The Artists for Conservation Foundation (AFC) has announced that it will launch its first annual juried exhibition "The Art of Conservation." The show will include about 120 works by AFC Signature Members, a large number of which will be for sale, and some of the art resulting from the AFC Flag Expeditions.

The exhibition is open to all members of the AFC. All art with a nature theme, including depictions of flora, fauna and/or their habitats and landscapes, will be eligible for entry. Interpretive and abstract “environmental” art is also admissible. Artists are encouraged to submit artwork that addresses one or more conservation-related issues. The submission deadline is March 21, 2008.

To learn about joining the AFC, click here.
To learn about donating to the AFC, click here.

I just spent the morning with good friend and wonderful artist Mary Todd Beam, who was in Cincinnati working on a new book, The Creative Edge, scheduled to be released in spring 2009. If you've ever taken a class with Mary, you know what a charmer she is. I was there to watch her demonstrate a few new techniques she's been experimenting with, and before I knew it, she had me in a smock and dribbling tar gel on a fun little painting of a fish that she'd started. (Don't hate me; it's my job.)

A colleague shot some video of Mary painting (and yes, I'm in there with the little fish). We should have it ready for you in the next couple of weeks.

Of course, this isn't Mary's first time in front of the camera. She's the star of An Acrylic Journey: From Trash to Treasure (a DVD distributed by Creative Catalyst Productions).

Mary won the Gold Medal of Honor in the American Watercolor Society's l35th annual exhibition for When Words Aren't Enough, Art Speaks (above).

Our thanks goes to Tom Fong (one of the featured artists in Watercolor Magic’s April 2007 issue) for sharing these photos from Milford Zornes’ centennial celebration held last Saturday at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. A popular workshop instructor himself, Fong was delighted to be in attendance; Zornes was his own first workshop instructor.

“At the age of 100 years and one day old … wow!” writes Fong. “He did a wonderful full sheet demonstration. Some gentleman purchased it for $6,500, and Milford donated the money to the Pasadena Museum of California Art.”

That is certainly something to celebrate.

A Case of Forgery Revisited: Last week, we looked into a Gauguin forgery. Now, one art dealer explains (in The Art Newspaper,) how he himself was duped by the Greenhalgh forgeries. "In the middle of that night I woke up and realised it was almost certainly a fake. The size was a little too large for the subject matter and the painting, a still-life, was landscape- rather than portrait-shaped." Learn how to spot a fake here.

The Case of the Mexican Suitcase: The New York Times reports that three cardboard valises of negatives belonging to Robert Capa, one of the pioneers of modern war photography, has been found. Capa took the photographs during the Spanish Civil War, just before he fled Europe for America in 1939, and always believed that they were lost during the Nazi invasion. Rumors have long persisted that the negatives survived. Read about their "discovery" and learn what mystery they may finally put to rest here.

The Case for Using Yourself as Your Model: At the Guardian, the always inquisitive Germaine Greer asks the question: Why do so many female artists put themselves in their work, often without clothing? Here's a little excerpt that may get your argumentative juices flowing: "The feminist art historian can no more ask these questions than she can ask why most women's art is no good." Read the whole story here.