First Edition of New Show, American Art Report, Now in Production

The production of American Art Report with Ursula Bass began in May with filming expected to be complete by mid-Summer. The show will be released for distribution by early Fall, 2009.

In this edition, Ursula explores the work of international photographer Jerry R. Harke and his new book titled Nu Art en Noir et Blanc.

The first of a series, this edition of American Art Report features reports from Bass on location in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York City.

A special guest appearance is included in an interview conducted by Bass with Veronika Kotlajic, owner of Gallery Provocateur in Chicago where Harke's art is on exhibit.

Other guest appearances include actress, singer and model Mary Riley from New York City who appears in both Harke's new book as well as an earlier book called The Edwardian Lawn Dress: Gentle and Timeless and also model Carly Erin O'Neil from New York City who is featured in Harke's book titled Real Redheads au Naturel ... at Home!

Photographer John Korb from Northern Virginia, who has served as editor of Harke's books, Russian model Katya, who now lives in Washington, D.C. and model Amber Gangi will also be making guest appearances.

The show's crew also has made a brief stop at the 10th anniversary opening of Artomatic in Washington, D.C. where Harke, along with 1,000 other artists exhibited their work.

In addition to Harke's new book, the is taking a reflective look back on the artist's earlier work including the photography books he has published and the novels he has written and published.

His first novel was titled Lock Knot. Set in 1945 during World War II, Lock Knot tells the tale of wartime international espionage, drama. and romance. It's set in New York City with scenes as far flung as Hawaii, Europe, and South America.

Harke's second book, On Hell's Doorstep, takes readers back to the days of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Set on the High Plains of the U.S., On Hell's Doorstep is a heartbreaking epic tale of bank robbers like John Dillinger, the Great Depression and an event that will live in the annals of history as Black Sunday.

American Art Report reveals previews of Harke's third novel, now in writing, with a working title of Episodes.

American Art Report is sponsored by Gallery Provocateur in Chicago, the Midwest's most tantalizing art gallery and the Washington School of Photography in Bethesda, Md., and the MOCA DC Art Gallery, the only art gallery in the nation's capitol open to all artists, all the time.

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18 U.S.C. Section 2257 compliance notice. All models and other persons who appear in this blog were over the age of eighteen (18)years at the time of the creation of the images. Records pertaining to the photographic works of Jerry R. Harke required pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 2257 and CFR 75 are kept by the custodian of records at Marigot Publishing House, Attn: Jerry R. Harke, 6805 Sprucedale Court, Annandale, Virginia 22003

MOCA DC Art Gallery Executive Director Honored

David R. Quammen, Executive Director of the MOCA DC Art Gallery in Washington, DC was presented the gallery's Lifetime Achievement Award at the closing reception of the annual Erotic Art Exhibit April 3.

The gallery, located in Canal Square of Georgetown, was packed with a standing-room-only crowd. The presentation was a surprise organized by the Board of Directors of the gallery.

"There are people in our lives who do good things for the rest of us and too often, I think we take for granted the good things they do," said Cheryl Edwards, Treasurer of the Board of Directors.

Another board member, John Korb commented, "We all appreciate and admire Dave Quammen, the Executive Director of MOCA DC. He is an important part of the lives of many people in the Washington DC metropolitan area art community."

Jerry Harke, also a board member and a primary organizer of the event said, "If I were to search my mind for a word that best describes Dave Quammen, it would be the word GENTLEMAN. Dave Quammen is a gentleman in every sense of the word. He always has a gentle greeting for visitors of the gallery and he always treats everyone with the utmost respect and fairness."

The citation read during the presentation summarized the highlights of Quammen's career. He served his country in the U.S. Navy for six years and over the course of the twenty-five years following his military service, he worked in the semiconductor and computer industry out in Silicon Valley, as both a technical engineer and as a marketing professional. Not long after that, Quammen moved on up to become the owner of a printed circuit board manufacturing company.

It was 1993 when Quammen first came onto the scene in Washington DC. As a political activist, he worked to gain support for an economic development concept that would help the poor to help themselves. His days as a journalist came out of that experience and he wrote a weekly column on poverty issues that appeared in the Metro Herald over a three year period.

Quammen brought attention to his efforts on behalf of the poor through the creation of a website that received national recognition. Some of the materials available on that site were used by colleges to teach economic and social courses.

Work as a political activist was grueling with long hours and after seven years, Quammen began seeking creative outlets. He started participating in figure modeling in the year 2000 and discovered quickly that figure modeling was a disorganized world.

To correct this, he began the publication of a newsletter titled Artists & Models. In 2002, he founded the Figure Models Guild with the purpose of making the pool of models in the area more professional. He started working on that task by creating a model registry that he provides to all the schools, groups and individual artists who hire models. He also created and maintains a Figurative Arts Directory listing the places that use models.

His tireless work to organize the relationship between models and artists in the region has been a real success story and the Guild became the only recognized source of professional figure models in the DC area. Then, in 2005, he took over the MOCA DC Gallery, renovated the space, expanded the client base, and put the gallery on a sound financial footing.

He conducted innovative exhibitions and established a policy of being open to artists who have had little or no opportunity to exhibit their work in a mainstream gallery.

He remains a tireless advocate for the poor and the homeless population in the nation’s capitol and has used the gallery as a place to hold memorial services for the homeless who’ve died without anyone to pay respects to them. He feels very strongly about the plight of the poor and the homeless and last year, he used the gallery to put on a show for the homeless foundation.

The gallery has expanded into other areas of artistic expression with the same philosophy of serving the underserved. It has become a center for photographers, writers, journalists and actors. It is a facility that provides opportunity.

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