VOL 03 ISSUE
02 
January 21, 2004
VOL 03 ISSUE
02 |
| KEEP IT COMING: BUCKETS OF DOBSON AND DAULT AT FIRE STATION 7 | ||||
 KEEP
IT COMING is the latest public sculpture created by Jim Dault and Shala Dobson, and
it was commissioned by the MOA for the Sand Lake Fire Station #7, whose mission is to
stitch fabric equipment for the department. Fourteen buckets are installed in the interior
hallway and just outside the front door. Additional elements will be added to the
exterior sign as weather permits. The buckets are similar but not identical, and each
disembodied forearm and hand is individual and unique. The effect is of a partly invisible
community working together to move water to a fire.The casts are firmly mounted
around shoulder height to the textured concrete blocks which are made to look like
quarried stone. |
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FOUNDRIED & CAST IN ALASKA Shala
Dobson and Jim Dault went to Arizona to cast Rescue for Fire Station 11 Downtown.
Expert foundries are rare and busy, and the work is not delicate although it is demanding.
For Keep It Coming, Dobson and Dault have founded their own foundry at their
summer camp north of Wasilla. Using recycled aluminum and modeling the 'many hands' from
visitors and imagination, they were able to sand cast at a lower temperature and with
smaller tools than were required for Rescue's large uprights. "Recycled aluminum, you see you might not realize, that's a lot of beer cans", Dault may have said. Reaction from the Fire Department men and women was largely positive, both for the work and for the professional qualities of the artists. Dault and Dobson are inveterate collectors of art as well, and were recently featured in Gimme Shelter in the Anchorage Press. They divulge an inclination to 'start a museum'. With nearly 300 pieces of art by a broad range of contemporary artists already in their collection, they can truly be described as setting excellent examples both as artists and as collectors. In the detail of one of only a few of the buckets which represented sloshing water (see Index image for another), the pockmarked nature of the material and process add to the ghostliness of the silent line of community involvement. Which way up or down the hallway are they passing the buckets? Or both? |
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HARD LESSONS: UAA % FOR
ART For a moment the architectural folie at the new UAA Consortium
Library has the look that it was designed by an artist, as the green light marking the
framework burns off ground fog during the mid-day dawn recently. Almost a year has passed
since ArtSceneAK raised questions (cf Issue #206) about the $200 million capital
construction budget the University was devoting to beautiful new buildings. We were
rebuffed by the attitudes reflecting Mark Hamilton's view that 'this isn't something the
University should be doing'. 1% of $200,000,000 is two million dollars, and
despite Hamilton's protestations, the University Regents are obligated to follow the Art
in Public Places Statute. Ironically, the University offers courses with a dedicated
building and faculty to prepare students to be productive in the real world, and then
seems to be withholding opportunities from career artists. This view of the Consortium
Library from its main parking lot reveals that there is no obvious entry to this house of
learning. Just outside the UAA Arts Building stands this perplexing structure shown at left, which was commissioned with % for Art funds when the building was constructed. A recent sub-zero day added an Alaskan bush distinction to the oversize assembly. One could imagine a giant prospector rummaging through the pile for some special widget. Yet Steve Rollins, Dean of the Consortium Library, told ArtSceneAK "It is my understanding there is no Alaska State % for the Arts requirement for the library construction project. We will have several areas in the library for art exhibits however, showcasing the works of UAA students and faculty and hopefully local artists." He added later: "We will have one formal exhibit space and suitable wall areas around the building. We have no designated art curator but we will use the expertise of the UAA Art Dept" UAA Arts Faculty have united in a group exhibition at the Museum this month. Is there a professor among them that can better explain the seeming inaction by the University? Perhaps the $2 million was spent quietly in direct purchases without open competition. |
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EAST FORK TOKLAT:ICGA MEMBERS Rebecca Voris made this weaving shown at far left on the porch of a cabin in Denali Park under the auspices of the Denali Artist / Photographer permit. Application deadline is February 1st 2004 for the summer season, so act now if you'd like one of the permits, but CAUTION: more than $250 fees are involved..Voris' work can be seen at the International Gallery for Contermporary Art during January's group show, which also features the small drawing Narcissism by Juneau's Jane Terziz, which is shown at near left. | |||
-OPPORTUNITIES- 1/23 deadline FAIRBANKS ART EXPO accepting applications 1/28/04 deadline (extended) 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. 2/13/04 deadline HUTCHISON INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY seeks proposals for six or more sites. budget $196,000 contact Barbara Short 907-452-2000 details 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. 3/1/04 deadline UAA PRINT CLUB 1:1 JURIED PRINT EXCHANGE AND EXHIBITION
(3/18/04-4/8/04) Theme 'Diversity' size limit 7-1/2"x11" all print styles.Do not
mount or mat in any way.Each entry must also include: 9"x12" envelope with
return postage for your exchange print; 3"x5" card with your name, title of
work, printmaking process, mailing address. Mail entry to: University of Alaska Print
Club, Art Department, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508-4614 NEXT: DELICATES 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.
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CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART EXPANDS The
Joint Planning Committee of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art has been contemplating
comparables in an effort to determine possible future staffing needs and operating
budgets. A list of twelve museums of art (alone) which were of similar size in
square footage put the yearly operating budget over $10 million in most cases. A
recent article by art critic Steven Litt for the Cleveland Plain Dealer detailed
the Cleveland Museum of Art's plans to delay their expansion because their architect
hadn't got his homework in on schedule. Mr Litt was kind enough to reply to some of
ArtSceneAK's inquiries: "To my knowledge, local artists have not been
involved in the art museum project. Certainly, there are none on the design team. As part
of the expansion, however, the museum plans for the first time to create a gallery devoted
to art of the Western Reserve, the term of art for this part of Ohio. The museum has a
sizable collection of art from within the region, much of it from the first half of the
20th century. Today, much of it is in storage." This reinforces the notion that
artists are being offered a unique opportunity here. Mr Litt further explains: "The
CMA is a private non profit with a $600 million endowment and no obligations to involve
artists, other than the moral obligation to involve the community at large in everything
it does. The museum used to hold an annual "May Show'' on Cleveland art, and it
bought works out of that show, but that tradition has ended. Artists are not asked
to contribute anything special to the institution. We have other non profits in Cleveland
that are much smaller, and which do involve artists in management, oversight, fundraising
and programming. Chiefly, that happens at Spaces, and at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland." This shines a light on efforts to convert
the AMHA organization into a private non-profit. CENTURY
THEATRES: GLOW BOX Looking for guidelines in all the right places? The National Endowment for the Arts has gone paper-free and web sticky. Grab major grants out of the BACK ISSUE Index.
Thank you and Welcome to a new subscriber in Anchorage who was nice enough to say she 'loved the writing'. Another reader found it "A challenge to read lower text on first page,otherwise, love it". The most recent issue of New American Paintings was the Eighth Open Studios Pacific Coast Competition edition. No Alaskan artists were selected to represent our state by Norton Family Foundation curator Anne Ellegood, did any submit? No HI artists either, but OR and WA boasted 10 between them, while CA took home 30 spots in this, Number 49 of a series of Juried Exhibitions in Print. Alaskan and Hawaiian painters take note: deadline for submittal ($20) is June 30, 2004. This is a prestigious regional competition started 10 years ago, and an important resource for collectors and curators. Lawrence Rinder juried the recent MFA Annual 2003 edition. One freshly Rutgers University educated artist, Justin Adian, submitted this sentence as his entire artist statement: "I found this stuff in the trash and then I painted it." Latex on fiberboard. |
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text & photos © 2004 Donald R Ricker; artist's works pictured ©2004 to artists credited.
The area north of the Loussac Library has
been cited as an example of 'big-box' architecture, and certainly a movie theatre business
would need a bunch of cubes in their building, with lots of parking and a major setback
from the road. In the photo at left the largest light sculpture in town can be seen
serving a commercial and a civic purpose during a recent long winter night. Yet strict
sign code advocates wanted to measure lumens emitted by signs in town in an effort to
reduce 'glow', reflected light in the sky at night. 
