VOL 06 ISSUE
4 
April 12, 2007
BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE
VOL 06 ISSUE
4 BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE |
| GALA ARTIST GUIDE 2007: CHOOSE YOUR HORSES FOR THE AMRC | ||||
 PALLETTE
TRIPTYCH II by Donald R Ricker (shown at the right) wasn't finding a spot among the
plethora of wall candy lining the atrium walls at the Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson
Center in Anchorage this month. The ladies of the gala auction committee arranging
the nearly 100 pieces decided to put it under glass, using special stands to display the
two-sided pieces. Kim Marcucci and Lise Hoffman made Ricker's primitive
non-objective trio serve as an effective foil for the Large Bowl by Paul Dungan
and the Blue Raku vase by Jenny Ditto. The elegant Alyeska Secret
necklace by Marie Bader and the crisp glass box named Icarus by Liz Bowen become
even more refined in front of the Pallettes. The annual Gala, scheduled for
Saturday April 20, is one of Alaska's few 'black tie' affairs, and many of Alaska's top
artists show support for the Museum by contributing work. Their generosity is
highlighted in this tightly packed group show, with a half dozen other vitrines like the
one in the photo displaying jewelry and crafts to complement the variety of prints,
watercolors, acrylics and oil paintings, wall hangings, and fiber pieces available to
collectors. |
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MENTASTA FROM NEBESNA:
ATKINSON A museum is a publically supported collection of
precious objects, however far outside that basic mission administrators may wander.
Those who support museums admire that function, and often build their own collections at
home. In time, benefactors contribute all or part of their holdings to the public in
care of the museums, bringing the cycle full circle. Today's contemporary collectors
have been acknowledging the talents of Betty Atkinson, whose Mentasta Mountains from
Nebesna Road is shown at left. In this picture, a fairly large size for
Atkinson, her love of color and freedom to concentrate interest in details while evoking
distance atmospherically is brought to an exemplary landscape. Yellow-orange and
lavender secure the regional nature of Mentasta Mountains while Atkinson's choppy
rapid brushwork brings the lessons she learned as a post-war artist into the new century.
This painting is the feature painting for the Gala and for the out-cry auction gaveled by
former Mayor Rick Mystrom as the climax of the evening dinner party. Only seven
other works are included in this part, most of the other paintings are offered as silent
auctions where bidders are encouraged to write-in their name and next best price on a
list. Jill Edwards' Kissing Lily, seen in the Index image for this month, adds a
choice of Hawaiian flavor to the options available. Seats at the fancy meal are more than $100 each, ladies & gents need to spruce up for the event, and there is a lot offered even beyond the artwork for a proportionally small number of patrons. Still, this is one of best chances to discretely demonstrate personal prosperity, and as the wine spills, the action begins. ARCTIC MYSTERIES:RUSSELL REPORT Spenardtist Duke Russell has always been delivered the goods, and the former feature artist's Mysteries of Arctic Boulevard is an ode to local topicality. Organized with a periphery of visual puns depicting area businesses, the central image places the viewer right in the new suicide lane caused by converting the normally four lane road into three and engineering anti-intuitive swerves into through traffic at the intersections. A set of three road signs warns in turn: "MERGE LEFT", "MERGE RIGHT", "MORE MERGING AHEAD". The letters in the phrase WELCOME TO SPENARD are embellished with separate scenes from the former outskirts of Anchorage. Russell is preserving history even in his tongue-in-cheek manner and although self taught he is also unconflicted by art school ideosyncrasies. He loves a good sign, and in fact has been responsible for several familiar to downtown denizens. An Alaskan art collection without one of his paintings, some of which were featured in a multi-page spread in Alaska Magazine last summer, would be a little drear, so competition is expected to be keen when the gavel is raised. |
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SOUND BARRIER:SENUNGETUK
PROVIDES Gala organizers treated the artists to a First Friday opening
reception replete with pinot noir and a mimeographed catalog of artist's statements and
contact information that is important marketing material however informal. Visitors
to the exhibit during the two weeks it is hanging can vote for their popular favorite. Ron
Senungetuk's maple carving Untitled , shown at left, is sure to draw some
interest as one of the Alaska native contemporary pieces available. A number of
pieces were contributed to the auction by the gift shop to sweeten the deal. There is a Native Art Auction, a Public TV Art Auction, and this Museum Gala Auction. For the TV auction, many artists contribute reproductions, while the other two feature mostly original work with some photography. Alaskana stalwarts like Thor Brandt-Ericson, Joe Nedland, and Dot Badarson contribute originals (not shown) to the Museum. The savvy valley vertical art marketer Shane Lamb has achieved a unique compromise. His 'giclée on canvas embellished with oil' is a digitally reduced reproduction of an original Great Land Passage (not shown) adds brush touches over printed details that could confuse even a determined eye about its originality, had Lamb not conscientiously numbered it, this one number 2 of a purportedly limited edition of 65. The only piece contributed from a private collection was Ayse Gilbert's Our Lady of Shelikof Strait, a detail of which is shown at left. Donated by John leTourneau, an iconic Virgin is surrounded by andronymous piscines of Alaska. The image is simultaneously irreverent and heartfelt, and the larger point is that leTourneau is churning his collection and contributing to the health of the museum and that of a favored artist's secondary market. Gilbert was a stalwart of the pre-Begich Museum Board, and may be said to have already made her contributions, both organizationally and as an artist. This is certainly true of founding Alaskan contemporary artists like Senungetuk and Byron Birdsall, whose quiet watercolor of a float plane pulling away from a dock is an astounding opportunity for some enthusiastic bidder. At the Mayors Arts Awards ceremony held in the atrium recently, Mistress of Ceremonies Corinna Delgado suggested audience members look at the list of 70-some nominees:"All of those nominated are working every day to develop the arts in Anchorage". John Ross accepted the Outstanding Arts Organization Award as CEO of the Alaska Native Heritage Center. The Individual Artist Award was accepted by conductor and educator David Hagan, saying "It may seem glamorous, yet I spend a lot of time teaching sixth graders to play Yankee Doodle on the clarinet." The conductor accepted the Youth Arts award on behalf of the Anchorage Youth Symphony, and Opal Myers accepted the Kay Linton Volunteer Award on her own behalf without speaking. Longtime Museum administration dynamo Georgia Blue was recognized with the Champion of the Arts award, thanking many of those present in her statement and speech for their support and specially mentioning Saradell Ard, Pat Wolf, Keith Appel, Ward Hulbert, Gina Holloman, and her immediate family in gratitude for their support for her efforts. Mary Louise Rasmuson was recognized with the Lorene Harrison Old-Timers award, accepted by her attractive grand-daughter Natasha because Gramma was celebrating her 96th birthday in Palm Beach. She went home with the Pink Eddy version of the stretched walrus stomach and acrylic polymer awards (not shown) created for the occasion by last years Individual Artist Awardee Sonya Kelliher-Combs. |
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AFRICA:HUGI-LEWIS
KIMONO CLOSET Alaskan school kids whose principles are savvy enough to
use the Art Educator grant system are the benefactors when Margret Hugi-Lewis brings her
infectious enthusiasm for life and art to the village. Arguably one of the most
traveled and worldly among Alaska's senior artists, Hugi-Lewis shows seven giant painted
kimonos hung on curtain poles at the International Gallery for Contemporary Art as seen in
the photo at left. Her characteristic match of white and bright pastels over thick black
tarpaper is made more tailored by a thin skin of linen incorporated into the surface.
Africa, set alone in the center at the end of the room, emanates color so fiercely
it can be seen reflected in the ceiling of the gallery. TO GUSTAV:GILDED TARPAPERS Hugi-Lewis color and rhythm still evoke the world beat yet are subservient to subject and theme in this installation. The oversize three dimensional qualities of the kimonos add a certain majesty to each depiction , whether its snakes or masks. In To Gustav, she reacts to the recent news of his posthumous achievement of creator of the painting sold for the highest amount of money with a hommage that captures Klimts decorative opulence and sensuality, as seen in the photo at left. A suggestion of a bare breast fixes a viewers attention with the intensity of a baleful stare. Creative and not precious, these pieces individually would command a wall if not an entire room for astute collectors who recognize the value represented by Hugi-Lewis' modest $2000 price. |
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EXPLORING RATTLES:DUFFY SCIENCE Also at the IGCA, Fairbanks artist Annie Duffy displays two paintings and several objects consisting of twine wrapped bell forms. A detail from Drawing Effects is shown here at left. Made partially from found material, these paired forms reflect obsessive wrapping with the detail of a continuous fine line adding intricacy and interest. Still, anyone who has ever knocked the cover off of a golf ball will recognize the clapper to Duffy's bell. Her pieces teetered on the edge between mundane and noteworthy best protected by the nearly invisible attachment of the pieces to the wall that gave the impression that they were hanging there through the attraction of static electricity. Duffy advertises her internet skills to a growing client list in Fairbanks, and is targeting the interstices between art and science in much of her work. She is a member of the Art and Science Collaborations, Inc organization online.Perhaps because current trends in that neck of the woods are going biological and ideological, the work in the current show is more formal and austere. As a recent recipient of a Rasmuson Foundation grant, her exploratory spirit has been granted new freedom, and let the future look out! | |||
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PRAYER RUGS:COONS
CANVAS TROUBLED For Cathy Kerr, whose interior design business Spiral
Design hosts the NemoArt Gallery, the work of emerging artists is most pleasing among the
variety of paintings, sculptures, and jewelry she has shown over the past several years.
In the case of veteran artist Katherine Coons, whose Prayer Ensemble installation
is shown in a detail at left, the artist's characteristic searching and experimentation
give the work extra lift. Composed of canvases stiffened with pigment, quilted, pierced,
and threaded with attachments, Coons continues to develop her pursuits of recent years.
Her travels inform her deceptively scruffy style, a sophisticated effort to appear
untutored. A recent issue of the Guild SourceBook of Architectural and Interior Art highlighted the importance of interior designers in commissioning original artwork, and Kerr confessed to having managed a handful of projects over the years. She has also served on a public art panel and recommends that aspirants volunteer to join a jury or request to sit in on committee meetings when the proposals are reviewed to gain important perspective. |
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- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES-
4/27/07 deadline ALASKA BOTANICAL GARDEN seeks Sculpture, mosaics, birdbaths, fountains, kinetic pieces, gates, all options considered for sale at its annual garden fair and gala June 21-24, 2007. 30% commission. Contact Greg Lyall. 5/16/07 deadline LOWER KUSKOKWIM KILBUCK ELEMENTARY seeks concept proposals for interior and exterior. Budget $96,000. Contact 269-6605 details online. 5/23/07 deadline ANCHORAGE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT renovations budget $700,000 for three sites. Contact Andrea Noble 907-269-6605. RFQ details online. 6/1/07 deadline EILSEN VISITOR CENTER seeks proposals for a ~6'x16' fabric artwork for the interior. Budget $30,000 contact Kesler Woodward 907-474-8346 Alaska Natural History Association PO Box 136 Denali Park AK 99755. 5/31/07 deadline ANCHORAGE MUSEUM CRAFTS WEEKENDS opportunities for Alaska artisans, artists and authors. Contact 343-6195. 6/6/07 deadline ALASKA WATERCOLOR SOCIETY seeks entries for 33rd annual juried exhibition, to be held at the Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center. Combined prizes value $4500. Contact Jean Watson 333-4578. Details online. 6/30/07 deadline NEW AMERICAN PAINTING Pacific Coast edition jurored periodical $30 fee. Details online 8/1/07 deadline GOVERNOR'S AWARDS IN THE ARTS nominations solicited. The following categories will be chosen in 2007: Arts Advocacy; Business Leadership; Margaret Nick Cooke Award for Native Arts and Languages; Individual Artist. Details 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.
THE PORTRAIT NOW by Sandy Naime and Sarah Howgate The National Portrait Gallery in London encourages artist's continuing interest in painting people and this new book shows some recent examples of contemporary portraits on the occasion of their 150th anniversary. ArtSceneAK recommends commissioning your own likeness within the next century and a half. NEXT: MAYONET FIXE 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. cf also ART IN ALASKA
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2 ¢ WORTH:POLLING
AND TROLLING Committee decisions abound at all levels of art other
than that of the creative progenitors, and even they can best sell their talents as
being amenable to committee preferences. City officials recently shunted the design
of an ink blotch to put behind the typography of their new brands from a paid marketing
firm to the general public, inviting citizens both to provide replacement designs and then
to choose among the free proposals the one to replace the image they already paid $200,000
for. Even seasoned graphic professionals can be suckered by this breach in ethical
behavior, last personified in the 'contest' for the People Mover bus logo. The public was asked for verbal descriptions of the graphics for the states quarter, and government artists created flat relief versions of the four deemed best. A polar bear, a grizzly bear, a gold panner, and a dog musher are being presented for the public to register their preference before the Governor gives the nod to one among them. Gail Phillips recently announced a similar routine is underway associated with the Alaska Statehood Commission which is seeking artists to design graphics for stamps celebrating the 50 year jubilee in 2009. Jubilate your anniversaries in the BACK ISSUE Index.
From Anchorage: "Hey, I'm going to do a fish this year! THE HUMPY WEARS PRADA...fun! Are you doing one?? You float fish is still at the IBEW! :)" --- Lucky From IBEW: "We would like to extend a very warm thank you and congratulations to all of you for submitting such awesome proposals for this year's Wild Salmon on Parade. Our downtown will be beautifully decorated with your creative, wild and wacky salmon art this summer!" From the Eielsen Art Committee:"The artist must take into consideration that the center will be closed for the winter, and temperatures can drop to 50 degrees below zero." mm-mmm 4/21/07 event MAT SU COLLEGE hosts an art show and a variety of free short classes from fly tying and knife making to Mat-Su history and watercolors. contact 745-9746 event is 11am -4pm From California: "Mercury 20 Gallery is proud to announce Judith Hoersting will present "Views of Lake Merritt" April 6-28. These abstract compositions have been infrluenced by the proximity of water and abundance of trees and flowers." From Switzerland: "Dear Donald I hope you are well. My question: will you participate this year again in the Florence Biennale? What is your goal? Best regards" --- Daniela de Maddalena From Anchorage: "Dear Volunteers, The 2006 Gala was a
great success with over 400 guests attending. The Anchorage Museum Association
raised over $135,000 and volunteers like you made it happen. Believe it or not
– the 2007 Gala is fast approaching. It is scheduled for Saturday, April 21st
from 6:30 to 11:30pm in the Museum atrium and galleries. The elegant evening will feature
live and silent auctions of fine art and art related items. Guests will enjoy a
fabulous array of appetizers, wines, and desserts by Clair d’Loon. Seating will
be bistro style throughout the Museum galleries with music by The Blue Notes in the
atrium. "FYI: Christina Barber's art is on Saatchi's Stuart section" --- Indra Arriaga From Juneau: " Thanks for the mentions and well wishes. I enjoy/appreciate your take on the Further North, especially the 1% for art projects. I gave your painting 10 stars and then gave everyone else one star. I hope to be showing in ANC sometime soon, we shall see..." Rob Roys Ricker's 1996 painting Musashi at the Scroll is available in the Saatchi SHOWDOWN listings between the 16th and the 23rd of April for your ten star ratings: From Anchorage: "How are you? I am looking for studio space this summer. If you hear of anything or know of artists that want to rent something together, could you pass it by me?" -- LI-L If you don't attend Alaska Design Forum presentations, you may never have heard of Aesthetic Apparatus, two silkscreening naifs from Minnesota who gaily presented their portfolio this month at the museum..
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text & photos © 2007 Donald R Ricker; artist's works pictured ©2007 to artists credited.
ArtSceneAK is published by Donald R Ricker and sponsored by
, a partial listing of links to Museums,
Galleries, and individual Artists around the state.
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