Please join us for an Artist Reception
Friday, October 15th, 6-8 pm
For complete information click here:
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Faculty-Member-Jean-Bartoli-on-display-at-Washington-Studio-School.html?soid=1101445182541&aid=dIzYWVjiVIE
WASHINGTON STUDIO SCHOOL is a community of artists and students dedicated to the practice of Fine Arts with conscious awareness of both historical traditions and contemporary experience. Founded in 1985, WSS offers classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking for students of all levels.
Please join us for an Artist Reception
Friday, October 15th, 6-8 pm
The Washington Studio School is delighted to announce the opening of our Certificate Student Graduation Exhibition featuring artist Jill Bateman, on view August 29th to September 26th, 2010.I fell in love with drawing and painting in college and have over the years sought out artistic knowledge and experience wherever I could get it. I didn’t necessarily set out to become an ‘artist.’ I just know that when I am behind an easel, I’m happier with a sense of my life holding together in a more integrated balanced way. I find this balance exploring the grid, enjoying the tension between the organic sensitivity and fluidity of the line as it intersects the more rigid and predictable horizontals and verticals.


Art History for Artists: Centuries of Still Life
Wednesday, 1:30-3:00pm (6 weeks: Jan 13–Feb 17)
Donna McKee
$165.00
The class will explore the history of still-life painting as a major theme in European and American art that continues to engage artists today, with its focus on the world of objects within arm’s reach. Class sessions will include detailed visual study of works from the early Netherlandish painters who depicted objects that held symbolic meaning to Braque, Picasso and the development of the modern still life. The first session will meet at the Washington Studio School and will include an informal slide overview of the history of still life and an introductory discussion of the many ways that this traditional subject can suggest new creative possibilities for personal artistic expression. Subsequent class sessions will meet in the galleries of The National Gallery of Art, The Phillips Collection, and other Washington DC museums. Museum visits and recommended readings to be discussed in the first class.
To register visit www.washingtonstudioschool.org.
The Painted Word

We are currently accepting applications for Crafty Bastards 2009. The show will be held Saturday, October 3rd at Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Applications will be accepted through July 5, 2009. There is a $10 non-refundable application fee. The jury will review the entries and we will notify everyone of their status via email by July 20. The booth fee for accepted vendors is $120. Here's how to register for the October 3rd Crafty Bastards show:
Read the instructions? For answers to your further questions, check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
Summer craft shows are in full swing, and mentions of fall and holiday shows are starting to pop up. The dreaded cycle — filling out vendor applications and then waiting and anticipating to see if you've made it — never seems to end.
As one of the Directors of the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair in Washington, D.C., and the Handmade Mart in Silver Spring, MD, my fellow organizers and I are often asked the frequent question: “Why didn’t I get accepted into the fair?”
This question is hard to answer, as it’s different for everyone. For seasoned crafters who have sold successfully on Etsy and have been on the craft fair circuit for years, the answer usually comes down to submitting the same photos year after year with their application. As an organizer who is looking for an innovative and awesome experience for crafters and shoppers, it’s hard to accept our past vendors who haven’t evolved their crafts.
For example, a vendor who submits the same three T-shirt designs with their application every year is telling me that they really don’t have any new products in their line. This is important, especially when you see more and more crafters joining the handmade community. If a crafter isn’t making new products or designs, there are 100 more who are.
For crafters who are newer to the craft fair scene, not getting accepted usually results from submitting photos that don’t often show off the variety or volume of crafts they produce or don’t show their best products. If crafts in the photos don’t look well made or have a unique style, they lose points. Newer vendors sometimes give us too much personal information and not enough specifics about their product line in their vendor statements.
Vendor statements are important because they explain the photos of your craft. A photo may say 1,000 words, but a vendor statement is there to back it up with a literal explanation. For example, let’s say I sell jewelry and in my vendor statement I say:
“I make whimsical jewelry that will tickle your fancy with vibrant colors and semi-precious stones.”
What is this person trying to say? This is a textbook answer without much thought. The questions I want to know are: What does the making process entail? What makes the jewelry more awesome than the other 100 jewelry designers who applied to the fair? What type of jewelry do you make, i.e. rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, etc? What inspires you? What is your style?
A good vendor statement with the right photos will be a perfect package, neatly wrapped, and need no further explanation.
Here are other tips for applying to craft fairs:
1. Photos
2. Websites
Many fairs ask you for your website along with, or instead of, photos. If your main site is a blog with a small link to your Etsy shop, I’d rather you send me to your Etsy shop directly. This is not necessarily a general rule, but if it’s hard to see your products on your website or hard to find a link to your shop, that’s not good.
3. Vendor Statement
Don’t submit a life story. Stick to your product line and anything surrounding your career as a crafter. Writing my own vendor statement for applications usually takes at least a day. Email your friends your statement and see what they say. They will know if your creativity and who you are as a crafter comes through in your statement.
4. Know your market
Before you apply to a craft fair, check out the vendors from the previous year. What are they selling? What do their websites and Etsy shops look like? You will need to see if this is indeed your market.
You can usually find reviews about shows by searching the web or in the Etsy Forums. Find out if this is the show for you from what their vendors had to say.
5. Burning Bridges
Every year, at every craft show, there is a vendor who didn’t get accepted and decides to yell at the organizers. This usually starts with an email or phone call that begins with “How dare you” or “My stuff is much better than so and so’s” or “I am a very important person in the crafting world...” Every craft show organizer has heard it before, and it’s heart wrenching and not nice. Please be nice. Many shows have at least one vendor who has to drop out at the last minute for various reasons, so you never know if you might be next in line to take their place.
6. Don’t take it personally
If you are not accepted as a vendor, don’t take it personally. This has nothing to do with you as a person. With tens of thousands of crafters on Etsy alone, the competition to sell at fairs, which can only take between 50-300 vendors per show, is tremendous. For all the fun, excitement, and friendship-making that takes place at craft fairs, you must remember that the point of these fairs is all business: Craft fair organizers are creating a marketplace for monetary transactions to take place. You are seeking to conduct said monetary transactions. It’s all business in the front and party in the back.
Check out more tips on applying to shows from crafter extraordinaire and Hello Craft's Communication Director Tina Seamonster here. Questions? Have advice for others? Tell us in the comments and feel free to email Hello Craft at hellocraftinfo@gmail.com. kittenrockswell will also be hosting a follow-up chat today, Thursday, June 25 at 5 p.m. ET in the Virtual Labs, Etsy's multi-user chat room.
And don't forget, applications to this year's Crafty Bastards are open until July 5, 2009! Happy crafting and good luck with all your 2009 applications!Painter John Currin discusses his latest work, in which he explores themes from eroticism and procreation to mail-order porcelain. Currin has distinguished himself for his controversial portrayal of female subjects, from menopausal women to exuberant, well-endowed girls. Currin's work is included in Paint Made Flesh.
Included in admission to Paint Made Flesh; free for members
In conjunction with the exhibition Paint Made Flesh, organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tenn. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.
www.phillipscollection.org