A wide range of quality materials ranging from Tiffany, Steuben and contemporary glass to paintings to folk art and rare Native American items attracted a large crowd for an action-packed sale at Cottone Auction on March 24.
Comprising more than 500 lots, the auction featured items from the estate of Thomas Buechner, a former director of the Brooklyn Museum and the founding director of the Corning Museum of Glass, as well as items deaccessioned from the Strong Museum, the Rochester Historical Society and items from the former collection of the Campbell-Whittlesey House Museum. Naturally, a complement of freshly picked quality merchandise from local homes was also presented.
Preview for the auction was packed in the days leading up to the sale, with a great deal of interest expressed in the paintings, many of which had come directly from local families. The list of works was impressive, including artists such as William Bradford, Thomas Buttersworth, Frederick Judd Waugh, William Aiken Walker, Ogden Pleissner, John James Audubon, Charles Sprague Pierce and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.
Other categories within the auction included an assortment of Asian materials consigned from a private collection, silver, bronzes, Native American items and advertising items.
Come sale time on Saturday morning, every one of the 250-plus seats in the spacious gallery was filled, and a good-sized crowd lined the walls of the room. Auctioneer Sam Cottone got things rolling right off the bat, and maintained a brisk and steady pace throughout the day. The sale kicked off with close to 30 lots of sterling, beginning with a Tiffany bowl with foliate decorated edge that sold above estimate at $1,150. Sterling flatware sets included a Tiffany Audubon pattern service, 54 pieces total, that opened for bidding at $3,000 and sold moments later for $6,095, a Gorham set in the Old Medici pattern at $5,060, and a Towle service that for 12 sold at $2,875.
The action heated up when a small silver spout cup by colonial Boston maker John Coney (1655/56–1722) was offered. The rare piece listed a single family provenance descending from Martin Brimmer (1697–1760), a politician and prominent businessman, member of the House of Representatives, the mayor of Boston and the first president of the Boston Museum of Art. Lineage continued through the family, with ties to Harriet Wadsworth by marriage in the early Nineteenth Century, and on down through the family to the present day.
Coney was considered one of the most important Boston silversmiths of his day, an engraver of the plates used for paper money in 1702. Coney's apprentice at the time of his death was Paul Revere's father. The classic spouted cup, fitted with an elegant handle and lid, carried an estimate of $30/50,000; it opened in the room at $30,000. A bid of $35,000 came from one of several telephone bidders, and then another at $40,000. A moment later, a phone bidder claimed the rare and important piece of colonial silver at $74,750. A similar example of the cup is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The top lot of the auction came as an untouched, original condition painting by William Bradford was offered. Consigned from a Buffalo, N.Y., family, the painting depicted several sailing vessels amid icebergs towering above a land mass. "It's untouched," said Cottone of the painting during preview. "It has the original stretcher and there has been no in-painting or restoration at all."
Measuring 18 by 30 inches, the painting attracted the interest of all of the major dealers, with at least six ready for action on the telephones. Bidding came primarily from two of the phones, with the painting opening below the $60/80,000 estimate at $50,000. Moving in $5,000 advances the whole way, the rare Bradford more than doubled expectations when it sold moments later to a telephone bidder for $166,750.
Another painting in the auction that attracted a great deal of attention had come from the Buechner estate, an oil depicting Diana, the goddess of hunt, perched on a rock with a bow in her hand and a crescent moon on her head. Cataloged as an "original condition" work, the painting by Jules Joseph Lefebvre listed a provenance of Schweitzer Gallery in New York City and was estimated at $20/40,000.
2012年4月8日星期日
Lewy’s will give part of art profits to children’s charity
The scene grabbed hold of him, and he had to paint it.
It’s as simple as that.
And it’s really the foundation of Bryan Federico’s artistic career. Well, technically, it’s a part-time career. His profession and full-time job is as a physical therapist.
This is how Danny Lewy learned of Federico’s artwork. Lewy is owner and operator of Lewy Physical Therapy in both Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. Twice a year, he pushes all equipment aside to transform his Baton Rouge facility into an art gallery.
“We do this once in the fall, and once in the spring,” he said. “We started it two years ago.”
It’s simply called the Lewy Physical Therapy Art Show, and the next one will be Thursday, April 12. Work by 15 artists will be featured, most of which will be for sale.
A portion of the sale proceeds benefits a chosen charity. Previous shows have benefited the Never Quit Never Forget foundation for military veterans. This show will benefit the Dreams Come True foundation for children with life threatening diseases.
The event also will include live and silent auctions.
The story behind the show’s beginning is simple enough. Lewy’s wife Shannon was buying art from an artist who told her he was looking for a place to show his work.
“We thought, ‘Let’s try a show here,’” Lewy said.
The idea proved a success as some $10,000 worth of artwork was sold in the first show. So, Lewy scheduled another.
“And it grew,” he said.
Artists in this show include Carol Arabie, Ted Mayeux, Danni Shobe, Adrianna Speer, Maria Boudreaux, Laurie Williamson, Cindy Rome, Keith “The Cartoonman” Douglas, Daniel Strickland and Jack Joubert, among others.
Federico also will be there, as he has been in every Lewy show. He’ll have 10 paintings in the show, including the New Orleans jazz-themed “Papa John Joseph’s Preservation Hall” he had with him on this particular day.
The painting is large, the character of Papa John Joseph is mesmerizing. This makes it that much more difficult to believe that Federico has never had any type of formal art training.
It’s his passion. He sees a scene, and he has to paint it. It was that way when he was living in Asheville, N.C., and it’s the same now that he’s back home in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and children and works as a physical therapist.
And it was a friend who alerted Lewy about the artwork by this fellow physical therapist. Lewy liked the artwork and invited Federico to be in the show.
Federico had dabbled in art as a kid, but he realized in high school that girls liked athletes better than artists, so he gave up art for baseball. He decided to again try his hand at art after finishing physical therapy school.
“That’s when I was living in Asheville,” he said. “It was an artist’s community, and I wanted to do it. I painted my passion, and I didn’t worry about what other people thought.”
And he’s still not worried.
This could be the same story for Jack Jaubert. He never worried what other people thought about his painting while playing LSU football. It’s something he loved, a passion within him. Jaubert played center for LSU from 1968 to 1971. Bert Jones was one of the quarterbacks for whom he snapped the ball.
And Jaubert is still affiliated with the LSU Athletic Department in his own way, painting the portraits of every LSU football player who has received All America honors. The portraits hang in the athletic department.
The athletic department also has commissioned other paintings, and Jaubert has been hired to paint murals for the New Orleans Police Department and the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. He also was commissioned to create a painting for the Louisiana National Guard which now hangs at Camp Beauregard in Pineville.
Jaubert has been involved in so many projects, too many to mention in one sitting. He works primarily on commission mostly as a portraitist.
He’ll be showing some original works at the Lewy show, but none will be for sale.
“It’ll just be things for people to see,” he said. “People in Baton Rouge are interested in LSU and LSU art. This will be something they like.”
Viewers are sure to like Carol Arabie’s work, too. She brought her painting of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral with her on this day. The painting looks at the cathedral from Chartres Street, gazing back toward the city. It’s an unusual angle; many artists either paint the cathedral from the front or from an angle looking into the French Quarter.
“I was sitting on the balcony at Muriel’s restaurant, and I saw the steeples in the sky,” Arabie said. “I knew I had to paint them.”
Arabie calls herself a “forever student.” She is an artist and instructor who has degrees in English and art education. She earned her art degree after teaching English on the high school level.
“Now I teach art on my own,” Arabie said.
As for her own painting, Arabie likes to explore different genres and techniques.
“I convey my impressions from my various impressions of life,” she said. “For me, it’s more about exploring the different elements of art than it is the subject matter. And I want the viewer to enjoy it.”
This show will mark Arabie’s fourth with Lewy Physical Therapy.
“Each show helps a cause, and I’m excited about this cause,” Arabie said. “This one is special because it helps children.”
And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Helping others while experiencing a passion for art.
It’s as simple as that.
And it’s really the foundation of Bryan Federico’s artistic career. Well, technically, it’s a part-time career. His profession and full-time job is as a physical therapist.
This is how Danny Lewy learned of Federico’s artwork. Lewy is owner and operator of Lewy Physical Therapy in both Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. Twice a year, he pushes all equipment aside to transform his Baton Rouge facility into an art gallery.
“We do this once in the fall, and once in the spring,” he said. “We started it two years ago.”
It’s simply called the Lewy Physical Therapy Art Show, and the next one will be Thursday, April 12. Work by 15 artists will be featured, most of which will be for sale.
A portion of the sale proceeds benefits a chosen charity. Previous shows have benefited the Never Quit Never Forget foundation for military veterans. This show will benefit the Dreams Come True foundation for children with life threatening diseases.
The event also will include live and silent auctions.
The story behind the show’s beginning is simple enough. Lewy’s wife Shannon was buying art from an artist who told her he was looking for a place to show his work.
“We thought, ‘Let’s try a show here,’” Lewy said.
The idea proved a success as some $10,000 worth of artwork was sold in the first show. So, Lewy scheduled another.
“And it grew,” he said.
Artists in this show include Carol Arabie, Ted Mayeux, Danni Shobe, Adrianna Speer, Maria Boudreaux, Laurie Williamson, Cindy Rome, Keith “The Cartoonman” Douglas, Daniel Strickland and Jack Joubert, among others.
Federico also will be there, as he has been in every Lewy show. He’ll have 10 paintings in the show, including the New Orleans jazz-themed “Papa John Joseph’s Preservation Hall” he had with him on this particular day.
The painting is large, the character of Papa John Joseph is mesmerizing. This makes it that much more difficult to believe that Federico has never had any type of formal art training.
It’s his passion. He sees a scene, and he has to paint it. It was that way when he was living in Asheville, N.C., and it’s the same now that he’s back home in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and children and works as a physical therapist.
And it was a friend who alerted Lewy about the artwork by this fellow physical therapist. Lewy liked the artwork and invited Federico to be in the show.
Federico had dabbled in art as a kid, but he realized in high school that girls liked athletes better than artists, so he gave up art for baseball. He decided to again try his hand at art after finishing physical therapy school.
“That’s when I was living in Asheville,” he said. “It was an artist’s community, and I wanted to do it. I painted my passion, and I didn’t worry about what other people thought.”
And he’s still not worried.
This could be the same story for Jack Jaubert. He never worried what other people thought about his painting while playing LSU football. It’s something he loved, a passion within him. Jaubert played center for LSU from 1968 to 1971. Bert Jones was one of the quarterbacks for whom he snapped the ball.
And Jaubert is still affiliated with the LSU Athletic Department in his own way, painting the portraits of every LSU football player who has received All America honors. The portraits hang in the athletic department.
The athletic department also has commissioned other paintings, and Jaubert has been hired to paint murals for the New Orleans Police Department and the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. He also was commissioned to create a painting for the Louisiana National Guard which now hangs at Camp Beauregard in Pineville.
Jaubert has been involved in so many projects, too many to mention in one sitting. He works primarily on commission mostly as a portraitist.
He’ll be showing some original works at the Lewy show, but none will be for sale.
“It’ll just be things for people to see,” he said. “People in Baton Rouge are interested in LSU and LSU art. This will be something they like.”
Viewers are sure to like Carol Arabie’s work, too. She brought her painting of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral with her on this day. The painting looks at the cathedral from Chartres Street, gazing back toward the city. It’s an unusual angle; many artists either paint the cathedral from the front or from an angle looking into the French Quarter.
“I was sitting on the balcony at Muriel’s restaurant, and I saw the steeples in the sky,” Arabie said. “I knew I had to paint them.”
Arabie calls herself a “forever student.” She is an artist and instructor who has degrees in English and art education. She earned her art degree after teaching English on the high school level.
“Now I teach art on my own,” Arabie said.
As for her own painting, Arabie likes to explore different genres and techniques.
“I convey my impressions from my various impressions of life,” she said. “For me, it’s more about exploring the different elements of art than it is the subject matter. And I want the viewer to enjoy it.”
This show will mark Arabie’s fourth with Lewy Physical Therapy.
“Each show helps a cause, and I’m excited about this cause,” Arabie said. “This one is special because it helps children.”
And that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Helping others while experiencing a passion for art.
2012年3月13日星期二
100 Unearthed Lots and Asian Art Headline Clarke Auction's March 18th Auction
The last 100 lots of Clarke Auction’s March 18th sale include a variety of American and International oil paintings, drawings, and prints that the Auction had unearthed from a storage unit, earlier this week, but the discovery of the fine art is not the only conquest of Clarke Auction for the upcoming auction. The day’s auction, starts at 2:00pm, will include a worldly collection of art, furniture, and silver.
Just as Mark Antony adored Cleopatra, so too does Clarke have a fondness for Egyptian beauty, as exemplified in the oil and sand on masonite painting, entitled “Le Menestral,” by Egyptian artist Omar El Nagdi. The work portrays a faceless minstrel, layered atop the textured sand and masonite that recalls the dunes of the Egyptian Sahara. It is an undoubtedly magnificent piece that explores the 1961 modernity of Egyptian artistry and should stir some incredible bidding interest.
Directly across the Mediterranean from Egypt, Italy yields some rare works for the March 18th auction, including two landscapes by Guido Trentini. Trentini, who is most renowned for his portraits “Velia” and “Madonna,” also lent his talents to a few select landscapes. His featured paintings at the auction are the 1929 oil on panel of an Italian farmhouse and the 1927 Vienna landscape. Among other Italian works in the auction, a signed and dated oil on panel of a watermill by Pio Solero also stands out.
Worldly connoisseurs of the ancient world found the exotic and the intriguing in the Far East, and this week’s New York auction scene is not much different. Clarke Auction, along with Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams’ Auction houses, in New York City, embraces Asia Week New York 2012. Clarke’s Asian highlights for the March 18th auction include a signed Chinese ivory carved covered censor and a mixed media work entitled “Autumn Evening” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. The censor is complete with removable top adorned with foo dogs, carved dragon handles, and a wood base. The Kusama is watercolor and spray paint on paper. Other Asian highlights include a Famille Verte export bowl, a bronze Chinese warrior, a pair of carved Chinese hard stone plaques, a jade and brass inkwell, and a pair of Chinese hardwood carved chairs. Along with the Asian works, there is an exceptional highlight from Eurasia in the form of a Russian silver, possibly Faberge, bowl. The signed “plique-a-jour” enameled sugar bowl is estate fresh and intricately designed.
An American addition to the March 18th auction comes from the American Realist, Eugene Speicher. The Buffalo, New York born artist was well known for his affiliations with Hopper, Henri, and Rockwell Kent. Two lots from Speicher are available in the upcoming auction. The two Speicher lots are a 1912 oil on canvas of a spring landscape, as well another beautiful 1912 oil on canvas spring landscape with distant mountains. Both paintings are estate fresh from an Oyster Bay, Long Island location. Other notable American art highlights in the auction include three lots from Alexander Calder. The three lithographs are entitled, “McGovern,” “Seahorse,” and “Butterflies and Spiral,” respectively. Also, a lot of four plaster chess pieces by Tom Otterness will be featured. Finally, from the United States territory of Puerto Rico, expertly painted oil optical entitled “Point” by Paul Camacho is to be auctioned off as well.
Clarke Auction also features several Midcentury Modern furniture lots in the upcoming auction. The Midcentury highlights include some rare and worldly pieces. There is an early Eames lounge chair and ottoman, a Horst Bruning day bed, two Paul McCobb chests, and the rare "Cityscape" desk and "Cityscape" credenza by Paul Evans. The Evans twin pedestal desk is made of burl walnut with seven drawers and mirrored chrome. The "Cityscape" cabinet is also burl walnut and displays matte chrome. Both Evans' pieces came from the same New Rochelle estate and are in prime condition.
The Decorative Art highlights include 3 lots of stunning life-sized signed bronzes, marked "Houdan" and "H. Rouard Fondeur" on the base. All three pieces are of superior quality and condition from an Oyster Bay, Long Island estate. A 17th century tapestry of a lion and his prey is also featured in the sale from the same estate. The most abundant lots from the Decorative Art selection are porcelain. There are over 30 individual porcelain and collection lots that include seven lots by Belleek that make up almost 25 reticulated and polished porcelain items. Also among the porcelain lots, there are several beautiful examples of porcelain art from Meissen and Sevres. Meissen porcelin lots feature a lot of 4 porcelain figures, a pair of unusual candlesticks, a lot of porcelain lamps, a pair of porcelain covered urns with gilt bronze bases, and a porcelain grouping that includes a large Mottahedeh cache pot and stand. The Sevres lots feature a pair of Napoleonic Urns, and a teapot featured in the porcelain grouping previously mentioned.
Silver has always been a global symbol of prestige and wealth, and the featured lots at Clarke reinforce that belief. Highlights in the silver lots include an extremely heavy Tiffany Tray, a fine Mexican tea set, and a Tiffany reticulated silver filigree tazza and bowl. The Mexican tea set includes a Coffee Pot, creamer, open bowl, sugar, and server, weighing approximately 173 troy ounces as a set. Also for sale is an accompanying Mexican silver "Joyerian Reel" jug, weighing approximately 36 troy ounces. The tea set and jug were both consigned from a Park Avenue estate. Additional highlights among the silver lots are a 7 troy ounce sterling cup and saucer by Gustav Klingert, a Tiffany & Co. Chippendale style tray, and several sterling flatware lots.
Just as Mark Antony adored Cleopatra, so too does Clarke have a fondness for Egyptian beauty, as exemplified in the oil and sand on masonite painting, entitled “Le Menestral,” by Egyptian artist Omar El Nagdi. The work portrays a faceless minstrel, layered atop the textured sand and masonite that recalls the dunes of the Egyptian Sahara. It is an undoubtedly magnificent piece that explores the 1961 modernity of Egyptian artistry and should stir some incredible bidding interest.
Directly across the Mediterranean from Egypt, Italy yields some rare works for the March 18th auction, including two landscapes by Guido Trentini. Trentini, who is most renowned for his portraits “Velia” and “Madonna,” also lent his talents to a few select landscapes. His featured paintings at the auction are the 1929 oil on panel of an Italian farmhouse and the 1927 Vienna landscape. Among other Italian works in the auction, a signed and dated oil on panel of a watermill by Pio Solero also stands out.
Worldly connoisseurs of the ancient world found the exotic and the intriguing in the Far East, and this week’s New York auction scene is not much different. Clarke Auction, along with Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams’ Auction houses, in New York City, embraces Asia Week New York 2012. Clarke’s Asian highlights for the March 18th auction include a signed Chinese ivory carved covered censor and a mixed media work entitled “Autumn Evening” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. The censor is complete with removable top adorned with foo dogs, carved dragon handles, and a wood base. The Kusama is watercolor and spray paint on paper. Other Asian highlights include a Famille Verte export bowl, a bronze Chinese warrior, a pair of carved Chinese hard stone plaques, a jade and brass inkwell, and a pair of Chinese hardwood carved chairs. Along with the Asian works, there is an exceptional highlight from Eurasia in the form of a Russian silver, possibly Faberge, bowl. The signed “plique-a-jour” enameled sugar bowl is estate fresh and intricately designed.
An American addition to the March 18th auction comes from the American Realist, Eugene Speicher. The Buffalo, New York born artist was well known for his affiliations with Hopper, Henri, and Rockwell Kent. Two lots from Speicher are available in the upcoming auction. The two Speicher lots are a 1912 oil on canvas of a spring landscape, as well another beautiful 1912 oil on canvas spring landscape with distant mountains. Both paintings are estate fresh from an Oyster Bay, Long Island location. Other notable American art highlights in the auction include three lots from Alexander Calder. The three lithographs are entitled, “McGovern,” “Seahorse,” and “Butterflies and Spiral,” respectively. Also, a lot of four plaster chess pieces by Tom Otterness will be featured. Finally, from the United States territory of Puerto Rico, expertly painted oil optical entitled “Point” by Paul Camacho is to be auctioned off as well.
Clarke Auction also features several Midcentury Modern furniture lots in the upcoming auction. The Midcentury highlights include some rare and worldly pieces. There is an early Eames lounge chair and ottoman, a Horst Bruning day bed, two Paul McCobb chests, and the rare "Cityscape" desk and "Cityscape" credenza by Paul Evans. The Evans twin pedestal desk is made of burl walnut with seven drawers and mirrored chrome. The "Cityscape" cabinet is also burl walnut and displays matte chrome. Both Evans' pieces came from the same New Rochelle estate and are in prime condition.
The Decorative Art highlights include 3 lots of stunning life-sized signed bronzes, marked "Houdan" and "H. Rouard Fondeur" on the base. All three pieces are of superior quality and condition from an Oyster Bay, Long Island estate. A 17th century tapestry of a lion and his prey is also featured in the sale from the same estate. The most abundant lots from the Decorative Art selection are porcelain. There are over 30 individual porcelain and collection lots that include seven lots by Belleek that make up almost 25 reticulated and polished porcelain items. Also among the porcelain lots, there are several beautiful examples of porcelain art from Meissen and Sevres. Meissen porcelin lots feature a lot of 4 porcelain figures, a pair of unusual candlesticks, a lot of porcelain lamps, a pair of porcelain covered urns with gilt bronze bases, and a porcelain grouping that includes a large Mottahedeh cache pot and stand. The Sevres lots feature a pair of Napoleonic Urns, and a teapot featured in the porcelain grouping previously mentioned.
Silver has always been a global symbol of prestige and wealth, and the featured lots at Clarke reinforce that belief. Highlights in the silver lots include an extremely heavy Tiffany Tray, a fine Mexican tea set, and a Tiffany reticulated silver filigree tazza and bowl. The Mexican tea set includes a Coffee Pot, creamer, open bowl, sugar, and server, weighing approximately 173 troy ounces as a set. Also for sale is an accompanying Mexican silver "Joyerian Reel" jug, weighing approximately 36 troy ounces. The tea set and jug were both consigned from a Park Avenue estate. Additional highlights among the silver lots are a 7 troy ounce sterling cup and saucer by Gustav Klingert, a Tiffany & Co. Chippendale style tray, and several sterling flatware lots.
2012年2月16日星期四
A U.S. Flag Over London Art Sales
Global art collectors converged on London during the past two weeks for major auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art. These sales are usually dominated by Europeans, but this time, the biggest players came from the U.S.
Confident American bidders lifted the sales to a combined $713 million, with Christie's $457 million total topping Sotheby's roughly $256 million. Overall, the results easily topped the houses' low estimates of $413 million.
New York real-estate developer Sheldon Solow was among the biggest sellers, getting $33.4 million at Christie's Tuesday for his Francis Bacon painting "Portrait of Henrietta Moraes" as well as $26.6 million at the same house on Feb. 7 for his Joan Mir "Painting-Poem."
During the contemporary-art sales at Christie's and Sotheby's earlier this week, American collectors bid on a majority of the priciest pieces on offer, largely over the telephone. Among their winnings: a $15.5 million "Abstract Painting" by Gerhard Richter, an $8.3 million Nicolas de Stael landscape, "Agrigente," and several squiggly lined abstracts by Cy Twombly. An American also took home Shanghai-based Zhang Huan's $228,304 "Ash Head No. 1" sculpture at Sotheby's on Wednesday.
American collectors feel like they're "farther down the road to economic recovery" than their Continental counterparts, said Christie's specialist Amy Cappellazzo. U.S. buyers also capitalized on the dollar's growing strength over most of the past year against the British pound to exert more purchasing power throughout these sales, she added.
New Jersey art adviser Eddie Mishon said his American clients feel "safe" buying art this season. On Wednesday, he bid on several works at Sotheby's before winning a $624,398 untitled oil-on-paper by Willem de Kooning: "I was working it," Mr. Mishon joked of his willingness to compete.
Throughout these sales, collectors gravitated to artists with global fan bases and easy-to-recognize styles like Richter, the German painter best known for creating wildly colorful abstracts by scraping an oversize squeegee across his canvases. Ten Richters came up for sale during the houses' evening sales this week, and nine sold for a combined $45.2 million. Dealers said the artist is enjoying a profile boost this season, thanks to a retrospective on view in London and Berlin.
Collectors and dealers also flocked to Lucio Fontana, the Italian artist who gained international fame in the 1950s by slashing his monochrome canvases with a knife. Right now, his red versions seem to outsell those slashed in paler colors. Christie's got $3.2 million for Fontana's red "Spatial Concept, Expectations" from 1967. Andy Warhol collector Jose Mugrabi also paid $943,963 for a gray 1962 version by Fontana with the same title.
Elsewhere during the contemporary sales, Asian bidders appeared to be branching out. Not only did they pay $2.8 million and $1.6 million for a pair of paintings by Chinese abstract painter Zao Wou-ki, but an Asian telephone bidder also won Berlinde de Bruyckere's $510,643 sculpture of a life-size, stuffed horse crouching on a table, "K 36 (The Black Horse)," a new price record for the artist at auction. Asians also won a $577,250 Damien Hirst Spot painting and a $416,443 photo of Madrid's Prado Museum by Thomas Struth.
Europeans, for their part, fought hard for a new favorite: Christopher Wool, the Chicago-born post-Conceptual artist whose paintings of stenciled words have long been more coveted in the U.S. At Christie's Tuesday, an untitled painting, with black letters spelling out the word "fool," sold to a European for $7.7 million, a new auction record for the artist.
Confident American bidders lifted the sales to a combined $713 million, with Christie's $457 million total topping Sotheby's roughly $256 million. Overall, the results easily topped the houses' low estimates of $413 million.
New York real-estate developer Sheldon Solow was among the biggest sellers, getting $33.4 million at Christie's Tuesday for his Francis Bacon painting "Portrait of Henrietta Moraes" as well as $26.6 million at the same house on Feb. 7 for his Joan Mir "Painting-Poem."
During the contemporary-art sales at Christie's and Sotheby's earlier this week, American collectors bid on a majority of the priciest pieces on offer, largely over the telephone. Among their winnings: a $15.5 million "Abstract Painting" by Gerhard Richter, an $8.3 million Nicolas de Stael landscape, "Agrigente," and several squiggly lined abstracts by Cy Twombly. An American also took home Shanghai-based Zhang Huan's $228,304 "Ash Head No. 1" sculpture at Sotheby's on Wednesday.
American collectors feel like they're "farther down the road to economic recovery" than their Continental counterparts, said Christie's specialist Amy Cappellazzo. U.S. buyers also capitalized on the dollar's growing strength over most of the past year against the British pound to exert more purchasing power throughout these sales, she added.
New Jersey art adviser Eddie Mishon said his American clients feel "safe" buying art this season. On Wednesday, he bid on several works at Sotheby's before winning a $624,398 untitled oil-on-paper by Willem de Kooning: "I was working it," Mr. Mishon joked of his willingness to compete.
Throughout these sales, collectors gravitated to artists with global fan bases and easy-to-recognize styles like Richter, the German painter best known for creating wildly colorful abstracts by scraping an oversize squeegee across his canvases. Ten Richters came up for sale during the houses' evening sales this week, and nine sold for a combined $45.2 million. Dealers said the artist is enjoying a profile boost this season, thanks to a retrospective on view in London and Berlin.
Collectors and dealers also flocked to Lucio Fontana, the Italian artist who gained international fame in the 1950s by slashing his monochrome canvases with a knife. Right now, his red versions seem to outsell those slashed in paler colors. Christie's got $3.2 million for Fontana's red "Spatial Concept, Expectations" from 1967. Andy Warhol collector Jose Mugrabi also paid $943,963 for a gray 1962 version by Fontana with the same title.
Elsewhere during the contemporary sales, Asian bidders appeared to be branching out. Not only did they pay $2.8 million and $1.6 million for a pair of paintings by Chinese abstract painter Zao Wou-ki, but an Asian telephone bidder also won Berlinde de Bruyckere's $510,643 sculpture of a life-size, stuffed horse crouching on a table, "K 36 (The Black Horse)," a new price record for the artist at auction. Asians also won a $577,250 Damien Hirst Spot painting and a $416,443 photo of Madrid's Prado Museum by Thomas Struth.
Europeans, for their part, fought hard for a new favorite: Christopher Wool, the Chicago-born post-Conceptual artist whose paintings of stenciled words have long been more coveted in the U.S. At Christie's Tuesday, an untitled painting, with black letters spelling out the word "fool," sold to a European for $7.7 million, a new auction record for the artist.
2012年2月13日星期一
Art sale helps a family
Watching art enthusiasts out-do each other with the on-line bidding for Summer Jamieson's latest acrylic painting has been exciting for the Waihopai Valley artist.
The Last Muster, a 1.5 metre-long work, sold for $4550 when the Trade Me auction closed at 8pm on Sunday.
It was Jamieson's contribution to the Walker Family Appeal which started after Brendon Edward Walker, 39, was electrocuted on the farm he managed at Quail Downs near Kaikoura on January 28. He left behind wife Sarah, a 7-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter.
"I hadn't met the family but I read about it in the newspaper and I was gutted for them [after the accident]," Jamieson said last week.
Her sons are a similar age to the Walker children, who had to call emergency services when they found their father dead in a paddock after he was hit by a power line and their mother was seriously burned trying to help him.
Jamieson is also friends with Mrs Walker's best friend Amanda Henderson, who started the appeal.
When Ms Henderson phoned and asked Jamieson to sell a painting that could be auctioned for the appeal, the artist refused.
"But I was happy to paint something specially for her."
Most of her paintings show hunting and wildlife scenes but a musterer seemed a more fitting tribute for Mr Walker, who loved his work in the high-country. "Mustering, that's what Brendon loved to do. Unfortunately, his life was cut short."
The Last Muster is a Jamieson original but she searched the web for ideas before starting it.
Special inspiration came from a Marlborough Express photographer who had followed a late-autumn muster in the Awatere in 2010. In one of the pictures he took, farm hand Sean Dobbs and his dogs became silhouette figures on the crest of a hill against the sky.
After painting her version of the scene, Jamieson learned Mr Dobbs had shifted to a property beside the one Mr Walker managed at Quail Flat and was friends with the Walker family.
"He was stoked the photo was used [for the painting]."
Photographer Ben Curran is pleased, too.
"You can look at the painting and see it's similar to the photograph; but it's a good rendition of it and it's a really nice painting," he said.
Knowing an image he captured through a camera lens had been recreated on canvas to help a family in need also felt good, Curran said.
The Last Muster auction closed on Sunday but the Walker Family Appeal continues until the end of the month.
The Last Muster, a 1.5 metre-long work, sold for $4550 when the Trade Me auction closed at 8pm on Sunday.
It was Jamieson's contribution to the Walker Family Appeal which started after Brendon Edward Walker, 39, was electrocuted on the farm he managed at Quail Downs near Kaikoura on January 28. He left behind wife Sarah, a 7-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter.
"I hadn't met the family but I read about it in the newspaper and I was gutted for them [after the accident]," Jamieson said last week.
Her sons are a similar age to the Walker children, who had to call emergency services when they found their father dead in a paddock after he was hit by a power line and their mother was seriously burned trying to help him.
Jamieson is also friends with Mrs Walker's best friend Amanda Henderson, who started the appeal.
When Ms Henderson phoned and asked Jamieson to sell a painting that could be auctioned for the appeal, the artist refused.
"But I was happy to paint something specially for her."
Most of her paintings show hunting and wildlife scenes but a musterer seemed a more fitting tribute for Mr Walker, who loved his work in the high-country. "Mustering, that's what Brendon loved to do. Unfortunately, his life was cut short."
The Last Muster is a Jamieson original but she searched the web for ideas before starting it.
Special inspiration came from a Marlborough Express photographer who had followed a late-autumn muster in the Awatere in 2010. In one of the pictures he took, farm hand Sean Dobbs and his dogs became silhouette figures on the crest of a hill against the sky.
After painting her version of the scene, Jamieson learned Mr Dobbs had shifted to a property beside the one Mr Walker managed at Quail Flat and was friends with the Walker family.
"He was stoked the photo was used [for the painting]."
Photographer Ben Curran is pleased, too.
"You can look at the painting and see it's similar to the photograph; but it's a good rendition of it and it's a really nice painting," he said.
Knowing an image he captured through a camera lens had been recreated on canvas to help a family in need also felt good, Curran said.
The Last Muster auction closed on Sunday but the Walker Family Appeal continues until the end of the month.
2012年2月8日星期三
A market in need of supervision
The most striking thing about the art market—especially as it has grown from the small, passionate community of the early 1990s to a $50bn industry today—is that it largely functions along self-regulating lines. Prices, authenticity, standards and practices are all arrived at among the art world itself, without much reference or recourse to government—it feels like a libertarian’s dream of a free and unfettered market. But, the recent scandal engulfing the 165-year-old Knoedler Gallery, with the authenticity of works attributed rs including Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock coming under scrutiny to US painte, suggests that more adult supervision is required.
“Over the years, we have hoped that there would be some sort of investigation” into the circulation of allegedly fake works, said Richard Grant, the executive director of the Diebenkorn Foundation in an interview with the New York Times last December. A federal investigation has now been launched into the alleged forgeries, but questions over market regulation have dogged the industry for years. William Cohan, a New York Times writer, published a scathing attack on the trade in August 2010. “The art market is utterly unregulated. There are few rules, other than the basic ones of commerce and ethics. There is no Federal Reserve Board or Securities and Exchange Commission,” he wrote, referring to issues surrounding bronzes cast from rediscovered plaster moulds that were sold as genuine works by Degas.
Cohan’s proposed solution was not to create an agency to govern the art market but to shoehorn the trade under the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, Cohan made no effort to show how the oversight might work.
Indeed, there would be practical problems with art market regulation: works of art are not fungible, and value is impossible to calculate against any independent measure. Moreover, it is not the lack of laws that bedevils the art market but a see-no-evil, ask-no-questions attitude among many in the trade. It is worth bearing in mind that aggressive attributions, fudged provenance and too-good-to-be-true discoveries are nothing new. For more than 25 years, beginning in 1912, the American art historian Bernard Berenson helped the English art dealer Joseph Duveen to sell masterpieces to US plutocrats, famously embellishing attribution on occasion to justify the price.
Since then, however, the market has grown exponentially, which means that there are more people involved. For example, in the recent case brought against Knoedler and its former director Ann Freedman by the London-based collector Pierre Lagrange last December over an allegedly fake $17m Pollock, the number of intermediaries only added to the confusion. At least four individual entities stood between the seller and buyer: the dealers Jaime Frankfurt and Timothy Taylor acted as unwitting agents and liaised with Knoedler gallery and its then director, Freedman, on Lagrange’s behalf. The gallery and Freedman in turn dealt with Long Island art dealer Glafira Rosales, who was herself allegedly representing the mysterious Mexican seller.
While intermediaries are not necessarily a sign of trouble, the chain of people involved in the Lagrange case seems to have created a diffusion of responsibility. The situation is not atypical. “There used to be clear pipelines that art would go into, but now there is a complex matrix,” says David Houston, the director of the curatorial department at the Crystal Bridges Museum. The institution has made no secret of its desire to buy a major Pollock, but is navigating busy waters. “We see a lot more middlemen in the market today than we did ten years ago—people who are part-adviser, part-dealer and part-picker,” he says.
Nevertheless, many in the trade say that Pollock’s massive prices (notably Mural, 1943, which is owned by the University of Iowa Museum of Art and is valued at $140m), and the fact that his output was limited, mean that the whereabouts of his works are relatively well known. Any buyer seriously looking for a work at the highest price level should “know exactly which works are out there, who owns them and whether they’re ready to part with them”, says the art adviser Todd Levin of the Levin Art Group.
Middleman or no, Lagrange’s confidence in the authenticity of the $17m Pollock was no doubt enhanced by Knoedler’s role in the deal. The gallery’s ties to the New York School painters, including the recently deceased Helen Frankenthaler, and its long-established reputation lent authority to its opinions. The gallery’s sudden decision to close on 30 November shocked many in the trade. There is a parallel with the events of the banking crisis in 2008 when long-standing firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed. “This may have warned people that even a solid source like a 165-year-old gallery can go out of business,” says the art dealer Richard Feigen, who opened his first gallery more than 50 years ago, selling works ranging from Old Masters to surrealists and contemporary artists. He recently demonstrated the importance of professional integrity when he stood behind the sale of a putative Max Ernst painting that turned out be one of the 62 acknowledged forgeries produced by the Wolfgang Beltracchi ring in Germany, a scam that was exposed last year . When the fraud was revealed, Feigen immediately reimbursed his client, and was in turn paid back by the seller.
New York bills of sale require a warranty of authenticity for a work of art (though this expires four years from the date of sale and may not be extended), which should be sufficient oversight of the market. Galleries and auction houses with plenty of financial reserves are able to stand behind works they sell, and so are essential in ensuring the viability of the current art market. Without them, the system cannot function—which may be one reason that the auction houses have been able to expand their private sales dramatically through the credit crisis and that brand galleries including Gagosian, Pace, David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth increasingly dominate the commercial scene.
“Over the years, we have hoped that there would be some sort of investigation” into the circulation of allegedly fake works, said Richard Grant, the executive director of the Diebenkorn Foundation in an interview with the New York Times last December. A federal investigation has now been launched into the alleged forgeries, but questions over market regulation have dogged the industry for years. William Cohan, a New York Times writer, published a scathing attack on the trade in August 2010. “The art market is utterly unregulated. There are few rules, other than the basic ones of commerce and ethics. There is no Federal Reserve Board or Securities and Exchange Commission,” he wrote, referring to issues surrounding bronzes cast from rediscovered plaster moulds that were sold as genuine works by Degas.
Cohan’s proposed solution was not to create an agency to govern the art market but to shoehorn the trade under the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, Cohan made no effort to show how the oversight might work.
Indeed, there would be practical problems with art market regulation: works of art are not fungible, and value is impossible to calculate against any independent measure. Moreover, it is not the lack of laws that bedevils the art market but a see-no-evil, ask-no-questions attitude among many in the trade. It is worth bearing in mind that aggressive attributions, fudged provenance and too-good-to-be-true discoveries are nothing new. For more than 25 years, beginning in 1912, the American art historian Bernard Berenson helped the English art dealer Joseph Duveen to sell masterpieces to US plutocrats, famously embellishing attribution on occasion to justify the price.
Since then, however, the market has grown exponentially, which means that there are more people involved. For example, in the recent case brought against Knoedler and its former director Ann Freedman by the London-based collector Pierre Lagrange last December over an allegedly fake $17m Pollock, the number of intermediaries only added to the confusion. At least four individual entities stood between the seller and buyer: the dealers Jaime Frankfurt and Timothy Taylor acted as unwitting agents and liaised with Knoedler gallery and its then director, Freedman, on Lagrange’s behalf. The gallery and Freedman in turn dealt with Long Island art dealer Glafira Rosales, who was herself allegedly representing the mysterious Mexican seller.
While intermediaries are not necessarily a sign of trouble, the chain of people involved in the Lagrange case seems to have created a diffusion of responsibility. The situation is not atypical. “There used to be clear pipelines that art would go into, but now there is a complex matrix,” says David Houston, the director of the curatorial department at the Crystal Bridges Museum. The institution has made no secret of its desire to buy a major Pollock, but is navigating busy waters. “We see a lot more middlemen in the market today than we did ten years ago—people who are part-adviser, part-dealer and part-picker,” he says.
Nevertheless, many in the trade say that Pollock’s massive prices (notably Mural, 1943, which is owned by the University of Iowa Museum of Art and is valued at $140m), and the fact that his output was limited, mean that the whereabouts of his works are relatively well known. Any buyer seriously looking for a work at the highest price level should “know exactly which works are out there, who owns them and whether they’re ready to part with them”, says the art adviser Todd Levin of the Levin Art Group.
Middleman or no, Lagrange’s confidence in the authenticity of the $17m Pollock was no doubt enhanced by Knoedler’s role in the deal. The gallery’s ties to the New York School painters, including the recently deceased Helen Frankenthaler, and its long-established reputation lent authority to its opinions. The gallery’s sudden decision to close on 30 November shocked many in the trade. There is a parallel with the events of the banking crisis in 2008 when long-standing firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed. “This may have warned people that even a solid source like a 165-year-old gallery can go out of business,” says the art dealer Richard Feigen, who opened his first gallery more than 50 years ago, selling works ranging from Old Masters to surrealists and contemporary artists. He recently demonstrated the importance of professional integrity when he stood behind the sale of a putative Max Ernst painting that turned out be one of the 62 acknowledged forgeries produced by the Wolfgang Beltracchi ring in Germany, a scam that was exposed last year . When the fraud was revealed, Feigen immediately reimbursed his client, and was in turn paid back by the seller.
New York bills of sale require a warranty of authenticity for a work of art (though this expires four years from the date of sale and may not be extended), which should be sufficient oversight of the market. Galleries and auction houses with plenty of financial reserves are able to stand behind works they sell, and so are essential in ensuring the viability of the current art market. Without them, the system cannot function—which may be one reason that the auction houses have been able to expand their private sales dramatically through the credit crisis and that brand galleries including Gagosian, Pace, David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth increasingly dominate the commercial scene.
2012年2月1日星期三
Garage Sale Slave or Gallerist?
A building on Art Walk-friendly A Street was filled with antique tables and hand-woven carpets from around the world. But Pastiche: A Gallery of Art, as it was called, had no future. Owners Rick and Joanne Soued opened it temporarily last year with the hope to close it down as soon as possible.
That's because instead of holding garage sales at their home off Highway 66, the Soueds became provisional gallerists in a downtown rental.
They took out a three-month lease on a 1920s cottage and created a pop-up gallery to get, they hoped, the most exposure and the highest price for a $650 antique caned office chair, $22 silk Thai oil paintings and other sentimental objets d'art.
Although most people trying to divest of their home furnishings still turn to makeshift yard sales, poster-pointing garage sales or well-advertised estate sales, homeowners who think they can get more money are becoming short-time retailers. Many turn to the growing number of consignment shops and antique malls to display their goods.
Until November, Bonnie McCormick and Dolly Rapp were buyers, not sellers. But when McCormick's husband, Branson, asked her politely to get a keepsake Toledo wood cook stove out of the dining room, she and her sister Dolly dreamed up the idea of selling it at a place they like to shop: the Ashland Artisan Emporium.
They rented a 6-foot-by-8-foot space for about $80 a month. They filled it with once-loved furnishings, knickknacks and family heirlooms from each of their long-lived-in homes.
Like most of the other stalls at the Ashland Artisan Emporium, the sisters' offerings are eclectic, from new slippers to vintage fruit jars. An unwrinkled 1948 Baby Care Manual, protected inside a plastic sleeve with a homemade price tag marked at $5, rests on top of the Toledo stove, which is tagged at $600.
"We live too far from anyone to have a garage sale," says McCormick. "And this place is fun to browse, especially during the cold winter months and the hot summer months."
The sisters don't have to watch their merchandise; the antique mall's staff considers that part of the service to earn its 15 percent commission. Still, the sisters show up often to restock their booth, decorate for a holiday — they have ceramic chick dishes to unload for Easter — and try to avoid seeing anything in the other 200 booths and wall spaces that they need to buy. "Not bringing anything home is my goal," says McCormick.
Owner Michelle Christian says when she opened the emporium in late 2010 in the Ashland Street Cinemas shopping center, most of the vendors were artists and crafters selling new, handmade work. But then more people wanting to downsize showed up with cars full of stuff, and now the store is half new, half previously owned.
After they closed their experimental gallery on A Street, the Soueds moved remaining pieces — lithographs, fabrics, even an inlaid door from Morocco — to the emporium. They are now long-distance sellers; they sold their house here and moved to Arizona.
"The gallery took a ton of effort to put together and maintain," says Rick Soued. "The Ashland Artisan Emporium is a godsend for people to show and sell some very nice things that would otherwise not be possible if conventional rentals and overhead needed to be paid."
On the other side of the town, Kathy Buffington of Ashland Recycle Furniture also has seen her clientele shift since she bought the store 11 years ago. Consignment sales have more than doubled to represent 95 percent of her inventory, and most of it sells in a month.
"Individuals from all income levels and as far away as 300 miles bring in usable items like an overstuffed Pottery Barn-style chair or a rustic farm dining table," says Buffington. "A lot of people are simplifying, downsizing, moving, and some just want to change it up a bit in their décor. It's always fascinating to see what's coming in the door."
Retailer Ken Silverman, who has owned Nimbus near the Plaza for about 30 years, is trying something new, too: He has hung artwork by pastel master Virgil Sova that was owned by Silverman's late mother on walls in his popular gallery.
Visitors wandering through the expansive shop during the Art Walk this Friday will pass by new contemporary blown glass, Frank Philipps ceramics and tabletop art. Then, in a 400-square-foot section that is as highly curated as the rest of the space, they will see eight pieces of art that once adorned Silverman's mother's home.
"The display is a tribute to her," says Silverman. "She personally knew Virgil Sova and she valued these pieces. At the same time, I'm in charge of her estate and I'm the only one of her four sons with a gallery, so we decided that rather than send them off to an auction in Portland or San Francisco, I could put them up here for a while and see what response we get."
The paintings, signed prints and lithographs will be sold at the price she paid for them over the decades, from $250 to several thousand dollars, and in their original frames. Collectors sometimes prefer to buy art and furnishings as they were displayed in a home, believing it adds to the story and value.
That's because instead of holding garage sales at their home off Highway 66, the Soueds became provisional gallerists in a downtown rental.
They took out a three-month lease on a 1920s cottage and created a pop-up gallery to get, they hoped, the most exposure and the highest price for a $650 antique caned office chair, $22 silk Thai oil paintings and other sentimental objets d'art.
Although most people trying to divest of their home furnishings still turn to makeshift yard sales, poster-pointing garage sales or well-advertised estate sales, homeowners who think they can get more money are becoming short-time retailers. Many turn to the growing number of consignment shops and antique malls to display their goods.
Until November, Bonnie McCormick and Dolly Rapp were buyers, not sellers. But when McCormick's husband, Branson, asked her politely to get a keepsake Toledo wood cook stove out of the dining room, she and her sister Dolly dreamed up the idea of selling it at a place they like to shop: the Ashland Artisan Emporium.
They rented a 6-foot-by-8-foot space for about $80 a month. They filled it with once-loved furnishings, knickknacks and family heirlooms from each of their long-lived-in homes.
Like most of the other stalls at the Ashland Artisan Emporium, the sisters' offerings are eclectic, from new slippers to vintage fruit jars. An unwrinkled 1948 Baby Care Manual, protected inside a plastic sleeve with a homemade price tag marked at $5, rests on top of the Toledo stove, which is tagged at $600.
"We live too far from anyone to have a garage sale," says McCormick. "And this place is fun to browse, especially during the cold winter months and the hot summer months."
The sisters don't have to watch their merchandise; the antique mall's staff considers that part of the service to earn its 15 percent commission. Still, the sisters show up often to restock their booth, decorate for a holiday — they have ceramic chick dishes to unload for Easter — and try to avoid seeing anything in the other 200 booths and wall spaces that they need to buy. "Not bringing anything home is my goal," says McCormick.
Owner Michelle Christian says when she opened the emporium in late 2010 in the Ashland Street Cinemas shopping center, most of the vendors were artists and crafters selling new, handmade work. But then more people wanting to downsize showed up with cars full of stuff, and now the store is half new, half previously owned.
After they closed their experimental gallery on A Street, the Soueds moved remaining pieces — lithographs, fabrics, even an inlaid door from Morocco — to the emporium. They are now long-distance sellers; they sold their house here and moved to Arizona.
"The gallery took a ton of effort to put together and maintain," says Rick Soued. "The Ashland Artisan Emporium is a godsend for people to show and sell some very nice things that would otherwise not be possible if conventional rentals and overhead needed to be paid."
On the other side of the town, Kathy Buffington of Ashland Recycle Furniture also has seen her clientele shift since she bought the store 11 years ago. Consignment sales have more than doubled to represent 95 percent of her inventory, and most of it sells in a month.
"Individuals from all income levels and as far away as 300 miles bring in usable items like an overstuffed Pottery Barn-style chair or a rustic farm dining table," says Buffington. "A lot of people are simplifying, downsizing, moving, and some just want to change it up a bit in their décor. It's always fascinating to see what's coming in the door."
Retailer Ken Silverman, who has owned Nimbus near the Plaza for about 30 years, is trying something new, too: He has hung artwork by pastel master Virgil Sova that was owned by Silverman's late mother on walls in his popular gallery.
Visitors wandering through the expansive shop during the Art Walk this Friday will pass by new contemporary blown glass, Frank Philipps ceramics and tabletop art. Then, in a 400-square-foot section that is as highly curated as the rest of the space, they will see eight pieces of art that once adorned Silverman's mother's home.
"The display is a tribute to her," says Silverman. "She personally knew Virgil Sova and she valued these pieces. At the same time, I'm in charge of her estate and I'm the only one of her four sons with a gallery, so we decided that rather than send them off to an auction in Portland or San Francisco, I could put them up here for a while and see what response we get."
The paintings, signed prints and lithographs will be sold at the price she paid for them over the decades, from $250 to several thousand dollars, and in their original frames. Collectors sometimes prefer to buy art and furnishings as they were displayed in a home, believing it adds to the story and value.
2011年12月29日星期四
Festival offers art and music for a good cause
The third annual Sandscapes festival will be held at Dubai Park next weekend with an art exhibition, workshops and live music among the activities lined up.
The exhibition will feature the work of Russian, Syrian and Asian art students, and funds raised from the sale of paintings will be used to buy art supplies for students with special needs who study at the Mawaheb studio in Dubai's Bastakiya area.
"The idea behind this event is to provide a platform where art and music can come together for amateurs," said Manupriam Seth, a Dubai-based artist who organises the festival together with his wife Harpreet, an architecture professor at Ajman University.
"This is a community event and all the participants are based here. So this is an opportunity for residents to come together, meet each other and paint, draw and sing," said Mr Seth.
Local bands will perform a variety of musical styles, from jazz and rock to Indian classical music, at the festival. The line-up includes a band of students from Emirates International School.
Festival-goers will also be able to buy T-shirts and a fabric-painting kit for Dh30, and take part in a group painting session.
The organisers hope to attract more than 300 art lovers to Sandscapes 2012, which will take place on January 6 from 3pm to 9pm at the Dubai Park in Oud Metha, opposite the Ismaili Centre.
About 150 people took part in the event last year, when it was held at the Emirates Marine Environmental Group reserve at Ghantoot.
"There was complete integration at last year's event so we are really looking forward to this," said Gulshan Kavarana, an art teacher at Mawaheb.
"Last year, there were families with children with special needs and other families as well, and their real focus was on the art. That's what all the people truly cared about."
"It was great for the children because the show is held outdoors and draws different people from all walks of life."
The exhibition will feature the work of Russian, Syrian and Asian art students, and funds raised from the sale of paintings will be used to buy art supplies for students with special needs who study at the Mawaheb studio in Dubai's Bastakiya area.
"The idea behind this event is to provide a platform where art and music can come together for amateurs," said Manupriam Seth, a Dubai-based artist who organises the festival together with his wife Harpreet, an architecture professor at Ajman University.
"This is a community event and all the participants are based here. So this is an opportunity for residents to come together, meet each other and paint, draw and sing," said Mr Seth.
Local bands will perform a variety of musical styles, from jazz and rock to Indian classical music, at the festival. The line-up includes a band of students from Emirates International School.
Festival-goers will also be able to buy T-shirts and a fabric-painting kit for Dh30, and take part in a group painting session.
The organisers hope to attract more than 300 art lovers to Sandscapes 2012, which will take place on January 6 from 3pm to 9pm at the Dubai Park in Oud Metha, opposite the Ismaili Centre.
About 150 people took part in the event last year, when it was held at the Emirates Marine Environmental Group reserve at Ghantoot.
"There was complete integration at last year's event so we are really looking forward to this," said Gulshan Kavarana, an art teacher at Mawaheb.
"Last year, there were families with children with special needs and other families as well, and their real focus was on the art. That's what all the people truly cared about."
"It was great for the children because the show is held outdoors and draws different people from all walks of life."
2011年12月18日星期日
As markets plunge, Asia's wealthy flock to art
Despite giddy Chinese art prices showing some strain from global economic uncertainty, collectors like Lo think values will continue to rise due to limited supply and continued strong demand as Asian collectors become more affluent.
"As East and West get into more of a confluence in taste and in the market place, it will still go up," said Lo, a Cambridge-educated writer and jewellery designer, a slim, elegant woman famously known for wearing mis-matched designer shoes.
She is one of Hong Kong's leading art collectors -- her home is stacked with rare Chinese furniture, stone carvings and paintings, including an inkbrush panorama of the Grand Canyon by Chinese 20th century master Wu Guanzhong.
"These days art investment has entered into the mainstream of investment, especially for younger people. You cannot divorce love of the piece from what lies behind, the value of it."
Hong Kong has played a key role in Asia's art market boom. Its auction market turnover -- anchored by Sotheby's and Christie's -- skyrocketed 300 percent from 2009 to 2010, powered by a wave of Chinese millionaires buying art with avid fervor.
"Hong Kong has became the sales centre of the world," said Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby's Asia, with revenue in the former British colony on par with New York and London.
Despite the art market's vulnerability to shocks, including the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, when unrealistic estimates left scores of unsold lots amid tepid bidding even in the red-hot Chinese ceramics market, Asia's rapid wealth accumulation will likely see more and more money flow into art and alternative investments such as wine.
Asia's wealth management and private banking industry remains a sparkling growth area for many struggling banks, with an estimated 3.3 million high net worth individuals worth more than $1 million, according to Capgemini and Merrill Lynch's latest annual World Wealth report.
With a combined wealth of $10.7 trillion, Asia's wealthy have even eclipsed the $10.2 trillion held by Europe's generational millionaires.
"The exponential growth in the number of emerging market (millionaires) ... is expanding the global market for investments of passion," the report said.
SAFE HAVEN?
While art often comes straddled with hefty commission, storage and insurance costs, it can serve as a fun portfolio diversifier, mixing decent returns with aesthetic pleasure.
Even as the euro zone debt crisis rages and buffets regional stock markets, the Mei Moses Global Art Index, a widely tracked art indicator, showed an 11.8 percent rise in 2011 to November.
"It may not be a good time for sellers but it's an excellent time for buyers. During late 2008 and 2009, I highly advised clients to buy," said Bobby Mohseni, director of MFA Asia, an art consultancy. "With Chinese contemporary art, some prices have gone exceptionally high and that's just over a decade ... so it's best to look at upcoming or mid-tier artists."
While stocks on the S&P 500 have outperformed Western art over the past 25 years, according to Mei Moses data, top Chinese and Asian art is still comparatively cheap compared with Western impressionists or American contemporary art. A Mei Moses index for traditional Chinese art showed a 24 percent jump in the first three quarters this year.
"The confidence in the Chinese contemporary art market remains high despite art market confidence dropping sharply in the U.S. and European contemporary market," Anders Petterson, head of art research consultancy ArtTactic, told Reuters.
Even for those with less purchasing muscle, experts say bargains can still be had in less spotlighted categories, including modern Filipino and Indonesian painters, as well as photography, and Chinese snuff bottles, to name a few.
"Collect what other people aren't collecting," said Tony Miller, a former top Hong Kong government official and long-standing collector of scholars' objects and Chinese art. "If you can't afford Qi Baishi paintings and they're going at HK$2 million a throw, well, go for prints."
Qi is one of the masters of inkbrush paintings and his pieces sell for millions of dollars.
Owners of Hong Kong's art galleries, many of them crammed along the winding Hollywood Road in the Central district, say timing is the key.
"If you get good works of art, then without any question it is (a safe haven) but it doesn't have the liquidity. That's the difficulty," said Sundaram Tagore, whose galleries in Hong Kong and the United States feature a stable of culture-bridging artists.
"If you're trying to sell at the wrong time it becomes part of the distressed market but if you're selling at the right time then you could make 100 times more, maybe more than property or any bonds can provide you."
The search by Asian investors for alternative assets has extended beyond art into wine, gems, watches, postage stamps and other memorabilia -- the rarer and more exclusive, the better.
With about two-thirds of the world's stamp collectors in Asia, the stamps and collectibles market has surged, says Geoff Anandappa of stamp and memorabilia retailer Stanley Gibbons.
Hong Kong-based InterAsia Auctions -- which specialises in Asian stamps -- broke world records for Chinese stamps in September, raking in $12.6 million over four days. A 1941 Dr Sun Yat-Sen inverted centre stamp fetched $221,000, up 66 percent from a similar sale a year ago.
Chinese and Asian buyers have cornered the fine wine market, with a Hong Kong Acker Merrall & Condit wine auction in December bringing in $9 million, including a single superlot of 55 Romanee Conti vintages that fetched a record-breaking $813,000.
Similarly, Asian buying is behind the boom for diamonds and gems. China is on course to become the world's top diamond buyer and retailers in Hong Kong report a rise in the number of men coming to buy loose diamonds for investments.
A Hong Kong jewellery retailer recently raised $2 billion in one of the city's biggest initial public offerings this year to fund expansion in the region.
"It's not the old days of 'safe as houses', put your money in the bank and that will sort you out," said Jon Reade of the Art Futures Group, a Hong Kong-based art investment firm.
"Those are the days probably of my parents' generation ... people are getting more creative with their money."
"As East and West get into more of a confluence in taste and in the market place, it will still go up," said Lo, a Cambridge-educated writer and jewellery designer, a slim, elegant woman famously known for wearing mis-matched designer shoes.
She is one of Hong Kong's leading art collectors -- her home is stacked with rare Chinese furniture, stone carvings and paintings, including an inkbrush panorama of the Grand Canyon by Chinese 20th century master Wu Guanzhong.
"These days art investment has entered into the mainstream of investment, especially for younger people. You cannot divorce love of the piece from what lies behind, the value of it."
Hong Kong has played a key role in Asia's art market boom. Its auction market turnover -- anchored by Sotheby's and Christie's -- skyrocketed 300 percent from 2009 to 2010, powered by a wave of Chinese millionaires buying art with avid fervor.
"Hong Kong has became the sales centre of the world," said Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby's Asia, with revenue in the former British colony on par with New York and London.
Despite the art market's vulnerability to shocks, including the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, when unrealistic estimates left scores of unsold lots amid tepid bidding even in the red-hot Chinese ceramics market, Asia's rapid wealth accumulation will likely see more and more money flow into art and alternative investments such as wine.
Asia's wealth management and private banking industry remains a sparkling growth area for many struggling banks, with an estimated 3.3 million high net worth individuals worth more than $1 million, according to Capgemini and Merrill Lynch's latest annual World Wealth report.
With a combined wealth of $10.7 trillion, Asia's wealthy have even eclipsed the $10.2 trillion held by Europe's generational millionaires.
"The exponential growth in the number of emerging market (millionaires) ... is expanding the global market for investments of passion," the report said.
SAFE HAVEN?
While art often comes straddled with hefty commission, storage and insurance costs, it can serve as a fun portfolio diversifier, mixing decent returns with aesthetic pleasure.
Even as the euro zone debt crisis rages and buffets regional stock markets, the Mei Moses Global Art Index, a widely tracked art indicator, showed an 11.8 percent rise in 2011 to November.
"It may not be a good time for sellers but it's an excellent time for buyers. During late 2008 and 2009, I highly advised clients to buy," said Bobby Mohseni, director of MFA Asia, an art consultancy. "With Chinese contemporary art, some prices have gone exceptionally high and that's just over a decade ... so it's best to look at upcoming or mid-tier artists."
While stocks on the S&P 500 have outperformed Western art over the past 25 years, according to Mei Moses data, top Chinese and Asian art is still comparatively cheap compared with Western impressionists or American contemporary art. A Mei Moses index for traditional Chinese art showed a 24 percent jump in the first three quarters this year.
"The confidence in the Chinese contemporary art market remains high despite art market confidence dropping sharply in the U.S. and European contemporary market," Anders Petterson, head of art research consultancy ArtTactic, told Reuters.
Even for those with less purchasing muscle, experts say bargains can still be had in less spotlighted categories, including modern Filipino and Indonesian painters, as well as photography, and Chinese snuff bottles, to name a few.
"Collect what other people aren't collecting," said Tony Miller, a former top Hong Kong government official and long-standing collector of scholars' objects and Chinese art. "If you can't afford Qi Baishi paintings and they're going at HK$2 million a throw, well, go for prints."
Qi is one of the masters of inkbrush paintings and his pieces sell for millions of dollars.
Owners of Hong Kong's art galleries, many of them crammed along the winding Hollywood Road in the Central district, say timing is the key.
"If you get good works of art, then without any question it is (a safe haven) but it doesn't have the liquidity. That's the difficulty," said Sundaram Tagore, whose galleries in Hong Kong and the United States feature a stable of culture-bridging artists.
"If you're trying to sell at the wrong time it becomes part of the distressed market but if you're selling at the right time then you could make 100 times more, maybe more than property or any bonds can provide you."
The search by Asian investors for alternative assets has extended beyond art into wine, gems, watches, postage stamps and other memorabilia -- the rarer and more exclusive, the better.
With about two-thirds of the world's stamp collectors in Asia, the stamps and collectibles market has surged, says Geoff Anandappa of stamp and memorabilia retailer Stanley Gibbons.
Hong Kong-based InterAsia Auctions -- which specialises in Asian stamps -- broke world records for Chinese stamps in September, raking in $12.6 million over four days. A 1941 Dr Sun Yat-Sen inverted centre stamp fetched $221,000, up 66 percent from a similar sale a year ago.
Chinese and Asian buyers have cornered the fine wine market, with a Hong Kong Acker Merrall & Condit wine auction in December bringing in $9 million, including a single superlot of 55 Romanee Conti vintages that fetched a record-breaking $813,000.
Similarly, Asian buying is behind the boom for diamonds and gems. China is on course to become the world's top diamond buyer and retailers in Hong Kong report a rise in the number of men coming to buy loose diamonds for investments.
A Hong Kong jewellery retailer recently raised $2 billion in one of the city's biggest initial public offerings this year to fund expansion in the region.
"It's not the old days of 'safe as houses', put your money in the bank and that will sort you out," said Jon Reade of the Art Futures Group, a Hong Kong-based art investment firm.
"Those are the days probably of my parents' generation ... people are getting more creative with their money."
2011年11月27日星期日
Holly Day House Art Show features hand-crafted works
The Artists of Picacho Hills on Saturday hosted its annual Holly Day House Art Show, which featured a variety of original fine artwork created by residents of the Picacho Hills area.
The juried art show offered unique gifts, including jewelry, paintings, photography, textiles, basketry, glass and woodworking, created by nearly 25 artists from The Artists of Picacho Hills.
The 2nd annual Holly Day House Art Show continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at 1340 Picacho Hills Drive in Las Cruces, by Ump 88 Irish Grill.
Instead of enduring long lines and crowds of post-Thanksgiving shoppers, visitors to Saturday's show enjoyed refreshments and door prizes, while perusing unique, handcrafted works of art from the spacious venue in Picacho Hills, said Wanda Sparks, past president of the Artists of Picacho Hills, who also creates ornate and colorful gourd Christmas ornaments.
During the group's final show of the year, Sparks said more than 200 shoppers on Saturday were in search of holiday decorations, Christmas presents for loved ones, and even gifts for themselves.
"Several couples have come in and said to the person they were with, 'You know, this would make a really wonderful gift for me,'" Sparks said with a smile.
One of the newest art associations in Las Cruces, The Artists of Picacho Hills was founded in 2008 and has since blossomed into a group of more than 30 artists, including painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, photographers, woodworkers, potters, textile and multimedia artists, according to the group's website. Artists of Picacho Hills is open to all residents who create original artwork and live in Picacho Hills.
The Artists of Picacho Hills also annually hosts the popular Art in the Garden show in September, which typically attracts about 600 visitors, and For the Love of Art in February, Sparks said.
Choosing a new, more spacious venue for this year's Holly Day House Art Show, Sparks said, "No matter how many shoppers we've had at once, it's never felt crowded and the artists have had a lot of space to really showcase their art."
"It's been busy all day," said Jeanne DeArment, who organized the event, of the turnout during first day of the annual show. "It's nice to see people doing their shopping locally and supporting local artists, rather than purchasing a TV made in China. I can guarantee, what they've found here will last a whole lot longer, too."
Using various computer techniques to turn photographs into interesting works of art, Picacho Hills artist Steve Bailey said his pieces were selling fast during Saturday's show.
"I've been doing really well," Bailey said. "I've sold several of my bigger pieces and my cards are about to sell out."
Having participated in several previous Artists of Picacho Hills shows, Bailey said many who purchased works of his Saturday were repeat customers.
"Most of the people who purchase larger pieces of art are shopping for their own homes because it's just so personal," he explained. "Repeat customers also want to make sure that the piece they're thinking of purchasing will complement those already hanging in their homes."
He continued, "I'll definitely be coming back next year."
Watercolorist Marie Siegrist, who has been painting for most of her adult life, said the first day of the weekend-long show was a success.
"It's been very nice," she said. "I've already sold a painting and have interest in another."
The first time showcasing her paintings, which also feature acrylic and gouache pieces, at the Holly Day House event, Siegrist said of the art show, "It's been a great opportunity to get to know other artists and to connect with people in the community who are interested in our art."
"The more exposure the better," added Alice Terry, an oil painter. "Because of this show, I have potential for even more sales."
After taking a class in basket weaving about four years ago, artist Lonnie Wilson was hooked on the craft.
"It's such a fun project, and I've been getting a lot of good feedback here," she said. "This show has such a nice feeling since it's at the beginning of the holiday season and I think it's really coming into its own this year."
Oil painter Rosemary McKeown agreed, stating, "The response has been very positive and people have been impressed with how nice the art is."
She continued, "Because the show is juried by a third party, you know you're going to find some really nice works of art. And the facility this year is much bigger, allowing for the art to be displayed really nicely."
Gregg Tracy, who uses mesquite wood and turquoise to hand craft boxes, cutting boards and trays, as well as larger furniture pieces, said, "It's nice to have this large space this year."
He added, "The variety of art is what makes this show so nice. The group always looks for different mediums and different types of art to feature."
Judi Miller, who creates knitted shawls, said she draws inspiration from nature to come up with new designs. Her colorful pieces feature lace-like patterns that incorporate swans, turtles, lilacs, and other natural elements.
"Coming up with new patterns is always very exciting," Miller said.
Her first time showcasing her work at the Holly Day House Art Show, Miller said shoppers "seem to really enjoying looking" at her collection of shawls.
The juried art show offered unique gifts, including jewelry, paintings, photography, textiles, basketry, glass and woodworking, created by nearly 25 artists from The Artists of Picacho Hills.
The 2nd annual Holly Day House Art Show continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at 1340 Picacho Hills Drive in Las Cruces, by Ump 88 Irish Grill.
Instead of enduring long lines and crowds of post-Thanksgiving shoppers, visitors to Saturday's show enjoyed refreshments and door prizes, while perusing unique, handcrafted works of art from the spacious venue in Picacho Hills, said Wanda Sparks, past president of the Artists of Picacho Hills, who also creates ornate and colorful gourd Christmas ornaments.
During the group's final show of the year, Sparks said more than 200 shoppers on Saturday were in search of holiday decorations, Christmas presents for loved ones, and even gifts for themselves.
"Several couples have come in and said to the person they were with, 'You know, this would make a really wonderful gift for me,'" Sparks said with a smile.
One of the newest art associations in Las Cruces, The Artists of Picacho Hills was founded in 2008 and has since blossomed into a group of more than 30 artists, including painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, photographers, woodworkers, potters, textile and multimedia artists, according to the group's website. Artists of Picacho Hills is open to all residents who create original artwork and live in Picacho Hills.
The Artists of Picacho Hills also annually hosts the popular Art in the Garden show in September, which typically attracts about 600 visitors, and For the Love of Art in February, Sparks said.
Choosing a new, more spacious venue for this year's Holly Day House Art Show, Sparks said, "No matter how many shoppers we've had at once, it's never felt crowded and the artists have had a lot of space to really showcase their art."
"It's been busy all day," said Jeanne DeArment, who organized the event, of the turnout during first day of the annual show. "It's nice to see people doing their shopping locally and supporting local artists, rather than purchasing a TV made in China. I can guarantee, what they've found here will last a whole lot longer, too."
Using various computer techniques to turn photographs into interesting works of art, Picacho Hills artist Steve Bailey said his pieces were selling fast during Saturday's show.
"I've been doing really well," Bailey said. "I've sold several of my bigger pieces and my cards are about to sell out."
Having participated in several previous Artists of Picacho Hills shows, Bailey said many who purchased works of his Saturday were repeat customers.
"Most of the people who purchase larger pieces of art are shopping for their own homes because it's just so personal," he explained. "Repeat customers also want to make sure that the piece they're thinking of purchasing will complement those already hanging in their homes."
He continued, "I'll definitely be coming back next year."
Watercolorist Marie Siegrist, who has been painting for most of her adult life, said the first day of the weekend-long show was a success.
"It's been very nice," she said. "I've already sold a painting and have interest in another."
The first time showcasing her paintings, which also feature acrylic and gouache pieces, at the Holly Day House event, Siegrist said of the art show, "It's been a great opportunity to get to know other artists and to connect with people in the community who are interested in our art."
"The more exposure the better," added Alice Terry, an oil painter. "Because of this show, I have potential for even more sales."
After taking a class in basket weaving about four years ago, artist Lonnie Wilson was hooked on the craft.
"It's such a fun project, and I've been getting a lot of good feedback here," she said. "This show has such a nice feeling since it's at the beginning of the holiday season and I think it's really coming into its own this year."
Oil painter Rosemary McKeown agreed, stating, "The response has been very positive and people have been impressed with how nice the art is."
She continued, "Because the show is juried by a third party, you know you're going to find some really nice works of art. And the facility this year is much bigger, allowing for the art to be displayed really nicely."
Gregg Tracy, who uses mesquite wood and turquoise to hand craft boxes, cutting boards and trays, as well as larger furniture pieces, said, "It's nice to have this large space this year."
He added, "The variety of art is what makes this show so nice. The group always looks for different mediums and different types of art to feature."
Judi Miller, who creates knitted shawls, said she draws inspiration from nature to come up with new designs. Her colorful pieces feature lace-like patterns that incorporate swans, turtles, lilacs, and other natural elements.
"Coming up with new patterns is always very exciting," Miller said.
Her first time showcasing her work at the Holly Day House Art Show, Miller said shoppers "seem to really enjoying looking" at her collection of shawls.
2011年11月21日星期一
Suburban showing
You could call it a brush stroke of genius.
Or maybe they just have a bead on a hot new trend, but a group of local artists is turning to trunk shows and pop-up galleries as a means of reaching people who might otherwise never see their work.
From pottery to paintings, glass beads to leatherwork and clothing, the six women will set up shop in a Maple Ridge home for three days this weekend and invite the public to pop in and have a look at their art, during Bohemia in the Burbs.
Everything will be for sale — most of the pieces at prices that won’t give visitors sticker shock, said Elaine Brewer-White, a Walnut Grove sculptor who is co-organizing the event, along with Fort Langley painter Judy Nygren.
“We’re trying to invent a new market in a depressed economy,” explained Brewer-White, who modeled the idea on a similar effort by one of her friends in Chicago.
The title, Bohemia in the Burbs, reflects the fact that all the artists involved live outside Vancouver, she said.
This way, neither the artists nor their audience need to drive into the city to connect.
An alternative to cheap mass-produced wall hangings, dishes, clothing and accessories, the show is an opportunity to buy “one of a kind, beautiful, handmade things, instead of things made in China,” said Brewer-White.
“It’s so discouraging; how do you compete,” she asked, standing inside her home studio, surrounded by dozens of the whimsical ceramic figurines that have been her bread and butter for the past 30 years.
On a table behind her is a growing stack of brightly coloured dishes, bowls and mugs — no two exactly the same. She is stockpiling pieces for the trunk show, which will emphasize the practical as well as the pretty.
“This is the first time I’ve done anything utilitarian since art school — luckily, I still remember how,” she laughed.
As she talks, the artist pulls a block of clay from a clear plastic bag and, using a wire, slices a small chunk off the top.
Rolling it into a flat sheet, she carves out a rectangle, using a piece of cardboard and a practised eye to guide the knife. After pressing a pattern into the surface, she rolls it into a small tube and fixes a circle of clay to one end.
The finished product will be another of her kindness cups — small, colourful vessels, each bearing an inspiring word — which will sell for about $15.
At the other end of the scale, will be Fort Langley artist Sue Northcott’s handbags, stitched out of leather and other materials recovered from garments that have been sifted from “thrift stores and rag shops.” Those will likely run in the mid-$200 range, said Brewer-White.
Artist Billie Jo Thomson’s paintings will be among the items for sale, seamstress Loraie Tylor, with her passion for fabric and flow, is creating “wearable art” for the show, while glass bead maker Chris Clarke is creating original art that visitors can carry home in their pockets.
Nygren, having just returned to her artwork from a three-year hiatus, will display her small oil paintings.
Or maybe they just have a bead on a hot new trend, but a group of local artists is turning to trunk shows and pop-up galleries as a means of reaching people who might otherwise never see their work.
From pottery to paintings, glass beads to leatherwork and clothing, the six women will set up shop in a Maple Ridge home for three days this weekend and invite the public to pop in and have a look at their art, during Bohemia in the Burbs.
Everything will be for sale — most of the pieces at prices that won’t give visitors sticker shock, said Elaine Brewer-White, a Walnut Grove sculptor who is co-organizing the event, along with Fort Langley painter Judy Nygren.
“We’re trying to invent a new market in a depressed economy,” explained Brewer-White, who modeled the idea on a similar effort by one of her friends in Chicago.
The title, Bohemia in the Burbs, reflects the fact that all the artists involved live outside Vancouver, she said.
This way, neither the artists nor their audience need to drive into the city to connect.
An alternative to cheap mass-produced wall hangings, dishes, clothing and accessories, the show is an opportunity to buy “one of a kind, beautiful, handmade things, instead of things made in China,” said Brewer-White.
“It’s so discouraging; how do you compete,” she asked, standing inside her home studio, surrounded by dozens of the whimsical ceramic figurines that have been her bread and butter for the past 30 years.
On a table behind her is a growing stack of brightly coloured dishes, bowls and mugs — no two exactly the same. She is stockpiling pieces for the trunk show, which will emphasize the practical as well as the pretty.
“This is the first time I’ve done anything utilitarian since art school — luckily, I still remember how,” she laughed.
As she talks, the artist pulls a block of clay from a clear plastic bag and, using a wire, slices a small chunk off the top.
Rolling it into a flat sheet, she carves out a rectangle, using a piece of cardboard and a practised eye to guide the knife. After pressing a pattern into the surface, she rolls it into a small tube and fixes a circle of clay to one end.
The finished product will be another of her kindness cups — small, colourful vessels, each bearing an inspiring word — which will sell for about $15.
At the other end of the scale, will be Fort Langley artist Sue Northcott’s handbags, stitched out of leather and other materials recovered from garments that have been sifted from “thrift stores and rag shops.” Those will likely run in the mid-$200 range, said Brewer-White.
Artist Billie Jo Thomson’s paintings will be among the items for sale, seamstress Loraie Tylor, with her passion for fabric and flow, is creating “wearable art” for the show, while glass bead maker Chris Clarke is creating original art that visitors can carry home in their pockets.
Nygren, having just returned to her artwork from a three-year hiatus, will display her small oil paintings.
2011年11月1日星期二
Child artist Kieron Williamson to hold new exhibition
The oil, watercolour and pastel originals are expected to fetch between £1,000 and £15,500 each.
He has already earned enough from art to buy a house on the Norfolk Broads.
The latest paintings include scenes from Kieron's home county and abroad.
Kieron's last exhibition at the Norfolk gallery in 2010 caused a stir across the art world, with his collection of works selling out in 30 minutes.
Fans camped outside the gallery days before the sale, with people from as far away as Arizona in the US snapping up his paintings.
His last exhibition was at the Delamore Arts Festival in Devon in May, where his works sold out before the event began.
"It's lovely to see a nine-year-old boy keeping traditional landscape painting alive," said Kieron's mother, Michelle.
"The new paintings reflect Kieron's continuing passion for capturing Norfolk landscapes, as well as dipping his toes into foreign waters.
"We see massive progress in Kieron's work every three months or so and so you can't help but celebrate and share this progress with family, friends and the public."
While giving some of his earnings to charity, Kieron's parents have so far invested much of his fortune in property.
He bought his first house in Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, where the famous watercolour and oil-based artist Edward Seago once lived, in March.
Plans are still in place for the family to move to Cornwall in the near future, hoping it will further develop the young artist's talent.
Mrs Williamson also confirmed a retrospective exhibition and sale has been organised at Picturecraft Gallery for next year's Holt Festival, to coincide with Kieron's 10th birthday.
He has already earned enough from art to buy a house on the Norfolk Broads.
The latest paintings include scenes from Kieron's home county and abroad.
Kieron's last exhibition at the Norfolk gallery in 2010 caused a stir across the art world, with his collection of works selling out in 30 minutes.
Fans camped outside the gallery days before the sale, with people from as far away as Arizona in the US snapping up his paintings.
His last exhibition was at the Delamore Arts Festival in Devon in May, where his works sold out before the event began.
"It's lovely to see a nine-year-old boy keeping traditional landscape painting alive," said Kieron's mother, Michelle.
"The new paintings reflect Kieron's continuing passion for capturing Norfolk landscapes, as well as dipping his toes into foreign waters.
"We see massive progress in Kieron's work every three months or so and so you can't help but celebrate and share this progress with family, friends and the public."
While giving some of his earnings to charity, Kieron's parents have so far invested much of his fortune in property.
He bought his first house in Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, where the famous watercolour and oil-based artist Edward Seago once lived, in March.
Plans are still in place for the family to move to Cornwall in the near future, hoping it will further develop the young artist's talent.
Mrs Williamson also confirmed a retrospective exhibition and sale has been organised at Picturecraft Gallery for next year's Holt Festival, to coincide with Kieron's 10th birthday.
2011年10月30日星期日
Graffiti artist makes an impression at Swaffham Visual Arts Festival
The Swaffham Visual Arts Festival, organised by the Swaffham Rotary Club, finished today with a demonstration by Mik Richardson, 48, from Aylsham, who started his business Abacus Art five years ago.
He gave a demonstration at the town’s Assembly Rooms, alongside dozens of pieces of fine art, handmade jewellery and pots, which were for sale.
Mr Richardson, who used to be an avionics non-commisioned officer at RAF Coltishall, said: “I felt elated. It was lovely to be invited to do something quite modern. It really was nice that graffiti art was recognised. The response has been absolutely fabulous.
“Opening up people’s eyes to controversy is not bad. The word graffiti makes people think of vandalism but I’m trying to get across that there is a better element to spray art.”
This was the first time he had spoken to people about his art in a formal galley setting but said he enjoyed the experience.
He currently works with the police, Norfolk County Council, Norwich schools and the development agency Creative Arts East, based in Norwich.
“I try to bring a bit of life and colour to dark areas,” Mr Richardson added.
As well as graffiti art he also competes murals and painted two of the elephants which featured in Norwich’s Go Elephant project in 2008, where decorated elephant sculptures were placed in different parts of the city.
Stephen Ward, chairman of Swaffham Rotary Club, said: “What we would like to do is produce something which is fresh and new so it is not just about watercolours and oil paintings, it is about art in general.”
The visual arts festival started on October 7 and has featured a foreign film, a talk by Holme Hale artist Chris Hollick and an exhibition of contemporary architecture in Breckland.
This was the 16th year the rotary club has put on an art exhibition and last year it changed its name to the visual arts festival. That event raised £5,500 which was donated to charity.
Hundreds of people have attended this year’s festival, according to Swaffham Rotary Club member Denis Bishop, who added: “Its been really well received. We have never had anything like graffiti art before.”
He gave a demonstration at the town’s Assembly Rooms, alongside dozens of pieces of fine art, handmade jewellery and pots, which were for sale.
Mr Richardson, who used to be an avionics non-commisioned officer at RAF Coltishall, said: “I felt elated. It was lovely to be invited to do something quite modern. It really was nice that graffiti art was recognised. The response has been absolutely fabulous.
“Opening up people’s eyes to controversy is not bad. The word graffiti makes people think of vandalism but I’m trying to get across that there is a better element to spray art.”
This was the first time he had spoken to people about his art in a formal galley setting but said he enjoyed the experience.
He currently works with the police, Norfolk County Council, Norwich schools and the development agency Creative Arts East, based in Norwich.
“I try to bring a bit of life and colour to dark areas,” Mr Richardson added.
As well as graffiti art he also competes murals and painted two of the elephants which featured in Norwich’s Go Elephant project in 2008, where decorated elephant sculptures were placed in different parts of the city.
Stephen Ward, chairman of Swaffham Rotary Club, said: “What we would like to do is produce something which is fresh and new so it is not just about watercolours and oil paintings, it is about art in general.”
The visual arts festival started on October 7 and has featured a foreign film, a talk by Holme Hale artist Chris Hollick and an exhibition of contemporary architecture in Breckland.
This was the 16th year the rotary club has put on an art exhibition and last year it changed its name to the visual arts festival. That event raised £5,500 which was donated to charity.
Hundreds of people have attended this year’s festival, according to Swaffham Rotary Club member Denis Bishop, who added: “Its been really well received. We have never had anything like graffiti art before.”
2011年4月19日星期二
Art Show & Sale to Feature Works by F.C. Artists
The City of Falls Church Recreation and Parks Division will present its annual art show and sale April 29-30, featuring original artwork by art students, City residents and employees.
The opening reception for this free event will be held at the Falls Church Community Center, 223 Little Falls St., on Friday, April 29 from 5 - 7 p.m. On Saturday, April 30, beginning at noon, a verbal critique will be provided of the winning pieces, followed at 1 p.m. by a ceremony honoring longtime watercolor instructor Carolyn Gawarecki. The art show and sale will be open to the public on Saturday from noon - 4 p.m. Entrance is free.
City residents of all ages and employees are invited to submit original artwork to the show (limit three submissions per person). Photography, paintings (watercolor, oil, or acrylic), and drawings (pencil or pastel) of any size will be accepted.
Submissions can be framed or unframed. All artwork may be submitted to the Community Center beginning Monday, April 25 and no later than noon on Friday, April 29. Artists must include their name, phone number, and selling price (if interested in selling the artwork) on the back of each entry. Submissions from children K-12 must also include their grade and age.
The opening reception for this free event will be held at the Falls Church Community Center, 223 Little Falls St., on Friday, April 29 from 5 - 7 p.m. On Saturday, April 30, beginning at noon, a verbal critique will be provided of the winning pieces, followed at 1 p.m. by a ceremony honoring longtime watercolor instructor Carolyn Gawarecki. The art show and sale will be open to the public on Saturday from noon - 4 p.m. Entrance is free.
City residents of all ages and employees are invited to submit original artwork to the show (limit three submissions per person). Photography, paintings (watercolor, oil, or acrylic), and drawings (pencil or pastel) of any size will be accepted.
Submissions can be framed or unframed. All artwork may be submitted to the Community Center beginning Monday, April 25 and no later than noon on Friday, April 29. Artists must include their name, phone number, and selling price (if interested in selling the artwork) on the back of each entry. Submissions from children K-12 must also include their grade and age.
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