ArtSake

One If By Land: Vermont Studio Center has received funding for 10 new Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship awards for visual artists based on quality of work and demonstrated financial need. The Vermont Studio Center is an international residency program open to all artists and writers. Year-round, VSC hosts 50 artists and writers per month, each of whom receives an individual studio, private room, and all meals. Residencies last from 2-12 weeks and provide uninterrupted time to work, a community of creative peers, and a beautiful village setting in northern Vermont. In addition, VSC’s program includes a roster of Visiting Artists and Writers (2 painters, 2 sculptors and 2 writers per month) who offer slide talks/readings and individual studio visits/conferences. Applications and information available here. Deadline: February 16, 2010

Two If By Sea: Dune Shack Residencies: Applications for residencies in the historic Fowler and C-Scape Dune Shacks in Provincetown for artists, writers, and the general public are available at The Provincetown Community Compact. One residency includes a $500 fellowship for a visual artist, and there are two funded weeks for writers. The general public is encouraged to apply for this unique, primitive experience in the Cape Cod National Seashore. Deadline: February 15, 2010

Three If By Virtual: National Arts Marketing Partnership Webinar: Marketing for the Independent Artist. How to Advance Your Career and Build Your Business. Discover the basics of marketing strategy based on those objectives and how to make it real. Presenter Deborah Obalil will address the difficult balance of making art while running a thriving small business. This webinar is free to professional members of Americans for the Arts. Americans for the Arts members should register here. Non members can learn more here. The webinar takes place on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 2 p.m. EST

Image credit: John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768, Oil on canvas, 35″ x 28 1/2″, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Paul Revere House Web site details his midnight ride and Longfellow’s poem.

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Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) invites anyone interested in contemporary art and culture to apply to Conversations about Curating, a free program focused on the critical and practical issues at stake when putting together an exhibition. The first part of the program consists of a series of four lectures/discussions delivered by well-established curators, as well as a roundtable discussion on marketing, budgeting, and producing an exhibition, and a networking session. The application process is via email only. There is no fee to apply. To apply, please submit a concise exhibition outline (250 words or less, no images) and your CV with detailed contact information to millsgallery@bcaonline.org.
Deadline: Applications must be received before February 10, 2010.

Samuell Day Gallery is looking for artists and craftspersons for the 2010 season. Please send pictures to c_samuell@hotmail.com or come by the gallery with work samples between 10 am - 5 pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 4030 Route 6A, Cummaquid.
Deadline: All submissions must be in by March 1.

Call to Artists: LA GALERÍA at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts in Boston ’s South End and Essex Art Center in Lawrence, MA are pleased to announce a Call to Artists for their collaborative juried exhibition project, Exchange, to be mounted simultaneously in each art center in the Fall of 2010. Designed to unite diverse communities of artists and audiences, Exchange encourages visual artists working in innumerable mediums to approach the concept of exchange in just as many ways. Go here for guidelines.
Deadline: March 15, 2010

The Sturgis Library has exhibition space available. Visit online for exhibits and displays and for an application form. 3090 Main Street, Barnstable. For more information call 508-362-8448.

Central Productions has announced their annual open call for submissions to the 9th Annual Boston Cinema Census (BCC) hosted by the Brattle Theatre. The BCC-curated annual showcase of work by local emerging filmmakers, students, professionals, struggling artists, and film enthusiasts. Go here for more information, entry guidelines and forms.
Deadline: February 10, 2010

Image credit: Date: 11.12.1966, Photograph of Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., pilot of the Gemini 12 space flight, performs extravehicular activity (EVA) during the second day of the four day mission in space. ID: S66-62939
Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC)

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Grand Canyon National Park: Guidelines and applications now available for the North and South Rim artist-in-residence programs. Go here for more information. Questions, contact Rene Westbrook at 928-638-6483 or Rene_Westbrook@nps.gov.
Deadline: Applications for either program, postdated between February 1 and April 1, 2010

The Dance Residency at the Boston Center for the Arts provides choreographers an opportunity to create dance without the financial constraints of rehearsal studio or theater rental. The BCA will serve as the host for the selected company and develop the audience for residency events. Contact Andrea Blesso Albuquerque, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02116 or ablesso@bcaonline.org
Deadline: Monday, February 8, 2010 by 5 pm.

Call to artists for juried show Wide Open
Jurors include Anne Strauss, Associate Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Nicholas Baume, Mark Hughes, Bill Murphy.  For more information, contact Jane Gutterman at 718-596-2506 or info@wideopenartshow.org
Deadline: Monday, January 25, 2010

Every summer in the land of Alcott, Emerson, and Thoreau lives a great opportunity for emerging choreographers. Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy’s Choreographers’ Project Fellowship provides the opportunity to develop new work in a supportive environment. Fellows select a cast of dancers from the Workshop and have access to rehearsal space in the evenings and on weekends. Fellowship awards include: mentorship by workshop faculty and resident artists; access to all Summer Stages Dance classes and select performances; studio space and rehearsal time with dancers drawn from the Workshop; weekly seminar classes that include informal showings of the new work and culminate in a dialogue about the developing work with faculty and guest artists; open rehearsal and a fully produced public performance of work created during the residency; and subsidy for housing and meals. That’s a whole lotta good stuff. For more information, call 978-402-2339.

Image credit:  Photograph of Grand Canyon National Park by Michael Quinn, National Park Service

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The Studio Museum in Harlem is now accepting applications for their artist in residence program. They are offering a 12 month studio residency for three emerging artists. Each artist is granted a free non-living studio space, a $20,000 fellowship, and a $1,000 material stipend. The program is designed to serve emerging artists of African descent locally, nationally and internationally.

Call to artists: ALCHEMY: Art and Science Call to Artists at the Schiltkamp Gallery, Traina Center for the Arts, Clark University. This show will explore the intersections of art and science; art that is inspired by science or scientific images/models that are transcendent. The concept of “science” is open and may include new technology as well as the traditional sciences. Application Instructions: 10-20 images in slides or as jpegs on a CD (no power point or slide shows). List of art work or other materials submitted, including titles, date, media, dimensions. C.V. or bio and a brief (one or two paragraphs) statement about the work submitted. For more information contact Eli Crocker at 508-793-8818 or ecrocker@clarku.edu
Deadline: Submissions due January 18, 2010

Nave Gallery Call to artists: The Beast In Me—Johnny Cash: Art Influenced by the Struggle of a Man. The Nave Gallery is seeking artwork, literal or interpretive, which speaks to the spirit of Johnny Cash. All media are welcome, including video and installation. For more information email info@navegallery.org
Deadline: February 1, 2010

Image credit: Photograph of Royal Rooter beating a drum, 1903 World Series. Photographer unidentified. Fan on the the visitors dugout provides percussion for the Boston American fans in game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston Public Library McGreevey Collection. Accession No.: 06_06_000012

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It’s December in New England. So put on your hat and gloves and get ready to shovel through some winter artist opportunites.

Call for Artists: Downtown Crossing Holiday Market through December 30. The Holiday Market at Downtown Crossing 2009 is a fully tented, bazaar-style, seasonal market for the public to enjoy access to artists, artisans and specialty food retailers during the busy holiday shopping season. Applications will be juried on a rolling basis as they are received. The number of artists in each media category will be limited. 28 spaces in total will be available for each week.
Deadline: December 11, 2009

Call to Photographers: The New Orleans Photo Alliance is seeking contemporary photographs that explore questions about the American Dream. The juror is Dr. Deborah Willis, chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and one of the nation’s leading historians of African American photography.
Deadline: December 14, 2009

The Writers’ Room of Boston, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides affordable, quiet, and secure workspace in downtown Boston for area writers, is now accepting applications for four fellowships for 2010. The fellowships award use of the Writers’ Room to Boston Area residents at no cost for one year. Residencies will begin in February 2010.
Deadline: Submissions due December 31, 2009.

LA GALERÍA at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts in Boston’s South End and Essex Art Center in Lawrence, MA have a call to artists for their collaborative juried exhibition project Exchange, to be mounted simultaneously in each art center in the Fall of 2010. Designed to unite diverse communities of artists and audiences, Exchange encourages visual artists working in innumerable mediums to approach the concept of Exchange in just as many ways. The Call to Artists is open to artists at any stage of their career. Go here for detailed application instructions.
Deadline: March 15, 2010

Image Credit: Photograph of Stone stairs at Ward’s Pond in Jamaica Plain, MA by Leon H. Abdalian, Feb. 21, 1931. 6.5×8.5 glass negative. From the collection of the Boston Public Library.

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SHIFTboston is launching a competition, seeking to collect visions that aim to enhance and electrify the urban experience in Boston. They’re looking for innovative, radical ideas for new city elements such as public art, landscape, architecture, urban intervention, and transportation. Competitors could explore topics such as the future city, energy efficiency, and ecological urbanism. The winning entry will receive a cash prize and will present at the SHIFTboston Forum at The Institute of Contemporary Art on January 14, 2010, and will be displayed on billboards, bus shelters, subway cars, and postcards throughout the Metro Boston area. For information visit www.shiftboston.org or their blog.
Deadline: Submissions due Friday, December 11.

Letters of inquiry are currently being accepted for Cinereach Grants, ranging from $5000 to $50,000 for film projects in any stage. Deadline for letters of inquiry: December 1, 2009. Past recipients of Cinereach grants include Marlo Poras (Film & Video Fellow ‘05), director of Run Granny Run, for her current project The Mosuo Sisters. Cinereach is a nonprofit that “facilitates the creation of films that challenge, excite, innovate, offer new perspectives, and inspire action.”

Public Artists: A commission opportunity from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts for an artist to design, fabricate, and install a bronze statue of a state trooper in full uniform for the exterior entrance at the front and center of the new State Police Headquarters in Scituate, Rhode Island. For questions regarding the submission of materials, or the scope of the project, please contact Elizabeth Keithline, elizabeth@arts.ri.gov.
Deadline: Request for Proposals must be received by December 1, 2009

Filmmakers: Central Productions has announced their annual call for submissions to the 9th Annual Boston Cinema Census hosted by the Brattle Theatre.
Deadline: February 10, 2010

Photo Credit: Beacon Hill from the present site of the reservoir between Hancock & Temple Streets, Accession No.: 07_10_000109, Cab. No.: Cab 23.58.1, Lithographer: J.H. Bufford & Co., Date: 1898 (approximate), Genre: Photographs; Lithographs, Description: Copy photograph of color lithograph by J.H. Bufford’s Lithography, from original watercolor drawing done on the spot in 1811-1812 by John Ruebens Smith. The lithograph was published in 1858 by Smith, Knight & Tappan, 186 Washington Street. Boston Public Library Print Department.

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Photo above depicts two artists wondering whatever happened to their luggage.

On a happier note, The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has issued two Calls to Artists for upcoming projects at Washington Dulles International Airport and they have nothing to do with locating lost luggage.

The first call to artists involves the International Arrivals Building. The Airports Authority is looking for artists to make artwork for three permanent installations intended to welcome arriving international passengers to the United States and the National Capital Region, to enhance their travel experience and to promote the cultural diversity of the National Capital Region.

The second call involves the the Federal Inspection Services Area, Concourse C. One project artist will be selected to work with nine classroom/art teachers at schools in the National Capital Region to create student portraits for a public art project titled, HELLO AND WELCOME.

For more information contact Margaret Bishop, Community Relations Manager, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, 703-417-8383, or email Margaret.Bishop@MWAA.com

Deadline for both projects: October 15, 2009.

There are two upcoming free talks to note:
The first is the launch event of Artists In Context on Friday, October 9, 2009, from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum Lecture Hall, Harvard University, 485 Broadway, Cambridge. Seating is limited so reservation is recommended. Email RSVP@artistsincontext.org to attend.

ARTISTS IN CONTEXT is a flexible organizational framework designed to assemble artists and other creative thinkers across disciplines to conceptualize new ways of representing and acting upon the critical issues. The speakers include: Claudine Brown, Director of the Arts and Culture Program, Nathan Cummings Foundation; Mel Chin, Ann Hamilton, Dava Newman, Director, MIT Technology and Policy Program and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems; and an additional speaker TBA. The moderator is Carrie Lambert-Beatty, Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture and of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University.

The second talk involves Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Poetry Festival presenting Massachusetts Poetry in Hard Times: What the Best of Bay State Bards Offer Us in Bad Times and Good. Poets include David Ferry, Suji Kwock Kim, Jill McDonough, Gail Mazur & Lloyd Schwartz, with moderator Christopher Lydon. For more information, call the Ford Hall Forum at 617-557-2007. Event takes place on Thursday, October 15 at 6:30-8:00 pm, at the Rabb Auditorium, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA.

Image credit: NASA Center: Headquarters, Image # wrightflyer-1904.

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The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts has a call for artists to paint the official state portrait of Governor Donald L. Carcieri. For curious minds, there’s a Wayback machine Web site chronicling the official portraits of past Rhode Island governors. Artists interested in being considered for the commission should visit the the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Web site for an application form. Artists will be asked to submit a resume and no less than five and no more than ten digital images of previously commissioned work. Mr. Peabody, did the artists of yesteryear enjoy painting those beautiful locks of hair?
Deadline: Thursday, October 1, 2009

The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA will award at least three fellowships to creative and performing artists and writers to explore pre-20th century American history at the organization’s independent research library. The fellowships will provide monthlong residencies, which include $1,100 and housing on the campus (or $1,600 without housing), to “multiply and improve the ways in which an understanding of history is communicated to the American people.” Fellowship projects include historical novels, nonfiction, plays, poetry, documentary film, screenplays, articles, costume and set designs, sculpture, painting, and other creative endeavors with a basis in history.
Deadline: October 5, 2009, to apply.

The Open Society Institute invites photographers to submit a body of work for consideration in the Moving Walls 17 group exhibition. For more information contact Quito Ziegler, qziegler@sorosny.org, 212-547-6909.
Deadline: Friday, October 23, 2009

Image credit: Portraits of Rhode Island governors depicted above from Rhode Island Secretary of State Web site.

ArtSake wants you to know that there are fabulous scultptures and paintings of past Massachusetts governors, senators, and citizens on display at our very own golden-domed state house. Tours are available daily.

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FREEBIES:
Here’s something of interest to filmmakers: A free tax credits workshop for Massachusetts filmmakers, including how to prepare for them and what’s required for the mandatory audit, with a Q & A session to follow on Wednesday
September 9, 2009 at 6:30 pm at the FC office, 397 Moody St., 2nd floor, Waltham, MA. CPA Irene Wachsler from Tobolsky and Wachsler will be presenting information about what expenses qualify and how to ensure that you receive as much money as you are entitled.
Deadline: RSVP to jen@filmmakerscollab.org by noon Monday September 7.

Interested in public art? Come hear from field experts and peers, network with other artists, and participate in the discussion at the New England Foundation for the Arts. The first in their series will be a session featuring Lynn Basa, public artist, faculty member at the Art Institute of Chicago, and author of The Artists Guide to Public Art. This session is appropriate for artists with limited public art experience or those with experience who would like a refresher. Lynn will lead us through her “tricks of the trade” for finding, applying for, and winning public art commissions. Staff from NEFA, the Boston Art Commission, and the Cambridge Arts Council will also be available to share information about their public art programs.

Other topics in the works include temporary public art, transitioning from gallery work to the public realm, and public art in private development. For the subsequent session dates and times, visit www.nefa.org/calendar and check your email for future announcements from NEFA.
When: September 22, 2009, 12 - 3 PM. Bring a lunch!
Where: NEFA, 145 Tremont St., Seventh Floor, Boston, MA 02111
RSVP and questions about this event: Lauren Johnston, Public Art Coordinator, at ljohnston@nefa.org or 617.951.0010 x528.

PAY TO PLAY:
Americans for the Arts 2008 National Arts Marketing Project Conference
in Rhode Island has a one-day preconference for marketing issues for artists.

The Artist’s Professional Toolbox Program: A career development program that empowers practicing visual artists. The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC/Boston) works toward building a vibrant arts community in Greater Boston by providing support services to artists and arts organizations including training, capacity building, legal services, and technical assistance.
Deadline: Monday, October 19, 2009

Image credit: Wood Tortoise from Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, 1911, G & C Miriam Co. Springfield, MA.

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Some people have no trouble threading a needle, making use of the materials at hand, and stitching fabric swatches together to create spectacular quilts. By the way, guess when the invention of the needle and thread took place? (See answer below).

And so visitors to the upcoming exhibition of The New England Quilt Museum are in for a treat. The show MASTER PIECES: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts is heading to Lowell.

There will be more than 40 works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts.

The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes, and socks. Some resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.

In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, swatch books, and catalogs from menswear companies, dating from the 1900s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.

The tradition of making unique, often very personal quilts from repurposed menswear textiles gained popularity around 1850, and lasted through the 1950s. Today, the tradition revives in memory quilts made from old T-shirts and clothing that has personal sentiment. The exhibition once again proves that the art of recycling clothing into items of beauty and practicality has a long and important history in the US (see Etsy or Boston Handmade for example).

Guest curator Laure Fischer will be speaking about the exhibition on September 26. On Sunday, September 27, the museum will host a demonstration on making quilts from recycled T-shirts. The public is invited to come learn how to turn T-shirts into a quilt using basic sewing skills. In addition, historic textiles expert Pam Weeks will deliver a lecture about the history of textile production in New England on October 17.

The exhibition runs from September 24 through November 15.

Image credit: All images courtesy of the New England Quilt Museum. Portrait quilt, made from neckties, with painted center panel, maker unknown, mid 20th century. Photo by Fletcher Boland. Two of the quilts above are made from suiting materials, and another is made from military uniforms. All are late 19th -early 20th century.

The answer according to Wiki is that handsewing as artform began some 20,000 years ago.

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