"Quart Bag: A Community Art Show" at Civilian Art Projects

"Without You I Am Lost," by Nikolas Schiller


AU artists Bonner Sale and Nikki Painter will have work in "Quart Bag: A Community Art Show," opening Friday, August 8th at Civilian Art Projects.

Recent AU Alumni Brian Barr and Lauren Rice will also exhibit pieces in "Quart Bag."

AND Artifice blogger buddies Alex Ebstein of There Were Ten Tigers, Rachel Fick of ArtCade Forum, and Cara Ober of BMore Art will have work in the show.

Here's some more info:

QUART BAG: A Community Art Show at Civilian
August 8 - August 16, 2008
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, 8/08/08

Inspired by the many things you can do with a quart bag, Civilian Art Projects has invited 100 DC area artists to participate in a community art exhibition called Quart Bag. The exhibition provides an imaginative opportunity for artists to use thirty-two ounces of space within a plastic quart size bag. All works of art will be sold for $100 or less, providing an opportunity for all people to walk home with a piece of art that is FAA approved.

When: Friday, August 8, 2008 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
The exhibition will run from August 8 - 16, 2008.

APES/FIASCO - After the opening, head up to Comet Ping Pong for beer specials, pizza, ping pong and rock. 10pm. $10.

Comet: 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC

Partial List of Artists participating in QB:
Seth Adelsberger / Brigitte Anders-Kraus / Brian Barr/ Jon Bobby Benjamin / Matthew Best / Kristina Bilonick / John Bohl / Marissa Botelho / Martin Brief / Emily C-D / Colby Caldwell / Nick Carr / Page Carr / Erin Cluely / Cynthia Connolly / Patricia Correa / Dane Austin Criner / Caitlin Cunningham / Dmetrious / Mary Early / Alex Ebstein / Steven Eson / Briony Evans / Annie Ewaskio / Edward Fendley / Rachel Fick / Steve Frost / Scott Gursky / Paul Jeanes / Rebecca Juliette / Brook Halvorson / Elizabeth Huey / James Huckenpahler / Anamario Hernandez / Bridget Sue Lambert / Alberto Gaitan / Victoria Gaitan / Carlos Gomez / Jason Gubbiotti / Annie Gray / Adam Griffiths / Erick Jackson / Amanda Kleinman / JW Mahoney / Katherine Mann / Nathan Manuel / John Marra / Cara Ober / Ayo Okuseinde / Betsy Packard / Nikki Painter / Annie Peters / Dana Reifler-Amato / Ding Ren / Lauren Rice/ Bonner Sale / Sara Seidman / Emily Slaughter / Matt Spahr / Noelle Tan / Denise Tassin / Lisa Marie Thalhammer / Robert Tifford / Rene Trevino / Justin Tsucalas / Andrej Ujhazy / The Scott Twins

ArtCade-Sponsored Crit Night at AU

Jeffry Cudlin spoke at AU's Crit Night (artworks by Lana Stephens, photo taken by Emily Cunetto)


By Nikki Painter

Sunday night, March 30th, six first and second year American University MFA students presented work for critique by fellow classmates, students from George Washington University, the Corcoran, and local artists.

Area artist, writer, critic, and Director of Exhibitions for the Arlington Arts Center Jeffry Cudlin also participated in the evening’s events, taking time to inform the audience about opportunities to exhibit at the AAC and some upcoming events. Cudlin mentioned that many of the proposals for shows received by the center were not from Baltimore and DC artists, and that this was something that puzzled him.

Critiques were timed to last about fifteen minutes, and the students whose work was being critiqued opened the discussion with introductory comments about his or her art.


Installation by Lauren Rice (photo taken by Alex Ebstein)

Questions asked several times during various critiques had to do with origins and inclusion of pictorial elements. Were AU artists considering their use of (socially and historically) content-laden imagery?

Other questions that arose during the evening:

What kind of research are we doing about our work? What are we reading? What other artists are we looking at?

What kind of relationship do we want viewers to have with our work? How does a viewer interact with our work?

How and why are we choosing our materials? Why draw instead of paint and vice versa? Why not use animation?

How do you know when it is finished? What “looks” finished?

How do you differentiate yourself from your contemporaries who may be working in a similar manner?

Overall, questions asked during critiques were incisive and addressed important issues AU students continue to grapple with.

“Thank you” to Jeffry Cudlin for taking time out of his busy schedule to hang out with us and talk about our work!

Thanks also to Rachel Fick and ArtCade for sponsoring and organizing our evening- check out ArtCade Forum for another account of the evening’s events.

AND be sure to read another response to the evening at There Were Ten Tigers.

Thank you to everyone who came out- there has been some really great dialog started as a result of Crit Nights, and we hope to continue to get to know our community.