VOL 02 ISSUE
08 
April 17, 2003
VOL 02 ISSUE
08 |
| GALA 2003: DRESSED UP AND TAKEN OUT AT ANCHORAGE MUSEUM | ||||
 The Anchorage Museum of History and Art hosts
two major fund-raising events during the year, Beaujolais in the fall, and the Gala
in April. Top sponsors including Alyeska Pipeline, ConocoPhillips and Wells Fargo among
many other distinguished firms and three dozen individual or couples gather to celebrate
their philanthropy. The guest list (kept at a trim 400 or less) requires little
advertising to fill the west galleries which are converted to dining rooms for the
occasion. ARTIST MATH: 375 people x $100/ticket = $37,500 brought to the
table by folks who feel strongly that the Museum is an important partner in their
community. Patrons bring cash for raffle tickets and their plastic for the ikebana
centerpieces, and mingle hoveringly around the Silent Auction bid sheets getting loose on
juice. Arctic Hunter, a stone lithograph pulled by the late Fred
Machetanz was one of several pieces kept aloof for Live Auction that was to prove the
highlight of the evening. Going once, twice, SOLD for $4,500. |
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-OPPORTUNITIES- 4/21/03 deadline MTA METRO PHOTOGRAPHIC LIGHT BOXES $5,000 for seven original photo images to four artists for the Wilshire/Normandie station. Contact MTA Metro Art One Gateway Plaza 99-19-A Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952 or call 213.922.4ART4/22/03 deadline MOA PTARMIGAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL $40,000 budget seeking 11x17" sketches for interior or outdoors. Contact Jocelyn youngjh@ci.anchorage.ak.us 5/1/03 deadline ARTS IN THE PARKS COMPETITION Prizes and purchase awards abound but Alaska continues to be embarassed by not having anyone support any such even though it sports over a fifth of the national parks in Region III. $25 entry fee, size restrictions. Contact http://www.artsfortheparks.com 5/2/03 deadline SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY Three $50,000 commissions include residency during design phase Contact http://www.seattle.gov/arts 206-615-1801 5/1/03 deadline ARTISTS MAGAZINE 20th ANNUAL Chance to feel the heat in several categories. Read the rules. NEXT: MAY BE (LATER) FEEDBACK Aggravated again?! Get a NO Prize for proving us wrong. Let us know your opinion or tell us about your upcoming event or opportunity and get a No, Thank YOU. Tell us about attribution errors you suspect. SHORTCUTS: Add 6 FREE months to your membership subscription if we use your 100 word reviews of any show you've seen recently, sweet and sour. Form makes it easy.
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COLOR SPRAY: PEOPLE'S
CHOICE A large abstract by Kimberly Collins Marcucci was made
the People's Choice by the simple mechanic of having ballots ready for them to vote and
Marcucci received a $300 gift certificate for art materials as recognition. Her
acrylic painting was unframed and engaging with it's simple composition working to the
center from the corners and from the middle of the sides. Red and flesh tones are edited
with black intervals and the underlying effect is sensual and even erotic. ColorSpray
was held for live auction. Nearly 90 paintings, prints, platters, and jewelry were offered at a minimum bid starting at half of the artist's asking price. $62,500 list price of art went in under $47,500 which is a discount of 25% on the body of work. ARTISTS MATH: 15 of the pieces offered were 'bought in' or not bid on, and returned to the artists. Another 15 went out at half price. Even so, collectors said 'gimme' to over 80% of what was offered in a passionate and impromptu evaluation of the contemporary art championed at the museum. When bid price exceeds the asking price, it is because multiple buyers wish exclusive ownership of individual pieces. The market tops out with the deepest pockets and commitment, and artists are pleased with the upwards price pressure indicated for unsold works. Fred Machetanz can't enjoy his positive ratio, but Steve Gordon and Beth Flor, Betty Atkinson and Marcucci all found multiple bidders and attained as much as half again their list price. An inkjet print by John R DeLapp, fabric pieces by Lucy Zercher and Susan Schapira (whose Prayer Rug With Mirrors, a detail of which serves as the index image this issue, sold at live auction for $4,600), ceramics from Reyne Athanus and Paul Laverty, jewelry from Linda Vollertson and Molly Wilson Perry, and of course Fran Reed's leathery fishskin baskets all sold for more than the asking price. The healthy interest was welcome. ARTIST'S MATH: nearly 80% of participating artists felt downward pressure on their prices for new work. Their charity is mixed with chagrin. CLARABELL TAKES ON HOWDY Sandra Harrington shows a composition similar to Marcucci's in her mixed media on paper work. The media mix in this case pencil, soft pastel, and oil stick. This piece, also offered during the live auction by former Mayor Rick Mystrom, would swell mother's breast with pride, full of starts and stops, zany lines and almost rotating on the page with a youthful zest appropriate to a pre-schooler. Mystrom's baritone pitch coaxed only $1000 of the $1250 at which Clarabell Takes on Howdy Doody was priced Everyone who bid and purchased a piece gamely participated in raising nearly $100,000 for the Museum. The ladies wore heels and black gowns, the guys had monkey suits. Will the museum use some of the money raised to add to their collection of contemporary artists? Are collectors willing to step in to provide artwork from among their treasures to donate to the museum for auction? Their tax advantages are far more valuable than the cost-of-materials that artists can claim. In fact, some artists typically buy each others works at identical prices before donating them so that it is possible for them to deduct the market value of their charitable contribution.. DIALOG ELEMENT#5:HARRINGTON Sandra Harrington's efforts with oils are also on display this month at the Carr- Gottstein Gallery at Alaska Pacific University. A crowd gathered to investigate her new works, mostly on paper under glass; Elements of a Dialogue #5 is shown at left because it was on stretched linen and photographed benignly. The right angle gridwork of smeared paint in pure saturated tones were interwoven with black and dark blue with the use of a small plastic paddle which Harrington brought with her to the opening reception. She explained that the complexity of the pieces invited a dialogue with the viewer that unfolded most completely over time. At least one couple of enthusiasts there entered a dialogue comparing the price for the works to their next Permanent Fund Dividend check. SMALL WORKS: DECKER/MORRIS Rachelle Dowdy's cute and scary Swans can be bagged for a Franklin each as a group exhibition of small, inexpensive works continues at the private Decker/Morris gallery in the PAC building in Anchorage. Partly formed decoy elements of head and body are connected with articulated sticks. They may be balanced well enough to float in backyard ponds; buy it & try it! Kay Marshall's All Of My Cards On The Table is available at $50 per 'hand' of the small drawings of various pet dogs. Not suits or tarot style cards, these are just a fun size and substantial bargain for small original works from this acclaimed painter. Marshall is considering offering the cards through the cool Art-O-Mat converted cigarette machines which sell 'packs' of art at many very prestigious places, including major museums in NYC, Chicago, and LA. Also this month, Wells Street Gallery in Fairbanks hosts a solo exhibition of her sensuously abstracted portraits of the imagination. DISPOSABLE PEOPLE: HONG "These are NOT FREE ARTWORKS!" Viewers may take, stamp, tear, and throw into the bins the charming figural prints by Esther Euimu Hong printed on paper towels and attached to plexiglas dispensers which doubled as trash cans. Viewers can also purchase the units for under $400 to discomfit their guests at home with the notion of precious but Disposable People. Hong also printed stacks of paper plates with her lino-cut prints, which are unsigned and not numbered. Her installation at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art shows her considerable interest in the figure and a natural ability to communicate with fairly standard poses. The paper towel at left had a quality similar to some of Blake's illustrations that became more precise when incised into a series of glass plates also accompanied by wall hanging bases which included ball peen hammers as an excruciating inducement to NOT BREAK GLASS. Lit with strong direct gallery track lighting, the faint image visible at left is actually the shadow of the engraved glass on the wall. JORGÉ'S SHADOW: TERPENING Gordon Terpening insists that he is not the sculptor Jorgé who is discussed on a short video that accompanies his installation of shadow casting forged steel sculptures on wood stands that accompanies Hong at the IGCA. The Homer artist states that shadows cast by pieces like #36 The Girls and #12 R&J shown at left were a critical part of the installation and an important element of his design. The pieces, popular at prices from $550 - $800, incorporate several types of metal elements, painted and not, in abstracted forms which vibrate during small earthquakes or in the wind. The spare emphasis on the line of Terpening's work makes them seem deceptively light. The video is an improvement over his last offering at the IGCA, including people's faces and having an intriguing hypothesis. What became of the piece that putative Jorgé made that has not been seen? QUARTET: KING 4 SPRING STRING Alexandra Sonnenborn inquires: "Wonder if you'd include items about classes I offer? An Intro to Pastels is suitable for any level of skill and I provide all supplies and demonstrate techniques. Participants get to try out virtually every type of soft pastel and pastel ground available in the USA without the unnecessary expense of buying materials that they may not like. They also get advice on application, composition, transportation, and framing of soft pastels. Cost is $65. The next workshop in Anchorage is on May 31st (Saturday) from 1-5 p.m. at my studio, 277-3712. I am also giving this workshop in Homer on May 3rd, for information on that people should call Ptarmigan Arts Gallery in Homer at 907-235-5345." ArtSceneAK likes to try things out virtually. Have a Beauty day, look thru the back issue Index.
A Spenard sculptor sent word "Just a reminder of the weekly studio fire Saturdays. Bring something to drink or something to eat or something very witty to say".TELL A FRIEND About ArtSceneAK: Enter recipient's e-mail: Use this form FIVE times to add six months to your Membership Subscription. |
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text & photos © 2003 ArtSceneAK; artist's works pictured ©2003 to artists credited.
Anchorage 6th Avenue Parking Garage customers have
the benefit of a silent serenade which has recently had the board stickers removed that
were defacing it. Quartet, by William King, is a 1980 % for Art asset that stands
opposite the Performing Arts Center proclaiming Anchorage's aspirations as a center of
culture. In Juneau, members of the State Affairs committee did not advance the
effort to repeal Alaska State statutes which distinguish all of of Alaska in a similar
manner. They responded to
tongue-lashing admonitions from such luminaires as Duke Russell and the ADN editorial
staff (and even ArtSceneAK muftas, bless 'em). 
