WPA Announces New Executive Director

Lisa J. Gold, WPA Executive Director Appointee

Lisa J. Gold has been appointed as the new executive director of the Washington Project for the Arts. I wish her luck and am thankful for Kim Ward's presence and for her past five years of exceptional service. Kim Ward's work had a positive impact on my experience as a DC artist. According to the press release from the WPA, Lisa J. Gold was the Public relations and Marketing Director at The Drawing Center in New York, and she has "over twenty years of diverse experience in arts management, fundraising, development, programming, outreach, marketing, advertisement and public relations."

Scholastic Award Winning Students

Many of you know that I am a high school art teacher in addition to being an artist, and I want to take this opportunity to brag about some of their accomplishments. Seven of my students won awards this year in the regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition (not bad at all, each teacher is allowed 12 individual entries in addition to portfolios, I'd say around 10% of students get some kind of award, I am very proud of my students who outperformed those odds). This is the largest and most respected national High School Art competition. I have listed the winners below, followed by their award (Gold key is the highest, followed by silver key, then certificate of merit). All Gold and Silver Key winners will be in an exhibition this Tuesday, February 24, from 6:30-8:30 at the gallery in the Ernst Cultural Center at Northern Virginia Community College. All Gold Key winners work will be competing in NYC later this spring for the National Awards - wish them luck! I am extremely proud of their work.

Bella Bellum - Elly Taura - Charcoal
Gold Key - Art Portfolio Category (8 artworks)
and
Certificate of Merit - Drawing Category (individual entry)

Heretic - Adam Atkinson - India Ink, ballpoint pen, marker
Gold Key - Drawing (Individual Entry)

Corset - Katherine Helms - acrylic on canvas
Gold Key - Painting Category (individual entry)

Harmony with Nature - Gabriela Lutostanski - polymer clay and wood
Silver Key - Sculpture Category (Individual Entry)

Oil and Water - Ji Yoon Kim - Oil pastel, watercolor and colored pencil
Silver Key - Drawing Category (individual entry)

Lapse in Communication - Kristy Kilgallen - wood, wire and found objects
Certificate of Merit - Sculpture Category (Individual entry)


Obsession - Amira Nagi Al Saadi - Acrylic on Canvas
Certificate of Merit - Painting Category (Individual Entry)

Artomatic is back

Love it or hate it (or a little bit of both if you want), Artomatic is back for the Tenth Anniversary.

New to My Collection: Sondra Arkin and JT Kirkland

Being an artist has its perks, one of them being getting to know artists and their work very well. I love visiting artists' studios and having them visit mine. The best conversations about art happen there (although I won't ever forget late nights at the pub with my peers back in grad school after a 2 or 3 day studio binge).
I don't have a huge art collection (not counting my own work of course), mainly due to the fact that at some point I thought it was a great idea to become and artist and an art educator, neither of which afford the luxury of money required to buy artwork. Recently several studio visits have ended in my acquisition of two works of art for my collection.
A few weeks ago I went to Sondra Arkin's studio in DC, and we had a great conversation which I hope to pick up and continue soon. When I first walked in, she started talking about what she had been up to and immediately unwrapped and handed me this little painting. I had to have it. the piece was slated to go into a show at the Nevin Kelly Gallery two weeks later and Nevin reserved painting for me. I picked it up a week after the show, and by the way, if you haven't been to Nevin's new space in Columbia Heights, you should go very soon.

Sondra Arkin-"What I Love, 1"
Encaustic on paper on panel - 6"x6"

Just this last week I received a major piece from artist (and my neighbor) JT Kirkland. I already own two of JT's smaller peices (that were incidently also part of his solo show at GRACE a couple of years ago). I am excited to have one of his large wood peices and it was acquired after many studio visits that seem to be happening more frequently all of the time (he is practically across the street after all). The first is an installation shot from the GRACE show that allows you to get a sense of the dimension and the second is a straight on documentary shot.

JT Kirkland - "Oppose"
Wood - 46"x46"

JT has a very popular art blog and is currently applying to Grad school, I wish him luck, but at the same time I like having another artist across the street. Studio visits are the best thing about being an artist and of course I welcome them at any time, if you are up for a visit to my studio, just let me know!

Submitting to Exhibitions

As most artists will tell you, I spend and unseemly amount of time and energy preparing submissions and proposals for galleries, grants, fellowships, competitions, and lately artist residencies. Everyone has a different format and requirements, some of which (after having more than ten years of experience doing this) border on the ridiculous. I honestly believe I spend as much or more time working on these things than actually painting or drawing (something I am desperately trying to change).
I just completed the most painless and quick submission that I can remember. It was for the 20th Annual Drawing and Print Competition at Notre Dame of Maryland. It consisted of a short online form, uploading the digital images to their site and then paying the entry fee via PayPal in a seamless stream of events that took all of 15 minutes (including prepping the images to their specifications in Photoshop).
If you are a gallery, arts organization, or anyone else that organizes art exhibitions please take a minute, click the link above and review their process. It would be so much better for artists and the people who host art exhibitions to do things this way!