rebecca's misc.

miscellany

2012-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Yevgeniya Baras

Louise Bourgeouis

Kristen Schiele

Janelle Iglesias

Alika Cooper

The Thing

2012-01-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

My artist friend Mike said when he is painting he is always thinking about making an object. Here are some painty objects.

Peter Gallo, Good taste, which is becoming prevalent throughout Europe, was born under the blue skies of Greece... , Horton Gallery

Peter Gallo, Paint Symptoms, Horton Gallery

Peter Gallo, I'm Not Dead Yet, Horton Gallery

Nina Else, Bread Loaf, Tercera Gallery

Nina Else, Tercera Gallery

studio shot

2012-01-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

"rare and original idiosyncracies"

2012-01-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

A hand-shaped spot: I'm having a flashback to high school English class, to that one titular blemish on the woman's face in Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark." There is vitality in imperfection.

From the poet Emily Carr:
"In an online interview, Carole Maso says, 'I am much more interested in producing a flawed, mortal document than something that is just a nod to a certain set of conventions. I also tend to favor writing that is an event in some way, & not just the record of an event; it creates a more vulnerable, fluid space, where the unforeseen, or the errant, or something a little wild is allowed to enter. […] My work is dictated by passion & deep emotion—all that is necessary is to surrender to the text without a care for what it is.'”

Carr continues, "I believe form is a matter of temperment, of what Jorie Graham calls 'rare and original idiosyncrasies.'"

from An Interview with Emily Carr, Poet
http://www.robmclennan.blogspot.com/2012/01/12-or-20-questions-second-series-with.html

Harry Callahan

2012-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

I really recommend the Harry Callahan exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. Looking at his work, I see a guy always attuned to the visual world, to whatever moments and phenomena and bits ands bobs that he might encounter. And also always willing to perform all sorts of experiments with his photography -- collaging, double-exposing, etc (see the photo above that is of a stationary flashlight in a dark room, with Callahan moving the camera).

A faith in intuition and experiment, and in always LOOKING. I have been painting a lot from imagination and photos lately, but I need to go back to painting from life, experiencing that intense kind of seeing that lets you observe the marvelous in the ordinary. Seeing Callahan's work made me think about this, and the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about being "uplifted into infinite spaces, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all."

I'd like to know more about Callahan's life and his art-making and art-teaching. The exhibition text described him as a quiet, modest, doubt-full sort of teacher. He took so many shots but selected a very few for finished works.

Here are some quotes:

I think nearly every artist continually wants to reach the edge of nothingness - the point where you can't go any further.

The photographs that excite me are photographs that say something in a new manner; not for the sake of being different, but ones that are different because the individual is different and the individual expresses himself.

I photograph continuously, often without a good idea or strong feelings. During this time the photos are nearly all poor but I believe they develop my seeing and help later on in other photos. I do believe strongly in photography and hope by following it intuitively that when the photographs are looked at they will touch the spirit in people.

Quote

2012-01-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

"With my students, I don’t even talk about abstraction and representation, because I think we’re beyond that. I think we’re at a time where everything is abstract and everything is representational. It’s more about how you find your own language with paint. It’s really just your body and its relationship to the world. Using the senses is not anti-intellectual."
Painter Josephine Halvorson in The Brooklyn Rail

Peto

2012-01-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

John Frederick Peto

student work

Not too long ago, I taught a high school oil painting workshop -- students made their own bulletin board displays and painted 'em, inspired by John F. Peto. Glad I provided a lot of ribbon, string, and neon masking tape. We got even more into making the still life set ups than painting them.

classes

2012-01-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

collab student drawing at Arlington Arts Center, after Copley

Hi friends! Wishing you a happy holiday season and best wishes for the new year. Starting late January, I'm teaching several evening classes in Arlington, VA. Here are the details:

At the Arlington Arts Center

Tuesdays, 6:30- 9:00 (1/24-3/13) : Drawing with Color

Thursdays, 7– 9:30 (1/26-3/22): Drawing: Focus on Portraiture

for more info or to register, visit: https://www.arlingtonartscenter.org/education (info available on January 3rd)

At Fairlington Community Center:

Mondays, beginning Jan. 23, 7-9pm: Art of Sketching

This class teaches beginning students the art of sketching and how to capture the essence of something quickly and simply on paper.Great class for beginners learning how to draw and for advanced students looking to quicken their drawing skills. Students learn how to seeproportion, movement, form and expression of what they are observing and then capture that quickly on paper. Learn various sketching techniques while using basic drawing as graphite sticks, conte crayon, pens and charcoal. No prior drawing experiencenecessary.

for more info or to register, visit: http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/ParksRecreation/ParksRecreationMain.aspx

Animals I Have Known

2011-12-31T13:25:00.000-08:00

So I just put up a 25% off sale at my etsy shop, good through January! In related news, I've put together this book of my animal illustrations. A percentage of sales goes to the Washington Animal Rescue League.

an animal compendium by Becca Kallem | Make Your Own Book

Nick Cave

2011-12-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

So great to see some of Nick Cave's "Sound Suits" in person at the Corcoran's 30 Americans show.

Free Veggieburgers!

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

So, I thought I'd post something for you to print out -- obv. a color printer w/nice card stock is best! Copy/save and print whatever size you like. Use as you will, just be sure to credit moi (Becca Kallem). Drumroll, please... I bring you: THE HAMBURGER LETTER. You can write a letter on this burger to mail or hand deliver to your beloved. Just don't eat it. But I guess it has lotsa fiber. Anyway, if you'd rather, you can also buy a pre-printed hamburger letter from my etsy shop.

don't forget the lettuce and bottom-bun:

Clare Grill, Annie Leibovitz and Josephine Halvorson

2011-12-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Clare Grill, E.T.

What a beautiful convergence here -- the living, human (or alien) presence of the object; and you can really, physcally FEEL both Leibovitz and Halvorson looking. I love Halvorson's idea of the painting/motif 'looking back.' Interesting -- the similar close-up, cropping in all three.

Annie Leibovitz, Emily Dickinson's dress from Pilgrimage

Josephine Halvorson, Concrete Chest

"Unlike her staged and carefully lit portraits made on assignment for magazines and advertising clients, the photographs in this exhibition were taken simply because Leibovitz was moved by the subject. The images speak in a commonplace language to the photographer’s curiosity about the world she inherited, spanning landscapes both dramatic and quiet, interiors of living rooms and bedrooms, and objects that are talismans of past lives...Visiting the homes of iconic figures including Thomas Jefferson, Emily Dickinson, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pete Seeger, and Elvis Presley, as well as places such as Niagara Falls, Walden Pond, Old Faithful, and the Yosemite Valley, she let her instincts and intuitions guide her to related subjects—hence the title “Pilgrimage.”" Smithsonian American Art Museum

"Josephine Halvorson has an itinerant practice. She searches for objects willing to ‘look back’. Working perceptually on site, Halvorson’s paintings contain the reciprocities that develop between artist and object, and become testaments to time spent. The exchanges, which take place in a single session, test the limits of the body, witness the vagaries of weather and light, attract passing strangers, and - when materialized in paint - take on unexpected meanings. The works on view were made in places as diverse as Shoshone, California; Canaan, New York; Akureyri, Iceland; and Shoreham, England. Halvorson's explorations are not only geographical, but also psychological. Chance encounters with objects in their environments realize internal glimpses of paintings unmade yet somehow anticipated. Halvorson considers a painting successful when it asserts a life independent of its power to represent either the original object or the experience of its own making. She hopes these paintings return the attention that produced them and, as a group, evoke an everevolving narrative." Sikkema Jenkins Press Release

Allison Schulnik

2011-11-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Allison Schulnik, Cat Head

Allison Schulnik, Flower Mound

Above images from the Q&A at New American Paintings.

open studios!!!!!

2011-11-17T13:51:00.001-08:00

My studio-mates Geoff and Sheppard and I are hosting a winter open studio Saturday, 11/19, from 3-6pm. You are invited to stop by to check out our work and partake of some wintry food and drink!

When:
11/19, anytime from 3-6pm

Where:
218 REAR 9th St SE
Washington DC
just a few blocks from Eastern Market, entry from the alley between 9th and 10th streets

closing reception/artist talk

2011-11-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

Please Join Us!
Saturday, November 12th, 2-3:30 pm

If you haven't seen the show yet or would like to see it again, please come to our closing reception and talk. An informal conversation with some of the exhibiting artists begins at 2pm, followed by snacks and drinks.

HOPE CHEST features artwork by DC/Baltimore artists Mariah Anne Johnson, Becca Kallem, Chandi Kelley, Michelle McAuliffe, Erin Murray, Elle Perez, Katherine Sifers, and Dafna Steinberg. These emerging artists challenge and reinvent tradition, romance, gender roles/expectations, and sexuality. Their work also investigates what we keep, save, and treasure in contrast to what is discarded. Photography, installations, mixed media work, and paintings present the domestic, nostalgic, and personal in new contexts.

GreenHouse 11
1123 11th St NW
Washington, DC

This Satuday, 2-3:30pm

Questions? Email Becca Kallem at rebeccamarion@gmail.com

Katherine Sable

2011-11-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Katherine Sable, Show a Little Ankle, 2011, oil on linen, 66 x 54 inches

at Heiner Contemporary

Lori Nix

2011-11-02T09:03:00.002-07:00

Lori Nix creates amazingly intiricate dioramas which she then photographs. Here are just a few examples of her work.

Preview! Becca's Holiday Sale 2011

2011-10-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have been crafting and making small art pieces like a veritable machine. By purchasing my wares for all your holiday gifting needs, you'll be supporting my artmaking as well as the two awesome art spaces where my work will be for sale: The Washington Project for the Arts and Pleasant Plains Workshop. Stay tuned for more details!

Hong Seon Jang

2011-10-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hair Club for Men and Women

2011-10-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Langdon Graves
Wigs II, Lorna Simpson

Chloe Watson

Jim Dine

Melanie Bilenker (brooch made with hair)

Larissa Bates

2011-10-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Laura Shema, and Lucian Freud

2011-10-18T19:56:00.001-07:00

Laura Shema

2011-10-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Laura Shema

Richard Baker's book paintings and Gideon Bok's LP Paintings

2011-10-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

"Which books to paint then?" Baker writes. "I began to think about books that had been important and life-changing for me, but which I now felt I could no longer return to—books that held great meaning for me as a youth but lacked the same impact upon rereading...Which books to paint then? I began to think about books that had been important and life-changing for me, but which I now felt I could no longer return to—books that held great meaning for me as a youth but lacked the same impact upon rereading...As my involvement with this act of 'portraiture' has continued, the reasons for choosing which titles and editions have evolved and become more various, though it remains of paramount importance that they be familiar and of no special pedigree. In the end, these paintings stand against loss and for reverie, memory, optimism, desire, and love." Richard Baker

Gideon Bok:

Gideon Bok is painting his LPs. Love it.

Lorna Simpson, Rachel Sitkin, and Brian Scott Campbell

2011-10-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

Lorna Simpson, Cloud

Brian Scott Campbell, The Complex

Rachel Sitkin, Billowing (she has some really great work at the Arlington Arts Center)

Dean Kessman

2011-10-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Have a Nice Day by Dean Kessman

DC Guide

2011-10-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

I am so impressed with Grace Bonney, who has become a huge success with her design blog (and book), Design*Sponge. In the relatively small art department where we both went to undergrad, she fortunately found a prof. who got her interested in design, decorative arts, and the like...now look! I especially admire the help she and her co-bloggers give to women entrepreneurs.

On Design*Sponge is a DC Design Guide. I love that people hee and all over are seeking out unique furniture, handmade decor, craft pieces, DIY project opportunites, and the like... I swim around in the (not mutually exclusive) ponds of 'fine arts' and 'craft' and 'design', and sometimes I wish that 'fine arts' might be a bit more accessible, locally, in the commercially robust way that craft and decor have become. (As an educator, I want art to be accesible in general, too -- a whole 'nother pond o' fish.) Ayway, I do love how "ambassadors" like Kristina Bilonick of Pleasant Plains Workshop promote local art and craft, how Chandi Kelley of Project Dispatch makes art collecting affordable and fun, while helping working artists support their creative endeavors.

For what is is worth, I added the comment below to the D*S DC Design Guide -- I know it isn't an 'art guide', but there is such an intersection, and the more the merrier in generating new and creative ideas and making DC a place where original visions thrive!!

***

Great guide, and I'm glad to see DCAC included and Crafty Bastards mentioned, above! I'm a DC artist and would love for more folks to discover our creative scene. Here are some other great spots:

Check out Pleasant Plains Workshop, an artist-run studio/gallery space/store near Howard University. Cool silkscreened items and other crafts and art by local artists: http://pleasantplainsworkshop.blogspot.com/

Industry Gallery features international design: http://industrygallerydc.com/Site/Home.html

52 O Street Studios is a decades-old studio building with dozens of artists and crafters, from painters to furniture makers to filmmakers and more. There are occasional open houses: http://www.52ostreetstudios.org/

Check out Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring! In addition to their awesome gallery and papermaking and printmaking studios for resident artists, they offer classes in letter press, papermaking, and more. Upstairs is the Washington Printmakers Gallery, with some beautiful (and relatively affordable) work. http://www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/

The annual Capitol Hill House Tour is great and occasionally also includes a peak into work spaces, like the one I share with decorative painters, custom furniture makers, photographers, and florists! http://www.chrs.org/Pages/1_Projects_11Tour/2011-chrs-tour-brochure.pdf

Flashpoint, Transformer, Civilian, Hamiltonian, Project 4, Harmon Art Labs, The Fridge (near Eastern Market), Heiner Contemproary (in Georgetown) and Conner Contemporary are some galleries that feature work by emerging and mid-career artists from DC and elsewhere, often inculding work at all sorts of price points for those interested in buying original art. There are also some artist-curated 'house galleries' and alternative spaces like Bloombars, and the Washington Project for the Arts presents the work of area artists. For an extensive list of art goings, the Pinkline Project is a great resource, http://pinklineproject.com/.

Portraits and Panels

2011-10-03T09:03:00.001-07:00

Circle of Hugo Van der Goes

Fayyum portrait

Fayyum Portrait

Hugo Van der Goes

Lucian Freud

I know, Lucian Freud is like whoa. Every year I have a student who is super talented and will do a copy of a Freud painting that just is amazing and better than I could. Lately, I have been
looking at Hugo Van der Goes -- for me there is a density there that is like the same as Freud, just blended and smoothed and softened. I also like how sometimes you see these type of portraits on unframed, odd-shaped wood panels (maybe parts of an altar or somesuch) -- so the very "realness" of the illusion of the flesh contrasts with the very obvious object-ness of the support. Same with the Roman Fayum mummy portraits.

Rachel England

2011-10-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Transmuted (top), Get Past the Flesh (bottom)

I think maybe Rachel England and I are kindred art souls, a bit. Check out her awesome collage work for Project Dispatch, of which she is a cofounder.

Painter's Group

2011-10-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Pop over here to follow the studio visits I am doing as a part of a DC-area painters' group. Basically, every month an artist hosts the group in their space for some art chat, feedback, and general camaraderie. So far, visits have been with Lisa Rosenstein, Deborah Carroll Anzinger, and myself -- more to come!

Amber Robles Gordon

2011-10-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

DC artist Amber Robles Gordon

artifacts of a community

Sarah Hubbs

2011-10-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

"I recently gave up my studio in Brooklyn to make art from home and prepare for the arrival of our first child. I have always considered “place” in my work as I have moved from growing up in the Sonoran desert and the suburban sprawl of Phoenix to dense cities along the East and West Coasts. At eight-months pregnant, my body has changed a lot, and as I experience the movements of my baby, I imagine “place” as something completely different for her. Insulated and contained, the womb only allows her abstractions; muffled sounds, partial lights, and erratic movements. The instinct to care for her in her little world translates into a strong desire to care for my own home, to clean-out and make comfortable, drawing me far from the fast and needy city. Yet, at the same time, I look for ways to maintain my social connections and friendships and for ways to make visible the ties between our child’s life and the place where my husband and I both grew up, and where our families live. "

"For this project I photographed decaying areas of New York City: paint peeling in the subways, layers of dirt and grime in the streets. I isolated one image from the series and recreated multiple wall hangings out of discarded household items and packing materials. Resembling a human profile, the old towels, t-shirts, and intimates as well as cardboard, stained carpet and joint compound, create a wallpaper-like, decorative pattern. Installed in our bedroom, the meaning and history of this image and of the discarded materials are recontextualized by the interiority and intimacy of the space. A sense of the tangible and the intangible becomes visible and the process of defining who we are and what we see, both concrete and ambiguous, takes shape." --Sarah Hubbs

I'm a Fool for You

2011-10-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Venus Rising From the Sea: A Deception (After the Bath), by Raphaelle Peale

Love this painting; somehow it is trompe-l'oiel but even more (like double trompe l'oiel?), painting meta, playing with flatness/3D. American but to me at first looks Spanish, like Sanchez Cotan or Zurbaran or something holy, shroud of Turin-y... I love the play of the covering/hiding though I like the cloth itself so much that I don't really need Venus. I am trying to do my "take" with a painty bandana. Here is Catherine Kehoe's "On the Line." And I am also reposting Andrew Cranston's take since I like it so. And a sculptural piece by Maria Walker -- note the title is "Fool Me Once".

Andrew Cranston, After An American Painting

Maria Walker, Fool Me Once

Help Us to Be Confident and Fabulous

2011-09-30T17:57:00.001-07:00

My Tim Gunn Votive prototype -- instructions: print image (to be 8.5" wide), cut off extra paper, and tape or glue to a standard size Virgen de Guadelupe or similar glass votive candle. Will probably help you to "make it work" with persistence, hard work, and confidence. Will definitely be a fire hazard. Maybe next will be a yarzheit candle with someone's face emblazoned on it? Eh, that seems a bit in bad taste.

English Translation of the prayer: TIM GUNN, Our Counsellor and Wise Friend. Prayer of Tim Gunn, Guide, Counsellor, and Wise Friend. Oh, Tim Gunn, mentor, guide and wise friend; unblemished, honorable, prudent and full of pacience, I beseech you your aid in all of my artistic efforts, asking the protection of your heart for all of my friends and my works, watchover them for me and form style, honesty, and beauty in their hearts. Give us the joy of having confidence, integrity, and creative vision while contemplating the glory of Style and Grace, praising and blessing Elegance and Fabulousness with kind hearts for all eternity. Help us to live with humor, goodwill, kindness, and humanity, Amen.

Dawn Black

2011-09-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

saw her work at (e)merge art fair. like these 2 especially.

more ross bleckner, annie lapin, siobhan mcbride

2011-09-25T07:48:00.001-07:00

above and below: paintings by ross bleckner

Annie Lapin

Siobhan McBride

some arts

2011-09-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Rachael Gorchov

Eden Veaudry

Shelby Donnelly

Kendell Carter

Maria Walker

Nancy Shaver
Maria Walker
Maria Walker

painting in progress

2011-09-16T19:22:00.001-07:00

working on my first commissioned sort of painting...this is just a start. it is 48"x48".

Ross Bleckner

2011-09-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

time (kingdom of time)

http://www.rbleckner.com/paintings.html

natalie frank

2011-09-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

go look at her work, now! now! natalie frank

HOPE CHEST: emerging women artists

2011-08-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

HOPE CHEST
: a young woman's accumulation of clothes and domestic furnishings (as silver and linen) kept in anticipation of her marriage; also : a chest for such an accumulation

Join us for a special event featuring artwork by DC/Baltimore artists Mariah Anne Johnson, Becca Kallem, Chandi Kelley, Michelle McAuliffe, Erin Murray, Elle Perez, Katherine Sifers, and Dafna Steinberg. These emerging artists challenge and reinvent tradition, romance, gender roles/expectations, and sexuality. Their work also investigates what we keep, save, and treasure in contrast to what is discarded. Photography, installations, mixed media work, and paintings present the domestic, nostalgic, and personal in new contexts.

September 15, 2011, 6-9 pm
@ GreenHouse 11
1123 11th St NW
Washington, DC
work on view September 15 - November 15 by appointment
**another special event will be held on September 24 to coincide with Shaw's NUIT BLANCHE Art All Night and the (e)merge art fair.**

HOPE CHEST is curated by Becca Kallem and hosted by Michael Schaeffer and Taurus Development Group. GreenHouse 11 is a unique new work space designed to grow small businesses and non-profits. Limited space is available.

images (details), l-r: Chandi Kelley, Two Stories, from Timelines; Becca Kallem, Pillow II; Erin Murray, Hope Chest; Dafna Steinberg, from Whenever I'm With Him, I'm Thinking Of You; Michelle McAuliffe, Ideas Begets Ideas; Katherine Sifers, Kalf #13; Mariah Anne Johnson, Sheet Installation; Elle Perez, A., from Conversations.

Taking on Tradition

2011-08-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Taking on Tradition: Six Virgina Painters and Printmakers. A group show at Washington & Lee University this fall with work by Kathleen Hall, Rebecca Kallem, Brian Kelley, Devin Mawdsley, Anna Wagner, and Amanda Wagstaff.

Polly Apfelbaum gets her F* You back

2011-08-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview from NYFA with Polly Apfelbaum. She says, "If someone says, 'Your work looks like my five year old could do it,' I think that is the highest compliment in the world. But it is really hard work, and now if it looks joyful, I'm so happy about that."

The Artist's Life: Polly Apfelbaum from NYFA on Vimeo.

In My Room*

2011-08-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

*So this is a song title from the Beach Boys, and apparently also the Insane Clown Posse. In any case, I just wanted to post some really nice, personal, room paintings.

Brian Michael Dunn, Floored

Andrew Cranston, Partition

Katrin Heichel, Pure Love

Women by Women

2011-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Such a Good Listener, watercolor on wood panel, Suzannah Sinclair

If you are in DC, you should stop by Heiner Contemporary in Georgetown to see their current show. Here's my write-up for the blog Where the Girls Go:

Heiner Contemporary is a fresh new gallery in Georgetown, with an awesome bright pink door and some awesome art inside. Currently on view is “Women by Women,” a group show of women artists. According to gallery owner Margaret Heiner, the exhibition focuses on “conceptions of femininity and the ways that women both embrace and struggle against gender stereotypes.”

Originally, Heiner considered staging a show about domesticity. But she ultimately decided to show work featuring diverse manifestations of femininity, with depictions of women by women artists who deal with a broad range of themes in various media.

Kim McCarty presents large watercolors of waif-like adolescent girls, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes self-assured. Her pieces are somewhat similar in technique to work by Egon Schiele and Marlene Dumas (a contemporary South African/Dutch artist who is definitely worth a look). The blurry watercolor conveys how slippery and constantly changing adolescence can be.

Edwina White’ fashionable ladies are fun, stylized, and cartoony — she draws women with cinnabon coifs, aristocratic masculine dress, and fanciful swimming costumes, with surprising little moments of collage studding the drawings.

Suzannah Sinclair’s works reference vintage erotica as well as more contemporary subjects. She paints with watercolor on wood panel, gently staining the surface so that the images seem to emerge like delicate projections or overexposed camera film. Her sexy, beautiful pieces capture women in intimate moments — are they posing for the viewer, reveling in their own desires and sexuality, or both?

Judie Bamber’s amazing drawings riff on mid-century photos. Her “Mom Reading 2″ shows a domestic but intellectual woman. Australian artist Bridget Mac’s photos feature less conventional presentations of female identity and the female body — her subjects are athletic, androgynous, powerful. She explores and blurs gender categories in such works as "Masculine/Feminine", a portrait of the same woman in both “masculine” and “feminine” guises. Mickalene Thomas, known for her powerful paintings of women of color, has the screen-print "Michelle O" in the show. It is a bold, pop-art portrait — made of Mrs. Obama before she became first lady, but showing her with all the iconic power she has since attained.

Women by Women will be on view at Heiner Contemporary through August 20, 2011. The gallery is located at 1675 Wisconsin Ave, NW. BONUS! If you are looking for queer art in DC, check out the beautiful photography by Elle Perez at Conner Contemporary Gallery’s “Academy” group show of work by DC-area art students.

Milton Glaser Quotes

2011-07-25T21:43:00.001-07:00

The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.
--Milton Glaser

Anne Connell and Caren Canier

2011-07-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Caren Canier

Anne Connell, Branching Stone

"I am not a copyist. Though I have claimed the work of late-medieval masters as my primary subject matter, it is merely a point of departure for a working process that is as intuitive as it is intellectual. My paintings are indisputably modern. The attainment of beauty is always an objective; I believe that beauty, in and of itself, has consequence. My pictures are dense, allusive, cerebral, intimate; their small size demands a necessary physical proximity in order to read them. I want the viewer to be drawn in, to be compelled to linger. Each painting presents a sort of enigma, an obscure narrative, a collage-like recombination of images whose exegesis requires more than half a minute and more than one look." -- Anne Connell

Andrew Cranston

2011-07-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

After An American Painting

Incubus

Squash Court Studio

some paintings

2011-07-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

some paintings. images from Culturehall:

Yoke, Clare Grill

Hooded Stove, Josephine Halvorson

Enthusiasm, Steven Grant La Rose

Computer with Notes, Emily Wick

SEND*OFF

2011-07-07T17:41:00.001-07:00

cy twombly

2011-07-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Cy Twombly, Bacchanalia: Fall (5 Days in November)” from 1977

Each line he made, he said, was “the actual experience” of making the line, adding: “It does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization.”

Elizabeth Huey

2011-05-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Asleep Between Book and Banjo

see other amazing paintings by Elizabeth Huey here.

Can You Describe Your Life as an Artist?

2011-05-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

William Kentridge's interview for the New York Studio School:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F1hMqJLaVY

Wonder Bread

2011-04-18T21:16:00.001-07:00

by Corita Kent:

Magpie Wonderbread

Helen Sear and Gerhard Richter

2011-04-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

Gerhard Richter

Helen Sear

gerhard richter

helen sear

Fayyum still life

2011-03-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

I feel terrible about posting this without crediting the artist -- I saved the image but can't find the artist's name. Does anyone know??

Edwin Dickinson, Hanneline Rogeberg

2011-03-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Edwin Dickinson, Nude with a Pinecone (Marie)

"The painted/scraped surface is a body up against mine." -- Hanneline Rogeberg

Hanneline Rogeberg, Istid

Hanneline Rogeberg, Spread

Hanneline Rogeberg, Outdoor Exchange

Hanneline Rogeberg, Thaw

Kimberly Trowbridge: Teaching Painting

2011-03-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of Kimberly Trowbridge's work, and I really like Ms. Trowbridge's page of student work and information on her methods of teaching painting. She writes:

In teaching painting, I aim to teach a mode of thinking and seeing rather than a stylistic approach. My hope is that students can apply this critical thinking to any number of personal and expressive forms throughout their development. No matter the specific subject matter addressed in my courses, my primary focus remains consistent: Color and Space. I teach the direct painting method from observation as the means for engaging with a formal visual vocabulary...

I am part of a lineage of painters that descends from Charles Hawthorne, including Edwin Dickinson, Lennart Anderson, and Tim Kennedy. As part of this lineage, I believe in the rigorous translation of the observed world and the power of “spots” of true color to express the essence and integrity of a given space or form. At the very heart of learning how to paint is the ability to see color relationships and to mix equivalent responses on the palette. I stress the importance of palette organization as a tool for organizing one’s thoughts. Each color decision is based on the three relative questions that are fundamental to my teaching: What value is it? What temperature is it? How intense is it?

Paint Mix Closing Pics

2011-03-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the DCAC show:

A Young Man and His Plant

2011-03-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale with a Geranium, 1801

David Deutsch

2011-03-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Albert Kresch and Merlin James

2011-03-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Albert Kresch, Red Sky, Red Earth

Merlin James, Untitled

Joe Morzuch and Julia Brown

2011-03-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

Some amazing paintings:

Joe Morzuch

Golden Years

Still Life with Violet and Ribbon

Julia Brown

Untitled

Shorty's Miami

Fruit Pie

Sketh from the Folger Shakespeare Library

2011-02-27T10:27:00.001-08:00

from the Folger Shakespeare Library:
George Romney. The head of Lear (King Lear). Drawing, ca. 1773-75

happy heart day

2011-02-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

Lauren Rice

2011-02-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

So excited to see this. I saw a little drawing of hers and loved it, then fell in love with the pics of installation work on her blog. I also read that she is intereted in Goya's Disasters of War and Dutch still life painting. And you look at that, and it is totally decadent Rachel Ruysch flowers meet dismembered bodies draped over trees limbs, curved by gravity. So cool.

Also, here is the baroque taxidermy chaos of Petah Coyne:

Dante's Inferno (Black Cloud) Sculpture

quote on painting from perception/observation

2011-01-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

William Barnes:

“The most neutral arbitrary subject is always impregnated with the substance of the viewer. I think it’s a rather strange activity what we do, what Chardin, Vuillard, did. Basically we empathetically stare at our subject in space hoping to discover something as we play our instruments. Poetry often comes in through the window of no importance so maybe what’s basic is to forsake knowing and explaining and just stare.”

paint mix

2011-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

save the date!!!! you're invited to our opening reception, february 11 7-9 pm

work by emily do, christopher dolan, mike dowley, brian kelley, and joren lindholm
curated by becca kallem

feb 11 - march 13
the dc arts center
2438 18th st NW
washington DC

Robot Monday

2011-01-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

Love this and other projects on Made by Joel. Such inspiring creativity, sweet & simple modern aesthetic.

Susan Lichtman

2010-12-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

She just might be my favorite painter. Ever. Tied with Velazquez. When I look at her paintings, and those of Sangram Majumdar, Mark Karnes, Stuart Shils, Katy Schneider, Ken Kewley, Edwin Dickinson, Gwen John, etc...oh! The color! The light and shadow! The color-value shifts, some subtle, some bold... And there is something so beautiful about how natural winter light and warm lamplight are bouncing around my house these days, it just makes me think of her wonderful interiors. Check out Lichtman's website, gallery page, and this write-up at Painting Perceptions:

"Her paintings often depict domestic scenes with a hint of narrative that are based on views from her home of many years. However, the most compelling subject is the marvelous inventions of light and color arrangements using flattened abstracted forms interacting in a potent visual drama.

"In a well written article in the August 2008 American Artist by John A. Parks there are a number of interesting quotes from the artist and observations the writer made that I’ll quote here:

"The artist’s narrative strategy, like her rendering approach, is one of hints and suggestions, rather than fully realized stories and perfectly turned forms. 'I used to love Mallarmé’s quote that said you should suggest and not name, because that’s where the poetry lies,' she recalls. On the other hand, the artist does not let her paintings become too general. 'I’m trying to get mystery and specificity at the same time,' she adds, 'even though they seem to be quite opposite things.'

“For all the dramatic light in her work, Lichtman’s paintings are unified by a carefully controlled palette. 'To me, close-valued color is magical,' says the artist. 'It’s a way for the paint to imply the fiction of light and air. A palette of close values also gives the picture a kind of envelope into which everything is placed.' In order to achieve this end, the artist uses a very limited set of colors. 'For many years I used a palette of earth red, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow, and white,' she says. 'The darkest color I could mix was red and cobalt blue, so everything remained in a fairly narrow range, tonally. And because the cobalt easily gets overwhelmed by the red, the paintings tended to have a reddish tinge.'

“The artist also considers the overall decorative property of a picture achieved with a limited palette. 'I think my idea of beauty in painting has to do with the tension between the depiction of deep space and the properties of shape and surface,' she says. 'I see that tension in interior paintings of artists I love best, from Roman wall painting to De Hooch, Vuillard, Bonnard, and Gwen John. Sunlight or lamplight juxtaposed with shadows add to the complexity of shapes. I am interested in how light can divert attention away from figures and slow down the reading of the imagery.'”

merry christmas, happy holidays!

2010-12-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Still Life by Erin Raedeke

rachie's hannuchrismakah present

2010-12-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

Women artists yeah!

2010-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Brainstormers is amazing. From their website: "Brainstormers is an art collective that, through public performance, exhibition, publication, internet, and video, has forced discussion on a topic that most would rather avoid: gross gender inequities in the contemporary New York Art World." Check out their current action/project here.

Another item of note: Huff Po's Women Artists Sweep Best of 2010 NYC Arts.

portrait class

2010-12-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

by Barbara Sause

Please check out some of the beautiful work by students in the portrait I/II class I taught at Anne Arundel Community College this past semester.

"Having a Coke with You"

2010-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Having a Coke with You
by Frank O'Hara

is even more fun than going top San Sebastain, Irun, Hendaye,
Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in
Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better
happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love
for yoghurt
partly because of the fluoresent orange tulips around the
birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people
and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be
anything as still
as solemn as unpleasently definitive as statuary when right in
front of it
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and
forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles
and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just
paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in
the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's
in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go
together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes
care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michaelangleo
that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the impressionists do
them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree
when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider
as carefully
as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some
marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I'm
telling you about it.

Mark Morrisroe

2010-12-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Three beautiful photos by Mark Morrisroe; the first and last images are included in the SI's Hide/Seek show. The Wojnarowicz censorship is unfortunate, but at least it has people rallying in support of artistic freedom, arts funding, and LGBT expression. And props to the gallery for putting on such a really excellent show. That the National Portrait Gallery is presenting this exhibition means a lot.

Claire Feng

2010-12-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

Late Nights

The Stage

Love her work. Website here.

Scott Schnepf

2010-12-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

I love the quiet, studied grace of Scott Schnepf's work. They are complex yet simple. Detail, minutiae...with structure, strength, and unity. I am on a Jan Van Eyck kick, and I think of his motto, 'As best I can' ('als ick can'). Not like, ooh, look how amazing my art is (though it certainly is), but a more modest declaration, here, I tried as hard as I could.

painting no. 47 at hide/seek

2010-12-15T21:44:00.001-08:00

by Marsden Hartley

A painting about love.

paradise

2010-12-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Cecilia Paredes, Paradise, 2009, photo-performance with body paint, Lambda print on paper mounted onto aluminum, 39in x 47in, ed. of 7. @ the curator's office

Powers of Observation Blog

2010-12-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

Anne Vallayer-Coster, 1769
(this painting freaking owns me)

So you have to have to have to visit the Powers of Observation website, a great blog on art and painting. I'm really excited tohave some of my work featured. Some paintings are in the Inside and Out slideshow, some in the still life slideshow.

Quote

2010-12-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

"I'm a painter and I know that painting is not about talking. The issues of skill and mistake are very close. You can do things that to some eyes look horrible and to others look brilliant. It's very curious--and difficult to defend."

Thomas Lawson in Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton.

Poem

2010-12-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT
by Samuel French Morse

The shortest day burns down to frost
as gray as ash.

The light, too still,
too insubstantial now to fill
the Northeast Corner, goes by four.

It goes a good half hour before
you start back through the fallen chill,
hearing the spruces on the hill
cry out as if they too were lost.

Though you may have to grope your way
almost by instinct down to where
the kitchen window spills its light
out on the dark, once you are there
you ought to have enough to say
to see you through the longest night.

mike dowley

2010-12-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

by Mike Dowley.

Peter Schjeldahl Quote

2010-12-09T17:16:00.001-08:00

detail of Mary, The Ghent Altarpiece

From The New Yorker:

"Van Eyck understood that realism doesn't require verisimiltude but only just enough visual cues to exploit the mind's credulity. We know now, from brain science, that seeing is not a direct register of what meets our eyes but a fast mental construction that squares sensations with memory and desire: what we believe and wish reality to be."

Peter Schjeldahl, "The Flip Side: The Secrets of Conserving the Wood Behind an Early Masterpiece", Nov. 29, 2010

Jupiter and Io

2010-12-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

Jupiter and Io (c. 1530)
Antonio Allegri da Correggio

Hiroshi Sugimoto

2010-11-26T12:34:00.001-08:00

I love this beautiful, spare, romantic image by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Haydon Orpheum, Sidney, 1997, gelatin silver print.

WPA IceBox

2010-11-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

ICEBOX
December 3 - December 23
First Friday Opening Reception: Friday, December 3, 6-8pmSpecial Shopping Event: Monday, December 20, 6:30-8:30pm

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to announce the opening of our second annual holiday gift shop, IceBox. The shop will feature a wide variety of artworks and other handmade goods by WPA member artists. Participating artists include Double A Projects (Athena Robles and Anna Stein), Denee Barr, Sandy Gold, James Halloran, Linda Hesh, Ellen Hill, Rebecca Kallem, Alice Kress, Laurel Lukaszewski, Susana Raab, Amy Carmichael Smith, John Totaro, Katharine Watson, Robert Weiner and Claudia Vess. Featuring jewelry, small works of art, household goods, totebags and greeting cards, IceBox offers a great selection of creative, unique holiday gifts!

IceBox, which will take over the WPA office at 2023 Massachusetts Avenue NW, runs from December 3 through December 23. There will be an opening reception on Friday, December 3 from 6-8pm, in conjunction with Dupont Circle First Fridays, and a special shopping event on Tuesday, December 21 from 6:30-8:30pm. The shop will also be open Monday-Friday, from 12pm-5pm and by appointment.

Montserrat Batet

2010-11-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

Look at these lovely posters by Catalan illustrator Montserrat Batet. Love the dragon guy.

Taeeun Yoo

2010-10-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

I love the work of illustrator Taeeun Yoo. The first one here is a cover for Madeline L'Engle's Many Waters (in which 20th century twins are transported back into the world of Noah and co. just before the flood, a fantastically imagined version thereof).

artisphere

2010-10-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

Artisphere, Arlington VA's new cultural and arts center has its grand opening this weekend. Check out all the events in store here.

I'll have some artwork in the WIP Gallery on the third floor. And a photo of me installing my work is on the TBD slideshow.

daydreaming (after Poussin), becca kallem

Historically Inaccurate Toile

2010-09-22T12:48:00.001-07:00

Swamp Flowers by Richard Saja of Historically Inaccurate Decorative Arts. I love the swamp monster!

misc. portraits

2010-09-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Catherine Goodman, My Sister Sophie

Titian, detail, Altar of Madonna di Ca' Pesaro

My sketch of Sebastian de Morra, Velazquez

Fayoum Portrait

Visual Inspiration AND Funnel Cake

2010-09-07T20:59:00.001-07:00

I went to the county fair a few weeks ago and regretted not bringing my camera. A really great, strange world of bright colors and pattern... I want to make a painting from this stuff! I found this beautiful photo, above, by McCutheon. And here is one of the Montgomery County Fair by Greg Micklos, via dcist:

fancy dress

2010-08-30T22:57:00.001-07:00

images: 1) from the Guggenheim's Catherine Opie exhibit brochure. love this little dude's outfit; 2) from a kiddie fashion article, great purple top and yellow tulle skirt, but I find the photo disturbing. wish the girl looked like she was having fun in her outfit rather than striking this preternatural top-model-couture sort of pose for the gaze of whom!? creepy; 3) an ad from a magazine, can't remember where I clipped it from; 4) from a book on eighteenth century france.

written on the body

2010-08-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Mary Coble, Untitled #1,8,19 BOY (from Labels thatHeal), 2004

Ana Mendieta, Untitled, Silhouette Series, 1980

Catherine Opie, Self Portrait, 1993 (MOCA)

zhang huan

from italian art magazine

Poem: Brian Age Seven

2010-08-29T08:20:00.003-07:00

Brian Age Seven
by Mark Doty

Grateful for their tour
of the pharmacy,
the first-grade class
has drawn these pictures,
each self-portrait taped
to the window-glass,
faces wide to the street,
round and available,
with parallel lines for hair.

I like this one best: Brian,
whose attenuated name
fills a quarter of the frame,
stretched beside impossible
legs descending from the ball
of his torso, two long arms
springing from that same
central sphere. He breathes here,

on his page. It isn’t craft
that makes this figure come alive;
Brian draws just balls and lines,
in wobbly crayon strokes.
Why do some marks
seem to thrill with life,
possess a portion
of the nervous energy
in their maker’s hand?

That big curve of a smile
reaches nearly to the rim
of his face; he holds
a towering ice cream,
brown spheres teetering
on their cone,
a soda fountain gift
half the length of him
—as if it were the flag

of his own country held high
by the unadorned black line
of his arm. Such naked support
for so much delight! Artless boy,
he’s found a system of beauty:
he shows us pleasure
and what pleasure resists.
The ice cream is delicious.
He’s frail beside his relentless standard.

“Brian Age Seven” from Source by Mark Doty, 2001

in living color

2010-08-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Wolfgang Laib

Laura Kinneberg's CMYK Day Project

from an Italian art magazine, not sure what this is

Reading about color theory -- Itten, Albers, Munsell -- mainly just looking at cool stuff like the above. And color field folks - Rothko, Hoffman, Frankenthaler, Hans Hoffman; also Gee's Bend and Paul Klee.

flower clippings

2010-08-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

detail, Rembrandt, Saskia as Flora

Jason Zimmerman

Manet, Flowers

nike advertisement

collage with image from Piero della Francesca

Christyl Boger

2010-08-22T08:14:00.001-07:00

I was spray painting some wood with gold paint and accidentally got some on my figertips. It looked so pretty, like nail polish except more interesting and King Midas-like. It also reminded me of Christyl Boger's work in "Staged Stories," a wonderful show I saw at the Renwick Gallery last year. From DCist:

"Boger creates ceramic figurines that incorporate contemporary props such as inflatable swimming pool toys. The surface of the figures are white, creamy and smooth. A perfect texture for layering the decorative touches and flourishes that adorn each of her sculptures. They are gilded, stamped and embellished with flourishes and spots of color that are brushed on the tips of fingers, hair and the seams of the pool toys."

Her artist statement is really fascinating. Here are some images of her work -- gorgeous and strange, the marble-like ceramic sexily daubed with spotlets of gold.

Christyl Boger