Northern Virginia Art Beat

F.C. Art on Display

Falls Church Arts (FCA) call for submissions to its annual all-member show. While this group runs all-member shows through out the year, traditionally this one has been the largest and most well attended of them all.

Past shows opened in the Volvo dealership, then moved the next day, or even that night, to whatever make-do space was available that year. The openings were large, but the follow-up shows had high attrition rates. Moving art around isn’t a lot of fun: it’s often bulky, fragile and, in the end, time-consuming. Doing it twice was understandably more than many were up for.

The dizzying chaos is over, and the FCA now has a home. This year’s show will open at Art Space (410 South Maple Ave., Falls Church), and will remain in place for the entire run.
This year’s show titled “Phases” adds a thematic wrinkle, requesting art works dealing with phases – lunar, personal or otherwise.

This non-juried show will accept two works per artist. There is no submission fee past the obvious membership requirements. Historically speaking, the membership fee acts as an entry fee for all FCA shows throughout the year.

Deadline for entry forms is Monday, Feb. 1. The show will run from Feb. 19 – March 21.

For complete details and a downloadable entry forms, see www.FallsChurchArts.org.

 

Hone Those Skills

Open Drawing Studio Tuesday evenings, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, at McLean Project for the Arts in the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean). For more details, call 703-790-1953 or visit www.mpaart.org. Register online at www.mcleancenter.org.

It’s time for open studio sign up at MPA, with three individual series. Signing up for the whole semester nets three free sessions over all, or you can pick and choose individual sessions.

The schedules are as follows: Tuesday, 7 – 9:30 p.m., Jan. 5 – March 30, $90 for all or $8 for a drop-in session; Thursday, 1 – 4 p.m., Jan. 7 – April 1, $90 for all or $9 for each drop-in; Saturday, 4 – 7:30 p.m., Jan. 9 – April 4, $100 for all or $10 per drop-in.

 

Public Opportunity

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a national environmental organization, is issuing an open call for original artwork to hang in the public spaces of its Washington, D.C. offices for approximately one year.

The theme of this juried show, “Thoreau’s Legacy: Humans and Our Habitat,” is based on a book of essays dealing with the personal impacts of global warming published this year by Penguin Classics (for more information, go to www.ucsusa.org/americanstories).

The jurors are Washington Post art critic Michael O’Sullivan; artist and curator Ellyn Weiss; and artist, graphic designer, illustrator and UCS Communications Director Elliott Negin.

Deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 15. Artists may submit up to three works for consideration on CD, or via e-mail (no slides, please). There is no submission fee, nor a commission fee for sales. Artists must enclose a data sheet with their contact information, along with art work details (size, media, title, etc.) and a short artist statement as to how the work relates to the theme.

Send Entries to: Douglas Pedersen, Union of Concerned Scientists, 1825 K St. NW, Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20006-1232 (on a CD) or via email todpedersen@ucsusa.org. For more information, call Pedersen at 202-331-5650.

UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org.

 

Open Studio Space

Arlington Arts Center (AAC) is accepting applications for an open slot in one of their shared studio spaces at the center (3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington). Deadline has been extended until Jan. 15, with the final selection announced a week later. The studio space will become available the first part of February.

If you’re looking for studio space, this one is hard to beat. The artists in residence have exclusive gallery exhibition space on the third floor level, on a rotating basis. With opening events at AAC highly attended, it’s great exposure. There are some strings attached beyond the simple rental fee, though nothing particularly onerous by any means. For further details, see www.arlingtonartscenter.org/studios/apply, or call 703-248-6800 for questions.

 

Poetry in Motion

Moving Words 11th Annual Poetry Competition; Open Call for D.C. area poets. The deadline for up to three submissions per poet is Friday, Jan. 22. There is no entry fee.

Six finalists will receive $100 each, and see their literary work placed on posters inside D.C. Metro buses that run throughout the Arlington/Falls Church/Fairfax area.

This year’s competition requests thematic works dealing with the notion of “Getting There.”

For more information, call 703-228-1854 or visit https://arlingtonarts.org/cultural-affairs/moving-words.aspx.


The Northern Virginia Art Beat is compiled by Kevin Mellema. To e-mail submissions, e-mail them to kevinmellema@gmail.com

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