Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos

Applications are now open for the free-to-enter Art for Change Prize, an international art initiative from M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery, open to artists working in the first five years of their career. 

No Entry Fee. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3NQdSfL

Press release from MAP about this terrific Maryland artists exhibition:

In celebration of the talented and diverse array of artists across the state, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) and Maryland Art Place (MAP) are pleased to present the third Maryland Arts Directory exhibition this month. Held Thursday, May 18 at 6pm, the triennial event will focus on visual artworks, literary works, and performers in the ever growing Maryland Arts Directory, and will be held in tandem with the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District Spring Art Walk.

Maintained by MAP for more than 25 years, the Maryland Arts Directory originated as a regional resource conceived by MSAC. Curators, collectors, and patrons could physically visit MAP to review new visual artworks using slides. As time went by, slides became outdated and an official online resource was created to make access to artworks much more accessible.

The Directory is a free online platform that showcases the high-caliber, diverse, and relevant work of Maryland’s artists and arts organizations and promotes the vitality of Maryland’s arts communities. Collectively, MSAC and MAP aim to present a comprehensive survey of Maryland artists for the Triennial exhibition. 

"We are excited to collaborate with MAP and work with these jurors to showcase the breadth and depth of the work of Maryland's artists," said MSAC Executive Director Steven Skerritt-Davis. "The Directory as an online resource is invaluable, and having the chance to experience participating artists' work in person is sure to be inspiring" 

This year’s roster of talented jurors includes: Jayme McLellan (visual art) - Founder and Director of Civilian Art Projects; José Ruiz (visual art) – Director and Faculty, Curatorial Practices Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art; Rahne Alexander (performance) – intermedia artist, writer and editor; and Gerry LaFemina (literary) – acclaimed poet, writer, professor and critic.

And all of you who have read this blog for the past 20 years know, I always advise that artists must have thick skins!

I applied for this exhibition, but was not accepted.  This is part of the journey of being an artist!

Here's my rejection note, forever preserved!

Hello,

Thank you for your submission to the MSAC Arts Directory Triennial Exhibition.

We received an overwhelming response. Unfortunately, your work was not selected for this exhibition opportunity. Due to the number of applications, we had to be very selective.  Please know this was a tough decision based on capacity and not artist merit. We hope you will continue applying for future opportunities with Maryland Art Place and MSAC. It was an honor and a privilege to review your work. Thank you for all you do as a Maryland creative! 

Warmly,

MAP staff

Awrighty... I've got two of the three venues lined up + a tentative book deal for my idea to curate a massive three-space "Women Artists of the DMV" exhibition... just finished submitting the below proposal to the Alper Initiative gods at the Katzen.

Fingers crossed now! And oh yeah! 

Proposal: Women Artists of the DMV

According to the research done by the Washington City Paper in 2017, the term “DMV”, which is used to refer to the District, Maryland and Virginia first appeared in a DC ART NEWS blog post that I wrote in 2003 – And yes! I therefore do claim that I invented it!

The Greater Washington, D.C., capital region (the DMV) is not only home to some of the best art museums in the world, dozens of art galleries, non-profit art spaces, alternative art venues, and art organizations, but it also supports and fertilizes of the best and most creative visual art scenes in the nation.

This scene is kindled and ignited to a large extent by female artists of all ages, races and ethnicities – an artistic female universe significantly more diverse than just about any of other major city on the planet. By the same logic and path, the artwork created by these fertile minds examine every possible corner of the visual arts genres and creative corners.

Celebrating this art scene, which spreads across the three areas that make up the DMV, I propose to curate an exhibition of 100 works by 100 women artists comprised of both leading and established female artists plus talented emerging contemporary female visual artists who represent the tens of thousands of women artists working in this culturally and ethnically diverse region in order to assemble a group show to showcase the immense power of the visual arts being created by these artists.

Let me repeat myself: Equally diverse as the artists, are the artistic styles and media you will see in this curated exhibition, the first of its kind for the capital area.

With 100 works of art potentially available for curatorial selection, this exhibition will offer a primer for both the experienced art eye and the beginning art aficionado, highlighting a selection of talented artists who usually deserve more attention on a local, regional and national scale.

100 works of art take a lot of exhibition space, and thus this curated exhibition could either be:

(a)    Fully staged at the Katzen or;

(b)    Would be concurrently spread across three separate venues in the DMV: At the Katzen in the District, one non-profit in Northern Virginia and one independent gallery in Maryland.

                                 i.            For Northern Virginia I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Athenaeum in Alexandria.

                               ii.            For Maryland, I have obtained an approval for the exhibition from The Artists & Makers Gallery complex in Rockville.

I have the experience to curate a large, multi-space art survey exhibition. In 2007 I curated “Seven”, a seven-gallery exhibition in the District that surveyed the thousands of artist members of the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). Over 6500 slides (remember slides?) were reviewed and a couple of hundred artists selected for the multi-gallery show, which received multiple reviews in the press, both local and national.  In 2001 I curated “Contemporary Realism: A Survey of Washington Area Realists” for the Athenaeum in Alexandria – another show that exhibited over 60 artists and received wide reviews in the regional and national press.  Those are just two of hundreds of curated shows since 1996.

My curatorial process for this large proposal will also involve “community input”, as I intend to approach the DMV artistic community to be able to propose up to 15 of the 100 final artists. 

I also have ample experience running this “community input” process, as in 2011 I authored the book 100 Artists of Washington, DC (published by Schiffer Press), which in part included “community input” to ensure that the diversity of the 100 artists – both in style, age, genres, etc. – was truly representational of the Greater DC area.

Lastly, I have a tentative “yes” to a book proposal focused on this exhibition to be published by Schiffer Press.  If the three-space exhibition moves forward, then the book moves forward.

I understand that a significant lead time is needed by American University to schedule approved Alper shows, and stand ready, willing and able to tackle this opportunity, regardless of the time frame.

Finally, I have started the tentative process of getting artists’ commitments to the exhibition, with the goal of aligning the leading female artists of the region to help “move” this proposal and so far have obtained enthusiastic “yes” from Margaret Boozer, Lisa Montag Brotman, Shanti Chandra Sekar, Irene Clouthier, Rosemary Feit-Covey, Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Carol Brown Goldberg, Janis Goodman, Muriel Hasbun, Melissa Ichiuji, Akemi Maegawa, Joey Manlapaz, Anne Marchand, Jody Mussoff. Teresa Oaxaca, Amber Robles-Gordon, Renee Stout, Helen Zughaib and 60+ other DMV female artists.

Let’s go!

Many years ago, I had the honor of being asked to help select the winner of the annual Congressional Art Competition for then Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and thus this competition holds a special place near my art heart.

Jamie Raskin represents Maryland's 8th District, and as part of this year's competition, his office graciously sent me the following info:

The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself  by Olivia Ensign of Albert Einstein High School

This year’s winner is Olivia Ensign from Albert Einstein High School in Kensington. Olivia’s submission, “The Memory Quilt: Pieces of Myself,” will hang in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year alongside winning art pieces from congressional districts across the nation.

The second place winners include: Alanna Sidlowski, Betsi Ralda-Romera, Dami Kim, Dhruv Narang, Elizabeth Daly, Ella Spirtas, Etian Huang, Joseph Bloomfield, Lily Pacuit, Lucinda Sun, Mikae Fasihi, Nari Kim, Natalie McMurry, Olivia Dietrich, Rebecca Rothstein, Ryan Crothers and Yael Chinn.

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. Now in its 42nd year, more than 650,000 high school students have participated since the competition’s inception in 1982.

And I approve! WOW! This artist is not only superbly talented, but already shows the skills of a much mature painter: The composition is brilliant and that elusive quality of self-portraiture - the ability to catch a psychological in-print - is there!

In an interview with WTOP, Raskin said, “the winner’s piece, I could only describe it as spellbinding!”

Congratulations to Ensign, and to the Congressman and his staff and whoever assisted him in the selection process - well done!

All the entries are online here. I also quite liked Streets of Singapore by Mikael Fasihi of Landon School and Birdie by Nadula Ediriweera of Walt Whitman High School.

The CEWE Photo Award unites photo enthusiasts – and celebrates the beauty of our world. 

The world's largest photo competition is starting its fifth round with the motto “Our world is beautiful”; photos can be submitted in ten exciting categories: Architecture & Technology | Landscapes | Animals | Nature | Cooking & Food | Travel & Culture | Hobby & Leisure | People | Aerial Photos | Sports 

No Entry Fee. Deadline May 31, 2023.

Details: http://bit.ly/3X0PRos