Tracking the Dodo

Three of my pieces have been accepted into the “Second Time Around” show at Del Ray Artisans in Alexandria (all art made with recycled/repurposed materials). Starts Friday, Sept. 5th (reception 7-9 pm)!

Detail, "License"

The current show at Touchstone Gallery, where my piece "Pliable" is currently hanging, ends on Sept. 1 (they are generally open Wed-Sun 12-5 but will also be open on Labor Day).

Another small piece, "Moon Box" (which hung in last year's Artomatic) has been accepted for the upcoming multi-gallery "Women of the DMV" show. ("DMV"="DC, Maryland, Virginia." For some reason, my term "BalWash" has not caught on.) "Moon Box" will be at the McLean Project for the Arts from 9/11 to 11/1, with an opening party on Sept. 18th (7-9 pm).

More on the "Women of the DMV" show here.

dodo at Touchstone

 I am pleased (& bemused) to report that my piece "Pliable" is going to be in the Aug. 8-Sept. 1st show at Touchstone Gallery in downtown DC. The opening night party on Friday, 8/8 is from 5 to 8 p.m. Come say hi!

Wallmountables 2025

 It's that time again! DCAC is having its annual community art show, and I will have work in it, alongside friends of the collective Opulent Tarnish, Taina Litwak, Ursula Seckel, and many more!

The opening night party is tomorrow -- Friday, July 11th -- from 7 to 9 p.m. After that, the gallery is open from 2 to 7 p.m., Wed.-Sun., and the closing night party (& last chance to buy all that fabulous, inexpensive local art) is Sunday, Aug. 10th.

Go to real places and look at real art made by real people! No salesbot will come to your door.

Detail, "Grass Side (Hope)" - DJH, 2025

Collaboratively minded

Two of us are applying for the COLLAB show at Touchstone Gallery, with works that share ingredients (similar/identical found objects, glass and rust collected on shared explorations) and are otherwise "in dialogue" with each other.

Detail, "(throws the whole world) Into chaos" by Dave Eastlack

Detail, "Pliable" by Dorothy Hickson

We will not hear back until the latter part of July. The show is in August. (Watch this space!)

Wintry Mix

 A couple things:

• Tonight's closing reception at Touchstone Gallery is canceled due to graupel (and/or sleet, freezing rain, Chex Mix). The party will instead be tomorrow, Sunday 2-5 p.m. -- which means that if you buy art, you can take it home right away!
  
  
• Please sign on to this Open Letter to Christie's about their gross and pathetic AutoIncorrect [Plagiarism Software] "art" auction. (Link opens in a new window.)

Art? What is it good for?

I participated in a study of health and retirement info. that included a lot of questions about my "current job," which I described as "self-employed artist."

When do I think I will retire? (Um, never?)

Is EFAC "manufacturing, sales, or service"?

How is (art) made??

What is (art) USED FOR???

It was a bit of a challenge.

I replied to "What is it used for?" with ".......Aesthetics."

EFAC is local.

EFAC is not a chain or franchise.

"What are your main responsibilities?"

"I am irresponsible."

The interviewer typed my answer carefully into the computer.

Small Things

Note: We have deactivated our Facebookery due to InfiniDim's anti-LGBT discriminatory behaviors/horridness. (Working on alternatives to the Instagramming.) Comment below -- all comments are private -- if you want to give me your email address to receive a little note whenever this blog is updated.

Both of my Small Things in the Touchstone Gallery show have been sold! Visit Touchstone (Wed-Sun. 12-5) by Feb. 9th if you want to see them in all their rusty, boniness. (Closing reception is Feb. 8th from 6-9; they will not have regular afternoon hours that day, but will be open Sun. 2/9 from 12-5. Also, a few extended hours: Jan. 30 & Feb. 5, the gallery will be open till 8 pm!)

Available Things

 These are pieces I have not sold, which are therefore still available through me (no commission! possible shipping costs!) -- inquire if intrigued.

On View Now

 A fellow artist who was working the floor at Touchstone Gallery yesterday sent me the happy news that both of my pieces in the District 51 show have been sold! I am delighted -- this is my first time in a juried show, and the overall quality of the other artwork on display is so high. It's really a lovely show, with a fabulous variety of mixed media, paintings, encaustics, amazing ceramics, etc. You can see them all (including my little assemblages) until February 9th (Wed-Sun 12-5).

"Tarmac" and "Climb"

The back of the thing

 Still writing "2024" on my rust...

(Detail, backside of “Climb” — delivered today to Touchstone Gallery for the District 51 show.)

District 51

I am in this show: https://www.touchstonegallery.com/exhibits-all/the-district-51

(Two of my tinier pieces will be on view, and for sale. One of them, "Tarmac," was also at DCAC; the other, "Climb," has not yet been shown outside the NIRV.)

The show opens January 9th. It sounds like fun to me -- the application wanted to know my specific connection to the city (I told them, "I pick up bits of art fodder everywhere -- rusty wire, vine wood, rat bones; the city is not only an inspiration but is literally woven into my sculptures...") I'm interested to see what other people contribute.

Weighing "Tarmac"

Images for work in progress

If you are falling through the cracks -- if the cracks are widening, because the powerful have crowbars -- weave your own webs in the interstices.

pining for petrichor

The good thing about this dry blazing heat is that paint and varnish dry fast. I venture outdoors only to spray foul chemicals, then retreat back to the coolth.

Petal and wing on rust

I am making new art. Come see some of it! This year's Wallmountables at DCAC opens Friday, July 12th. One of my fellow Arts Collective members will also be hanging his work, for the first time! We are excited.

When We All Go

 I handed over "If We All Go" to its new owner yesterday -- I am just a tiny bit sad to part with this piece, but it was delightful to meet & chat with the lovely buyer!

** Two other folks who owe me message replies: I have "Moon Box" and "I Seem To Be A Tripod" all wrapt and ready; don't you want your art? **

"If We All Go" (detail)

Last days for Artomatic 2024

I have had SUCH an amazing time with this giant wild art festival. I met so many cool people (yes, I did come here to make friends!) and saw attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion so much fabulous art. I still haven't seen everything; I will be back tomorrow, peering into undiscovered corners.

I've just emailed or messaged everyone who's bought art from me. Looking forward to meeting y'all during deinstallation! And yes, there is still plenty of art available.  :-)  All the details on my stuff are at this post.

Artomatic final weekend hours: Fri-Sat. 12 to 12, Sunday 12 to 9.

Come check it out if you haven't already! Or pay another visit to your favorite installations. It'll all be gone after this weekend. Dismantled, crated up, carted off... Lost in time, like tears in rain.

(detail, "Tooth and Nail")

Talk Trash With Me!

It's the penultimate weekend for Artomatic 2024, and the show has been amazing. If you haven't seen everything yet, come back and explore! This Sunday at 2 PM, we are having a fun little guided tour of various artists' spaces in conjunction with Earth Day:

Trash Talking Artists! The Earth Day Tour

I have already seen (& adored) several of these installations, and highly recommend checking it out! It's another opportunity to meet and chat with the artists, on a smaller scale (the last Meet the Artists day reportedly saw 7,000 visitors, including a Secret Service presence??) Focusing on one path through the building can help you avoid that Saw Too Much Art, Eyes/Brain Full feeling.

In other news, I have sold quite a few pieces! The link to the full list is here. Folks can pick up their purchases anytime during Deinstall (April 29 to May 11); email me to coordinate. Thanks so much!

"Brooding"

Artomatic!

This spring we are very lucky to have a new Artomatic for the first time since 2017, and it will be right downtown on the Red Line: 2100 M St. NW. Opening night is Friday, March 8th. My space is on the 8th floor between the bar and the lounge.

This will be my fourth time showing work at Artomatic (sixth, if you count two tiny shows at National Airport). Here is a little retrospective of my and Dan's Artomatic work. 

Artomatic 2024

Dorothy Hickson

Thank you for checking out my work at Artomatic 2024! To purchase a piece, you can do any of the following:

--- paypal:  trepan8@yahoo.com

--- venmo:  @ExtinctFlightless

--- email: trepan8@yahoo.com

--- leave a comment to this post

(Include the title of the piece, as well as the best way to contact you. Please double-check below to make sure it is still available.)

--- or find me on-site!

I hope to be at "Meet the Artists" on April 13, and will be in the building exploring with friends on 4/20 and closing weekend.

My space is #802, on the eighth floor between the bar and the lounge. (Turn right at the gryphon chaise longue!)

Details on each piece in the show:

Open Studios, Local Community, Stuff About Me

 Yesterday, Mr. Darkness and I had a lovely walk over to Mt. Rainier and Brentwood, to the open art studios at Otis Street Arts Project and Art by the Tracks, the Washington Glass School, Portico, and the Brentwood Arts Exchange.

We had some terrific conversations and gave out several stickers with this blog address. So now seemed like a good time for a little reintroduction.

Ambiguously Available Art

 A few weeks ago I visited DCAC and saw that one of my pieces, "Fear Eater," had a happy red dot on the wall -- sold! One of my friends expressed an interest in another piece, but we were told that it, too, had been sold -- as had a third! (despite their lack of happy red-dot stickers)

Alas! Confusion! When I returned to the gallery this Friday, the previously unstickered sculptures were unstickered once more. A different staffer told me that some mysterious glitch in the "Square" interface had led to a number of false positives around the exhibit. Only "Fear Eater" had actually been sold; the others had been suspended in a liminal state of nontransaction.

I still cannot guarantee that the hypothetical illusory buyers are not, indeed, real -- was it the sale or the unsale that was the glitch? Perhaps at tonight's Wallmountables closing party (6-7 p.m.), someone will reveal themselves as the secret, elusive, patron(s) of my art. But if not, you can still buy the things!

Unseen Toolkit: Night
(not one of the pieces that attempted to become unavailable)