VOL 02 ISSUE
24 
December 28, 2003
VOL 02 ISSUE
24 |
| BOREAL BALLET: APPEL GRANDMASTERS ALASKAN NORTHERN LIGHTS | ||||
 BOREAL
BALLET by Keith Appel (1998), is the exterior aluminum and Plexiglass sculpture with
rotating colored lights representing Northern Lights ABC School at the southeast corner of
Lake Otis and Dowling and pictured at right after a December snowstorm. Widely
admired and justifiably popular, this sculpture is a work from a senior Alaskan artist
whose first public sculptures were embraced by the public since the very beginning of the
Municipality of Anchorage Percent for Art program in 1985, when he installed the Faces
of the Future and The Making of Mountain View series of enameled steel
panels inside Mountain View Elementary School (not shown). Keith Appel opened
one of Anchorage's earliest galleries of contemporary art and 'gave Don Decker his first
exhibition'. His lithographs
are also sought after in Alaska and beyond. |
||||
 |
ABCD: MATHEMATICAL CURVATURE Appel's Boreal Ballet just looks frostier dressed up in snow. The simple sine wave described by the clear acrylic elements are arced gently on a horizontal plane by the support structure. The monument is the main element in a landscaped quarter of a busy intersection and it is viewed predominantly through the windshields of passing vehicles. Appel's design takes advantage of that as surfaces reflect different luminosities as the viewer passes. In the photo at left, the angle gives Boreal the look of a helmet. The Index image for this issue is a detail showing a moment of sunlit color in a detail of the sculpture. The ample height of the bases for this work and the 'transparent' nature of Appel's use of negative space contribute to the success of this sculpture in an outdoor arctic winter setting. Boreal Ballet is quite comfortable cloaked in two feet of fresh fluffy. | |||
 |
CALL FROM AMERICA: BRR BEYER In 1986, Richard S. Beyer cast the aluminum sculpture A Call From America and installed it on the lawn at the former ATU North Wire Center (1309 E Street) now an office for Emergency Management. ArtSceneAK wasn't there, but we're thinking it was summertime. The photo at left after a recent series of December snowstorms show what happens to figurative sculpture in an Arctic winter. Mounted on low or no plinths outside of normal walking paths, the otherwise endearing sculpture of a man leaning over his wife who is seated taking a phone call becomes pitiful and shivery. Other figurative sculptures like Captain Cook or Seward at the library are in positions to be better attended. Beyer's Lunch Break. cast the same year, is installed behind the Transit Department Headquarters (3650 E. Tudor Road). | |||
  |
COMMERCIAL BEARS:URSINE ADMEN Anchorage figures are not only humans. The carved wood bear acting as a greeter outside Bruins downtown manages to stay dry under an awning during a storm. The fiberglass bruin above Grizzly Gifts main entrance will have to wait for the wind and weather to clear his cloak of snow. As seen in the photo at near left, one could almost imagine the snow as a wolf skin draped over Ursa's shoulders. These urban carnivore caricatures abound in Anchorage and around Alaska. Look for the big bronze Brer Bear by Hugh McPeck also, all are on the same corner of 4th and E Street. | |||
 |
GANNT STOP: AMHA PLAN EXPANSION Although the Anchorage Museum of History and Art has met with signal success in its fund-raising efforts recently, it appears as though the notion of floating a bond proposal before Anchorage's taxpayers for additional money will not be pursued for the near future. The source is not being overlooked, but postponed strategically. Meanwhile AMHA's current holdings in excess of $56,000,000 beats like a throbbing heart under which ever tile the administration has hidden the loot. Because a mind needs room to grow, numerous volunteers and members of constituent organizations have met earnestly hoping to identify the critical path. A substantial amount of money is being spent in this same pursuit, perhaps even as much as $3 million a year. At a recent meeting of the Joint Planning Committee, Brian Davies advised that the target square footage of expansion need to be down-sized, and a decision made regarding whether it would be done proportionately or vary by constituency. The delay of the bond effort may indicate that there is still time to discuss these things. | |||
   -OPPORTUNITIES- 1/6/04 WING LUKE MUSEUM in SEATTLE WA open invitation to juried exhibit about Race Relations. contact Cassie Chinn 205.623.5124 x 131. Prospectus here. 1/9/04 US MINT ARTISTIC INFUSION PROGRAM seeks qualifications from artists wishing to be considered for a group from whom the Mint will commission new medals and coins, including the design of the Alaska State Quarter. PDF at www.usmint.gov/artists 1/17/04 deadline ALASKA POSITIVE 2004 Alaska State Museum is soliciting
entries for Photography show jurored by Michelle Dunn Marsh..prospectus for entry can be
found 1/21/04 deadline TILLAMOOK FOREST CENTER Oregan Arts Commission seeks
qualifications for shortlist budget $46,000 prospectus for entry can be found 1/31/04 deadline ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY ALASKA NATIVE VISUAL AND LITERARY ARTS Invites submissions; established and emerging artists and writers are encouraged to submit two copies of original works. Contact Alice Crow, ANTHOLOGY, PO Box 229, Bethel, AK 99559-0229 2/9/04 deadline ATWOOD BUILDING ANCHORAGE AK State % for Art seeks 11"x17" concept proposals for work suitable to exterior plaza, interior vestibule & elevator lobby. Budget $50,000 contact Sandie Gillespie (907) 269-6605 and download call here. 2/20/04 deadline DEC SEAFOOD & SAFETY LAB ANCHORAGE AK State % for Art seeks 11"x17" concept proposals for work suitable to exterior plaza, a waiting area & lobby divider. Budget $70,000 - $145,000 contact Sandie Gillespie (907) 269-6605 and download call here. 2/28/04 KIRKLAND ARTS CENTER
GALLERY is currently accepting proposals from independant curators for its 2005 Gallery
Schedule. info. FEEDBACK Aggravated again?! Get a NO Prize for proving us wrong. Let us know you love us or hate us and tell us about your upcoming event or opportunity and get a No, Thank YOU. Help correct attribution errors you suspect. SHORTCUTS: When we use your 100 word reviews of any show you've seen recently, sweet and sour, you'll earn a free limo ride some First Friday. Form makes it easy. TELL A FRIEND About ArtSceneAK: Enter recipient's
e-mail: ArtSceneAK photography, reviews, programming, editing and general bottle washing spring fully armored from the forehead of the publisher, Donald R Ricker, unless otherwise credited or quoted. |
FBIV:LANGSTON REPORT ON
BIENNALE Florida artist and art teacher James Langston sends
this report from Florence. "Well, once again I woke up early thinking of things
to tell you about the Biennale. If you can, rent an apartment when you go in 2005. One
night we had Oransanz and twelve others over and it was wild. The man is crazy. OK, what
woke me up, there were no tables for the artists to sit at near the little bar at the
Biennale. The auditorium is worthless with the noise from the bar. We could not hear much
during the awards ceremony and out of anger I left, to be told later that I won another
award. The artists all had the same complaints but John Talbot, a hater of the Biennale, suggested several artists exhibit there this year. Shit like that messes with my mind. John and Michelle really missed you, which is cool. I think it was mentioned to me about ten times, it would have been better if Ricker was here. I hope they say the same thing about me some day!" New York based sculptors Fred Eversley and Angel Orensanz helped Langston represent the USA at this burgeoning venue. Eversley is shown at far left with TriHorn, installed at the Piazza della Republicca and Orensanz at near left with Hommage in the Fortezza da Basso courtyard in Florence.This 2000 year old city is known as a repository for the most magnificent art of history, and Modern art pieces such as these are a rare breath of fresh air in public areas. The photo at bottom left shows some of the participating artists waiting to hear about the Juror's choices for special recognition with the Lorenzo il Magnifico medallion. ICE FOUNTAIN: NESJAR JUSTIFIED Alaskan arts organizations with budgets 'above and below $500,000' will share some of the benefits announced by Dianne Kaplan and Helen Howarth for the Rasmuson Foundation recently with individual artists and art teachers. The Foundation's corpus has recently expanded into the neighborhood of one half of a billion dollars (and still growing) and Kaplan and Howarth have been working hard to find ways to really nurture the creative community in Anchorage and all of Alaska. Future announcements will provide details about proposed Artist Fellowships, Creative Ventures, School Residencies for Artists, Art Teacher sabbatical grants, and the mechanisms by which they will be administrated. Congratulations to the Trustees for their vision and generosity and thanks on behalf of ArtSceneAK's readers for the wonderful Christmas card full of promises. Make merry with OPM in the BACK ISSUE Index.
No, Thank YOU to Elaine Poggi for the photographs accompanying the Florence Biennale story and to James Langston for his reports. Thank you and Welcome to a new subscriber in Anchorage. ArtSceneAK ends its second calendar year with a core of charter subscribers whose support has been inspirational. Thank you all, and Welcome to those whose new year's resolutions include upgrading to subscriber status with access to CURRENT ISSUES Giancarlo Politi of Italy's FlashArt sent these new years greetings which ArtSceneAK would like to echo: " After a year full of art appointments and events, of which most were boring and accredited by globalisation, we are looking forward to a multifarious and exciting 2004. We wish more courage and originality to the artists, a less obvious idea to the critics, more dynamism and pluralism to the galleries, and to the international and fashionable curators more intelligence, fantasy - and above all less demagogy, opportunism, and cynicism. And, with Jorge Alio, we'd like to say. " con mucha Paz y Amor. Y un Prospero Año 2004 ". |
|||
text & photos © 2003 ArtSceneAK; artist's works pictured ©2003 to artists credited.
For the first time in 15 years the
sculpture by Carl Nesjar outside the Loussac Library in Anchorage has been charged with
water and lit. The sidewalks have even been shoveled out and benches cleared and the
effect of circumnambulating this familiar skeleton in its fresh new winter finery is
heartwarming. Congratulations to AWWU and all of the volunteers who cooperated to
make this sculpture the beauty it was meant to be. ArtSceneAK takes special pleasure
in showing this photograph only a year after reporting apparent neglect in issue #120.
It's also nice to note that the neon on the parking garage downtown has been
repaired and is looking good. 
