ArtSake

Artadia, a New York-based arts nonprofit, announced the finalists for the Artadia Awards 2009 Boston – including several past MCC Artist Fellows/Finalists (linked, below). Congratulations to: Claire Beckett, Cree Bruins, Ambreen Butt, Laura Chasman, Caleb Cole, Margo Cooper, Raul Gonzalez, Eric Gottesman, Wendy Jacob, Erik Levine, Steph Plourde-Simard, Nick Rodrigues, Amie Siegel, Suara Welitoff, and Joe Zane.

Each of the finalists, who were selected from nearly 600 applications, will receive a studio visit in the upcoming weeks. The Artadia jury will then select two artists to receive awards of $15,000 and five to receive awards of $3,000, to be announced mid-August.

More info about the Artadia awards.

Images: Claire Beckett, CIVILIAN JOSHUA OSBORNE PLAYING THE ROLE OF AN IRAQI CIVILIAN, WADI AL-SAHARA, MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER, CA (2008), 2008 Archival ink print, 30 x 40 inches; Laura Chasman, NURSE ASSISTANT (2008), Gouache on mounting board, 12 x 11 inches; Eric Gottesman, MOTHER AND SON REUNITED (1978/2002), Rephotographed and Degraded (2006), Inkjet print, 24 x 17 inches.

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Writers have until July 18 to submit to NPR’s “Three-Minute Fiction,” calling for original fiction that can be read in under three minutes.

The judge of NPR’s contest is literary critic James Wood. He notes in the NPR announcement that writing three-minute fiction (usually around 500 words) “strikes at the very heart of the short story as a project… How do you get a character, as it were, into a room and up and going within a sentence or two?”

No doubt Massachusetts writers are up to the task. Quick Fiction, a literary journal that publishes stories and prose poems of 500 words or less, is based in Salem, and the recent Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (featured on ArtSake here) includes a host of Massachusetts writers and was published by Brookline’s Rose Metal Press.

Winning entries will be read on-air and posted on NPR’s web site. Read the official rules.

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The Boston Center for the Arts is accepting submissions for their 21st Drawing Show. Deadline: August 12, 2009

It was bound to happen. BRAVO is conducting casting calls to contemporary artists for a new show they are producing called the Untitled Art Project. So if you’re into competitive challenges with other artists and dream of being a reality television star, then your opportunity to reach that elusive 15 minutes of fame is right in front of you (Andy was right). The producers (including Sarah Jessica Parker a.k.a. Carrie Bradshaw) apparently are interested in making a show whereby someone “conquers the art world” (whatever that means).

Speaking of fame, the theme of upcoming Boston Biennial Project is cleverly and lovingly self-referential; it’s all about biennials. And when we say lovingly, we mean it in the narcissistic sort of loving way. The organizers of the Boston Biennial Project say it will focus on “all the aspiration and greed, sublime insight and cheap self-aggrandizement, profundity and narcissism that biennials have come to represent.” The show will be juried from actual work. Drop off is at the Atlantic Works Gallery, top floor, 80 Border Street, East Boston, MA, July 31 and August 1, 2-7 P.M. For more information, email thebostonbiennialTBP@gmail.com

For all you card catalogue and ISBN number loving bibliophiles, here’s an opportunity to exhibit your artwork at the Thomas Crane Pubic Library in Quincy.

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If you are into the cabinet of curiosities, then the current exhibition at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester might appeal to you. The show is called Beyond Belief: The Curious Collection of Professor Rufus Excalibur Bell.

It’s an exhibit that examines the stories behind mythological creatures and encourages visitors to ask “why couldn’t this happen?” And it features some terrific sculpture and imaginative creations by Somerville artist Hilary Scott.

A note on the artist: Hilary has taught international relations for Tufts University, has a doctorate in international law, has lectured widely on European political history, and is the recipient of several postgraduate fellowships in public diplomacy and security studies.

Photo Credit: photographs by Hilary Scott

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The 2009 Artist Fellowships in Crafts, Film & Video, Music Composition, Photography, Playwriting, and Sculpture/Installation have been announced.

MCC’s Artist Fellowships are anonymously judged and provide unrestricted grants (this year, $10,000 for fellows and $1,000 for finalists) to individual artists in recognition of artistic excellence. We profile awarded artists and share samples of their work on the Gallery @ MCC, and we share the current accomplishments of past fellows and finalists in Fellows Notes.

Here’s a full list of this year’s fellows/finalists and panelists.

Images (top to bottom): Janet Echelman (Crafts & Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09), SHE CHANGES, NET NO. 2 (2008), Polyester fiber, steel 50 x 150 x 150 meters; Patricia Shannon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09), OPEN HOUSE (2008), cut newspapers, acrylic gel, binder’s board 17 in x 24 in x 22 in; Camilo Ramirez (Photography Fellow ’09), FLIGHT SUIT (2008), Archival Inkjet Print, 16 in x 20 in; Niho Kozuru (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09), LIQUID SUNSHINE SERIES (2008), cast rubber, variable size (smallest, H 22 in to Largest, H 40 in); David Prifti (Photography Finalist ’09), EMRYS AND MR. FRENCH (2007), Tintype 8 x 10 inches; Angela Cunningham, YELLOW NESTING SET (2007), Ceramics 6 in x 13.5 in x 13.5 in

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