June 2010

Washington artist Dana Ellyn shows art at Martin Luther King Library

Posted by Susanna at 12:11 PM, Jun 30, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Design & Art

Washington artist Dana Ellyn at the opening of her solo exhibit "Banned" at the MLK Library in Washington, D.C.

AN EXHIBIT of paintings by Washington artist Dana Ellyn - titled "Banned" - opened on Monday evening, June 28, at Martin Luther King Library in the nation's capital. It is the artist's newest solo show, and on Thursday, July 1, Ms. Ellyn will kick off the seventh year of her "31 Days in July" project - creating one new painting every day in July - each inspired by the daily news.

THE "BANNED" paintings are inspired by notable "banned books," books that have been challenged and declared 'prohibited' from the public by one or more authoritative body. Ms. Ellyn thrives on controversy and loves to read and tell stories, stories that are told in her paintings and are very often opinionated. She doesn't stay away from myths of all kinds, when it comes to religion, politics and to what it means to be a woman.

IN APRIL next year, she will have a solo show at Galeria Artevistas in Barcelona. Another solo exhibit will be at ArtGallery in Norfolk, Va., in November 2011.

MARTIN LUTHER KING Library, 901 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. www.danaellyn.com.

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Artist Natasha Karpinskaia shows art at Susan Calloway Fine Arts in Washington

Posted by Susanna at 2:27 PM, Jun 27, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Events

Ann Dunleavy and artist Natasha Karpinskaia

PLAYFUL COLOR and line dictate the compositions of artist Natasha Karpinskaia's monotypes while layering evokes a sense of the passage of time. Her monotypes, paintings and collages are as much a testament to their individual media as to personal easthetics, formal choices and, perhaps most importantly, humor.

The exhibition -- "Mix" -- is Karpinskaia's first solo show at the gallery and features a selection of works created in the last few years. A series of monotypes is derived from an idea that the artist continues to work with until she feels it is complete. The monotypes in "Mix" represent selections from the series Doodle, Connecticut Fences, Jaipur and Monuments. Additionally, there are 26 paintings titled "Alphabet Series" and selected small collages included in the exhibition.

The exhibition will go on until July 24, 2010. The gallery is located at 1643 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 202-965-4601, www.callowayart.com.

Gallery owner Susan Calloway and daughter Anna 

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"Exquisite Corpse" opening reception in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Susanna at 7:29 AM, Jun 25, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Events

Tim Davis, International Visions Gallery, and Philippa Hughes, The Pink Line Project

CIVILIAN Art Projects in Washington, D.C., is presenting "Exquisite Corpse" - a collaborative photo project curated by Corcoran Photography alums Jessica Cebra, Dave Gustine and Marissa Long. Invented by Surrealists in 1925, the Exquisite Corpse method involves a group of collaborators assembling a collection of words or images - each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person has contributed.

THE PROJECT'S photographers are an eclectic mix in themselves, including many artists based in D.C., and others living in New York, California, and as far away as China and South Africa. The "Exquisite Corpse" photographers are Ken Ashton, Page Carr, Jessica Cebra, Jenn DePalma, Ginger Farnham, Dave Gustine, Avi Gupta, Kyoko Hamada, Whitney Hubbs, Paul Jeffreys, Marissa Long, Seth Lower, Michael Lease, Kate MacDonnell, Antonio McAfee, Andy McMillan, Ed Panar, Laurel Plak, Eric Powell, Ahndraya Pariato, Cory Riggie, Paul Schiek, Mike Terzano, Zach Storm, Sarah Small, Asha Schecter, Sarah Wilmer and Jason Zimmerman.

ON THURSDAY evening, June 24, the opening reception was held at Civilian Art Projects, 1019 Seventh St., N.W., Washington, D.C., 202-607-3804, www.civilianartprojects.com. Exhibition hours are Wednesday and Saturday 1-6 p.m., Friday 4-8 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday by appointment.

Amanda Stoltz and Katherine Carr

Richard Gould and Lena Skanby

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Zahra Bayati is awarded the 2010 Agneta and Gunnar Nilsson scholarship for studies in intercultural relations

Posted by Susanna at 11:59 AM, Jun 22, 2010 (Comments)

Category: People

Zahra Bayati

DURING SWEA's (Swedish Women's Educational Association) annual Sweden dinner in Malmö, August 12, Zahra Bayati will receive the 2010 Agneta and Gunnar Nilsson scholarship for studies in intercultural relations.

MS. BAYATI is a Ph.D. student at Gothenburg University and is working on her dissertation "Construction and reconstruction of ethnicity in the teaching education from a intercultural perspective and its consequences for a lasting societal development." She was born in Tehran, Iran, but came to Sweden with her son in 1987.

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Sabine Stölting receives SWEA International's literature scholarship

Posted by Susanna at 11:55 AM, Jun 22, 2010 (Comments)

Category: People

Sabine Stölting

SABINE Stölting, who is a Ph.D.-student at the university of Freiburg in southern Germany, has been awarded SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Foundation) International's scholarship for research in the Swedish language, literature and society. She will use the $10,000 scholarship to conduct research on 19th-century Swedish straight plays and music.

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Shima Niavarani receives Sigrid Paskell's Scholarship 2010 from SWEA International

Posted by Susanna at 3:24 PM, Jun 21, 2010 (Comments)

Category: People

Shima Niavarani

SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Association) has awarded Sigrid Paskell's Scholarship 2010 to Shima Niavarani, a real phenomenon in the Swedish theater scene. The 10,000 USD scholarship is awarded annually to an artist in the field of singing, dance, theater and instrumental music, who is in the beginning of his or her career.

MS. NIAVARANI, who has shown an extraordinary sense of creative ideas, production and stage presence, came to Sweden from Iran when she was 4 years old. And now, 20 years later, she is one of the most talented and versatile actresses in the country. A few years ago, she showed her strength with her own production "Shima Niavarani är en Ûbermensch," in which she showed her musicality and the support of "all those who feel fat, excluded and dumb." She has sung opera for several years, created characters such as Queen Christina and Gilda, has had eight premieres during two years at Upsala municipal theater, and has been widely acclaimed for her work.

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Festive Swedish National Day Celebration at the Residence in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Susanna at 2:34 PM, Jun 7, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Events

Swedish ambassador Jonas Hafström speaks at the National Day at the residence in Northwest Washington.

WHAT A GREAT event it was! Heat, unbearable humidity and dark clouds didn't ruin the Swedish National Day celebration, with a picnic at the Swedish residence in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 6. By the time the event started at 6 p.m. the rain and thunderstorms were gone, and there was a pleasant almost cool breeze, reminiscent of a classic Swedish summer day.

AMBASSADOR Jonas Hafström gave a traditional and humorous speech to the guests. He mentioned that Swedes can be proud of the good relations between Sweden and the United States, and that the work of building those good relations are carried out every day by Swedish-Americans. "Since the inauguration of the House of Sweden in the fall of 2006, we have had 200,000 visitors, and it was appointed "Venue of the Year 2008" by The Washington Post," Hafström pointed out.

Sophia Angelini, Anna-Carin Rooney, who is the chair of the Swedish Church of Washington, D.C.'s parish council, and Christina Ternblom Lazdins.

LUND UNIVERSITY Academic Orchestra, led by Patrik Andersson, performed during the celebration. Among the pieces were the Swedish national hymn "Du gamla, Du fria," the American national march "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa, and a movement from Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. All of the selections were very popular, so popular in fact that the crowd's enthusiastic applause brought the director back for an encore or igen til! They played more of "Stars and Stripes Forever." The orchestra, which is touring the U.S., is the third oldest in Sweden and was founded in 1745.

Lund University Academic Orchestra performs.

Terrie Nelson, Paul Johnson and Ingrid Beach

Margaretha Bull and Catharina Ford

Gerry Schueman and his wife Margaret with "patriotic" T-shirts with the text "SWEDES - If you can't be one -- live like one! It's fun!" and "HOW SWEDE IT IS."

Vanja Huth, Sophia Angelini and Anders Lundegård

Anna Öfverström is giving out her own copies of the Swedish royal magazine, Svensk Damtidning...

  A few members of Lund University Academic Orchestra performed earlier in the day at Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C.

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"The Dance before the Kill" - Swedish Artist Anna U. Davis' Inaugural Exhibition of Drawings Opens at Long View Gallery in Washington

Posted by Susanna at 12:32 PM, Jun 5, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Events

 Washington-based Swedish artist Anna U. Davis

"The Dance before the Kill," a show featuring approximately 30 pen and ink drawings by Washington-based Swedish artist Anna U. Davis (www.frocasians.com) opened with a reception on Thursday evening, June 3, at Long View Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibition marks the first time that Davis has presented works on paper.

The show at Long View Gallery will run through July 1, 2010. The gallery is located at 1234 Ninth St., N.W., Washington, D.C., www.longviewgallery.com.

Fashion designer Deidre Jefferies and fashion model Bianca Richardson

Gerhard Olsen and Peter Davis

Photographer Stephen Abrams and Aisha Patel

Pierre and Evan Rahal

Jess Park, Bill Howdershell and Siobhan Gavagan

Lena Skanby and Lee Moore

Anna U. Davis and Sandra Taylor

Christine Waddler and Anna U. Davis

"Drop Dead Gorgeous" - artwork by Anna U. Davis

Anna U. Davis' dramatic depiction of a Swedish Midsummer feast

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Sailing Event with Kalmar Nyckel in Delaware to Celebrate Drott Lodge's 100th Anniversary

Posted by Susanna at 3:26 PM, Jun 2, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Travel

The replica ship of Kalmar Nyckel at the dock in Wilmington, Delaware

In connection with the celebration of Drott Lodge's 100th Anniversary, the Scandinavian-American organization has arranged a sailing event on October 2, 2010, with Kalmar Nyckel, the replica of the ship that brought Swedish and Finnish settlers to America. Boarding will be at the dock in Wilmington, Delaware, at 11 a.m. for the 90 minute sail, while the crew in period costume gives the history of the ship and the immigration from Sweden to New Sweden, in Delaware.

Following the sail, there will be a lunch at Iron Hill Brewery and a visit to Old Swede's Church with a guided tour of the church, graveyard and Hendericksson's house. On the way back, a brief stop is planned at the Fort Christina Memorial with a short tour of the grounds where Fort Christina once stood.

For information contact Bob Dyer at 703-536-7244 or bdyer@gwu.edu.

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Long View Gallery Presents "The Dance Before the Kill," Anna U. Davis Inaugural Exhibitions of Drawings

Posted by Susanna at 10:31 AM, Jun 1, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Events

Swedish artist Anna U. Davis and her husband Peter Davis

"THE DANCE BEFORE THE KILL," a show featuring approximately 30 pen and ink drawings by Washington-based artist Anna U. Davis, will open June 3 at Long View Gallery, 1234 Ninth St. N.W. This exhibition marks the first time that Davis has shown works on paper.

IN "The Dance before the Kill," Davis continues her investigation of contemporary feminist concerns, this time giving form to the sexually charged hostilities that pervade both gender and race relations. Her new series adopts the pasodoble as a metaphor to contrast the fluidity of women's roles with the aggressive, prideful posturing of paternal authority.

THE ARTIST VIEWS her exploration of a new medium as an exciting, personal challenge: "You have to think differently when you draw than you do when you paint. Both processes are detail-oriented; but, for me, drawing is a lot more about developing the figures and manipulating the negative space in an interesting way."

DAVIS HAS translated the gray Frocasian characters of her celebrated, vibrant mixed media paintings into starkly black and white illustrations of entangled bodies. An amalgam of the terms Afro and Caucasian, Frocasian designates the artist's construal of primitivism's noble savage and symbolizes the utopist aim to transcend identity politics.

ON PAPER, however, these figures lose their uniformly gray hue, underscoring their cultural oppositions and differences in appearance. The distinct, flamboyant garb and historic facial expression of each character evoke the dance of the bullfight, as these attributes augment the dramatic tension between the sexes.

DAVIS, nevertheless, conveys the tenet of social parity through the symmetrical balance of her compositions. She defines feminism as the recognition of all persons as social equals without diminishing what differentiates one gender from another.

ONE OF HER drawings in "The Dance before the Kill" parodies Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man." Davis supplants the ideal male figure with the female form, critiquing the societal injunction that commands women to achieve "perfect" bodily proportions. Imparting the passion of the pasodoble, a swarm of frenzied men in their underwear envelops the central female character. Vying for the woman's attention the male figures pull on the needs of the men. Moreover, the close-knit arrangement of the figures prompts the viewer to examine the libidinal underside of the social antagonism.

"I BEGIN each drawing by sketching out something that bothers me, and I end up making something that makes me feel good," Davis explains. "My feminist stance comes out naturally in my work. All of the women represent different sides of me."

About the Artist

"The Dance before the Kill" is Anna U. Davis' first solo show and the second time that she has exhibited at Long View Gallery. Davis is a 2006 recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Young Artist Grant. Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues throughout the Washington metro area and is also in the private collections of Dorothy Lichtenstein. She earned her BA in Studio Art from the University of the District of Columbia in 2002. Born in Sweden, Davis moved to the United States in 1998 and currently resides and works in Washington, D.C.

About the Gallery

Reopened in October 2009 as an art and event space, Long View Gallery concurrently highlights the talent of Washington-based artists and operates as a premier venue for private functions. The gallery mostly exhibits contemporary figural painting by both midcareer and emerging artists, but has recently launched a corporate art consultancy branch whose divers portfolio runs the gamut of abstract sculpture to photography. In the summer of 2010, the gallery will unveil an outdoor sculpture courtyard that faces historic Blagden Alley.

Long View Gallery is located at 1234 9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Tel. 202-232-4788. Business hours are Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sundays 12 noon-5 p.m.; and by appointment. www.longviewgallery.com.  

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