artdc.com

The gurus at the express night out have picked up the details about our Fringe Jazz show with Anorak and the DCIC.  We’re really pleased to see this in the express.  Find the note about the show here.  Find the complete release about this show here.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and then it’s the holidays and everybody’s got tons of stuff to do and no time and all that. Luckily we’re not there just yet. Seriously. We are not there yet.

Ok, yeah the clocks fell back and now it gets dark at five pm and boo hoo. But wait a second. Winter hasn’t taken over yet. We are not there yet.

I have an idea. Let’s celebrate the last days of autumn, and do it up right. Before the shopping and stress and seasonal disorder and slush and don’t wake me until it’s spring. I’ve got a great idea: let’s get together at a cool, fun, out-of-the-way kinda place and hang out for an evening. Even better, let’s get some cool live music, too!

Lucky lucky us. It just so happens that we’ve got a cool place, and a great lineup for a fun night:

Anorak, a hard-to-classify trio of European improvisers (ok, one of them is from Baltimore, but she was living in Amsterdam and met the other two) will be in town. The DC Improvisers Collective (DCIC) will play too.

Anorak is a cellist, a pianist, and a drummer. They are doing neat stuff. You will probably like it. DCIC has a special lineup that night, featuring Vattel Cherry on bass and Ed Ricart on guitar, plus their regular trio of sax, guitar, drums. The music will be hot.

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Our neighbors the design studio next door to our space have worked hard to bring PG county an amazing opportunity.  We’ve all been brain storming about how to bring greater attention to the area’s art scene, and they’ve found the key.  They’ve spent serous time developing a solution, an arts district art festival called, “The Market Place!”  The Design studio folks must be morning people since they opened on October 31st at 9am, we didn’t make it out till noon, but we were very excited to share the traffic.  

On the way over to the gallery to open for The Market Place, we ran across this billboard off of route one.  We thought to ourselves… no..  that’s not right.  We guess many adults would disagree, but then again, we’re living our future now.  Kids have a lot to wait for!  Maybe they should add a disclaimer, since it’s been said that billboards like this can end marriages.  

Any how, we digress.  Here’s a shot of The Market Place.  Kudos to the Design Studio for investing in matching Tents!  It looks simply amazing!  There was only a second to take a shot, there were so many things going on that afternoon we didn’t have an opportunity to snap another shot.  We heard the coffee there was amazing, and we look forward to an increased art presence!  More to come!

We had a very positive time at the closing reception for Sculpture: 301.  We has the opportunity to meet a large portion of the UMD art grad students.  It was a warm crowd and they seemed excited about the show and our desire to collaborate.  To us, there’s nothing like sharing tremendous art with the public, and this show certain gave us that opportunity.   We send our thanks to Steven Jones for his curatorial energy! 

Here are a few snapshots of the reception:

At the artdc Gallery
Curator: Steven Jones

Dates: October 4 – November 8th, 2009
Reception: October 30th 6:30pm to 9:30pm

The works for the Sculpture:301 show are all recent work by artists who live, work, or go to school in the neighborhood.  This show will introduce these young and mid-career artist to the artdc Gallery.  The work runs a gamut of styles and materials but are tied together by a level of craft and a certain wit.

Two pieces fall in the figurative side of sculpture, Greyson Heck’s “Mixed Emotion’s” and Zac Jackson’s “What” explore how the face can convey a gut reaction.  “What?”‘s latex noses and mouth slowly and rhythmically repeating a silent phrase over and over to you, and after a few minutes with the piece, your own mouth with start mimicking the work trying to decipher what it is calling out.  Greyson’s two cast pieces are frozen in a pose full of expression, but more of a death mask of angst rather than joy.

Sculptors Sarah Laing and Jack Henry both use simple found objects as a starting point, and end on different planets.  Laing’s small cast bronze mushroom grows from the wall like a forgotten fungus, but its simplicity and perfection in the metal acts as a frame asking the viewer to reconsider the toadstool as an object of possible beauty.  In contrast to Laing’s simple object protruding quietly from the wall, Jack’s wall seems to vomit out bright colors and shapes which beakon the viewer.   On closer inspection you make out the source of the shapes; a collection of trash and found kitsch.  It is only the work of the artist that has transformed dollar store junk and side of the road debris into something that the viewer can explore as pretty.

Find more about the artists here:

Jack Henry
jackhenryartist.com

Sarah Laing
cookiesordoughnuts.blogspot.com

Jim Vose
jamesvose.com

Felicia Glidden
feliciaglidden.com

Zac Jackson
zacjackson.com

Stewart Watson
area405.com

Our reception was a powerful event with an unrepeatable atmosphere due to the art and the brave patrons that fought back roads to work their way past the tremendous emergency presence from the fire across the street.  We made the best of a tough situation, and Steve, Antoinette, and I were so pleased to see friends, art collectors and dealers visit our reception.  At “Pinned,” we had a wide range of work, and we were pleased to find a great number of people who asked many questions about our work and what it means to us.

We decided to add to the atmosphere by Inviting Grayson Brown to play our event.  Some of you may know him from David Fogel’s “X” events.  Some said that the rhythmic energy of the lights from multiple emergency response vehicles added to an environment where art and music mixed.

Crowd at the reception

Steve, Antoinette, and Jesse

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There was a fire across the street  from our gallery minutes before the artist’s reception. A warehouse burst into flames producing a brilliant blaze with a significant amount of smoke with the scent ranging from burnt plastic to burn rubber. This is a first for us to witness a natural disaster during a gallery reception. Something tells me that our higher powers were playing a game with us. Rain is one thing, but who sends fire? Luckily the warehouse was not occupied as far as we know, there were no injuries. After the smell had permeated the gallery, we started to look around for a short in a wire, only to see the smoke developing from the warehouse. As the smoke grew, our shock increased.

Check out these intense images.  I rattled off to many, it’s close to 2am after the fire, but I wanted to get this up on the site so you can have a feeling for our situation.  More later…

Dense Smoke!

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artdc Gallery in Hyattsville
“Pinned.” Antoinette Wysocki, Stephen Mead, Ceci Cole McInturff, and Jesse Cohen
(art pinned, nailed, or screwed. No Traditional frames allowed.)
September 5th, 2009 to Oct 3rd
Reception: September 25th 6-9pm

artdc Gallery in Hyattsville
5710 Baltimore Ave
Hyattsville, MD 20781

Antoinette Wysocki
“Stowed Away Forever”

“Pinned.” is inspired by the time spent in our shared studio on NY where Stephen and Antoinette notriously work on surfaces pinned or nailed to the wall.

We developed this studio as a result of artdc.org which developed from a single post on craigslist in 2004. In March ’04, Antoinette posted about change she wanted in the DC area art scene. She wanted more social interaction between the public and the arts like her experiences in San Fransisco where the art scene is part of the social scene. One goes to a gallery, talks about art, then has dinner and drinks. In response to this CL ad, we all met at Teasim on D st. to talk about change. We mused about starting a co-op and bringing energy to rough neighborhoods. We thought about the changes that we could make. Then we looked in our wallets, and said the hell with that.

Roughly around midnight March 28, 2004, the night of the meeting, the start of artdc.org was born with the goal of developing a strong community of artists without large financial backers. Later that year, we had our first public exhibition in an alternative space with David Fogel’s help, where he coined the term, “Art in Transition” which we’ve happily continued for several exhibitions. “Pinned.” pays homage to that exhibition where the work of Jesse Cohen, Antoinette Wysocki, Stephen Mead, and Ceci Cole McInturff all met for the first time in a room off of Eastern Ave.

Since then, we’ve spent serious time and energy bringing community, exhibitions, and activities to the Greater Washington, DC area. Recently we opened our Gallery, 5 years after our initial meeting, and it only seemed apropriate to say thank you to these Founding artists with a show in the space. The art consists of a strong group of works from mixed media to paintings, sculpture, and palladium prints. “Pinned.” boasts of bright colors, deep contrast, dreams, and emotions.

There’s an effortless energy to the way that elements of Antoinette’s work blend together. There’s depth to the layers that she creates with objects moving in and out of the drips and blur. Steve’s art moves with the hard rock that he hears while he paints. In one work you can see sets of Angel’s wings develop out of his mathematical strokes on the canvas.

We look forward to your reactions to this work.

While some enjoyed the labor day weekend with relaxation and beverages by the pool, we spent it handling art.  We created a nightmare by planning the close of two shows on the same day.    All in all it worked out with excellent timing.  On Saturday the 5th we arrived at the Hyattsville space at 11 am to conduct one final tour of the Glass Show.  I’m so sad to see this exhibition end.  We received great attention and so much positive energy from the artists!

At 11:55am we were a little concerned with uninstall fears.  At 11:58am, the first group of artists showed, and they worked like magicians turning the gallery into a clean white walled space, once again.  We have to seriously thank the Washington Glass School, and DC Glass Works for their efforts, professional conduct and hard work.  By 12:45, the walls were clean and new.  We have thank EYA for providing us with the paint specs, so we found the proper white paint to blend in and fix any dings in the walls.

Steven Jones from DC Glass Works using a Hydraulic lift to remove his Memory of Straw bale.   I’m sad to see this work go.  I would love to see this work live in front of the gallery.  It’s a joy to work in a gallery as you can develop bonds with amazing work on a regular basis.  However, there’s the dark side where you have to give up the work once a month.

Megan Van Wagoner and Steven worked quickly and safely removed Joe Corcoran’s work.  While these two images are from DC Glass Works artists (I only had a second to snap a few images), I must say that everyone from both studios  worked hard to bring the space back to it’s original condition.  Many thanks to Erwin Timmers, Michael Janis, Dave D’orio, and all of the artists and patrons who support these two studios.

After letting the paint dry for a moment, Cheryl Edwards, Michael Winger, and I installed the next show, “Pinned.”  with work by Antoinette Wysocki, Ceci Cole McInturff, Stephen Mead, and Jesse Cohen.  Details to come on this show.  No traditional frames are allowed for this exhibition.  Raw canvas, paintings on paper, and photographs are hung bare on the wall while Ceci’s sculpture provides great contrast with the work.  With a great deal of experimentation in hanging Steve’s work, including an attempt at flying the canvas in the middle of the room with finshing line, we decide to pin it to the wall like Antoinette’s since we wanted all of the work to have an equal weight to it.  The reception for this show is on the 25th of September.  Details TBA.

We left the Hyattsville space by 4:30pm in order to rush to the Arlington pop-up gallery where we were holding the close of the ZIP Code Show in partnership with Artoutlet.  (We ended up returning to Hyattsville on the 7th to install Ceci’s work! )

For us, it was quite sad to know that this was the celebration marking the close of a phenomenal expereince in Arlington.  We successfully brought phenominal art by local artists in front of the eyes of many with the support of our sponsors.  We are so thankful.

Here’s an image of Steven Dobbin talking to Dan while uninstialling his work Saturday night at 10pm.  We learned about his obcessions with creating art, the fact that it goes beyond the joy of creating something beautyful, that for him, it’s a necessity that he can’t stop.  It’s something he has to do.  There’s a force pushing him forward to create art weather he likes it or not.  The process is important for him.  The rust is actually induced on the metal cans with acid, while he has some unique proccesses for developing actual rust on the plastic cans.

For the past week, it has been a joy to spend time in this Transitional art space, we were quite happy with the fact that people visited the location to view the art, and really expereince it.  On the week days, visitors came, and stood in front of each work, expereinced it, then they read the statements.  Durring the openings there was a mass of attendancee which even included members of the Arlington County board!  This is exactly what we wanted.  We look forward to great things in the future.  Many thanks to our ZIP Code Show partner Artoutlet, and the ZIP Code exhibition sponsors The Halstead, and CPRO!

We’re 2 days past the opening of the ZIP Code show in Arlington.   The art is top notch by many notable artists including Michael Winger.  He’s a fine artist located in Silver Spring who shows in NY, and DC.  Winger is a master stone carver who now builds “altars to nature” from found objects along the Anacostia river.  Read more about his amazing story at the City Paper.  Winger assembled one of his altars in our South Arlington space.

Winger, next to Altar

Altar to Nature, Michael Winger

There was a lot riding on this exhibition, and we are so pleased with the out come.  We’ve had several collaborations in the past with Art Outlet and this is another positive expereince to add to the books.  The energy was reminicent of the  ’07 opening for the first itteration of the FLUX art show.  Our two rooms, over 2,600 square feet were packed  with artists, art lovers, creatives of all types, and Arlington residents who wanted to expereince the joy and fascination of a true art happening.  We can’t say enough about the art work it self, and the plesaure associated with assembling a thematic show in a transitional space.   The opening included performances which gelled with the art.  There were Dancers, Drummers, Vocalists, and more.  We were pleased to see the public view the exhibition and spend time with the Visual art and performances equally.  There’s a great future for art in South Arlington.