The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation fosters the legacy of artist Robert Rauschenberg’s life, work, and philosophy that art can change the world. The foundation supports artists, initiatives, and institutions that embody the same fearlessness, innovation, and multidisciplinary approach that Rauschenberg exemplified in both his art and philanthropic endeavors.

2016 Artist as Activist Fellow Favianna Rodriguez

2016 Artist as Activist Fellow Favianna Rodriguez

The foundation focuses on three major areas: 1) increasing public access to and scholarship of Rauschenberg’s art; 2) cultivating emerging and established artists through a residency program at the artist’s home and studio in Captiva, Florida; and 3) creating philanthropic initiatives that connect art, culture, and creativity with important issues such as education and climate change.

In that spirit, the foundation is accepting applications for its Artist as Activist Fellowship program.

The annual program provides up to $100,000 over two years to artists in support of an ambitious creative work that tackles the theme of racial justice, with a particular focus on mass incarceration.

U.S.-based artists and artist collectives seeking to work full-time on a project are encouraged to apply.

The foundation will be holding an informational webinar on October 27, 2016, at 3:00 P.M. (EST).

See the Rauschenberg Foundation for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

2016 Open Studio Tour Highlight: A Tribute to Wink Hastings

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A tribute to Wink will take place all weekend with a celebration of his life and a show of his photography and fantastic woodworking projects. Wink’s first studio was at Load of Fun on North Ave. in Station Arts North – almost before there was a Station Arts North. He traveled in the US extensively for the Park Service, but always returned to Baltimore, with its eccentric, mischievous energy. Wink and Susan Walters worked together on projects for C-Kat Studios. They are both talented woodworkers- creating beautiful Arts and Crafts style furniture and frames, often using reclaimed wood. Wink was also a dedicated photographer, capturing both action shots of CycloCross races and the vast beauty of the land preservation projects he was working on. Please come celebrate Wink and his beloved C-Kat Studios with us.

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Ward “Wink” Hastings died entirely too soon at age 69 on August 7, 2016 in Baltimore, MD after battling pneumonia.  Wink has remaining family in New Hampshire, Maine, and Hawaii, a tremendous network of friends in the greater Baltimore area, and colleagues throughout the country.  Born in Massachusetts in 1947, Wink spent his childhood in New England and moved to Utah to attend Utah State University where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture in 1974.  Wink was a true champion for public and private land conservation and had a distinguished 42 years of service with the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management.   In the late 1980’s, Wink joined the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program as a Landscape Architect in Milwaukee, later moving to Atlanta before finally ending up with the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis, Maryland. In Atlanta one of the many projects he worked on was a plan to commemorate route of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March as a National Historic Trail.

 

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Family, friends, and colleagues will remember Wink as a conservationist, a photographer with an acute eye for the natural world, a talented woodworker, an extreme skier, rock climber, cyclist, hiker, kayaker, and competitive amateur triathlete.  He was physically tough as nails, gentle in soul and heart, and in tune with popular culture. Wink was a gentle and kind friend with a wry sense of humor, the best storyteller, a life enthusiast, and an impeccable gift giver.  In recent years, Wink was a regular volunteer teaching meditation at the Maryland Women’s Prison in Baltimore and studied at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, a meditation and retreat center in the Buddhist tradition in New Hampshire. He enjoyed building and designing beautiful frames and furniture at C-Kat Studios in Woodberry, named after his constant cat companion Cinnamon.

American Chestnut trees will be planted by friends and family in his honor.

Wink was well loved and will be sorely missed.

 

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Please join C-Kat Studios in Parkdale Building 1 in this tribute to their studio mate, Wink Hastings, on Saturday & Sunday, 10am-6pm. They are located at 3500 Parkdale Avenue in Suite Q.

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BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE LIFE AS AN ARTIST
INTENSIVE WORKSHOP FROM ARTISTS U/BALTIMORE
Why artists are poor and why they shouldn’t be
Tools artists have used to make things easier
How to build a life that is balanced, productive, and sustainable

Based on ten years of work with artists locally and nationally, artist leaders will offer tools for reconnecting with our deep values, building community, and managing our time and money.

How much does it cost? It’s free (but the class size is limited).
Who is it for? Working Baltimore artists.
Do you have to attend both sessions? Yes.
Will there be beverages? Of course. And lunch on Saturday.
How do I apply to participate?  Register here

WHERE
EMP Collective
307 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore MD 21201

WHEN
Friday, October 21, 2016, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Saturday, October 22, 2016, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

ashleyminnerart.com | 410.245.4303

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Request for Qualifications: Colorado State University – Chemistry Building and Science Quad

Total Budget:
$284,000
Deadline: November 7, 2016
Applications can be submitted via CallforEntry.org, here.

Qualifications are requested from artists and/or artist teams interested in creating a site-specific exterior public artwork or series of artworks for Colorado State University’s new Chemistry Building and Science Mall. Opportunities for this call include the exterior grass area to the north of the building along Pitkin Street, a main campus artery, and on the south side of the building in the science mall area. The committee is interested in an artwork or artworks that operate on campus scale and can activate the green space in and around the science quad. Upon completion, the science quad will be one of the few green quads on campus, and will be highly trafficked and active. The committee is open to both a single, large scale artwork and multiple artworks in a series engaging with multiple sizes.  The artwork(s) should speak to the science quad as a whole, and the entirety of CSU’s Natural Sciences programs, so an artwork that can engage within a space with multiple buildings, up to 4 stories, is preferred.
More images of the project can be seen here and full call is attached.

Q. You’re BOPA’s Cultural Affairs Director. What does that mean?

A. I oversee the Cultural Affairs department, which carries out most of the arts council functions of BOPA, the city’s arts council, events center and film office. So that means we have grant programs, education programs for children and adults, an arts center at School 33 and exhibition spaces at the Bromo Tower and Top of the World. We work with other arts organizations in the city on different projects as much as possible to build up the arts community.

Q. Tell us a little bit about your history. When did you begin working at BOPA?

A. I moved to Baltimore 17 years ago in 1999 from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. I began working in Baltimore at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where I was administrative assistant to the contemporary art and painting and sculpture departments. I moved to BOPA in 2002, and I’ve been here since then.

Q. What roles does the Cultural Affairs department play in the arts community specifically with opportunities for artists?

A. We work very closely with the events department here at BOPA to offer employment opportunities for artists—to present their work, design work, to help us install work and perform at various events like Light City, Artscape and the Baltimore Book Festival. We also work in partnership with many different groups to strengthen the arts community by administering grant programs such as the Creative Baltimore Fund, Free Fall Baltimore, Neighborhood Lights, the Transformative Art Prize and Lots Alive program that fund art projects within the community. These are all programs that bring together artists and communities, to enliven our neighborhoods and provide artists with opportunities to work in the community.

Q. People might not realize the importance BOPA places on arts education. Can you talk a little bit about BOPA’s arts education initiatives?

A. We have a program called Bright StARTs, which works with already established after school programs to provide arts education to students. We provide artist teachers and supplies and place the teachers in various after school programs as needed. After school is such an important time, a lot of kids have parents who work so they go to after school centers until their parents come home. Helping the centers with quality programming is a big part of the Bright StARTs program.

We are also beginning a program that will focus on Baltimore City artists that are involved in the 2017 Light City festival. The program will feature them along with educational information for teachers so that they can use the information in their classrooms to explain contemporary art and show it to their students. It’s often an area that teachers are not that well versed in and don’t understand well, so this is going to help them not only to find out what artists are doing in Baltimore but to find out what contemporary practices are in place. It’s a tremendous opportunity to involve the teachers and through them their students in the kind of work that’s going to be on display at Light City.

We’re also going to be starting a new program called the “Youth Arts Council” where we’re inviting teens who are interested to develop and execute teen activities for our major events like Light City, Artscape and the Book Festival. We’re also going to be focusing them on policy, how policy is developed particularly around art education in schools. This will kick off in the new year.

Q. What is your favorite program that you’ve worked on through BOPA and why?

A. I’d say Free Fall is my favorite. We developed it in 2006 and I’ve been the person that marshals that program every year. I love to give people the opportunity to perform and show what they do. It’s not just performance, but speakers, readings, dance, theater and film – it’s a wide variety of artistic practices that go on in the city that are all highlighted by Free Fall Baltimore. I think it’s the program that covers the most territory, and it’s sort of a unique model in that we work with organizations that are doing programming already and provide them with marketing by sending people to the website. So it really is an open invitation to the city to participate and to explore the cultural activities and opportunities that are out there.

Bonus Questions…

Q. How did Free Fall get started?

A. Free Fall got started in 2006 when the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the Walters came to the city and wanted to eliminate ticket prices to get into the museums. They wanted support from the city for that for a certain number of years, and we went to bat with them for that and the city agreed. In discussion, we felt like this needed to be bigger than just the BMA and the Walters, and we wanted to have the entire cultural community participate. So we said lets expand on the idea of free entry for the museums and ask the cultural community to do free programming in October. The first year we did October and November but we chose October because it’s National Arts and Humanities month, which is a federal designation that the whole country participates in. We felt like this was the best way to involve the community and to provide them with opportunities to enjoy everything that Baltimore has to offer culturally.

Q. Do you ever find that it’s difficult to select a recipient when you have open applications for artists and communities?

A. Luckily, we don’t have to pick the person or organization, we have a public process where we invite other folks in to take a look at the applications and make decisions. So we’re not in the position of choosing our friend or not choosing our friends. We bring in outside experts to take a look at the applications, that way we get a more appropriate way of dealing with entries and also outside expertise to make those decisions. I’m very glad we’re not in the position of picking and choosing the folks who are chosen for any of our projects. Using an outside panel is the industry standard for making selections.

Q. Anything else you want to add?

A. We have a great team in Cultural Affairs. We have 9 people [in our department] and everybody works their heart out for their own programs and the larger team. I think we’re doing terrific work in Baltimore and we’re trying to be more vocal about the work that we do and our achievements and the partnerships we have in the community. As the arts council, we want people to recognize us [BOPA] for all of the great things that we do.

Herbert Bearman Gallery at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Meyers Museum, Curator: Marsha Reeves Jews

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Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do in your studio?

 

The Herbert Bearman Gallery at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Meyers Museum is a lovely venue on the third floor of the museum overlooking the Baltimore Harbor. Currently we are featuring the exhibition “Fresh Air”, New works by Greg Fletcher and Leslie Schwing.
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What drew you to the medium(s) that you are currently working with?

 

This husband and wife artist team paint Baltimore City from a fresh and intriguing perspective. They focus on the hidden, the obscure and often ignored places revealing a sense of magic and wonder. From the spiritual to the humorous one is always surprised when looking at their work.
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What is something that you think is unique about your studio or practice?

 

Fletcher and Schwing go out daily to find their subjects. They begin their paintings at the site, often spending hours amidst rubble and decay, as if on an art picnic of their own, with their dog Pablo Picasso in tow. They then return to their separate studios and weave the works into final form which display distinctly different visions. They have been working this way together for over 20 years.
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What is one thing you love about being an artist in Baltimore?

 

Baltimore is so full of talent and vision. We at the Herbert Bearman Gallery feel fortunate to be able to share the works of these artists with our visitors.
What are you most excited about for this year’s Open Studio Tour?

 

This is our first year opening to the School 33 Tour. We look forward to seeing you all.
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The Herbert Bearman Gallery at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Meyers Museum will be open on Sunday, October 9 from 12pm-6pm, located at 1417 Thames Street!

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Request for Qualifications: Public Art for the Enoch Pratt Hampden Branch

Due: November 6, 2016

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) in collaboration with the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Baltimore City Department of General Services seeks a professional artist or artist team to design and produce unique, site specific public artwork for the interior of the soon to be renovated, Enoch Pratt Hampden Branch.  The planned renovations will retain the historic nature of building while bringing a more contemporary library layout and increasing accessibility. The renovations also include the addition of a community meeting space on the lowest floor of the building. This request for qualifications, seeks to identify an experienced professional artist to design and create new work to be permanently installed at the branch, and become part of the City of Baltimore’s public art collection.

To Apply: Click here for the RFQ and application link