VOL 06 ISSUE 11 ArtSceneAK: Alaska Art & Artists Periodical Report.   October 11, 2007  

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STORIED ALASKA: CONTI AND WALSH FACTS AND FICTION
Michael Walsh from left Elizabeth Peratrovich, Dick Proenneke, Jay HammondTO BUILD A FIRE  is the title of a story by Jack London about a man, a dog, and low temperatures that has inspired Anchorage photographer Michael Conti to create a series of illustrative digital prints.  Michael Walsh, whose oil portraits of well-known Alaskans are shown at right, acted the human part in some of Conti's staged photos. A film-maker abashed by the digital revolution, Walsh recentered himself with his brushes and some fresh smelling impasto at their shared opening at the MTS gallery in Mountain View last month.  The subjects of the portraits are Elizabeth Peratrovich (a local pioneer in human rights), Dick Proenneke (famous for filming himself building a log cabin), and Jay Hammond (late Governor and founder of the Alaska State Permanent Fund).  Mounts like the snowy owl were interspersed in the installation thanks to ARLIS. A room-height log cache with a video screen filling its doorway reinforced the regional prediliction entertainingly.
Michel Walsh Don Young on a Toilet Seat Cover DON YOUNG: SEAT OF POWER Walsh's interest in historical Alaska is informed by his work at the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association (AMIPA).  Some of these old filmstrips recorded 'many gems', according to his statement. Working from still photographs from sources like the VILDA site, he mixes wet on wet with a sure hand that is self-taught.   Unobstructed by instruction and studious of the photographic detail, any happy accidents he produces are acceptable and become integrated into the likenesses in a recognizeable fashion.  The Index image for this issue, Alex Combs, is certainly familiar to many in Alaska, and especially in the Homer area, where Walsh is living.

Explanatory texts accompany each portrait, giving the bias for inspiration, although the mention of Don Young, shown at left, explained he was under investigation without completing the connection to the toilet seat cover explicitly. Walsh put  Ted Stevens' face glaring from the lid of an oil drum, and Annette Bellamy had her wide grin plastered over a cork boat bumper (neither shown).

Michael Walsh   Harold 'Thrillem, Chillem, Spillem, Not Killem' Gillam THRILLEM GILLAM:ON FUSELAGE The cutting torch and rust created the border for the old blue sheet metal Walsh chose to represent the celebrated Alaskan bush pilot shown in thephoto at left , Harold 'Thrill'em, Chill'em, Spill'em, NOT Kill'em' Gillam.   You want to own a piece like this just so that you can tell your guests the name, and they will be amply rewarded by looking closely to discover the star in Hal's eye.   This piece sold at the exhibition for over $600.

Sly humor and an appreciation for human character coupled with the celebrity of his subjects make Walsh's oil painting debut outshine the video part of his installation.  A self-portrait of himself holding a 16 mm movie camera in the wild is present and unhung, leaned against a column like a lingering memory.  Walsh makes it clear the same purpose can be achieved with daubings as with documentaries.

Michel Conti Needs

Michel Conti Daughter Swirls

NEEDS:CONTI STAGES PHOTOS In the recent media attention to the Sean Penn movie Into the Wild, a special resonance attached to Michael Conti's Needs, shown at left, that attracted immediate collector interest at $450  framed.  The illustration is part of a series based on Ernest Hemingway's short story Big Two Hearted River.  In Hemingway's story the theme is redemption through solitary fishing, while the real life story of Penn's movie ends in tragedy like London's story does.

Presented as a series and taken as a whole, Conti's groups of digitally reworked montages succeed as narrative illustrations.  Heavily filtered and assembled, the photographs are not of authentic incidents and true places any more than the stories are.  The consistent format, with the transparent copy as a subtext for the images, singles out the quote illustrated in American Typewriter, an ironically appropriate font.  Superflous details like the fireweed blossom in the foreground of Needs are mercifully few, allowing the subtlety of simplicity to work a certain charm.

DS:CON

Conti highly recommends reading (or re-reading) the stories, and publicly acknowledges the benefit of having been awarded a Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist project grant that helped make it possible to pursue these self-commissioned series of prints.   He also credits his wife and his kids, one of whom dashed off the image at left  before handing it with a big smile to this scary old art critic maybe four times her height.  'Don't be mean', murmured Michael Walsh, 'Artists really need to have criticism, and discussion of their work.'   Then he apologized, for not having gone to see ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker's solo show at OUT NORTH Gallery after reading the damaging review by Don Decker in the ADN at the time.   Interesting.

The MTS Gallery is bravely bedecked with this serious and sensitive installation of works and is open over four hours a week Saturday afternoon and by appointment.   The Alaskan Story is that once the lamp is lit, it will be displayed --- even if it is under a bushel basket.  The gallery is among the last vestiges of the notion of a Mountain View Arts & Culture district and is something of a distraction to the Community Land Trust, eager to upgrade the property for more profitable purposes.

Kesler Woodward Moraine w' Marie Louise Rasmuson & Pat Wolf, one eye each GEOLOGIC TIME:WOLF TOPS OFF The Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center recently took the opportunity to thank director Pat Wolf for her service over the past two decades, before the new board asked her to resubmit her resumé for her own job. How would one word that? "I used to do what I'm doing now, for you."  Wolf was Mary Louise Rasmuson's choice for director in 1983, and they are both barely visible in the photo at left of a Kes Woodward painting, Geologic Time, and a flower arrangement which were among the acknowledgements and gifts Wolf received.

The Museum, meanwhile, was given a big stage check for $500,000 by BP as part of their public relations commitment, which was immediately matched through the generosity of Ms Rasmuson, who hopes to have the total matched yet again by other foundations.  The Anchorage Museum Foundation itself is approaching a whopping corpus amount over $100 million, considered necessary to supplement millions of dollars yearly in Anchorage property tax payer support and recurring member donations.  Rasmuson spoke of 'thirty-three years ago, when (then director) Milt Keltoff was leaving, a nationwide search for a replacement was narrowed to two candidates."  She continued effusively that choosing Pat Wolf was the "Best thing to ever happen to this museum and to Anchorage".   Concluding her comments, she added two encouraging phrases for the assembled. "Thank you" and "Give Again".

Pat Wolf, Carol Comeau

 

ALASKA GALLERY: CREDIT DUE  The current superintendent of Anchorage School District, Carol Comeau, spoke reminiscently of joining the municipal work force the same year as Wolf, seen together in the photo at left.  She credited Wolf for her leadership in establishing the Alaska Gallery at the Museum and the History of Alaska curriculum in the public schools.  Under her directorship, the Museum has also hosted an annual show of school kid's artwork and kept the Children's Gallery as an introduction to fine art for young minds.  Her directorship will be remembered through the naming of the annual solo artist exhibit series after her, and a James Smithson Bicentennial Medal was recently awarded her in Washington DC. Her name joins a very distinguished list of recipients since the medal was first struck in 1965.

Mary Louise Rasmuson said 'We often take things for granted." She gestured around the beautiful atrium: "Forty years ago, there was nothing here but weeds." She paused to think of her late husband Elmer, who was mayor at the time.  In passing, she mentioned that architect Ken Maynard's 'addition' (the greater part of what's currently considered the front end) was financed for $450,000.  They must have been some po'ful dollars back then, considering the current expansion, with neither atrium, auditorium, nor improved access, is budgeting at least $50,000,000 to complete.  ARTISTS MATH: Oy gevult! Can't do rate of inflation formula. 

ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker wants to thank those who contributed to the little informal booklet non toccata SERVICE compiling their statements on the occasion of Wolf's retirement.  Her warm hug of gratitude, genuine smile and gushing 'my favorite gift' expressed to him is extended on her behalf to all of you..  

Two Spirits Gallery

Ole Lake Killer Whale Spirit Mask

TWO SPIRITS:GALLERY UP Kay Klose, director and curator of the Two Spirits Gallery  has made excellent use of support from the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and others to create a new art institution which featured a grand opening roll-out recently of their spacious new quarters in the Post Office mall in Anchorage.  The gallery features jewelry, carvings, masks, paintings and will dedicate a portion of the square footage to monthly exhibitions of select artists. Studio space is associated with the gallery and available to 'clients'.  

Work by Edward Hopseth, Moody Charles, and many others are displayed in a commercial business site which is actually staffed and open for consistent business hours. Professional, well lit presentation adds value to the works by the artists represented, who share the aspect of having grappled with some mental adversity or another. 

Ole Lake of Hooper Bay shows the Killer Whale Spirit Mask in the photo at left.  This mask with it's jaw-filling face with whales transiting forehead and chin accurately captures the courage and respect required to hunt these awesome predators. It is priced at $3000. 

Congratulations to Percy Avugiak, whose humor mask of Conan O'Brien was sold on E-bay recently for more than $10,000.  His first show out of college was at the Two Spirits Gallery, and this enormous success added to his recent CAPS award are a firm recognition and reinforcement of his commitment to his art.  Plus, he may still have a Letterman and a Leno mask in his inventory (cf Issue #601).


- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES- 



10/15/07 deadline KING COUNTY PUBLIC ART COLLECTION seeks to purchase works on paper using color. Budget $70,000. Details online include maximum size 42 inch, maximum individual purchase $5000, artist pays crating and freighting, etc.

10/30/07 deadline extended MOA LINNY PACILLO PARKING GARAGE panel seeks concept proposals for three projects on the Koonce Pfeffer Bettis designed building. Budget $320,000 restricted to artists from Alaska . RFP online. Building details online. Contact Jocelyn Young 907-343-6473 youngjhatmuni.org

10/30/07 deadline SALVATION ARMY FUNDRAISER seeks artists to transform its 'treasures' to be auctioned. $50 voucher for SA materials. Contact Deanna Bailey baileywickatgci.net 907-336-8050

11/01/07 deadline ARTISTS IN SCHOOLS Teacher qualification applications online. Contact Susan Olson

11/30/07 deadline ALASKA STATE MUSEUM Solo Exhibition Review and image bank seeks applicants. Contact Alaska State Museum 395 Whittier Street, Juneau AK 99801

12/01/07 deadline RASMUSON FOUNDATION ARTS EDUCATORS $3000 for art teachers to reconnect with their art. Applications  online.

12/01/07 deadline ASCA Small Grant categories. Applications  online.

1/01/08 deadline AMRC 32nd ALL-ALASKA JURIED EXHIBITION accepting submissions. Cash prizes, juror TBA. Contact Dave Nicholls at Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center.

3/1/08 deadline RASMUSON FOUNDATION GRANT PROGRAM $12,000 Fellowships Media, multidiscipline/new genre, music composition and visual artists may apply. $25,000 Distinguished artist and $5000 artist project grant applications also due. Alaska residents only. Information online.

ASCA Art In Public Places with over $19 million dollars in commissions required by AK Statute 35.27 from the last three years' capital projects budgets alone. Print out ArtSceneAK's select list from this link.

 

 

LULU MEETS GOD AND DOUBTS HIM by Danielle Ganek The advent of dark evenings requires bright reading lamps, and entertaining enlightenment to put beneath them.  Physically flippable pages, something to dog-ear rather than book-mark. ArtSceneAK recommends this vibrant insider chick-lit characterization of the NYC art collecting elite, written by one such.

NEXT:  ARS NOVA EMBER

 SHORTCUTS: Aggravated again?! Ecstatic?! Let us know you love us or hate us. Help correct attribution errors that you suspect. Tell us about your upcoming event or artist opportunity. Let us know about your website.     Form makes it easy to try your hand at pumping or dumping.


Alaska current cloud cover

cf also ART IN ALASKA alaska art and connections, a partial listing of links to Museums, Galleries, and individual Artists around the state.

 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS: From Montevideo, Uraquay:"Dear Friends, We are developing a work Project based on research about integration between visual arts and architecture. Our field is the construction of a big country house, which holds art interventions from about 18 visual artists. Their work will be an indivisible part of the final results.Rooms, social spaces, interiors and exeriors, will be all be taken by one or more artists to work in from their different points of view. Art interventions will not be decorations, they will be projects of integrated arts onto the architectural space. Our challenge is the dialog between different languages as well as styles and techniques in a single building. The concept of cultural identity is of major importance in this idea.

We are quite interested in communicating this experience. We bring our work methods, including the adaptations made during the process, to a discussion of systemic issues. We would strongly like to share our experience in different venues integrated in the community such as art centres, cultural institutions, and architectural seminars, both academic and informal.

We wish to be welcomed by prestigious cultural institutions that should be interested in knowing our Project and its results, through talks, perhaps one or more workshops. Our expenses for travelling and stay are entirely our contribution. We thank you in advance for any attention given to this letter. "

Marcelo Daglio, Architect

Enrique Badaró Nadal, Artist

 


 

NON TOCATTA:NOT INTERESTEDDonald R Ricker non tocatta service At the annual volunteer orientation luncheon hosted by the Museum, ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker, whose non toccatta SERVICE shown at right formed the cover for the Pat Wolf artist appreciation booklet, approached collections department head Walter Van Horn to ask about the Museum's acquisition policy, and specifically how to get work reviewed.  He described a Museum Collections Committee schedule of meeting to review objects on the second Tuesday of each month, and a figure of $40,000 as the AMRC share of the Rasmuson Foundation Museum Acquisition Initiative, which requires that its funding be spent on art completed by artists living in Alaska during the most recent three years without exceeding $5000 as the RF contribution per artwork.  This freed the $20,000 annual budget the Museum scheduled prior to the MAI to be spent on out of town or out of date objects fitting the Museum's collection policy, or to match with MAI funds for objects priced at more than $5000.

Flatteringly, Van Horn responded quickly and openly to my inquiry. A message from him later had some useful information: "For the committee:  vita, artist statement if you wish to make one.  Now, I don’t know your media and size of works, so give me a sense of what you want to bring to the committee and we will figure out what you might reasonably want to show them.   For each piece we would need the price, medium, date made. ... they will want to see the actual piece before making a final decision. 

 The collections committee: Three members from the staff, usually the director, deputy director (Suzi Jones) and a third staff member, usually Dave Nicholls or sometimes Kathy Hertel or Marilyn Knapp, depending on what is being discussed.  Two members from the AMA board of directors, at this point being Susan Knowles and John Letourneau.  6 public at large members, serving three year terms.   Jeff Barnes (architect), Patricia Partnow (anthropology), Dawn Biddison (anthropology), Mark Simpson (architect), Don Decker (artist), and one other whose name totally escapes me. 
 When do you want to come in?

Receive your invitation in the BACK ISSUE Index.


CHIL  PILL

Thank you and Welcome Back to renewing subscribers in Eagle River, Spenard, and Wasilla, and to a current subscriber who had tried to cancel unsuccessfully.

From Anchorage: "I am a volunteer for Alaskans for Clean Elections." --- Caroline Bolar

rFrom NYC: "The new coloring book is here!! My summer project just came from the printer and it has 26 different colorable pages of bicycles, all hand drawn from my paintings.Please have a look."--- Tailah Lempert

From Cleveland: "thanks for your support and encouragement." --- michelangelo lovelace (whose painting My Home Town was removed from a clinic office because of perceived 'racism', although Lovelace meant it as a statement of racial harmony. ArtSceneAK messaged him with this timeless latin advice: Illigitimi non Corundum.)

Horns are tooted: " I am honored to announce that my pastel painting "Central Park Sunset" has been juried in to the Richeson 75-Landscapes and Exteriors '07 competition . It will also be published in the exhibit book to be printed this fall, along with "The White Swan", one of my oil paintings which was chosen as a "work of merit". Opening reception Saturday Oct. 27, '07 from 5-7 p.m. at Richeson School of Art and Gallery, 557 Marcella St., Kimberly WI."--- Alexandra Sonneborn

From Fairbanks: "Here's my comment for the back:
It's hard for me to imagine an Alaska art community without Pat Wolf.  Ever since I came to Alaska as a 25 year-old museum curator more than three decades ago, Pat's leadership, inspiration, energy, enthusiasm, and dedication have been constants that I have relied upon.  Whether I was at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, at the   Visual Arts Center in Anchorage, or the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Pat has always been the person I turned to for wise counsel and as an example of service to artists and community.  She is, more than anyone, the reason this museum is so treasured not just  in Anchorage, but among artists throughout Alaska and beyond
." --- Kes  Woodward

Congratulations to Sven Haakonsen, winner of a $500,000 MacArthur Genius Award in recognition of his diligence in the preservation of Alutiiq culture.

Congratulations to Betty Atkinson, whose Cliffs of Deep Creek won Best in Show and to Kurt Jacobson, whose Potters Marsh was the People's Choice in the Art for the Park competition hosted at Stephan's Fine Art  along with new work by Andy Hehnlin ande Julie Bourbeau.

From LTB Media: " MYARTINFO.com is a new and exciting social networking website which allows artists and art enthusiasts around the world to communicate, share ideas, and showcase their artworks. MYARTINFO is easy-to-use, free, and open for everyone who has a passion for the arts. " --- Tammy Heller

USArtists got a nice write up in the NYTimes. Rasmuson Foundation and Diane Kaplan are major contributors to the creation of this awesome artist grant program.

Alaska State Council on the Arts announced their list of preferred artists, those invited to provide centerpieces for the Governor's Awards for the Arts banquet in Fairbanks October 26 at the Princess Lodge. Participating artists are: Jamie Autry, James Brashear, Peter Brondz, Bill Brody, Sean Denning Barnes, Rachelle Dowdy, Susan Farnham, Asia Freeman, Sandy Gillespie, Holly Gittlein, Steve Godfrey, Chris Hanson, John Jay Hoover, Martina John, Gary Kaulitz, Les Matz, Da-ka-zeen Mehner, Art Oomittuk, Sheryl Marie Reilly, Evie Witten and Nelda Warkentin.

Congratulations to Governor's Awards Winners for 2007:  Dana Stabenow, Homer, Individual Artist Award; Katherine Wade, Chickaloon, Margaret Nick Cooke AwardJo Ryman Scott, Fairbanks, The Distinguished Advocacy Award;   Holland America Line, statewide, Business Leadership in the Arts; Victor Fischer, Anchorage, Distinguished Service to the Humanities; Marsha Hotch, Haines, Distinguished Service to the Humanities; Dagmar Phillips, Anchorage, Alaska History and Cultural Studies Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations to $2500 Connie Boocheever Fellowship awardees Buzz Schwall in Anchorage, Asia Freeman in Homer, Anne Duffy and Elizabeth Eero Irving of Fairbanks.

Congratulations to AMRC expansion architect David Chipperfield on the occasion of being awarded the prestigious Sterling Prize in Architecture.

From Anchorage: "Thank you for your patience.  The Anchorage Museum collection committee reviewed your pieces on Tuesday afternoon but was not interested in any of the work.  We appreciate your allowing this opportunity.  Could you contact us regarding a time that you could pick up your pieces." --- Walter Van Horn

Ah well   Can you feel the love?

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text & photos © 2007 Donald R Ricker; artist's works pictured ©2007 to artists credited.

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