All Art Friday

All Art Friday

RoundAbout Roundup of Art

If you happen to be in Virginia, Washington, D.C., or thereabouts during the following events, stop in and sample the artistic delights.

Last Call to See Divining Nature: Artist Rebecca Kamen's "Divining Nature: An Elemental Garden", a sculpture installation I described in an earlier All Art Friday edition, remains on view until November 14 at Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St., Ste. 103, Reston, Virginia 20109; 703-471-9242). The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. A public program, "Teen Night: Closing Party for Divining Nature", co-sponsored by the Reston Community Center, is scheduled for Thursday evening, November 12, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.; free.


Still Time to Register for Vassar Art Talk: If you read last week's All Art Friday, you know that James Mundy, director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, will be in town on Saturday, November 14, to celebrate the Anne Truitt exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. If you're thinking of attending this special event, which includes a tour with the show's curator and an early afternoon lunch, don't delay. Your R.S.V.P. is due by November 10. Please click here to download a response card or direct inquiries to Jennifer Cole; telephone 845-437-5391 or e-mail jecole@vassar.edu. Please note: A fee is required to attend.


FotoWeek DC 2009: Washington Project for the Arts presents "Framing the Economic Downturn (FED)", a group exhibition opening Tuesday, November 10, with a reception from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Comprising video and photographs of WPA members and invited artists, the show was curated by award-winning documentary photographer Jim Hubbard. Running through December 11, 2009, FotoWeek is open Fridays and Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.; Sundays, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and by appointment. The exhibition is at Gallery O/H, 1354 H St., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. For more information, click here.


Here From the West Coast: Los Angeles-based artist Cole Sternberg is exhibiting at American University's Katzen Arts Center (4400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016) from November 7 to December 20. His exhibit, "Cole Sternberg: and those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music", marries contemporary art to international law "to critically analyze human rights and the application of international law." For details about the exhibit, visiting hours, and related exhibition events, click here.

Also at the Katzen: "Australian Indigenous Art Triennial: Cultural Warriors", through December 6; "John Dreyfuss", through January 17, 2010; and "Virtuelle Mauer/ReConstructing the Wall", through December 20.


Collaborative Art Projects

Clean Out Your Closets: Portland, Oregon-based multidisciplinary artist M.K. Guth, who was featured in last year's Whitney Biennial, is ready to take your old clothes off your backs, er, hands, if you're ready to give them up. She needs the castoffs for her project "This Fable Is Intended for You: A Work-Energy Principle by M.K. Guth", which is part of the New York City Public Theatre's yearly "Under the Radar Festival".

The artist will collect your clothing, linens, rags, or other fabric items between November 10 and December 18 at a downtown storefront in New York City; there, she will take them apart and make them into something "new". All of the objects Guth makes while in New York will be shown at the city's World Financial Center January 6 - 24, 2010.

For an article on Guth's project, click here.

Another of Guth's projects, "Ties of Protection and Safekeeping", also is interactive and invites your participation. All you need to do is write on a piece of fabric your response to the question "What is worth protecting?" and then send it to Guth. (You might also be able to give it to hear in person, if yours is one of the cities she visits.) Guth will weave the fabric pieces, which she must receive before March 18, 2010, into what is intended to become a braided sculpture for exhibition at next year's Whitney Biennial. Details about the project are here.


Interpretations of Disability: The international nonprofit VSA arts is inviting people from around the world to send in a postcard that documents your "interpretation" of disability through "visual representation of your experiences, impressions, and perceptions". Submissions are due no later than February 5, 2010,  and will be accepted in all languages. You need not be a professional artist to participate in this collaboration. VSA is seeking as many responses as possible from people of different cultures, ethnicities, geographic locations, and abilities.

VSA's juried exhibition of submissions, "Revealing Culture", will be offered online and as part of the 2010 International VSA arts Festival that will be held June 6-12, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

Information about postcard submissions for "Revealing Culture" is available here.


Making an Auspicious Move

Civilian Art Projects opens in a new space, 1019 7th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004, on Friday the 13th. To celebrate, CAP presents two solo exhibitions: "Woods", featuring work by international fine art photographer Terri Weifenbach, and "A Little Give and Take", with sculpture by Carole Wagner Greenwood. The opening reception for the artists also is Friday, November 13, from 7:00 p.m.  to 9:00 p.m. Both shows are on view until December 19.

Terri Weifenbach, who has published nine books of photography, including, most recently, Another Summer (Thunderstorm Press, October 2009), has exhibited in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S. The CAP show, comprising photographs taken in woods around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, is her first solo exhibition in D.C. in seven years, according to a gallery press release.

For an essay about Weifenbach and her CAP show, click here.

Appearing for the second time at CAP, Washington, D.C., resident Carole Wagner Greenwood creates sculptural forms of text, plaster, linen, and various found objects, and frequently applies gold leaf or other adornments. In addition to being an artist, Greenwood is a well-known Paris-trained chef  (her D.C. restaurants include Buck's Fishing & Camping) and a musician. She plans to release in conjunction with the exhibition her limited-edition, signed and numbered debut EP, "A Little Give and Take", consisting of songs "inspired by life in the American Wild West", narrative poetry, and "complexly layered beats and sounds and call-and-answer techniques". The vinyl pressing comes with a chapbook of poetry. Greenwood's band is The Beatings.

Have questions about the shows? E-mail info@civilianartsprojects.com.


Looking Ahead

Linda Nochlin will be presenting the third Clarice Smith Lecture at Smithsonian American Art Museum on November 18. Her talk is titled "Consider the Difference: American Women Artists from Cassatt to Contemporary".  Nochlin is a renowned scholar of feminist art history. Listening to her is a real treat.

A Webcast of Nochlin's lecture is planned and will be available here.


He Said It!

"Why don't we let the art world be what it is, which is a cure for America." ~ Dave Hickey,  Art and Culture Critic and MacArthur "Genuis Award" Winner