By F. Lennox Campello Much has been written about the phenomenon of art fairs as the new salons of the 21st century, as magnets where galleries congregate and collectors and curators, and celebrities, and the illuminati go to see and buy art. Furthermore, anecdotal figures from the major fairs seem to confirm that a lot of artwork is being sold by galleries at the fairs. My own experience in doing art fairs for the last 20 years confirms this fact – I have my own positive empirical evidence. Here in the DMV, we’ve had our own taste of a major “Miami style art fair” with artDC in 2007 – and that fair was a major failure, as that basic fair model didn’t work in the Greater Washington area, which historically has a well-documented degree of apathy when it comes to actually buying art or getting the main stream press interested… or the immense reluctance that suburbanites have in driving to DC over the weekend to parking-challenged areas. Subsequently to that epic art fair failure, the (e)merge art fair – a hotel variation of the “art fair inside a huge building/tent” model, where the fair is held in a hotel (in this case the Capitol Skyline Hotel) – has had more success – but it also ended. And now the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities has been furiously planning a weeklong event that they’re calling “Art Week DC” which will (according to them) include a major art fair. And thus… an idea that I have been mulling in my head for years now keeps bugging me. There’s another “world” out there of fine art fairs that, because of the curious highbrow attitude of the “high art” cabal, never really gets any attention from the art media, etc. These are…
Pictured above: Carrie Garland and Alexandria-based artist Rich Moore By F. Lennox Campello After restaurants, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, an art gallery is the “second most likely to fail business in the Unites States. And running an art gallery is not an easy task – as Washington Post former and legendary Arts editor John Pancake once told me, it is a “heroic act.” In fact, opening and running an independent, fine arts gallery ethically and properly is an act of love and passion for the arts. And once open and running, cracking the code and getting people to actually buy a piece of original artwork is a very difficult process, and unfortunately for the galleries and for artists, they only control a small part of it. The most difficult part is getting people to actually know that there are galleries, and openings, etc. Getting the potential buyer to the gallery, or aware of the gallery or artist, is the key, and of course the most difficult part. There are parts of the world where you haggle the price of everything and every time! And to add insult to injury, there are apparently only two things in American culture that people seem very adept at haggling for: cars and art. I once walked to a line of taxis in Bahrain and asked the first cabbie on the line how much to take me to the Souk (market place area of the city). I had been advised that it should be about 20 dinars. “100 dinars”, he responded dragging deeply from his cigarette. After 10 minutes or so of animated haggling, we settled for 20 dinars. The next day, I wanted to go back to the market place, and seeing my cabbie again on the line, I walked…
By F. Lennox Campello It’s December, and as usual, and since 2006 – by the time this article hits the streets, I’ll be in Miami for the Art Basel week of Miami art fairs – the big dance of the artworld! The last decade or so I’ve been doing some of the prime fairs in the area: Pulse, Volta, Scope, Art Miami Context, etc., but in the beginning, it was Aqua, which is held at the trendy Aqua Hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach and which is owned by the same folks who run Art Miami… and Aqua is now Aqua Art Miami! Those giant other fairs demand a lot of physical labor, and thus this year, I and my two compadres, Steve Wanna and Erwin Timmers, decided to “go back” to our roots and do Aqua again. We’re in room 109 on the ground floor – which makes life so much easier for set up and packing up on Sunday! In my opinion, Aqua is also the best Miami fair for emerging artists, and in my experience, it gets packed and the celebrities do love to attend Aqua! Over the fairs we’ve sold work to Rachel Maddow, John Malcovitch, and others. Also, Aqua seems to have a great “wake effect.” If you read this with column any regular emphasis, then you know that in the past, many times I have discussed the worldwide art fairs and the reason why contemporary artists need to be in them and why there are so many positive things that come out of them – other than sales – even after the fair is over. As a sailor, I compare it to the wake that a ship leaves on the ocean… a wake that most landlubbers don’t realize is sometimes noticeable for hundreds…
Pictured above: “Stories From My Soul”, Mixed Media, 2025 by Dianne Bugash By Kevin Mellema Exclusive breaking art news. We can now report that the mammoth “Women Artists of the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) Survey Show” is adding yet another venue to the list. Namely, the Falls Church Arts gallery. Founded in 2003, they have been quietly growing, and gaining strength, with multiple moves along the way. Now occupying the ground floor gallery space at 700-B West Broad St., in the Kensington Building, in of course the heart of Falls Church City. With this show, they formally step out of the local and onto the greater DC area arts scene. Getting back to the show…The “Women Artists of the DMV (District, Maryland, Virginia) Survey Show” has surpassed all expectations, hopes, and fantastical imaginations. It’s blown past the 600 artists exhibited mark, and now resides alone at the top of the mountain. Nobody can recall anything of this scale on the D.C art scene, and with good reason. It’s now considered the largest curated fine arts show in American history. The glass ceiling broke on this puppy a long time ago. We’re in volcanic eruption territory. More like an entire side of the mountain is now missing. The brainchild of Lenny Campello (this column’s regular author) has suddenly found himself lashed to the front of a runaway train that somehow keeps getting cars and passengers added onto it. It’s tempting to call Lenny the ‘Genghis Khan of the DC art scene’, but he didn’t exactly set out to be the unifying leader conjoining 19 disparate fiefdoms into one all-consuming art attack. Rather, it happened organically. Mind you, this didn’t exactly materialize out of the ether either. It’s a bit of a layered story and involves a handful of key factors. Firstly, we should point out that Lenny…
Pictured above: Michele Banks: Growth Vessel, Watercolor on Clayboard 20 x 16 inches; Venue: McLean Project for the Arts By F. Lennox Campello By the time that this article is published, about 12 of the 18 art openings for the epic Women Artists of the DMV survey show will have happened, with openings remaining at the ACM Galleries inside the beautiful National Children’s Hospital in DC, at the Strathmore Galleries in Rockville (Opening: October 4th, 1:00pm), at the Earl Gallery at Maryland Hall for the Arts in Annapolis (Opening: October 8th, 5:30–7:00pm), at the Melissa Ichiuji Studio Gallery in Front Royal, Virginia (Opening: October 18th), at the Nepenthe Gallery in Alexandria (Opening: December 4th) and at the gorgeous and new ARTSpiration location in Frederick, Maryland (Opening: Nov. 1st, 2-6 pm). And there is also a second opening at the DMV art jewel known as Artists & Makers in Rockville, where a packed first initial opening took place already in September and Judith Heartsong has a second one planned for October 3rd from 5-8PM. Thus, about two thirds of the openings have happened and the shows are on the wall – so far, the openings have been amazing and well attended! In fact, I am told that the opening at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC set new attendance records. While the survey exhibitions have received a substantial amount of press attention, including a two-page review in the Washington Post, I am still struggling to understand the apathy and lack of attention displayed by the DMV museum establishment, starting with the Smithsonian Institution declining to accept a gift of the digital record of the survey, which I believe fits perfectly as part of the generous Terra Foundation initiative to digitally archive American art, but as…
Like most artists, I get an email like this 2-3 times a month: I have been on the lookout for some artworks lately in regards to my stepdaughter’s wedding, which is just around the corner. I stormed onto some of your works, which I found quite impressive and intriguing. I must admit you’re doing quite an impressive job. You are undoubtedly good at what you do. With that being said, I would like to purchase some of yours as a surprise gift for my daughter in honor of her upcoming wedding ceremony. It would be of help if you could send some pictures of your piece of work, with their respective prices and sizes, which are ready for Immediate (or close to immediate) sales. My budget for this is within the range of $1000 to $7000. I look forward to reading from you in order to know more about your pieces of inventory. As a matter of importance, I would also like to know if you could accept a check as a matter of payment. Check clears and you have funds ready before pickup commences. I can only pay with a check at the moment as my daughter handles the bank cards and electronic transactions from time to time. Alternatively, the most common one, which is the “I noticed my wife/husband” variant: Hello There, My name is Joe. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and I guess she likes your piece of work. I’m also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too – You are doing a great job. I would like to purchase, as a surprise to my wife on our anniversary. Also, let me know if you accept check as mode of payment. I usually post the…
Pictured above: POST COVID: SACRED GEOMETRY CIRCLE WITH PEARLS by Annette Polan; Acrylic on panel with pearls and other jewels, 24” diameter By Lennox Campello The month of August not only brings the latest edition of The Old Town Crier, but it will also bring the first of fifteen – yup! Fifteen! – Openings at 15 venues, which are now part of the Women Artists of the DMV, survey show. This makes this show not only the first ever major survey of the female artists working in the fine arts across the Greater Washington capital region, but I am also told that this is now the largest ever curated group show – ever – in the USA. Curating about 400 artists from nearly 4,000 applications was a major labor of patience and curatorial bravado on my part, and over the last few months I have highlighted some key and emerging artists via this column, and with your (as Stephen King would say “constant reader”) indulgence, let me discuss a few more. Let me introduce you to several superwomen of the DMV art world. Sophia McCrocklin’s is an artistic tornado! But the kind of tornado that leaves behind impressive artwork where the powerful artistic winds are fueled by her inspiration to explore the natural world and to explore the intricate details and hidden beauty of often-overlooked plants in the forest. She observes that “each species I encounter presents a unique challenge and an opportunity to delve deeper into the fascinating world of botany. This journey has resulted in the creation of large-scale fiber botanical sculptures and small pen-and-ink drawings of the plants found in the forested areas of Rock Creek Park and Dumbarton Oaks Park.” And just like the aforementioned tornado, her process to create the artwork is almost exhausting to…
By F. Lennox Campello Over the decades that I’ve been writing this column, I’ve discussed, and showcased, and offered proof of the love for art that it takes to run an independent commercial fine arts gallery in the DMV — where the owner, often running the gallery by the skin of their teeth and two or three bad shows away from financial ruin — nonetheless continues to run the second most likely to fail business in the US… because (in my experience) their love for art. Allow me to repeat myself: In the world of art dealers and art galleries, most of them are run through the skin of one’s teeth and are usually a labor of love on the part of the dealer. When a gallery “survives” for a few years and then establishes itself as a permanent fixture on a city’s art scene, that cultural tapestry gains another member and we all benefit. A key member of the DMV’s visual art scene is the Adah Rose Galleries in Kensington and Rockville, Maryland. This amazing and hard-working tiny superhero of a lady has not only survived the end of most DMV fine arts galleries since she first opened 14 years ago, but has also managed to expand into a second (and super cool) location in Rockville! And currently at the Rockville location at 12115 Parklawn Drive (gorgeous space by the way), the gallery has Carte Blanche: Awakening, a superbly curated group show running through most of July. I especially liked Mur·mur·a·tion by the immensely talented British-born, but DMV artist Kirsty Little, who notes that the title is a both a Noun – a flock of starlings and also a Verb – The action of murmuring: “the murmuration of a flock of warblers.” Bottom line: The gathering of many voices to form…
By F. Lennox Campello For many years now, off and on, I have been a member of the advisory panel that recommends to the City of Washington which art to acquire for its city collection via its ART BANK program. I am always shocked how few submissions we get each year! And the artists who “know about it” keep it up every year to the point that by now, there are artists with almost twenty works of art in the collection of the District of Columbia! Interested? Each year, The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) acquires fine art from metropolitan artists to grow its Art Bank Collection. Artwork in the collection is managed by the Public Art Department of CAH and loaned to District government agencies for display in public areas and the offices of government buildings. Now in its 39th year, the Art Bank Collection includes nearly 3,000 artworks in various media. For the purpose of this grant, metropolitan artist is defined as a legal resident of Washington, DC, or a legal resident of within a 50-mile radius of the Washington, DC boundaries, for at least one (1) year prior to the application deadline. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities usually requests applications from qualified artists and District nonprofit art galleries or organizations for its Fiscal Year Art Bank Program early on the year. Award amounts vary but eligible individual applicants may be awarded up to $15,000 and nonprofit art galleries or organizational applicants may be awarded up to $25,000. How do you get on the list? Contact the Commission and ask them to put you on their email list; do so by sending Kerry Kaleba (Grants Program Associate) an email to kerry.kaleba@dc.gov and tell her that Lenny sent you. How do you apply?…
Pictured above: Waves, Oil on Canvas by Pattee Hipschen By F. Lennox Campello The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland is one of those jewels that make the Greater DC area/Capital region one of the richest and most diverse cultural tapestries in the world. The Center not only hosts workshops, events (including many free ones), lectures, and authors and poets, but also has a very nice art gallery in its spaces, which are conveniently located at 4508 Walsh St, Bethesda MD 20815 and right across from a very convenient parking lot! Recently I went there to see “You Don’t Know Me,” a solo exhibition of photographs and stories by area photographer, Beatrice Hamblett. The exhibition was staged at the Joram Piatigorsky Gallery at the Center. Ready for this? I was floored by this exhibition! In fact, this is easily one of the top, if not the best photography show that I have seen in a loooong time. We are told by the show’s wall text that: “‘You Don’t Know Me’ introduces viewers to a cross-section of people— fisherman, hunters, church-goers, people living in small towns and hollers—who reflect the spirit of Appalachia. With this five-year project, Hamblett hopes to bridge the gap between urban and rural people at a time when division runs deep throughout the US.” This show did that and way more. The images are all memorable, and are all eye-opening to not only Americans, but to anyone who has never set foot in Appalachia and relies on Hollywood and politicians to describe and try to label a region and a beautiful people who are close to the heart beat of our nation. In the show, Hamblett not only showcases her photographic skills – she’s a darkroom photographer who flexes her old-school skills and displays that enviable geekiness of…
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