“Natura Morta,” Darryl Halbrooks’s exhibit at The Art League this month, has its origins 40 years ago.
Halbrooks was at the University of Kentucky attending a lecture by Wayne Thiebaud. Instead of discussing his own well-loved work, Thiebaud was talking about a lesser-known fellow painter, Giorgio Morandi.
“I thought, this is the dullest stuff I’ve ever seen,” Halbrooks said. But Morandi’s paintings — repetitive, drab still lifes of simple objects that became his life’s work — stuck in Halbrooks’s mind for years afterward.
Fast forward several decades, and Halbrooks was looking for a kind of break from his Plexiglas paintings. He took various boxes and plastic containers, screwed them to plywood, and painted them gray:
An early “Natura Morta” painting by Darryl Halbrooks.
But painting the images themselves didn’t capture the artist’s attention, so Halbrooks took one more step: stripes. Draping the setup in a brightly colored, striped cloth was more interesting to paint, he said.
Natura Morta 5 by Darryl Halbrooks
The drapery created a kind of “moonscape” with craters and other formations.
More recent paintings in the “Natura Morta” series are closer to the spirit of Morandi, Halbrooks said, using fewer colors.
by Darryl Halbrooks
Many artists have a back burner where they hold onto ideas for years. As a writer, printmaker, and a painter first of all, Halbrooks knows what it’s like to have an idea stick in his mind. This one just took a little longer than most to make it onto canvas.
“Natura Morta” is on view at The Art League through January 7, 2018.
The Immigrants by Terri Rea, winner of The Art League Award for Best in Show
Therese “Terri” Rea is a painter and the winner of this month’s Art League Award for Best in Show. Her painting The Immigrants took home the award in our December Open Exhibit, juried by Margaret Adams Parker, on view through January 7, 2018.
We asked the artist to tell us more about this painting. Here’s what she wrote:
The Immigrants seemed to paint itself.
The Other by Terri Rea
I have been concerned about the xenophobia that is spreading worldwide — the hatred and fear of “the other” that is so dangerous and frightening. I had an underpainting and then added some white gesso and started “cutting out” shapes.
The muted palette seemed appropriate for a somber subject. As it evolved I was very aware of the sense of immigrants, strangers in strange lands and the yearning for home as well as the yearning to stay together and be safe. My dad was British, my mum was Czech, and they survived the horrors of World War II.
My creative process is really quite fluid. I enjoy spontaneity.
Quirky by Terri Rea
I began painting with watercolor and have since moved to acrylic painting. While I greatly admire the freshness and clarity of transparent watercolor, I realize that my process is more intuitive and spontaneous. I tend to want my paintings to tell some sort of story, but I also enjoy working with pattern and some abstraction.
Deadline: January 31, 2018. BAU Institute announces call for applications for its summer 2018 artist residencies at a Seaside mediterranean village Near Marseille.
Torpedo Factory installations
The Torpedo Factory Art Center invites artists and artist teams residing in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia to submit their qualifications and proposals for the Torpedo Factory Art Center’s common areas. Up to three artists/artist teams will be selected to install works of art in three designated public locations inside the Torpedo Factory Art Center.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Philadelphia residency
Deadline: December 30. The Windgate ITE International Residency is an 8-week summer program for five artists; a student artist; photojournalist; and scholar who live and work together at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Site-specific work
Deadline: December 31. The DC Department of General Services is commissioning permanent site-specific work in two and three dimensions.
Southern painting
Deadline: December 31. New American Paintings — a museum-quality, soft-cover art periodical, published bimonthly — is now accepting entries from: AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Competition winners retain all rights to their images and pay nothing to appear in New American Paintings.
Video art
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Videos not in excess of 15 minutes are requested for inclusion in Frame & Frequency IV, an international video art exchange, presented as a series of screenings and exhibitions held concurrently at VisArts in Rockville, MD, just outside Washington D.C. and in Medellín, Colombia.
Howard County exhibits
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group for exhibits at Howard County Arts Council. Proposals from curators and organizations are also welcome.
Shifting Perspectives on Trauma
Deadline: January 1, 2018. For this exhibit by the Perception Project, volunteer artists will receive a written story based upon the experience of a trauma survivor (muse) and use it as inspiration to create an artwork meant to empower and inject positivity to the muse. Artwork is donated to the muse after the end of the exhibition. Acceptable mediums are canvas, wood panels, paper, digital prints, and photography.
Book-based art objects
Deadline: January 5, 2018. Current Books is a new Current Art Fair event featuring independent artists’ book makers, zine makers, and small independent publishers of artist monographs and other book-based art objects. Artists’ book makers, zine makers, and independent publishers of art books and artist monographs are eligible to apply. All applicants must be based in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, or North Carolina.
Home
Deadline: January 9, 2018. For “There’s No Place Like Home,” the Maryland Federation of Art invites all 2-D and 3-D artists to submit works that illustrate what they describe as “home.” Juror: Liza Key Strelka is Manager of Exhibitions at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
Works on paper
Deadline: January 16, 2018. Maryland Federation of Art invites all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico to enter its 39th annual Art on Paper competition. Any original 2-D or 3-D work created on or of paper, including collage, artist book, origami, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and more, will be considered.
Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association
Deadline: January 22, 2018. Phase I of the 2018 jury to join the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association is underway. Read more about the opportunities and benefits of membership on the jury page.
Exhibit proposals
Deadline: January 31, 2018. The Merion Hall Gallery at St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA) hosts six professional artist exhibitions each school year.
Public sculpture
Deadline: February 1, 2018. Friends of Leesburg Public Arts is renewing its sculpture on loan program: ArtsPARKs 2018 at Raflo Park in Leesburg VA. For more information, see the Artist Opportunities page and click on “button.”
BlackRock
Deadline: February 1, 2018. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is now accepting proposals for solo, themed and group exhibitions to be presented in our gallery spaces in 2019.
Target Gallery solo shows
Deadline: February 4, 2018. This is an open call for proposals for an exhibition at Target Gallery(Alexandria, VA) in the summer of 2018. This call is open to emerging or mid-career artists from North America working in all visual media.
Illustrators
Deadline: February 6, 2018. Illustrators in any country working in any medium or content can enter work created between January 2017 and February 2018 for the World Illustration Awards 2018.
Deadline: March 8, 2018. Photographic artists of all walks are invited to submit their latest works to a national juried show at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD. The exhibition aims to highlight the current state of photography across a broad spectrum. Artists may submit all types of photographic works including digital, analog, alternative processes, etc.
Greek island residency
Deadline: ongoing. The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts offers residencies for two weeks to two months for ceramists, mixed media artists, painters, printmakers and sculptors from March through December.
We’re also getting pumped for a very special milestone in February: this will be the 50th anniversary of the Patrons’ Show Fundraiser! (Tickets go on sale January 13.)
Ikebana 2016 (arrangement by Jane Redmon, photograph by Pete Duvall, vessel by Robert Rosselle)
Fast-forwarding to May, it’s the return of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Ikebana Show (May 1–6). This exhibit, presented in conjunction with the Washington, DC Sogetsu School, pairs contemporary flower arrangements with other artworks to create an ephemeral Springtime experience.
This year, Ikebana will inspire the cocktails at Art on the Rocks (May 4). Do we smell some floral concoctions headed our way?
More to come
This is just the start of our programming for the year. We’ll be adding group exhibits, artist talks, and other events to the calendar, so stay tuned (and subscribe to emails) for more!
Drawing is the foundation of artistic study. This winter, make it the foundation of a weekend well spent!
The Art League has lined up nine different ways to put pencil to paper (or charcoal, pen, etc.) for the absolute beginner and the experienced student. They all start in January 2018!
No experience necessary
Basic Drawing comes in three flavors: Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning (as well as every other day of the week). This is the class to take if you’re rusty or brand-new, since it teaches you all the skills you’ll need for other classes like painting and printmaking.
Some experience recommended
For the classes below, some drawing experience is helpful.
If you’re ready to branch out into a new medium, how about Waxy Media Techniques? Lisa Semerad will show you how to use oil pastels, colored pencils, oil bars, pigment sticks and grease pencils.
by John Murray
For drawing humans (portrait and figure), we have several options you can pursue. Gesture Drawing with John Murray is all about capturing movement (you can read more about it in this blog post). For more advanced students, check out Expressive Figure Drawing with Susan O’Neill, a new class this school year.
Portrait Drawing with Jin Chung is the place to go to learn to capture a likeness. Check out the instructor at work in this video.
If you’re in the mood to practice figure or portrait drawing on your own — but in a supervised, focused environment — there’s always Open-Life Drawing Sessions (Long Pose). This Saturday class lets you use your own media and your own pace to draw from a live model. (For shorter poses, there are also open sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)
And finally, for a class that’ll really get under your skin, take Artistic Anatomical Drawing. You’ll learn to see, and draw, the human form from the inside out with Thanasi Papapostolou.
Deadline: December 31. The DC Department of General Services is commissioning permanent site-specific work in two and three dimensions.
Exhibit proposals
Deadline: January 31. The Merion Hall Gallery at St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA) hosts six professional artist exhibitions each school year.
Illustrators
Deadline: February 6, 2018. Illustrators in any country working in any medium or content can enter work created between January 2017 and February 2018 for the World Illustration Awards 2018.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
BloomBars
Deadline: December 19 (for best consideration, applications continue on a rolling basis). The application is now live for BloomBars: imPRINT, a juried group exhibition curated by Robert Bettmann and John Chambers. The BloomBars: imPRINT exhibition will be on display April 12 to May 5, 2018 at the gallery at BloomBars in Columbia Heights, Washington, DC.
Printmaking residency NYC
Deadline: December 20. The Julio Valdez Project Space Artist-in-Residence program is a collaborative, six-month residency program open to U.S. and international artists of all artistic backgrounds and career levels to create new complete body of work through exploration of non-toxic contemporary printmaking.
Philadelphia residency
Deadline: December 30. The Windgate ITE International Residency is an 8-week summer program for five artists; a student artist; photojournalist; and scholar who live and work together at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Southern painting
Deadline: December 31. New American Paintings — a museum-quality, soft-cover art periodical, published bimonthly — is now accepting entries from: AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Competition winners retain all rights to their images and pay nothing to appear in New American Paintings.
Video art
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Videos not in excess of 15 minutes are requested for inclusion in Frame & Frequency IV, an international video art exchange, presented as a series of screenings and exhibitions held concurrently at VisArts in Rockville, MD, just outside Washington D.C. and in Medellín, Colombia.
Howard County exhibits
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group for exhibits at Howard County Arts Council. Proposals from curators and organizations are also welcome.
Shifting Perspectives on Trauma
Deadline: January 1, 2018. For this exhibit by the Perception Project, volunteer artists will receive a written story based upon the experience of a trauma survivor (muse) and use it as inspiration to create an artwork meant to empower and inject positivity to the muse. Artwork is donated to the muse after the end of the exhibition. Acceptable mediums are canvas, wood panels, paper, digital prints, and photography.
Book-based art objects
Deadline: January 5, 2018. Current Books is a new Current Art Fair event featuring independent artists’ book makers, zine makers, and small independent publishers of artist monographs and other book-based art objects. Artists’ book makers, zine makers, and independent publishers of art books and artist monographs are eligible to apply. All applicants must be based in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, or North Carolina.
Home
Deadline: January 9, 2018. For “There’s No Place Like Home,” the Maryland Federation of Art invites all 2-D and 3-D artists to submit works that illustrate what they describe as “home.” Juror: Liza Key Strelka is Manager of Exhibitions at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
Works on paper
Deadline: January 16, 2018. Maryland Federation of Art invites all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico to enter its 39th annual Art on Paper competition. Any original 2-D or 3-D work created on or of paper, including collage, artist book, origami, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and more, will be considered.
Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association
Deadline: January 22, 2018. Phase I of the 2018 jury to join the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association is underway. Read more about the opportunities and benefits of membership on the jury page.
Public sculpture
Deadline: February 1, 2018. Friends of Leesburg Public Arts is renewing its sculpture on loan program: ArtsPARKs 2018 at Raflo Park in Leesburg VA. For more information, see the Artist Opportunities page and click on “button.”
BlackRock
Deadline: February 1, 2018. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is now accepting proposals for solo, themed and group exhibitions to be presented in our gallery spaces in 2019.
Target Gallery solo shows
Deadline: February 4, 2018. This is an open call for proposals for an exhibition at Target Gallery(Alexandria, VA) in the summer of 2018. This call is open to emerging or mid-career artists from North America working in all visual media.
Deadline: March 8, 2018. Photographic artists of all walks are invited to submit their latest works to a national juried show at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD. The exhibition aims to highlight the current state of photography across a broad spectrum. Artists may submit all types of photographic works including digital, analog, alternative processes, etc.
Greek island residency
Deadline: ongoing. The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts offers residencies for two weeks to two months for ceramists, mixed media artists, painters, printmakers and sculptors from March through December.
Workshops are a great way to dip your toe into something new. The 10 workshops below are Jumpstarts: one- or two-day workshops that serve as an introduction to a new medium for beginners. You could even gift one of these for the holidays with an Art League gift card!
10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Winter
Jumpstart in Watercolor: Rachel Collins shows you the ropes. This is for absolute watercolor beginners or those who need a refresher; some drawing experience is helpful. (January 3–4, $195)
Introduction to Encaustic: Beverly Ryan teaches this ancient medium, a mix of wax and pigment (seen in the video above). This is a great opportunity to try encaustic without buying the tools and equipment yourself. (January 6–7, $330)
Jumpstart in Ceramics: One day with clay! Our ceramics chair Blair Meerfeld teaches this short, fun jumpstart. (January 6, $50)
Jumpstart In East Asian Ink Painting – Sumi-E: The traditions of sumi-e stretch back 1,000 years, but you can pick up the basics in two days with Charlene Fuhrman-Schulz. This is appropriate for an absolute beginner or a painter in another medium. (January 6–7, $195)
Jumpstart in Hand Stitching: Make marks with needle and thread! Julie Booth teaches this workshop in basic stitching with some printing and painting techniques as well. (January 6–7, $195)
Hard Rock Trio, pastel, by Nancy Freeman
Jumpstart in Pastels: A chance to try out soft pastels without buying a set. Dive into this fast, bright, colorful medium with Nancy Freeman! (January 6–7, $195)
Jumpstart in Nuno Felting: With master felter Renate Maile-Moskowitz, learn about nuno felting. It’s a lightweight, drapable felt that’s fashion forward. (January 6, $125)
Photograph by Alison Duvall
Jumpstart in Photography: Alison Duvall introduces the rest of your camera — that is, everything beyond auto mode. A great workshop for a traveler who wants to take home more artistic photos! (January 6–7, $185)
Jumpstart inWet Felting: You have two choices for this introduction to handmade wool felt. (Renate Maile-Moskowitz teaches both.) Option 1 meets January 8 and 15 for three hours each evening. Option 2 meets January 8 only for six hours. ($100)
Is your interest piqued? These are only a handful of the over 200 classes and workshops this winter. Browse our full catalog for more!
Ephraim Rubenstein is coming to The Art League in January! The artist, who you may remember from our 2014 Portrait & Figure Festival and more recent workshops, will be here for a double bill: a free talk and a drawing workshop. We talked to him to get a preview of the weekend’s events:
Rubenstein’s Friday talk will be an introduction to his work as an artist and to the process of color spot painting.
New River, Galax, Late Afternoon by Ephraim Rubenstein (click to view larger)
Color spot (also the subject of a future Art League workshop to look forward to) is a type of alla prima painting. That means the painting is done “at first attempt” or wet-in-wet, in one sitting. Color spot, specifically, was developed around the 1900s by Charles Hawthorne (author of Hawthorne on Painting) and his student Edwin Dickinson.
“It’s a way of seeing color very freshly,” Rubenstein said. The artist pays as much attention to the warm-cool relationships (temperature) as to light vs. dark (value).
Color spot painting is done on a white canvas — no tone — and best in one layer, not built up slowly with grisaille and glazes. The goal is to get it right from the start, “so it has a very fresh look, color-wise.” (This avoids students’ common struggle with “muddy” color, Rubenstein noted.)
Self-Portrait by Lucian Freud, 2002. This unfinished painting emphasizes Freud’s color-spot approach.
A painter working in color spot starts with the greatest contrasts, “setting the perimeter” of the painting with the warmest warms and coolest cools. “Every painting is in a key, the same way a piece of music is in a key,” Rubenstein said.
This talk will cover Rubenstein’s own work in color spot and what interests him as a painter. It will conclude with a brief discussion of the wax-resist drawing technique, below.
January 6–7: Gorgeous Effects with Ink and Wax-Resist
Rubenstein’s workshop will center on a multi-media drawing technique called wax-resist.
Agrigento I; pencil, wax, ink, char-kole, charcoal, conte, and nu-pastel on paper; by Ephraim Rubenstein
This technique uses paraffin wax as a water-repellent resist for subsequent ink washes: the waxy areas protect the lighter values as the drawing progresses. The wax itself can also remain on the drawing and has a cool texture, Rubenstein said.
He said the idea is similar to batik, a fiber dyeing technique that likewise uses a wax resist.
Equestrian Monument, Barcelona II; pencil, wax, ink, charcoal, Char-kole, conte, pastel and Nu-pastel on paper; by Ephraim Rubenstein
Wax-resist drawing can be seen in the work of, for example, Henry Moore during the London Blitz. In this workshop, students will use a lot of different materials: pencil, wax, ink wash, and water-soluble Char-Kole. Rubenstein said the workshop is for intermediate and advanced students with some general drawing experience.
Deadline: December 19 (for best consideration, applications continue on a rolling basis). The application is now live for BloomBars: imPRINT, a juried group exhibition curated by Robert Bettmann and John Chambers. The BloomBars: imPRINT exhibition will be on display April 12 to May 5, 2018 at the gallery at BloomBars in Columbia Heights, Washington, DC.
Home
Deadline: January 9, 2018. For “There’s No Place Like Home,” the Maryland Federation of Art invites all 2-D and 3-D artists to submit works that illustrate what they describe as “home.” Juror: Liza Key Strelka is Manager of Exhibitions at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
Works on paper
Deadline: January 16, 2018. Maryland Federation of Art invites all artists residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico to enter its 39th annual Art on Paper competition. Any original 2-D or 3-D work created on or of paper, including collage, artist book, origami, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and more, will be considered.
Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association
Deadline: January 22, 2018. Phase I of the 2018 jury to join the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association is underway. Read more about the opportunities and benefits of membership on the jury page.
Deadline: March 8, 2018. Photographic artists of all walks are invited to submit their latest works to a national juried show at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD. The exhibition aims to highlight the current state of photography across a broad spectrum. Artists may submit all types of photographic works including digital, analog, alternative processes, etc.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
January Open Exhibit @ The Art League
Deadline: December 15. The January Open Exhibit will be juried by online entry. Open exhibits at The Art League are not limited by theme, medium, process, or content. Artist must be a current exhibiting artist member of The Art League gallery to enter.
Virginia artists for State Park center
Deadline: December 15. The Virginia State Parks system is looking for new Virginia artists and artisans to feature in the Natural Bridge State Park Artisan Center. Entries will be juried January 17 and 18. Artists must register by December 15.
Printmaking residency NYC
Deadline: December 20. The Julio Valdez Project Space Artist-in-Residence program is a collaborative, six-month residency program open to U.S. and international artists of all artistic backgrounds and career levels to create new complete body of work through exploration of non-toxic contemporary printmaking.
Philadelphia residency
Deadline: December 30. The Windgate ITE International Residency is an 8-week summer program for five artists; a student artist; photojournalist; and scholar who live and work together at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Southern painting
Deadline: December 31. New American Paintings — a museum-quality, soft-cover art periodical, published bimonthly — is now accepting entries from: AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Competition winners retain all rights to their images and pay nothing to appear in New American Paintings.
Video art
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Videos not in excess of 15 minutes are requested for inclusion in Frame & Frequency IV, an international video art exchange, presented as a series of screenings and exhibitions held concurrently at VisArts in Rockville, MD, just outside Washington D.C. and in Medellín, Colombia.
Howard County exhibits
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group for exhibits at Howard County Arts Council. Proposals from curators and organizations are also welcome.
Shifting Perspectives on Trauma
Deadline: January 1, 2018. For this exhibit by the Perception Project, volunteer artists will receive a written story based upon the experience of a trauma survivor (muse) and use it as inspiration to create an artwork meant to empower and inject positivity to the muse. Artwork is donated to the muse after the end of the exhibition. Acceptable mediums are canvas, wood panels, paper, digital prints, and photography.
Book-based art objects
Deadline: January 5, 2018. Current Books is a new Current Art Fair event featuring independent artists’ book makers, zine makers, and small independent publishers of artist monographs and other book-based art objects. Artists’ book makers, zine makers, and independent publishers of art books and artist monographs are eligible to apply. All applicants must be based in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, or North Carolina.
Public sculpture
Deadline: February 1, 2018. Friends of Leesburg Public Arts is renewing its sculpture on loan program: ArtsPARKs 2018 at Raflo Park in Leesburg VA. For more information, see the Artist Opportunities page and click on “button.”
BlackRock
Deadline: February 1, 2018. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is now accepting proposals for solo, themed and group exhibitions to be presented in our gallery spaces in 2019.
Target Gallery solo shows
Deadline: February 4, 2018. This is an open call for proposals for an exhibition at Target Gallery(Alexandria, VA) in the summer of 2018. This call is open to emerging or mid-career artists from North America working in all visual media.
Greek island residency
Deadline: ongoing. The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts offers residencies for two weeks to two months for ceramists, mixed media artists, painters, printmakers and sculptors from March through December.
F.O.M.A. (noun): “fear of missing art”; the nagging feeling that cool art events are passing you by.
This is the time of year where it can feel like fun is mandatory. Why not take a break from shopping and spend a quiet day enjoying some art exhibits and events?
Here are our picks for your December art events around DC — so you can be sure you’re in the know.
Frances Glessner Lee, Red Bedroom, about 1944-48.
Murder is Her Hobby
Through January 28: If you don’t mind some minor gruesomeness around the holidays, check out the Renwick’s latest exhibit. Frances Glessner Lee’s nutshell studies of crime scenes were — and are — used to train investigators’ observational skills.
If the crowds for “Murder is Her Hobby” are a little much, head upstairs for some gems from the Renwick’s collection. We’re particular fans of Wendell Castle’s Ghost Clock and Sabrina Gschwandtner’s Fibers and Civilization (1959).
Matthias Mansen: Configurations
Through December 13: This exhibit of experimental woodblock prints is on its way out, so swing by the National Gallery of Art while it’s still up.
Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge
Through November 2018: There’s plenty of time left to see this massive installation artwork by Mark Bradford, but why not be the first? This commission by the Hirshhorn is inspired by an 1883 narrative Civil War cyclorama.
Chloe Irla: Year One
Through December 31: At Montpelier Arts Center, artist Chloe Irla uses data from her daughter’s first year of life to create artistic visualizations.
Trying out silk screen printing at Artfête.
Artfête
December 8–10 only: It wouldn’t be December without Artfête, The Art League’s open house, holiday party, and ceramics and jewelry sales. Here are all the details.
First Night Alexandria
December 31: A family-friendly way to celebrate the new year — plus performing arts everywhere you look — First Night Alexandria is an all-day event. The Art League is getting in on the fun, too! Find artist instructor Patrick Kirwin in our gallery from 1:30 to 4:30 pm for a hands-on art activity.
Artfête — The Art League’s annual open house/party/sale — returns this year with all the cheer and fun we can fit inside the building.
To help you convince your friends and family that they need to come too, here are 80 reasons to make it!
The Foggy Bottom Whomp-Stompers
Things will be getting jazzy over in the sculpture room! We have the Foggy Bottom Whomp-Stompers lined up to play, so bring your dancing shoes!
A wearable art fashion show
Come to the Community Hall room to see work by our fiber and jewelry students as models walk the runway. If you feel inspired, we have lots of jewelry and fiber artists among our …
21 artist demonstrations
We have 21 artist instructors lined up to give demos. Feel free to pop in, see what they’re up to, and ask questions!
Nick Barnes
Andrea Blackmon
Julie Booth
Michael Brehl
Sylvia DeMar
Candace Edgerley
Charlene Furhman-Schultz
Barbara Garren
Abby Goldblatt
Marilyn Harrington
Michael Heilman
Dianna Krueutz
Ed McCluney
Nancy McIntyre
Blair Meerfeld
Renate Maile Moskowitz
Tea Okropiridze
Jimmy Powers
Gretchen Raber
Donna Reinsel
Ava Soriano
55 ceramic artists
This year 55 artists will be selling their wares in our Holiday Ceramics Sale. That’s a lot of variety and a lot of shopping to do! Here are the ceramics sale hours (yes, it’s open during the open house!):
Friday, 12:00 noon–9:00 pm
Saturday, 10:00 am–6:00 pm
Sunday, 12:00 noon–5:00 pm
Get your shopping wrapped up
Ceramics aren’t all — we also have a jewelry, fiber, and stained glass sale during the open house! The jewelry sale continues into Saturday. Here are the jewelry sale hours:
Friday, 12:00 noon–9:00 pm
Saturday, 10:00 am–4:00 pm
Scope out our classroom space
Thinking of taking a class at The Art League? (Winter term starts January 8!) This is your chance to see our main classroom space! Your next instructor might even be one of those giving demos.
When & Where?
We’ve sold you? Great! Come find us at our Madison Annex, 305 Madison Street in Alexandria, VA. The Open House is 6:00–9:00 pm on Friday, December 8. The hours for our Ceramics and Jewelry Sales are above and on our Artfête page.
Deadline: December 15. The Virginia State Parks system is looking for new Virginia artists and artisans to feature in the Natural Bridge State Park Artisan Center. Entries will be juried January 17 and 18. Artists must register by December 15.
Philadelphia residency
Deadline: December 30. The Windgate ITE International Residency is an 8-week summer program for five artists; a student artist; photojournalist; and scholar who live and work together at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Target Gallery solo shows
Deadline: February 4, 2018. This is an open call for proposals for an exhibition at Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) in the summer of 2018. This call is open to emerging or mid-career artists from North America working in all visual media.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Artists in Action
Deadline: December 8. Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center (Solomons, MD) seeks artists working in any media to submit proposals to set up a working studio space in the Main Gallery for 1-2 week periods.
Solo show in DC
Deadline: December 10. The Spotlight Art Series@Touchstone is an opportunity for area artists to have a solo exhibition at the Touchstone Gallery. Successful applicants will enjoy a front window 90 sq. ft. wall exhibition space in our street level gallery located in downtown Washington, DC at 901 New York Avenue NW.
Northern Virginia Festival
Deadline: December 10. 27th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival: Every spring the Greater Reston Arts Center invites over 200 artists to showcase their best, original, contemporary fine art and craft in this competitive, juried outdoor event.
Big Fun Art
Deadline: December 11. For Big Fun Art at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center (Solomons, MD), take a break from the news of global doom and gloom and celebrate Big Fun Art! Inspired by the likes of Yayoi Kusama. All media welcome; small to large-scale works; indoor and outdoor works accepted.
January Open Exhibit @ The Art League
Deadline: December 15. The January Open Exhibit will be juried by online entry. Open exhibits at The Art League are not limited by theme, medium, process, or content. Artist must be a current exhibiting artist member of The Art League gallery to enter.
Printmaking residency NYC
Deadline: December 20. The Julio Valdez Project Space Artist-in-Residence program is a collaborative, six-month residency program open to U.S. and international artists of all artistic backgrounds and career levels to create new complete body of work through exploration of non-toxic contemporary printmaking.
Southern painting
Deadline: December 31. New American Paintings — a museum-quality, soft-cover art periodical, published bimonthly — is now accepting entries from: AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV. Competition winners retain all rights to their images and pay nothing to appear in New American Paintings.
Video art
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Videos not in excess of 15 minutes are requested for inclusion in Frame & Frequency IV, an international video art exchange, presented as a series of screenings and exhibitions held concurrently at VisArts in Rockville, MD, just outside Washington D.C. and in Medellín, Colombia.
Howard County exhibits
Deadline: January 1, 2018. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group for exhibits at Howard County Arts Council. Proposals from curators and organizations are also welcome.
Shifting Perspectives on Trauma
Deadline: January 1, 2018. For this exhibit by the Perception Project, volunteer artists will receive a written story based upon the experience of a trauma survivor (muse) and use it as inspiration to create an artwork meant to empower and inject positivity to the muse. Artwork is donated to the muse after the end of the exhibition. Acceptable mediums are canvas, wood panels, paper, digital prints, and photography.
Book-based art objects
Deadline: January 5, 2018. Current Books is a new Current Art Fair event featuring independent artists’ book makers, zine makers, and small independent publishers of artist monographs and other book-based art objects. Artists’ book makers, zine makers, and independent publishers of art books and artist monographs are eligible to apply. All applicants must be based in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, or North Carolina.
Public sculpture
Deadline: February 1, 2018. Friends of Leesburg Public Arts is renewing its sculpture on loan program: ArtsPARKs 2018 at Raflo Park in Leesburg VA. For more information, see the Artist Opportunities page and click on “button.”
BlackRock
Deadline: February 1, 2018. BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD) is now accepting proposals for solo, themed and group exhibitions to be presented in our gallery spaces in 2019.
Greek island residency
Deadline: ongoing. The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts offers residencies for two weeks to two months for ceramists, mixed media artists, painters, printmakers and sculptors from March through December.
This month we have a special, early opening reception!
“Natura Morta” by Darryl Halbrooks will open Thursday, December 7 at 6:30 pm.
by Darryl Halbrooks
Natura morta, Italian for “still life,” is also a reference to Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, known for his subdued arrangements of vessels and the like. In Halbrooks’s, you’ll find more color and movement.
The other difference? Halbrooks’s still lifes are hidden under undulating cloth, leaving the viewer to only guess at what’s underneath. Of course, the drapery is a delight in its own right.
by Darryl Halbrooks
Come to the opening reception to be the first to see the exhibit and meet the artist!
“Natura Morta” is on view at The Art League gallery December 7, 2017 to January 7, 2018. Exhibits and opening receptions are free and open to the public.
