VOL 07 ISSUE
12 
December 15, 2008
BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE
VOL 07 ISSUE
12 BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE |
| BOX/ED: IGCA MEMBERS YEAREND SALE | ||||
 Box/ed.
Each year the members of the International Gallery of Contemporary Art are
invited to show work in a group exhibition. They are encouraged to donate the value
of their work even beyond the disproportional 40/60 share of any sales to fundraising
efforts on behalf of the (501)c organization. In previous years the show
has been in January, the month of buyer remorse. Under Chelsea Bailey's gallery
management, December was chosen for the event this year and the theme of boxes encouraged
a strong response. In the photo at right are Wendel Brower's Mask Cube and
the stacked plank WoodGrain Self Portrait at the upper left and right. Upper
center is Ashley D Kelley's Treehouse, and lower center an assortment of cedar
containers made by ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker. A coiled snake, pyramid,
yin/yang symbol, ibis, heart, and the Odor Box shown last month were all made
from the butt ends of 4"x4" cedar posts left over from a 4'x16'x4" routed
cedar sign made for the Bird Treatment and Learning Center by BETTER LETTERS this fall.
(backside shown in final article this issue) |
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LAYERS: TOMKA TAPE Many
artists used wood to craft their own boxes in sometimes whimsical shapes. A pyramid
topped box by James Dault with a battery powered strobe light inside and lightning bolts
engraved on the outside pleased an early collector, as did another of Dault and Shala
Dobson's Wave column, a wooden box with curved clear acrylic planes at the top
that are edge illuminated from inside (neither shown). Opening night attendees also
snapped up the paper Bear Box by Bill Sabo which is the Index image for this
issue. Kat Tomka, who teaches at UAA, made her signature cellophane tape material
seem precious and meaningful somehow with her Layers, shown at left, which was
offered at $400. Clay was also brought to bear by some artists, including Denise
Heimel and Darlya Kostareva, whose earthenware Odyssia was a female bust whose
hair filled the boundaries of an invisible box (not shown). The impression is more
like the head of Medusa taken by Perseus, without explicit snake heads in the tresses. MER: PETUMENOS BEAUTY IGCA wanted a broad interpretation inspiring their members rather than tight rules acting as a constraint, and provided small factory made wood boxes and a bit of instruction from Linda Lucky regarding ways to embellish them. Schelly Cramer Petumenos treated the lid of the candle box shown at left as a panel for her enchanting figure of Mer, the Sea. This box, like many in the show was priced at or below $100. The beauty of the container notion is that the buyer has the option of what to enclose in their new box, and Mer suggests cedar shavings and sea shells might be nice. Few (if any) of the artists bothered to plush the inside surfaces of their boxes so keeping the pearls there might not be appropriate. JAPANESE PINE NEEDLES:MIKEL Anchorage's diverse cultural influences are part of the attraction of this busy show, with antic mixtures and close proximity making the exhibition on long, chest high shelves around the gallery more of a catalog to pore over than some less exuberant displays, and visitors will want to take the time to browse thoroughly. Rewards are plentiful, like the cheery Japanese Pine Needles Box by Koko Mikel shown at left. A little candle wax in the slot and this box also could be useful for collecting mementos. The IGCA is soliciting membership renewals and has opened a small gift shop area for marketing materials. They continue to ask for volunteer assistance to keep the gallery open. Unsolcited advice to the volunteer co-ordinators: Train the volunteers in two simple, vital areas: they should be as knowledgeable about the work in the gallery as docents, and they should be directed to pro-actively act as normal sales personnel would, greeting visitors and asking them directly about their interest in owning the works being exhibited. |
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PICTURES AND WORDS:MTS
In Leonardo da Vinci's argument, both poet and painter may
describe the beloved, yet no-one is seen to kiss a poem. Curators of the MTS Gallery
and board members of the Trailer Art Group Hal Gage and Bruce Farnsworth contributed their
own examples, explaining "I'll know it when I see it." Farnsworth
proem refers to the "granite shadows where the spaces between things take shape"
and Gage's photo shows an urban landscape. As the photo at left of the curators'
accomplishment of their own prospectus shows, there was a lot of open spaces.
Perhaps the most successful pairing was Sheila Wyne and Arthur Hermes, not shown, with
Hermes waxing melancholic about rain and Wyne collaging an old basement window. The Trailer Art notion continues cheerfully to be a catalyst for various expenditures on the study and planning constituencies who are all studiously ignoring the plan's fatal flaw: location. True civic renewal is created from the success of artists who purchase property in an affordable area and prosper because of their proximity to actual art commerce raising property values and encouraging art enthusiasts to buy properties nearby. This will not happen in Mountain View no matter how much money they spend trying to prove it is feasible, because it is an outlying neighborhood past gasoline alley with residents more intent on survival than the niceties of sculpture, painting, and the performance arts. The city has never made any sensible proposals that would make investing in property there attractive to working artists and the current notion of the Arts building project as an 'incubator' is a metaphor from the hen clutch. |
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NEAR WATER:TABBERT SOLO The
board who ushered Pat Wolf to the exit as director of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson
Center in Anchorage thought it would mollify her to name something after her. The
Solo Artist Exhibition series was therefore adumbrated with her full name and middle
initial. That's saying a mouthful. The sequence of shows following her
dismissal is wrapping up with more talent from Fairbanks. Sara Tabbert, whose first
solo show (at Grant Hall) was reported on in ArtSceneAK's first volume, has presented more
of the wood and lino- cut prints she enjoys making, such as Tanana shown at left.
With its spruce skyline and riverine horizontal marks, scraggly branch forms in the
foreground, Tanana is one of the more recognizable images. Others are combinations
of oval shapes, acrylic washes, and seemingly less purposeful overprinting. Even
Tabbert intuits that her simply carved and colored boxwood blocks are more attractive as
objects than the priints. MOSAICS: POSITIONING Tabbert has also benefited from commissions from the MOA % for Art program and shows some work that can be better sold to selection juries than prints, which are private collectors' compact passions. Her glass mosaic pieces shown at left characterize her theme of Near Water. The colorful works are based on observations along the Shore, the Bank and Channel and the Teklanika. There is also an exhibition of photographs from around Alaska on exhibit at the Museum, and some Bradford Washington photos, and a whole lot of explanatory text legends posted among the paintings of the permanent collection, mostly explaining conservator issues. The Museum will hold it's annual fund-raising gala at the Denaina Convention Center (!) this year and is asking artists to contribute artwork involving gold to match it's blowhard signature show planned for this summer. Hopingly the change of venue will allow them to have more attending guests than contributed artwork, which can only improve the chances of actual competitive bidding taking place at the silent auctions. |
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FREEZE:COLD SHOULDERS In
Alaska, few think of December 21st as the first day of winter, as it is called in lower
latitudes. Most here are aware of the magic of winter solstice, when the analeptic
motion of the earth's long orbit around the sun reverses the tilt of the planet's axis.
This is mid-winter, when the night is at its longest and the days are brief and
frigid. Each new day until summer solstice in June will be a bit longer as the sun
moves northward at incline and decline (sunrise and sunset) and its apparent zenith rises modestly into the
dome of heaven. Warm yourself by the animated solstice loop below left. with the images created by fermilab. It is cold enough to make ice and snow into building materials, and the Alaska Design Forum in cooperation with the Museum and the IGCA has prompted a project for January filled with conferences, performances and exhibitions. Large scale outdoor installations along the Park Strip are hoping to highlight the exquisite northern elements. Fundraising events are planned for New Year's Eve at the museum, with January 2 a FREEZE first Friday at the IGCA, the MTS, and at the Alaska Native Arts Foundation gallery downtown. A slate of performances and presentations at the Museum lead up to the January 10 public opening. Talented local artists and architects will compete to more acutely express their frozen notions with those of their colleagues around the north. The end of January culminates in the pricey Alaska State Council on the Arts 'sponsored' statewide conference being planned for Jan 28-31 at the Hotel Captain Cook. Nature carved this immovable trophy for the coldest one shown at left. |
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- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES-
7/00/09 AMRC EARTH FIRE AND FIBRE XXVII Alaska Statewide Biennial Juried Craft Exhibition deadline. submission fee, prizes. contact: nichollsdxATanchoragemuseum.org 4/00/09 SALVATION ARMY THRIFT TRANSFORMED TREASURES fundraiser seeks artists to 'transform ordinary objects into one of a kind pieces'. $50 voucher to first 125 respondents. Contact Deanna Teders 907-336-8050 baileywickATgci.net 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. For students of the process, the Municipality of Anchorage has posted a Public Art Policy Manual online. The relevant Muni Code regarding Public Art are available online (choose Title 7), and further regulations 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.
ART CRAZY NATION: THE POST-BLIMEY LONDON ARTWORLD by Matthew Collings Trans-substantiality has got nothing on insubstantinanity when b-loggers hobnob. See why this disarmingly frank observer is welcome everywhere. ArtSceneAK recommends treating local art critics similarly. NEXT: SEVEN YEARS GOOD LUCK 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
From Anchorage: "The Alaska Plein Air Painters are having a Miniature Painting show at the Arctic Rose Gallery at 420 L. The detail in these small paintings is awesome. for your pleasure, the attached picture, the ruler shows its size." --- Kurt Jacobson, SnowBound Art Studios From Switzerland: "Are you interested in Art Fairs? Almost 300 fairs worldwide each year more than 200,000 art lovers visit. Cordial Greetings" --- Ing. Aris Karamaounas From NYC: "It is a double whammy week for innovation at artcritical, we now have Pic of the Day to give you an excuse to come look at the site every 24 hours." --- David Cohen From Florence:"I am glad I could keep you amused! I refuse to nag you anymore --- I for one am quite pleased with the result." --- MKS From NYC: "Great to hear! I do hope that you are a winner in this APEX thing. By the way, is Thanksgiving celebrated in Alaska?" --- ER From Sweden: "Happy to tell you that the Palette of Freedom 2008 exhibition in Kiev was a happy miracle due to our mutual ideas. Happy Faces, unembarrassed atmosphere, people felt themselves as brothers and sisters, not similar to many of the contmporary art events. " --- Sergej |
LAST OUT: 7TH
INNING STRETCH?
The editor of ArtSceneAK (shown at right) called in the writer and photographer to give
them the bad news from the publisher. This issue, #712, marks the end of ArtSceneAK's
monthly review of Alaskan Art and artists in Alaska. Subscriptions no longer
supported the costs even of hosting the magazine on the server, and advertising revenues
could be measured in pennies per issue. No patrons have presented themselves, and sponsor
BETTER LETTERS has exhausted its resources supporting its CEO's least successful pet
project. More importantly, ArtSceneAK is routinely snubbed by art institutions and
gatekeeprs, not being felt worthy of receiving press releases let alone being granted
interviews, nor being given answers to formal letters or even simple questions. This
antipathy is not separated from the personal artistic career of publisher Donald R Ricker,
astonished to find himself wordlessly excluded at the very places into which he has stuck
his not inconsiderable nose...Over the course of more than 130 issues, each with at least ten photos and four to five reviews, ArtSceneAK has touched a lot of bases and met a lot of interesting individuals. That has been a lot of fun except when it wasn't, and the open characters of most artists are saluted. Where arts administrators and venues have been observed acerbically, it has been on behalf of the often under-represented viewpoint of a living artist, and not without some love. Review what hasn't been said in the BACK ISSUE Index .
Congratulations to Helen Howarth for being recognized with a YWCA Women of Achievement Award for 2008. From Los Angeles: "I thought you would enjoy this feature in the New York Times (about USArtists fellows & Sitka's Tommy Joseph)" --- Katharine DeShaw, United States Artists From Argentina: "Anillo de Fuego es una muestra que refleja las observaciones realizadas por el artista en residenzia Garry Kaulitz (USA) sobre El Rally de Sturgis." --- GK From Hawaii: "Aloha from Hilo, just moved here yesterday to live, best decision I ever made." --- Jack Abraham Thanks to all those who have supported ArtSceneAK through their subscriptions (seventy-seven various hardy souls over the years) and through taking the effort to share their projects and opinions with us. Special thanks to the eleven people whose subscription period has not expired and who will not receive any refund. Money out of the publisher's pocket has been appropriated to continue hosting the site for another year as a resource, and modifications are underway to make the site more useful and accessible during that time. Thanks to the one (and only!) very genuine supporter who had the once common decency of adding a link to ArtSceneAk on her own well-developed site: "For artists like me who live in isolated areas of Alaska so far from Anchorage it is the only way we can see monthly shows. I would like to see some place for input from artists, like info on their techniques in the wilderness. Something where we could ask questions or give opinions." --- DH From Girdwood: "What ArtSceneAK is doing right is reporting, reviewing, and championing art. Every issue can be counted on for a diverse, sometimes thoughtful sometimes quirky look at Alaskan art, artists and art administration. If ArtSceneAK doesn't change I'm okay with that!" --- ZDG From Ester: "Well, I like about your mag that it is not the usual guff, but much more independent and says what you think. It would be good if you had more opportunities for artists, especially for those from out of town." --- DM From Anchorage: "Wish you could have covered the UAA faculty show " --HMP From Homer: "What I like is that you take the time and energy to put this monthly together! I greatly appreciate your personal take on what's happening out there. I would like an art bank of artists accessible to your readers included somehow." --- EP From Anchorage: "If I could change ArtSceneAK, I would just ask for more of what is already there. I particularly like that you are willing to say a few pointed words ... generally keeping it respectful." --- CL From Anchorage: "i really hope you don't stop publishing. i think you should invite me over to talk about the future of visual art reviewing and criticism in southcentral alaska." --- BF From Wasilla: "Your Opportunities list has gotten me more than one job ... So, thank you!!. I really enjoy your opinions and trust your judgment and reviews. It would be nice to add printing capabilities. You Rock!" --- CW From Anchorage: "sorry to see the demise. I am sure we have not seen or heard the last of you. any future schemes, love to help, collaborate, brainstrorm." " --- LIL From Juneau: "As someone who has similar aggravations with Alaska scene I really appreciated especially the styrofoam monkey." " --- RR From Anchorage: "Thanks for putting me in the ArtSceneAK. It's nice to be on the page with all those artistes. " " --- BZ From Palmer: "How sorry I am that you have decided to let art scene Alaska go. I always enjoyed the reviews and commentary ... I realize how much work it must have been. I would like to make better contact with anchorage artists especially the sculptors as things here in the valley grow." --- PG From ArtSceneAK: "No, Thank You to all of those who responded to ArtSceneAK's wild notions over the last seven volumes. Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night." --- DRR
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text & photos © 2008 Donald R Ricker ; artist's works pictured ©2008 to artists credited.
This concludes the seventh volume of this zine. Thank you for your support.
, 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! 
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