San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
"Missing" by Nicole Waszak
San Diego's Mission Federal ArtWalk has a pretty straight-forward selection process. Artists can apply online and their work is considered by ArtWalk jurors.
"There are several criteria that we look for," says ArtWalk managing director Sandi Cottrell. "In a show that always sells out, and that has been attracting amazing artists from all over the country, we can never accept every artist that applies. Some of the things that we strive for is a balance between the various mediums. We are always attempting to expand on some categories—such as sculpture—and on the flip side of that, we could easily offer a whole show of photographers, based on the large numbers of photographers that apply. The selection process has been in place for several years and we have never made it a practice to accept every artist that applies."
Artist Nicole Waszak has her own ideas about why she was one of the artists who didn't get accepted in this year's ArtWalk, but rather than dwell on the rejection, she decided to organize an exhibition for herself and other artists who didn't make the cut.
"My main objective for the show is to provide a temporary venue to display the work of artists in our community who deserve the exposure that they were seeking when they applied to ArtWalk," Waszak says."There are wonderful artists in San Diego county who are being rejected.... I do not have a venue yet, as I would like to have at least a handful of artists to participate before seeking out a location. I am still getting responses to my ads and I am hopeful to have enough artists to start my venue search at the beginning of the year if not sooner. The only specifics I have on dates is that it would at a minimum overlap the dates of the ArtWalk, but I’d love to run the show for longer if possible."
Artists already in the show include Andrea Bianchi, Jon Grunes, Lee Sie and more. The deadline for entry into Waszak's show is March 11. Interested artists should email artwalkrejections@gmail.com for more info.
Since Dec. 1, artist Cherry Sweig has been completing a painting per day during her residency at the Chula Vista Nature Center. She plans on keeping up that pretty grueling pace through March 11—which means she'll complete 101 paintings in 101 days. Sweig is also holding seminars on Feb. 12 and March 12 (registration is now open during the whole process and each of her completed pieces will be on display and for sale at the Nature Center.
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ArtClash, an international collective of artists committed to community arts engagement, is organizing its first San Diego affair called "Fun-a-Day." Through January, 30 local artists are working on completing a project every day for the entire month. Sculptures, photographers, animators, filmmakers and more have signed on and the resulting work will be exhibited in a group show from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 18 at Space 4 Art.
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Remember TEDx San Diego? It was the first of its kind in this city, but it's not the last. A design-minded San Diegan is busily organizing another TEDx event called TEDxAmerica's Finest City set to take place March 10, 2011 at Scripps Seaside Forum in La Jolla.
"We are positioning our event from a self-aware standpoint, as an alternative to the TEDxSan Diego event that took place in November," says organizer Terri Mitchell. "We don't want to compete with that event, just offer a different flavor. They had a lot more speakers than we will have (we will have six to eight) and we're an all-day conference planned by a committee. This event is an evening affair with an after-party, and will be skewed a bit more towards art and design than TEDxSan Diego."
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Wowza. Fans demanded Malashock bring back their Malashock/RAW: STRIPPED performance, so they did just that. They knew the show would be popular, but they weren't ready to sell out the first two shows as quickly as they did. To meet the surprising demand, they organized another Sunday show, which sold out in just a few days.
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There's a group of green-minded San Diegans who recently launched a website and web-based television show, How Can I Help San Diego. The crew has finished the pilot, which focuses on how businesses get involved in sustainable practices, but nothing has come through yet. While they work out the details, they encourage folks to hook up with them through Facebook and Twitter.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego wants your feedback. Check out this survey they just sent out.
