One of Margaret Huddy's paintings has been chosen to be the centerpiece in the 2009 Christmas ornament sold by the White House Historical Society. Margaret's work was discovered by the Society in her Torpedo Factory studio where she was commissioned to do two paintings. The work has appeared on Christmas cards in 2005 and 2006, on a puzzle, and now on the 2009 ornament.

The ornament is available for purchase at the Torpedo Factory information desk, at the White House Historical Association shop on Lafayette square, on their website, and in gift shops around the country.

Margaret's paintings of state flowers led to her White House Historical Society commission to paint two illustrations for one of their publications of White House Flowers. The book is available in her studio. The Society recommended Margaret to the National Parks Service for the 2007 painting of the White House on a Christmas ball for the tree in the Blue Room of the White House.

“They were told I would be perfect for the job. I refused at first, having never painted an ornament much less the White House on a ball 18" in diameter but they finally twisted my arm.” The ornament now resides along with the others from that year in the Bush archives.

The artist says “All of the wonderful things that have happened in my career have occurred because I have a studio here in the art center.” More information about Margaret Huddy.

Why Young Mothers Feel Trapped by Elizabeth Seaver

From There 2 Here: Art Center Exhibition Exchange

September 10 - October 18
Reception: Second Thursday Art Night, September 10, 6-8pm

Gallery Talk: 7pm, during reception, by Marian Van Landingham, founder of the Torpedo Factory Art Center

Three art centers that hosted the Torpedo Factory traveling exhibition will present work by 22 artists in Target Gallery: GoggleWorks Center for the Arts (Reading, PA), LibertyTown Arts Workshop (Fredericksburg, VA), and the Prizery Art Center (South Boston, VA). The art centers are similar in design to the Torpedo Factory in that they have open studios and galleries inside of repurposed architectural spaces.

EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES:

Going Postal - 2009 Postcard Show
Exhibition Dates: December 3 - 6
Deadline for artwork delivery: December 2
A fun 3-day exhibition of original art based on the 4x6" postcard format. $25 fee guarantees entry into the show. More information.

Pandora's Box
Exhibition Dates: December 10 - January 10
Deadline for entries: October 5
Interpretations of Pandora's Box as it relates to modern day issues. Work must be based on a 12-inch container form but elements of the work may exceed this boundary. Apply online.

Imprint
Exhibition Dates: January 16 - February 21
Deadline for entries: November 17
An exhibition that examines the current trends in contemporary printmaking. Apply online.

Brooklyn by Michael Borek

Bowl by Michael Borek

Another photograph of Michael Borek, Bowl, was awarded Honorable Mention at the 3rd biennial radius250 exhibition of artists working within a 250 mile radius around Richmond. Juror Marlena Rothacker of Washington, DC's International Arts and Artists mentioned Borek's work: "There is documentary photography [like] Michael Borek's images which both capture reality but with creative positioning trick the eye and enhance or distort the ordinary." The exhibition closed on August 23. More information

Margaret Huddy

Margaret Huddy has a painting selected for an exchange exhibition in Tokyo at the National Museum. The show is organized by the Watercolor USA Honor Society. She will be teaching Travel Sketching with Watercolor on the new Cunard Line ship Queen Victoria in December.

JoAnn Clayton

The artist now has a video on YouTube

JoAnn Clayton will be exhibiting colorist' paintings at the Reston Unitarian Church from September 10 to October 18. A public reception will be held Sunday, September 13, 12:30-3pm

Road to French Mesa by Carol Lopatin

Carol Lopatin is pleased to have Road to French Mesa juried into the 28th Adirondacks National Exhibition, August 22 through October 4.

Thuya Garden by Colleen Henderson

Photographers Colleen Henderson and Susan Meyers are presenting new work at Multiple Exposures Gallery, studio 312, August 4 through October 4. A "meet the artists" reception will be held during Second Thursday Art Night on September 10 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. The exhibition includes traditionally framed photographs, and handmade photo books showcasing Colleen's color landscape imagery.

Danny Conant, Alan Sislen, and Colleen Henderson, resident photographers at VisArts center in Rockville, MD, are participating in a resident artist exhibition entitled Unique Visions. Each of the 12 VisArts' resident artists will be showcasing their individual work which includes: photography, jewelry, painting, glass, clay and more. The exhibit opens August 2 and runs until September 6. For more information visit the VisArts website at http://www.visartscenter.org/index.html

Danny Conant has two pieces in Camouflage a VisArts Member Exhibition juried by Rex Stevens, Chair of fine arts department at Maryland Institute College of Art, August 2 to September 5.

Four Sides by Marsha Staiger

Marsha Staiger will have an exhibit of recent paintings October 2 - November 14 at Oerth Gallery in Old Town Alexandria. Opening reception October 2 from 7 to 9pm

Goknur Olguner

Goknur Olguner had been selected by Associated Content Society as one of the best wedding photographers in Beverly Hills, California. Goknur has previously been named a Top 10 wedding photographer there in Washington, DC. Learn more at www.elevenhearts.com.

Altar by Saaraliisa Ylitalo

Saaraliisa Ylitalo presents her show Meditations in Fiberworks, studio 14, September 8 through October 5 with a reception Sunday, September 13, from 1 to 4 pm. Saaraliisa works with her own handmade paper and mixed media. This body of work has several different spiritual cultural references such as screens, mandalas and personal altars.

Saaraliisa is also participating in a show in Japan, the Friends of Dard Hunter Juried Paper Exhibition at the Oji Paper Museum in Tokyo. The show runs August 31 to September 5. You can see details at www.friendsofdardhunter.com

Jessica Beels will be one of approximately 100 artists from across the nation donating embellished radiation masks to the Courage Unmasked auction to be held on September 9 at the Katzen Art Center at American University. The funds raised by the auction will benefit head and neck cancer patients who cannot afford their treatment expenses. Please visit www.courageunmasked.org for more details and to see some examples of the masks to be auctioned.

Poppy Field Necklace by Zoya Gutina

Zoya Gutina showcased there her two bead artworks: Poppy Field necklace and Midsummer Night's Dream necklace at the exhibit World of Beads VIII: A 20 Year Retrospective held by The Bead Society of Greater New York on June, 19-21.

Lush Spring Blues by Zoya Gutina

Zoya's Lush Spring Blues necklace was chosen by jurors as one of the top ten finalists in the first Colorworks contest held by Step by Step Beads Magazine. The orange-purple-green tertiary triad presents a challenge of bold and striking contrasts, and contest participants had to create a piece of bead jewelry with the predominant colors of that triad.

Nine artists from the Torpedo Factory donated artwork for the auction to benefit Carpenter Shelter which will take place Sept 26, 7 PM at National Airport. The artists inlcude Margaret Huddy, Matthew Johnston, Sue Lynch, David Cochran, Joan Kasprzak, Cindy Brandt, Rosemary Covey, Judith Coady, Penelope Barringer, Marcel, and Clay Huffman represented by Marcel. Carpenter's Shelter is dedicated to ending homelessness in the metro DC area.

Kim Jones will present her jewelry at an event at a boutique called Forecast on Friday, September 11, from 11am to 7pm and Saturday, September 12, from 10am to 6pm. The event also features the work of two clothing designers. Forecast is a clothing and housewares boutique that is low-pressure, not too haute, not too cool, offering timeless collections that are just right and avoids the fly-by-night trends. More information.

Kim Jones will also be showing at the Bethesda Row Arts Festival Saturday, October 17 from 11am to 6pm and Sunday, October 18 from 11am to 5pm. She is also part of the Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show on November 5 and 6.

The Creative Crafts Council 27th Biennial Juried Exhibition featured Torpedo Factory artists Ann Citron, Anne Buchal, Estelle Vernon, Lisa Vershbow, Barbro Eriskdotter Gendell, and Rachel Carren. The show took place May 30 to July 11 at the Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda. The Creative Crafts Council is composed of 9 Washington-Area Guilds.

Monotype by Caroly Dutky Romano

Carolyn Dutky Romano was selected to create an image of jazz pianist Dick Morgan for the cover of his latest CD on the Jazzmont label. Her original monotype is shown.

Mary Ann Stevens completed a portrait in memory of Dr. Hopkins for Hopkins House in Alexandria. The portrait will be displayed in the lobby of Hopkins House. Founded in 1939, Hopkins House is celebrating 70 years. Through high-quality preschools, financial literacy, homeownership, parent involvement, reading and literacy, and summer enrichment programs, Hopkins House offers to children and families the skills they will need for a life time of learning.

CMDupre (Studio 12) said, in accepting the Friends Award and concluding her Target exhibit:
Artistic influences are legion, perhaps legendary--each assessing visual changes across all boundaries: nationalities, subject matter, image-making, cultural gambits, genre, mode, with intricate knowledge of the medium: stupendous technique. They are Sol Halabi, Yinka Shonibare, Martin Kippenberger, Marlene Dumas, Anselm Kiefer, Rieko Fujinami, Gerhard Richter, Fritz Scholder, Michael Borek. These are all hybrid identities migrating through artistic culture and hegemonies, naturally engaged in exploration and transition, searching for ways to articuate the punctum (the inscrutable, inchoate, unresponsive, hidden, mysterious, illusive, distortive, limited, progagandized); to penetrate "the scope and drastic impact of monumental violence, loss and fear" (quoting Cornelia Butler on Marlene Dumas, her "Painter as Witness" essay). Awareness is of the wider world, all outside, exterior to self, and inner by means of the Mysterious Other. Dupre says "I do not feel alone when these other people are working through rough edges, lapses, faults, ruptures, where life bleeds fully into art and vice versa."

...facts of the matter are only deposits, layers which deliver only to the most meticulous
examination what constitutes the true assets hidden within the inner earth: the images
which, torn from all former contexts stand--like ruins or torsos in the collector's
gallery--as the treasures in the prosaic chambers of our belated insights.
--- Walter Benjamin