intermittently as an illustrator, photographer, and graphic designer.
Carter is the juror for the June 2017 exhibit at The Art League, “Perspective.” He wrote this statement on the ideas behind the theme. You can also find our juror’s dialogue on the exhibit page.
In 1401, Filippo Brunelleschi stood in the doorway of the Florence cathedral and made a small painting of the church baptistery across the street. The whole endeavor, though, was more of an exercise in geometry than an artistic composition. Brunelleschi didn’t stand next to his easel and copy what he saw as a landscape painter might do; he constructed what must be visible – from that exact spot – according to ideas and calculations he’d been mulling over about how vision works in three-dimensional space. His radical idea was to take a Euclidean approach to painting.
As it turned out, the little painting was surprisingly good. Unbelievably good! As a coherent, convincing illusion of an architectural structure in three dimensions, it was better, really, than any ever before seen. To most who saw it, the little painting seemed a miracle.
Brunelleschi’s method (since then known as linear perspective) achieved a synthesis that no one else had conceived for at least two thousand years. It beautifully reconciled the appearance of three dimensions with the unyielding facts of a flat surface. In no time, Brunelleschi’s method spread like wildfire. One look at the results of this technique and there was no turning back.
In the decades that followed, other painters elaborated on the basic principles, applied them in diverse situations, and became capable of producing visual poetry never before imagined. Equipped with this new insight, artists were liberated. Perspective techniques had emancipated them from the stifling confines of shallow, frieze-like, comic strip space, and for the next several centuries they masterfully depicted any place, and anything, from any point of view.
“One look at the results of this technique and there was no turning back.”
This capacity to render convincing illusions of depth where there is in fact only a two-dimensional surface is a trick that is appealing and provocative in and of itself. For artists in fifteenth century Florence, though, it was especially desirable. At that time, the illusionistic aspect of drawing and painting was a preeminent virtue. So the development of perspective facilitated a quantum leap in exactly the right direction.
But perspective was much more than a useful trick of the trade. When the various lines, shapes and foreshortened planes throughout an image were all subjected to the orchestrating influence of perspective, an underlying consistency suddenly appeared that pulled the whole scene together. A sense of agreement and congruity pervaded all the different parts. One could feel it.
“Every part participated in the whole.”
This coherence reinforced the illusion of depth, but it also imparted a distinct unity and harmony to the composition. Every part participated in the whole. The persuasive appeal of such unity is a purely aesthetic phenomenon. Perspective, then, had the effect of highlighting the part-to-whole relations in a composition that are vital to art of any style or category.
Impressionism – when it finally caught on in the mid nineteenth century – went along with the principles of perspective for the most part, but it certainly didn’t dwell in them. Its interests were more concerned with purely optical effects than with the geometry of objects in space, so perspective didn’t play a big role in that episode of art history.
Some of Monet’s canvases were still drying when Cezanne, in his abundant doubt, considered perspective with great suspicion and decided to pay it very little attention. But it was the audacious, very modern-minded explorations of Picasso and Braque, in the early twentieth century, that finally pushed the time-honored technique into forced retirement. Their radical new art abandoned the principles of perspective completely, and the celebrations followed shortly thereafter.
It had been a good run – perspective had enjoyed nearly five full centuries of devoted respect – but eventually its horizon lines, sight lines, and converging orthogonals felt more like prison-cell bars than passports to freedom. Perhaps by then it was all just too familiar, or too status quo, but suddenly perspective – the liberator – was something to be liberated from. It was seen as a constraint; its rules were inhibiting. The exciting experiments of Picasso and Braque dealt the final blow. “Finally!” progressive artists exclaimed, “we are free!” No longer did a painting need to be spatially “correct” to be good.
But perspective never really goes away. Despite its flaws, and limitations, and even in spite of its theoretical inconsistencies, the fundamental points of perspective are built-in features of human visual experience. It is true – the dictates of perspective are bound to cramp the style of an expressionist painter. And its geometric regularities are completely inappropriate for many creative paths. But the same might be said of color.
One thing this geometrical strategy of drawing accomplishes exceptionally well is the portraying of normal appearances of the external world from a particular point of view. At first it may seem that perspective is only about mastering the appearance of external objects in space. It makes all the things in a picture “look right.” But equally compelling is the way it defines the specific point in space from which that “right look” is experienced. Perspective doesn’t just define the objects seen, it also says a lot about you, the seer. Vicariously, it puts you exactly where you are. And it singles you out. From any other position in space, all those objects and their relative positions would appear different. But no, they appear exactly as they do because right now you (the viewer), and only you, are precisely where you are with respect to the picture.
“Perspective doesn’t just define the objects seen, it also says a lot about you, the seer.”
It is in this implicit sense that perspective understands the world, and displays it, one point-of-view at a time. Subtly, but powerfully, perspective underscores our individuality. And it’s why we speak, so easily and appropriately, of one’s “perspective” as a metaphor for the uniqueness of their wider experience.
It’s curiously ironic, then, that expressionistic painting styles that pay no heed to, or blatantly distort the admonitions traditional perspective affords, nevertheless typically revere this deeper implication of the term. Brunelleschi’s mathematical perspective enabled artists to express unique and vivid experiences that were new to their time. Since the start of the twentieth century, modern, non-representational painters have continued to pursue very similar goals. After all, the absence of perspective is itself a “perspective.” Cubism’s combination of multiple and simultaneous points of view was itself a means for expressing a psychologically new point of view. There is more in all this than a mere play on words. To varying degrees, visual art has always been a language for expressing much more than purely visual experience. From its start, the implications of Brunelleschi’s perspective went way beyond the mere illusion of a baptistery. Today we have an even broader understanding of “perspective,” and its implications are unfolding still.
— David Carter
Sage Chandler Brings Fowl Visitors to the Gallery
The FOWL MOOD Show
by Sage Chandler
June 8–July 2, 2017
Meet the Artist & Models (human and feathered): Thursday, June 8, 6:30-8:00 pm
Feathers are flying at The Art League this month.
Sage Chandler’s “The FOWL MOOD Show” pairs the artist’s two favorite subjects, people and chickens, in tongue-in-cheek and lightly narrative paintings. Tonight, you can meet the artist and her models — including the poultry — at the opening reception.
In the Instagram above, you can see (left to right) Black and Blues, Chixxx for Sale, and Cock Tease in installation. This is a detail from American Goth:
Chandler’s extra-large paintings play on phrases like “chick” and “cock tease,” while portraying individuals at the edges of society. Narratives are implied by the titles and characters, but the paintings remain open to interpretation.
Don’t be chicken — see “The Fowl Mood Show” before it closes on July 2, 2017.
About the artist
As part of her (intended art history) undergraduate degree, Sage Chandler traveled to Germany in 1989 to study as an art history extern at a gallery in Koln. However, a trip to East Berlin at the height of East Germany’s uprising that October changed her trajectory. Instead, she received a BA in International Relations from Allegheny College with focus on East Germany’s dissident movement, and the manner in which opposition leaders used the arts to secretly communicate.
Upon moving to Washington nearly two decades ago for a government job in international relations, she began painting at The Art League. Her work has received numerous local and regional awards and has been shown in galleries and exhibits throughout the region. She has been featured twice in Northlight Books “Strokes of Genius” series, and her commissioned works are in collections in the US, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, and Brazil.
Artist Opportunities #374
On Tuesdays, we gather a variety of artist opportunities around the DC area and beyond. Find one below and enter today — good luck! Click here for recent opportunities posts, and submit your opportunity listing here.
Resist
Deadline: June 16. This summer, Zenith Gallery (Washington, DC) presents an exhibit titled Resist in honor of the latest resist movements captivating the globe. We invite professional artists to submit works that interpret and reflect on the state of our world today.
VCU Hospital
Deadline: July 1. VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital is seeking artists to submit digital images of original artwork available for purchase for the new facility being built in South Hill. This opportunity is open to artists living in Virginia and North Carolina.
2-D art
Deadline: August 14. The National Juried Art Show at Larkin Arts (Harrisonburg, VA) is a national juried visual art competition and exhibition that is open to any artist who is a resident of the United States and is over the age of 18, working in two-dimensional media.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Artist as citizen
Deadline: June 7. “Create/Change” at Hillyer Art Space (Washington, DC) is an all-media, juried exhibition that will feature work that examines the idea of artists as citizens.
Art of Engagement
Deadline: June 12. Touchstone Gallery in Washington DC is seeking entries for “Art of Engagement,” a National Juried Show scheduled for August 4–24, 2017. Artwork entries should reflect present-day issues and concerns. Juror: Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center.
The Art League: July Open Exhibit
Deadline: June 16. Open exhibits at The Art League are open to all current exhibiting artist members. There are no restrictions on medium, process, theme, or content. The juror for the July Open Exhibit is Lucila Biscione.
Studio space: Rockville
Deadline: June 16. VisArts invites applications from local and national artists for studio space at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland. The Studio Artist Program provides a unique opportunity for a dynamic individual artist or collaborative artist team to experiment, create new work, evolve an existing body of work or develop a project in a stimulating, supportive environment. Lease period: September 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018.
Art Impact USA
Deadline: June 16. Climax: The Best of the Best at Pepco Edison Place Gallery (Washington, DC) highlights what the artist feels is his or her best work, most inspiring message, and/or most sublime visual imagery. Only 2D wall art will be juried; no nudity. This is Art Impact USA’s Second Annual Juried Art Exhibition.
Culture Shock
Deadline: June 18. Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) invites national and international artists to apply for Culture Shock, an exhibition exploring the influence of pop culture and street art in contemporary works. Artists working in pop, street, graffiti, and mural art styles are encouraged to apply.
Black and white
Deadline: July 10. Specto Art Space, a new gallery coming to the Harrisonburg, VA area later this year, is seeking applicants for its September international juried show “Black & White: 2017.” Media accepted: photography, digital art, graphic design.
Design competition
Deadline: July 14. To mark 100 years of service, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area is commissioning one local artist (or team of artists) for an original design to be painted on a canvas which will be displayed at their headquarters on Georgia Ave NW.
Glow
Deadline: July 21. Art selected for “Glow” at the Athenaeum (Alexandria, VA) will convey a sense of lightness or hope emanating from something dark. Entries may be literal, figural, allegorical, or abstract. Artists who live or work in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia may enter.
Athenaeum
Deadline: July 21. The Athenaeum Invitational celebrates the visual arts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It is a theme-based event featuring the works of both specially-invited artists who have exhibited in the Athenaeum Gallery in the past, as well as works selected through an open call for submissions.
Being Sentient
Deadline: July 25. The Will’s Creek Exhibition is a national juried exhibition of contemporary American art hosted by the Allegany Arts Council at its professional Saville and Schwab galleries in Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is Being Sentient/Sentient Being. Traditional media, as well as installation, video, kinetic, sound, and performance art, are eligible.
Wearable hat art
Deadline: August 1. The Wearable Hat Show at Artists & Makers Studios (Rockville, MD) will be curated by Steven Krensky and a mystery juror. Artists in the metro area are invited to make a statement through the art of the hat. It must be functional, but need not be comfortable.
FEAST proposals
Deadline: August 1. F.E.A.S.T. at VisArts 2017 (Rockville, MD) calls for proposals that help envision and frame the future. What voices, stories, platforms, food, services, or experiences are currently missing or hidden?
Artist trading cards
Deadline: August 15. Artist trading cards are small, baseball-card sized works of art that can be traded with other artists as a way to get creative, connect with other artists, make contacts, and collect great art! This on-going by-mail exchange is hosted by Jennifer Hines. There are three deadlines per year.
Show proposals
Deadline: Ongoing. ArtSpace Herndon (Herndon, VA) invites submissions for solo shows and thematic group shows from artists 18 years and older.
June Workshops: Sketch, Paint, & Photograph Your Way Into Summer
Is June here already?
It is! And so are all of our June workshops. Ranging from five days long to just one, workshops are a perfect way to fit some art into your summer — or to craft your own staycation. Here’s what’s happening this month at The Art League:
Visiting artists and special offerings
- Best Practices in Painting: Just bring a notebook — read more in this instructor Q&A
- Well Rounded Pots: With visiting ceramic artist Birdie Boone
- Drawing the Human Head: Tackle this tricky subject, working with a live model
- Architectural Photography (Hirshhorn Museum): We promise it won’t be this crowded
Jumpstart: Dive into something new!
- Jumpstart in Ceramics: Try clay and have fun for 2 ½ hours
- Jumpstart in Watercolor: No experience required, some drawing is helpful
- Basic Matting, Mounts, and Framing: Learn to protect and enhance your artwork — the right way
- Jumpstart in Wood Engraving: Create detailed prints without a press
Drawing & painting
- Sketchbook Workshop: Old Town: Record your travels in a unique way — just take a sketchbook
- Sketchbook Workshop: Old Town & National Zoo: Same as above, plus a day at the National Zoo
- Painting in Danni’s Living Room or Rose Garden: Painting plus a gourmet lunch (as seen in this video)
- Plein Air Painting on Virginia’s Eastern Shore: Some plein air painting with Mike Francis
- Fast Figure Painting: Master capturing the short pose
- Making Space – Perspective in Watercolor: Bring depth to your watercolors
- Working with the Abstract Figure: Use expressive, abstracted figures in your painting
Sculpture & mosaic
- Portrait Sculpture Workshop: Capture a single two-day pose in terra cotta
- Dynamic Sculptures and Installations: Create interactive sculptures — read more in this instructor Q&A
- Classical Mosaic with Smalti Glass: Work with Mexican, Italian, and Chinese glass
Fiber art & jewelry
- Patching, Stitching, Weaving: Healing Cloth: Patch, stitch, applique, darn, and needle weave your way to “healed” fabric
- Dyeing: Natural Color Kitchen: Learn all about natural dyes
- The New Silver: Precious Metal Clay: Roll, shape, and texture silver in the form of PMC
Questions? Contact the school office at [email protected] or 703-683-2323. Browse all our summer workshops in our catalog.