I would mention this benefit even if James and I weren’t the honorees! I am told you should be able to buy tickets on the website starting Wednesday.

Not only do you get to support a good cause, and have a chance at some inexpensive art, you can meet my mother if you attend. She had suggested that week to visit without even knowing about the event.

—

NURTUREart Non-Profit, Inc. Invites You To:
NEW ’07
Celebrating Ten Years of Nurturing the Edge

Monday, June 4th, 7 PM
Hosted by the CUE Art Foundation
511 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
Purchase Tickets Online at: www.nurtureart.org

Join Us for our Ten Year Anniversary Party
Honoring Visionary Supporters of Emerging Art:
Barry Hoggard and James Wagner, Collectors, Bloggers and Curators
Introduction by Artist William Powhida

Honorary Chairs:
Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President
Sina Najafi, Editor in Chief and Co-founder, Cabinet Magazine

Nurture the cutting edge of contemporary art by collecting from our Annual Small Works Salon Sale, an extraordinary array of new work by our talented and ambitious emerging artists. See the future in the student projects from our Education Outreach Program with the Juan Morel Campos Secondary School.

Student Art Materials Awards funded by the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Inc.

Ticket Prices:

Gala Entry Ticket: $75
gala celebration with wine & hors d’oeuvres, from 7–9 p.m.

All Artworks: $150 Each
choose your own from the extraordinary array in our
emerging artists small works salon

The Following are Available for Purchase by May 31st Only:

Combination Ticket: $200
includes entry to the gala and one artwork

The VIP Preview: $275
exclusive for dedicated collectors, first choice art selecting at the
champagne reception at 6:30 p.m., includes one artwork

This is an interesting use of YouTube. Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ is trying to organize security workers at Chase buildings. They have posted a video on YouTube claiming to have found client records in the trash of several bank branches in the city.

Via Crain’s New York.

From the press release:

Lance Wakeling is the director of Art Mini, a miniature art fair. Each participating artist designs every detail of their booth including layout and the work to be shown. Parody and satire are indistinguishable from earnest and literal representation.

Seen in the “One Pill Makes You Small” show at Tastes Like Chicken Art Space. Here are some photos I found on Flickr from the opening.

I suspect if someone put a bomb outside a post office, government building, or religious institution, not only would the New York Times write about it, our federal officials would be on TV talking about it. If it’s a bomb outside of an abortion clinic, neither thing will happen. There are not a lot of big deal media outlets in the Google News Search on the suspect’s name.

Via Reuters.

A 27-year-old Austin man was arrested on Friday and charged with placing an unexploded bomb containing some 2,000 nails outside an abortion clinic in the state’s capital.

The explosive device also included a propane tank and a mechanism “akin to a rocket,” Austin Police Commander David Carter said.

The device was discovered on Wednesday in the parking lot of the Austin Women’s Health Center, police said.

The Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force — made up of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities — arrested Paul Ross Evans, who authorities said was on parole for an unspecified crime.

Evans was charged with violating federal laws banning the manufacture of explosives and interfering with access to an abortion clinic. He appeared before a federal magistrate, and was being held without bail.

No further arrests were anticipated in the case. “The threat is over,” Carter said.

A robot was used to disarm the bomb after the unmarked clinic building and an apartment complex were evacuated, police said on Thursday.

This was the first bombing attempt this year at an abortion clinic, according to the National Abortion Federation, which tracks violence against abortion providers.

Four incidents of attempted bombing or arson were reported in 2006, the NAF said. More than 40 abortion clinic bombings have occurred since 1977, with the last reported in 2001.

Artist websites:

• Jacques Louis Vidal
• Brian Bress

Jacques was also in the show we curated last fall.

Thanks to Joy Garnett for alerting me to this action two days ago at the Hart Senate Office Building. Note that it barely made the news at all except for some tiny AP stories.

I’m quoting the press release from her post:

via email:
WASHINGTON, D.C.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS – WE WILL NOT BE SILENT

Multiple actions occurred in the early afternoon today inside the Hart Senate Office Building. Eight New York
activists were among the 15 plus arrested.

TODAY, APRIL 26, 2007, A.R.T.* OCCUPIED THE HALLS OF CONGRESS IN A DRAMATIC TWO-PART ACTION.

First, in a massive distribution, A.R.T. hand-delivered a 20-page tabloid petition to every representative. It contained documentary evidence for indictments, literally putting impeachment back on the table.

Then, at 1PM, in a spectacular visual feat, A.R.T displayed the full text of Article II, Section 4 to the Senate as a 30-foot banner drop in the Hart Office Building atrium. A second 30-foot banner read “YOUR SILENCE YOUR LEGACY”. Organizers said, “We must magnify the refusal of Congress to uphold the Constitution. Their silence equals complicity in the flagrant crimes of this administration.”

Contact: *A.R.T. (Activist Response Team)
email: stateofemergencyaction@gmail.com

Related: A28, National Impeachment Protests

We haven’t watched the Bill Moyers show about the run-up to the Iraq War yet, but here is an amazing post from Digby about what happens to journalists who point out government and media lies about the war.

I’m a few days late. On April 21, 2002, I did my first post on bloggy. It’s about the art we bought at a White Columns benefit.

Recommended listening while you’re celebrating in your own special way: This mix by Adam Smith from ABL Radio of house, etc. from 1986-1993.

Check out my friend Stu’s The Reeler for all of your Tribeca coverage. We — I’m the tech consultant — launched the Tribeca part late last night.