VOL 07 ISSUE 6  June 15, 2008  

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The studio tour was sponsored by the International Gallery of Contemporary Art and the Alaska Design Forum as part of their SITE/SIGHT series of tours of architecturally interesting Anchorage. Infante-Lyons, Suchland and Marcucci are all represented by Artique Ltd gallery.

UNTITLED SERIES: POLLOCK Other high level visitors included the top public art administrator for the MOA and  the AMRC's head buyer for their giftshop.  For Erin Pollock, seen at left among her Untitled paintings recently hung at the Cafe Savannah, a visit earlier in the afternoon found her cleaning paint off of her hands.  She confided that the source of her figurative models was a photographic collaboration that also produced a short film which was presented at Cannes. Pollock works at the Turnagain Arts building off of Spenard Road, and enjoys the company of the other artists making use of the large building that is a privately created existing art center that came about by the support of the Marston family rather than by mayoral fiat.

It's intriguing to think of Pollock and Infante Lyons on a panel discussing the importance of 'drips' to contemporary art.

IGCA HOUSE STUDIOS: ROPER At the downtown IGCA there are three small rooms with block glass windows rented as gallery spaces. Brenda Roper is shown at left posing with some of the varied production she has created recently in one of the spaces.  Her work "investigates the texture of social relationships, landscape and myth",  according to her statement, and it shows that she feels for that texture manually.  Her space was arranged gallery style with clearly marked prices.  She spoke of plans to move to Santa Fe in the near future.

Other artists participating in the tour included Susan Condon in another space at the IGCA, KN Goodrich, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, and  Sheila Wyne all hosted at their own studios around town.  Looking through this list (Kimberly, Michele, Linda, Erin, Alexandra, Brenda, Susan, Katherine, Sonya, and Sheila) one senses a clear ascendency of the feminine role in the visual arts locally.  The lone male participant was UAA professor Garry Kaulitz. 

The home-based studios outside the core business districts show a different economic model and market priorities.  By their relative 'remoteness' and hidden nature they are far more private affairs, often jewel-like in their unique adaptations.   ArtSceneAK regrets not being able to find Kaulitz or Combs open studios due to our poor sense of their directions. Goodrich's home was featured in the 2002 ArtSceneAK studio tour (cf Issue #118), the most immediate predecessor in the spotty history of Anchorage studio tours.   

Their performance during the opening involved a good sized cast who progressively rehung elements of the exhibition.  An Art-O-Mat style vending machine offered items that were beyond the mechanisms abilities to deliver, and sales were less than brisk in light of that programming glitch.  Jsun and Jessica were volunteering to keep the gallery open more hours of the month, and he allowed that expecting a return on his substantial investment on the show was not realistic. Perhaps calling the show SELL MY ART instead of BUY MY ART would have been more pertinent to long term success. The cheery initiative of these two recent UAA grads deserves to be rewarded.

- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES- 

7/14/08 deadline KING COUNTY SOUTH PARK BRIDGE seeking qualifications of artists to work on design team. Budget $60,000 for design, $240,000 to build. Details online.

8/10/08 deadline ART & SCIENCE COLLABORATIONS OPEN CALL for digital print submissions for a an October-January show at the New York Hall of Science.  Details online. "Let's boldly envision on behalf of our planet."

8/15/08 deadline GOVERNOR'S AWARDS IN THE ARTS nominations Any Alaskan individual, organization, or institution that has advanced the humanities in Alaska and the world. Details online.

9/1/08 deadline ALASKA STATE COUNCIL OF THE ARTS Individual Career Grants quarterly review. Apply online.

9/1/08 deadline RASMUSON FOUNDATION Individual Artist Fellowships and Grants.   Application details online.   Contact Victoria Lord

9/30/08 deadline RED VINES DRAWING CONTEST top 94 winners gain nationwide exposure and prizes, kids, teens & adult categories..  Must use Red Vine logo, may not use other corporate logos.  Details online, contact Nichole Walleen, in Bend, OR

This column is a core part of ArtSceneAK raison d'etre and administrators are encouraged to use it to spread the word.  Opportunities are posted to current issues as they arrive.

ASCA Art In Public Places with over $19 million dollars in commissions required by AK Statute 35.27 from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 capital projects budgets alone. Record appropriations exceeding these amounts were made by the AK legislature for FY 2007 and 2008 as well. 

A HISTORY OF WESTERN ART: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Antony Mason and John T Spike The adult art section at the library has Jansen and this book is meant for the juvenile section. Sneak a peak over your kid's shoulder at some fantastic photography and a blow-by-blow of significant isms of art history.   ArtSceneAK recommends every tumultuous tome that involves the talents of our buddy Spike.

NEXT:  HULY JULY

  CONTACT ArtSceneAK: 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.  

cf also ART IN ALASKA , a partial listing of links to Museums, Galleries, and individual Artists around the state. Note to same: If you find your site listed, please consider adding a link to ArtSceneAK.net to help both of our search engine ratings. If you do not find your site listed, please let us know!

ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker invites friends, readers, and Alaskan Art Enthusiasts to join him at his studio in Spenard for monthly Second Sunday evenings this summer 2008.  Bring something to share or just show up after 6pm at 1603 West 36th Avenue, corner of 36th and Minnesota on the park side next to the tennis court. July 13, Aug 10, Sep 13. 

Flip over enough rocks on the internet and you often find nuggets, like Attila Soos' reflections on Bonsai and the Ancient Art Of Rhetoric.  ArtSceneAK recommends that visual artists seeking arcanity take a side excursion to this little essay.

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Tar your friends with your enemy's faults in the BACK ISSUE Index .

Thank you and Welcome Back to a renewing subscriber in Anchorage, who kindly noted: "Loved your blue styrofoam Baboon --- that picture alone worth the price of a subscription!".

Condolences and sympathies to the families of Alaskan artists Alec Combs, Viggo Thor Brandt-Erichsen, and Norman L. Jackson.  These artists contributed greatly to the dignity of man and to our region of the planet especially with their quiet work to respect and develop traditions of their vocations, and reached the ends of their lives this spring of 2008 having helped make this world a better place.

From Palmer: "The first of the iron pours this summer starts next weekend in Wiseman Alaska.  Then proceeding on to Wasilla and Kenai.  Mold making workshops will be held prior to each pour. This is a chance to join sculptors from outside and Alaska casting molten Iron; we hope to make it an annual event." --- Pat Garley   details online.

The Kenai Fine Arts Center is accepting watercolors by Peninsula adults for jurying for a July show.  Submit in person June 25-28, opening reception 7/3 at 816 Cook Street in Kenai.

Dr Steven Kurtz , professor at tje State University of New York at Buffalo, has been cleared of all charges when Federal Judge Richard Arcara dismissed the government's indictment as insufficient on its face.  Congratulations to Dr Kurtz and to his legal team, headed by Lucia Sommer, who told us: "This victory was only due to the activism of thousands of people who put the case in the spotlight."

Carole Feuerman sends word of an exhibition of her scultura incontra la realta at the Moretti Gallery in Florence, Italy.

From Anchorage: "Carla O'Connor will be teaching a workshop August 11-15, 2008 sponsored by the Alaska Watercolor Society, five spaces still open at $475" --- Kim Marcucci

Indra Arriaga invites audiences to her installation celebrating love and awareness at the OUT NORTH gallery, featuring the experimental film Pedazos, and on display through June.

The June issue of Art&Antiques magazine had a feature column about the Ponte Vecchio in Florence with a sly headline --- Bridge to Somewhere.  Confronted, art historian John Spike admitted: "Oh, DRR, the Alaskan title was chosen by me in your honor ... I was waiting for you to write!"   What fun to share an inside joke under the covers of an international art magazine; too bad no-one in Alaska other than myself has a subscription...

From Copper Center, regarding the vandalization of the statue Whose Eyes Have Seen in Anchorage this spring: "Thank you for your comments about the Veterans Memorial.  It made me very sad since the memorial in no way glorifies war ... quite the contrary. The MOA was given a complete maintenance book and should have followed the instructions that the statue needs to be carefully washed and re-waxed each year.  If you have any insights as to who I should contact?" --- Joan Bugbee Jackson.

From Anchorage: "Thank you for bringing this to my attention." ---Jocelyn

From Anchorage: "i caught up on the last two issues of artsceneak earlier this afternoon, been grinding the tip of my nose rather flat lately and hadn't kept up.  it was fun to get a dose of your prose again." --- BF

Congratulations to Donald Varnell, one of six artists selected to create lobby artworks for the Harborview building in Seattle.

From Homer: "The Board of Directors of Bunnell Street Gallery will be doing business as Bunnell Street Arts Center effective immediately,  continuing its mission of nurturing and presenting innovative art of exceptional quality in all media for diverse audiences in Homer's oldest large commercial building, the 1937 vintage Inlet Trading Post." --- Asia Freeman

From NYC: "I have been thinking for a couple of years that I would like to come to Alaska and write about it, staying a week or nine days,  You would have to arrange it all.  A centrally located hotel to stay at, airfare, food, a car to and from the airport in NYC and Alaska.  Can you do this?   I would get one or two magazines and one online website to agree for me to write about the Alaska art scene. Cheers." --- Edward Rubin

Rubin is among those few folks outside who charmingly refer to ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker as 'Alaska's greatest artist' and so clearly has no idea of how limited an influence I have locally or with what disdain my efforts are met in Anchorage.