All Art Friday

All Art Friday

Focus on Virginia Artists: Jeffery L. Hall

Detroit-born sculptor Jeffery Hall, who worked for 11 years beside figure sculptor Frederick Hart (1943-1999), lives in Lovettsville, Virginia, where he creates figurative work in clay, bronze, Lucite, and bonded marble, glass, and wood. He has received numerous awards for his sculptures, which range in scale from tabletop to monumental; has shown his ceramic work around the world; and has completed a number of public and private commissions, including two for the U.S. Capitol building and one for Washington National Cathedral. His refined, high-quality artwork can be found in numerous galleries across the United States, including Hawaii. 

Hall's Monumental Men Series, Portraits & Reliefs, Bronze/Lucite Sculptures, City of Angles (Architectural Figures) Series, Woodwork

This video shows Hall at work in his studio:

Jeff Hall Studio, 39331 Rodeffer Road, Lovettsville, Virginia 20180

New Art Magazine: STAMP

A free, Washington, D.C.-based "catalog-style" digital magazine for artists has launched: STAMP. Described as "a platform for artists to showcase their talents without the stress of having a helluva resume to even get their work seen", STAMP has received funding through the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

The premiere issue, viewable here, profiles 12 artists, including Maryland painter Judith Olivia HeartSong whose "Peacock" image I licensed for my company Transformational Threads. (Image above right: Detail of eye of "Peacock Crimson", custom hand-embroidery, 20"x20". Photo courtesy of Judith Olivia HeartSong. © 2009 Judith Olivia HeartSong. All Rights Reserved.)

Plans are to highlight in each issue of STAMP as many as five artists, who each will be given a four-page spread, and provide an in-depth section listing museums, supply stores, community events, and online tips, techniques, and tutorials.

STAMP's blog is live, too. 

Update on Laurel True's Haiti Project

On May 7, I wrote about artist Laurel True's art project in Jacmel, Haiti: a collaboration with Haitian and American artists to design and create a mosaic mural commemorating the lives lost in the January 12 earthquake and celebrating healing and rebuilding on the island. 

Through Kickstarter, True raised 107 percent of the funds needed for the project, which she undertook in partnership with the Art Creation Foundation for Children. In June, True went to Haiti to work with local youth and adults on the mosaic mural, which is now completed.

True shared at Mosaic Art Now her photos from Jacmel (one view is shown immediately below) and a few words about the project's unfolding and completion over eight days: "Laurel True Arrives in Jacmel, Haiti: Days 1 and 2", Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8. Be sure to see the photos in the last post of the mural lit by candlelight. It's beautiful and truly representative of a community effort.

Exhibitions Here and There

✭ Now showing at the Smithsonian's S. Dillon Ripley Center is "Revealing Culture", an multi-sensory exhibition of more than 130 artworks — installations, video, performance, painting and sculpture, printmaking — by emerging and established artists with disabilities. 

Among the 54 featured artists, selected from among 400 submissions, are Katherine Sherwood, Kenn Coplan, Jamshid Agayev, Stephanie Bachiero, Jesse Higman, Martin Charlot,  Julie Lusson, Amy Miller, and Judson Wright. The complete list of artists and images of their work are here.

Part of the juried international exhibition of the 2010 International VSA Festival at Washingon, D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the show at the center continues through August 29.

VSA (International Organization on Arts and Disability), an affiliate of the The Kennedy Center, was founded more than 35 years ago by Jean Kennedy Smith to provide arts and arts education opportunities to people with disabilities and promote access to the arts for all. The organization has 51 international affiliates and a network of affiliates across the United States. Some 7 million people participate in its programs annually.

The S. Dillon Ripley Center is on the National Mall at 1100 Jefferson Drive., S.W., Washington, D.C., and is open daily, 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott recently reviewed the show (photos are available with that review).

✭ The Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, Virginia, opened "gaps" on June 24. The show, which runs through July 31, features sculpture indoors and out. Juried by Vesela Sretenovic, curator for contemporary and modern art at The Phillips Collection, and co-sponsored by Washington Sculptors Group and Initiative for Public Art Reston, the show includes work by 23 artists, including Rebecca Kamen and Joel D'Orazio. (The list of artists is here.)

✭ Gallery Neptune's Summer Artist Marketplace, a collection of paintings, collage, mixed media, and graphite art, is on view through August 21. Featured are artists Joan Belmar, Lisa Montag Brotman, Hsin-Hsi Chen, Duane Cregger, Marco DiChiro, Ellen Hill, Katherine Mann, Greg Minah, and David Wallace.

Gallery Neptune is located at 5001 Wilson Lane, Bethesda, Maryland, in the Pierpoint building; telephone 301-718-0809. Gallery hours are Saturdays, 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Image above right: Ellen Hill, "Jackpot", 24"x24", mixed media. © Ellen Hill. 

MAN's Call for Mosaic Artists

Mosaic Art Now (MAN) publishes annually a beautiful four-color issue promoting contemporary mosaics and the artists who create them. The annual reaches thousands of mosaic artists, collectors, designers, architects, curators, advocates, and fans of mosaic art. A highlight of the publication is the Exhibition in Print (EIP), which aims to replicate the experience of visiting a mosaic exhibition in a fine art gallery or museum. The EIP features multiple works of individual mosaic artists selected by an international panel of jurors. (Go here to view a sample.) 

MAN has issued a Call to Artists for its 2011 Exhibition in Print. This year's jurors are Bernice Steinbaum, a noted gallery owner and educator;  Emma Biggs, an acclaimed, internationally known mosaic artist; and Matthew Collings, an artist, historian, writer, and BBC arts broadcaster. Two $500 prizes will be awarded. The deadline for submissions is October 1. A prospectus and entry forms (available in English, Italian, and French) are here. Questions may be directed to EIP2011@MosaicArtNOW.com.