All Art Friday

All Art Friday

Kazaan Viveiros Show Extended

Kazaan Viveiros's exhibition at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, Virginia, has been extended to March 21. Take an hour from an afternoon and go see the show before it closes. The Athenaeum (201 Prince Street) is open Thursday, Friday, and Sunday 12:00 p.m. - 4: 00 p.m., and Saturday 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Since my earlier post about Viveiros, I've learned that she has just returned from an artist's residency at Weir Farm, in Wilton, Connecticut, where she completed a series of tree paintings. In addition, as a participant in the Sketchbook Project of the Art House Coop in Atlanta, Georgia, Viveiros has contributed a sketchbook that will go on tour with other artists' contributions and then be housed at the Brooklyn (New York) Art Library. Viveiros also has been featured in the monthly Northern Virginia periodical Elan Magazine (the article has not yet been archived) and has five paintings touring in the Department of State's Art in Embassies Program, which recently purchased some of her work. (Image: Galapagos, 36x48 inches, Acrylic, conte crayon on panel; Diptych. Copyright © 2009 Kazaan Viveiros)

Exhibits in Washington, D.C.

Colorforms opened yesterday at the Hirshhorn Museum. Drawn from the museums's own collections as well as from the National Gallery of Art's Mark Rothko collection, the show presents a vivid demonstration of how artists use color. Included in the exhibition are a video, "Shutter Interface" (1975) by Paul Sharits; yarn sculptures by Minimalist Fred Sandback; a fluorescent light and colored gel installation, "Milk Run" by James Turrell (shown at left); and a spherical sculpture by the instantly recognizable Anish Kapoor. Work now on view will be replaced in six months with different selections.  The show closes on January 2, 2011.

Twenty-six prints of selected Ansel Adams photographs are on permanent display on the first and second floors of the Department of Interior (1849 C Street, N.W.) and may be viewed during regular business hours. The originals are in the National Archives. The DOI commissioned Adams to photograph national parks, forests, the reservations of Native Americans, and other managed grounds. Included in the display are images of Wyoming's Snake River and Grand Teton National Park.

My Kurdistan: Paintings of Kurdish Life is on view through March 28 at Foundry Gallery (1314 18th St., N.W.).  Sponsored by the Kurdistan Regional Government Office in Washington, D.C., the show features seven established and emerging Kurdish artists: Falah Shwan (see image to right), Raouf Hasan, Jamal Mushir, Hekmat Hndi, Sardar Kestai, Kurdo Hasan, and Jawhar Mohamad. Images range from landscapes, to depictions of tribal legends and myths, to contemporary life. Be sure to see Shwan's haunting "War is Different."

This very short video gives a bit of information about the exhibit, reminding us of the rich cultural heritage of a region in Iraq that has suffered deeply in the war.

Minds Wide Open

The Commonwealth of Virginia is celebrating women in the arts during its Minds Wide Open Campaign. The first statewide celebration of its kind, which is taking place through June, showcases art exhibitions, dance performances, film, concerts, and much more. Locally, on April 24, Arlington's own Bowen McCauley Dance Group will be joining the Cantate Chamber Singers in a world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's only Mass at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater.

Currently, more than 450 events are scheduled for the celebration. Visit the Website for the continually updated calendar or follow Minds Wide Open on Twitter.

Paintings and Ceramics Show

Traveling to Ventura, California? Stop in at the Sylvia White Gallery (1783 East Main Street; 805-643-8300) for Brilliant Paintings & Amazing Ceramics, guest-curated by Betty Ann Brown, an art historian at California State University, Northridge, and the author of books about Surrealism, artists who are women, and the portrayal of artists in mass media. Artists featured in the exhibition include Jim Morphesis, Keiko Fukazawa, Blandine Saint-Oyant, and 11 other Southern Californians whose work, which ranges from meditative abstractions to fantastical glass or ceramic sculptures, can be seen online here.

The show runs through April 3; the opening reception is tomorrow night.

April Is National Poetry Month

Get ready! April 1 marks the beginning of National Poetry Month. To find local readings, submission opportunities, literary journals, writing programs, bookstores, and poetry groups or organizations, check out National Poetry Map. Then head here to learn about the Academy of American Poets' April 20 benefit gala, Poetry & the Creative Mind, at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. Finally, though we all can't afford tickets to the gala, we can select a poem for the April 29 Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Art + Technology

Artist Jason Salavon has become well known for his use of custom-made software to create art. And what distinctive art he creates! An assistant professor of visual arts in the University of Chicago's Department of Visual Arts and in the Computation Institute, Salavon recently completed a commission for the U.S. Census Bureau (see image to left). Titled "American Varietal" and installed at the Bureau's headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, Salavon's work is 40 feet long, weighs five tons, and took three years to create. It consists of a "sculpting" of population data collected between 1790 and 2000 from approximately 6,000 counties in the United States. The 15 panels that make up the abstract mural "float" off the floor.

An informative article about some of Salavon's art is available here. The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., now owns Salavon's The Late Night Triad, a video triptych, with soundtrack, of 64 nights of monologues by talk-show hosts. It is the first electronic artwork to be added to the NPG's collection. Stills from the work can be viewed here. To view additional images, go to Salavon's University of Chicago faculty page, here (click on Go to gallery).

Trawick Prize: Call for Artists

If you are 18 and older and a resident of Virginia, Maryland, or Washington, D.C., you may submit an application for the annual juried competition The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. This prestigious competition offers $14,000 in prize money to four artists. Submissions of original paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, fiber, digital, and mixed media and video are eligible. For an application and submission guidelines, go here.

He Said It!

Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see. ~ Artist Paul Klee