94-year-old inspirational artist!

Carmen Herrera's bus finally arrived. Read about her inspiring story HERE.

Call for Artists - Art of Soul

Art of the Soul: A Woman’s View of Sexism & Oppression

Feb 12-28, 2010

Art of the Soul

486 K Street, NW

Washington, DC

Presented by Fever Couture

Sponsored by Hamiltonian Gallery and Albus Cavus

If oppression was art, what would it feel like? If sexism was art, what would it look like? Art of the Soul is an exhibition of the feelings, thoughts, and prejudices of those often unheard, in this event, women! Since the Victorian age, women have been a target of sin and disgracefulness, an oppression that has affected our sexuality, self-esteem, and character. Through the collaboration of fashion and visual arts, this event will educate the public on issues affecting women that are often deemed “inappropriate” to talk about.

This 18 day exhibit will explore the prevalence of female injustice present in our community. Our collaborative event will strive to facilitate communal dialogue surrounding female related issues and explore ways we can contribute to overturning these injustices, both collectively and individually. Art of the Soul will highlight and discuss the topics of self-esteem, judgment, sexism, AIDS, beauty, domestic violence, FGM (female genital mutilation), and many other issues affecting women.

What we are seeking are visual artists of all disciplines; painting, sculpture, photography, film, etc. to take part in this movement. Art of the Soul will be featured in a unique space in downtown Washington, DC with over 1200 sq ft. of wall space, large windows for display, and heavy foot traffic. We have paired up with local and national organizations, Hamiltonian Gallery, and Albus Cavus organization/artist collective, to gear this exhibit towards success.

Be a part of something great by becoming an Art of the Soul featured artist. You have the option to sell or auction your art and take part in our opening reception with over 150 expected guest where you can discuss your work, network, or explore future opportunities in the DC metropolitan area. With programming scheduled within the space throughout the life of the exhibit, Art of the Soul is more than just a collection of art but a voice for women and all others that have been oppressed.

If interested or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact Kaira Johnson at theartandsoul.dc@gmail.com. Also, if you know any organizations or persons that would like to organize a program or workshop under the Art of the Soul, please forward this information! Let’s build to unite!

Empty wine glasses reveal a lot

One man's contemplation on Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" reveals some interesting ideas HERE.

Photography at the Mexican Cultural Institute

Great photography exhibit at the Mexican Cultural Institute HERE.

Happy Christmas!

Museums trying to become relevant and popular

Jeffry Cudlin assesses the year in art in DC and finds that museums tried to become relevant and popular HERE.

Finish your holiday shopping at the Civilian Art Projects store (and support great DC-based artists too!)

GIFTS MADE BY ARTISTS

Still looking for a clever holiday gift for someone who has everything? Check out Civilian Art Projects' store of artist-made goods.

With prices ranging from $5 to $200, you are sure to find a unique artist made gift for that special person for the holidays. Avoid the over-crowded stores full of junk made by people you don't know and come to Civilian where your shopping will not only benefit your recipient, it will benefit artists and a great gallery.

Goodies include:

Ties, T-shirts, and other wearables by our favorite crafty gal Kristina Bilonick.
Gig posters by Bad People, Good Things aka John Foster .
Fisticuffs - the coolest recycled leather bracelets this side of Burning Man!
Books & Postcards by amazing photographer Cynthia Connolly.
Cards and other super cool items by Dirty Pictures.
Paintings and drawings by DC-based Erick Jackson.
Works on paper by Kate McGraw and Ann Tarantino from Workbook from her project with The Pink Line at Flashpoint Gallery.
And MORE!

Desperately seeking love stories!

Did you first encounter the Phillips on a memorable date? Or know someone else who did?

Do you know some romantic soul who chose Luncheon of the Boating Party as the joyous backdrop for the perfect proposal?

Have you listened as a friend recounted their Artful Evening/Phillips after 5 love connection for the thousandth time?

We need your help! Lore and legend abounds about romance at The Phillips Collection. Duncan and Marjorie, intimacy and art—interpersonal connection is at the core of the Phillips story. But we want proof. If you or someone you know have had a Phillips love connection, live in the DC metro area, and would be willing to share that story with the Phillips on video, please contact Cecilia Wagner at 202-387-2151 x235 or cwagner@phillipscollection.org at your earliest convenience.

Those with stories to share will be invited to the Phillips in January. At that time, we will record high definition videos of these brief interviews. Given enough response, the videos will be edited together and posted on YouTube in time for Valentine’s Day.

Snowball Firing Squad

Enter the "Snowball Firing Squad" arty contest HERE.

Gaia: One of my favorite street artists

Experimental SCIENCE project at The Phillips Collection

The Pink Line Project conducted an experiment at The Phillips Collection with WE ARE SCIENCE! and it worked! See more HERE.

Art writing around town

Art writing around town, including a list of one person's favorite art in 2009 HERE.

Loneliness and despair in the DC art world.

Mera Rubell tells the DC art scene to stop acting like children. Read about it HERE.

Hirshhorn temporary bubble addition

What the heck is bubbling out of the Hirshhorn? Find out HERE.

Free Irish Film Festival tickets for Pink LIne Project fans

Pink Line Project fans receive free tickets to two Irish Film Festival films this week.

Email us HERE with your choice of movies you want to see.

thursday, december 17
7:30 pm
goethe institut
812 7th street nw

kisses
directed by lance daly
starring kelly 'neill and shane curry

drama
run time: 72 minutes

two kids, dylan and kylie, run away from home at christmas and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city dublin.

saturday, december 19
7:30 pm
goethe institut
812 7th street nw

a film with me in it
directed by ian fitzgibbon
written by and starring mark doherty (author of trad)

comedy
run time: 83 minutes

a black comedy which tells the story of a down-on-his-luck actor who, through no fault of his own, ends up with a dead dog, a dead brother, a dead girlfriend and a dead landlord in his apartment. shocked and unable to process what has occurred, he enlists the help of a hapless but hilarious friend. together they hatch a genius plan to treat their predicament as a film scenario and try to rewrite the day.

"Nutcracker" set in DC

The DC Collaborative brings 1,500 students to see Septime Weber's unique rendition of the "Nutcracker." Read about it HERE.

Reminder: Request for Proposals & Grantmaking Program

Opportunities at Flashpoint’s Gallery and Mead Theatre Lab programs and Source Festival projects for 2010 – 2011 are currently open. This now includes a grantmaking program, the Creative Communities Fund, made possible through a partnership with The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. More information on all of these opportunities can be found online, details are below.

2010 Source Festival

· Artistic Blind Dates: Up to 12 diverse artists will be teamed up on a five-month creative process that will culminate with performances at the 2010 Source Festival. Open to artists of all disciplines.
· Directors and Designers | Full Length Plays: A team of five designers and three directors will collaborate on an intense five-month production process that will bring to life three new full-length plays for the 2010 Source Festival.
· Questions? Ask Producer Jenny McConnell Frederick

Flashpoint Gallery

· Proposals for 2010-2011 season: Seeking inventive, original proposals in any media, and open to all artists, independent curators and arts organizations presenting contemporary work.

· Questions? Ask Visual Arts Program Manager Karyn Miller

Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

· Proposals for 2010-2011 season: Seeking artists who wish to present original plays, classic material with an innovative vision or work that combines multiple performance disciplines.

· Questions? Ask Producer Jenny McConnell Frederick

Special offer for fans of The Pink Line Project

A special offer for fans of The Pink Line Project: you can still purchase the "Workbook" print by Kate McGraw and Ann Tarantino at the original $50 price! (Sold in the gallery for $100.) By buying these beautiful, unique prints, you support a great art project (we're about 90% of the way to completing the project). PLUS, they make great holiday gifts! Order by the end of the week and you'll receive your print in time for Christmas.

**For the special purchase price, go HERE.**

About the project:

Workbook is an exhibition and video project created at the Gallery at Flashpoint in Washington, DC in March and April 2009. The artists spent ten days creating the wall drawing, and the video records their physical and creative work, as they engaged in a mark-making exchange running the entire length of the gallery walls. The final, mammoth artwork stretched across the gallery like a book waiting to be read and experienced by the audience. During the exhibition, the documentary film was projected on the wall near the exhibition entrance, serving as an intimate record of the artistic process. Workbook gives viewers insight into the process of creation, making public the most intimate of moments between collaborators—hidden gestures, unscripted moments, silent contemplation, discussion, agreement, disagreement, defeat and celebration. Now that the exhibition has closed--the gallery walls painted over, transformed again into blank surfaces-- the video remains the only evidence of Workbook as an installation.

Funding for the production of the video continues to be provided through the sale of unique prints created by the artists. Each 7 ½ x 7 ½ inch print is hand-marked and embellished by Ann and Kate and hand-stamped with a signature seal created by the artists. Each unique piece is printed on 300 gsm, 100% cotton Crane Museo Portfolio Rag paper.

For more information about the project, go HERE.

**For the special purchase price, go HERE.**

Monkey business at The Phillips Collection

Pink Line Project contributor Rafael Valero writes about Intersections at The Phillips Collection and explores the "aura" of fine art HERE.

A new brand of street art

Street art takes on a decidedly feminine approach as urban knitters hit the streets! See more HERE.

Salon Contra style setting lauded in the New York Times

Salon Contra is an opportunity to meet great artists and other people interested in the arts in a casual yet stimulating environment. The New York Times reports these settings work well for just such gatherings. Read more about it HERE.

The contest is open!

Design by Lynne Venart; photos by Angela Kleis

The DCist Exposed 2010 contest is open! Show us the real D.C. that the people who live and work here see every day. Hit the jump for the rules. Entrants need to fill out a brief application and submit a $5 fee for your three submissions by January 7.

Good luck, and we can't wait to see what the 2010 exhibit holds for us!

Subscribe to art!

Project Dispatch is an artwork subscription service offered by a group of artists nationwide.

Patrons have the opportunity to purchase a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription to receive original works by the artist of their choice among the group. Subscriptions range from $15 to $40 a month. Once a month subscribers will be sent an original artwork. Each artist's page showcases 6 examples of the artist's work and demonstrates a taste of what the subscriber will be receiving.

A Sampler Subscription is also available for those interested in receiving works from a variety of Project Dispatch artists.

Please browse our gallery and submit all inquiries to ProjectDispatch@gmail.com

Donate Now!

Taffety Punk is making theatre cool again!

Plea for Filthy Lucre: As always the works of our company depend on the good will and generosity of folks like yourself. Your contribution will make a powerful statement that theatre can - and must - do more. Be a patron of the arts! Help us continue to bring the most exciting productions to the stage. Your donation is tax-deductible!

Immediately you'll help us breathe life into our next production - suicide.chat.room - a punk-dance-theatre concert crafted from actual text on suicide usenet groups, featuring choreography by company member Paulina Guerrero and music by Beauty Pill's Chad Clark. We open January 28th at Flashpoint's Mead Theater Lab.

Space opened for tonight's Pink Panel @ Finnish Embassy w/ Pink Twins, Martin Irvine, and great DC artists: http://ping.fm/ynXmy

Pink Line Project interviews Julianne Brienza

An interview with Julianne Brienza, the director of one of DC's best culture festivals, The Fringe Festival! Read it HERE.

Get your Irish film fix!

In 2005 Solas Nua produced its first annual Irish film festival. It was called Amharc Eile and featured the work of over 50 female directors working in Irish cinema. They continued with themed festivals in 2006 and 2007 before adopting the name Capital Irish Film Festival in 2008. Although young, the Capital Irish Film Festival is the third largest Irish film festival in the United States and shows more Irish language films than any other American film festival.

When: December 10-20, 2009

Where: e street cinema, goethe-institut, fringe, flashpoint

Duke Ellington students are impressive

Students from the Duke Ellington School for the Arts performed before a Pink Panel @ The Fridge a few weeks ago. Their performance touched on issues of the construction of identity, immigration, assimilation, and ultimately on what it means to be an American. Pretty amazing. See it HERE.

Another video about art from Tim Cone

Another great video about one collector's interesting perspective on art. This time Tim Cone looks at Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" and "FLoating Island" HERE.

Great Corcoran student design project at the Danish Embassy

Pink Line Project design correspondent Brittany Watson and Breeze Giannasio writes about a wonderful project she worked on with students from Corcoran and the Danish Design School for the Danish Embassy's Christmas celebration. Read about it HERE.

Weekly art writing round up

A weekly round up of the latest art writing in DC HERE.

DC government funds graffiti artists

Should DC government fund murals by graffiti artists? Read more HERE.

The City Paper Arts Desk on Cudlin

The saga continues! The Washington City Paper weighs in on Jeffry Cudlin's recent taunting of me. Read more about it HERE.

*You* tell us what art is tonight from 5 to 8:30 at the Phillips Collection: http://ping.fm/Qb8wF

Proper Topper says I clean up good

Well lookee here! I got nominated for the Proper Topper's "First Annual Best Dressed List: DC, recognizing exemplars of original, inspiring STYLE in our city!" Fun! Although I think it's pretty hilarious that the picture they used to nominate me is one in which I am jumping for art at the Portrait Gallery so I look a little loopy. (I'm third down in the left.) Oh well. I'm pretty flattered to be included in this impressive list:

Eric Brewer
Betsy Lowther
Walker Lamond
Ali Wentworth
Phillipe Cousteau
Marlene Hu
Tyler Larish
Rey Banks
Holly Thomas
The Beatings: Carole Greenwood & Stewart Lupton
Philippa Hughes
U.S. Royalty: John Thornley, Paul Thornley, Jacob Michael & Luke Adams
Valli Ravindran
Jesse Elliott
Jade Floyd
Patricia Harr

What is a Thought DJ?

Please come to The Phillips Collection on Thursday to find out what's an Thought DJ at "Art Is____." More about it HERE.

10 great DC artists

I got to write about 10 artists in DC who I think are awesome. Read more about it HERE.