ARTfeast Success
Santa Fe’s ARTfeast event in February raised nearly $78,000 for ARTsmart, the Santa Fe Gallery Association’s nonprofit organization that supports art in local public schools. Including this year’s donation, more than $375,000 has been raised to date. A highlight of the ninth annual event was the Friday-night Edible Art Tour, in which 30 galleries teamed up with restaurants to create inventive displays of art and food such as McLarry Fine Art’s “Spaghetti Western” theme, “Starry Starry Night” at Ventana Fine Art, and Nuart Gallery’s Spanish tapas and flamenco dancers. Nearly 1,700 art enthusiasts strolled through the galleries that evening, and 170 people attended the Saturday-night International Dinner at El Centro. The 10th annual event is scheduled for February 22-25, 2007.
Out & About
The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM, has named Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet (Navajo) as its new president. She was previously the first woman president of Diné College in the Navajo Nation community of Tsaile, AZ…. Wildlife artist John Seerey-Lester has been commissioned by Quail Unlimited to create a series of paintings to be used as limited-edition prints to benefit the organization’s Flight to the Future Conservation Fund…. William A. Schneider has recently been awarded signature membership in the Missouri-based National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society.
Altermann Auction Exceeds $1 Million
Total sales from Santa Fe-based Altermann Galleries’ March auction at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Phoenix, AZ, rang up to nearly $1.2 million with 84 artworks sold. The top lot was Howard Terpning’s 28-by-22-inch oil painting a show of defiance, which fetched $140,000. Other top sellers were John Moyers’ el mariachi, which earned $64,400; southern arizona longhorn by Ed Mell at $60,950; new mexico chile by William Acheff at $58,650; and Jim Norton’s a time for diplomacy and Frank McCarthy’s the outriders, both at $42,550.
Okuma Wins Top Award
California-based artist Jamie Okuma (Shoshone-Bannock/Luiseño) earned the Best of Show award at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, AZ, in March. Her Plains Indian-style doll jake also received Best of Classification and Best of Division honors in the Diverse Art Forms and Dolls categories, respectively. Other Best of Classification awards went to Edison Cummings (Navajo), Russell Sanchez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Peterson Yazzie (Navajo), Aaron J. Fredericks (Hopi), Oreland C. Joe (Ute/Navajo), D.Y. Begay (Navajo), and Eliasica P. Timmerman (Haida).
Small Works Sale
Settlers West Galleries’ American Miniatures show, held in Tucson, AZ, in February, earned nearly $700,000 with approximately 260 pieces sold. Leading artists from across the country brought small paintings and sculptures to the sale. Artists who sold multiple works included Michael Albrechtsen, Michael Coleman, Joni Falk, George Hallmark, Tom Hill, Ralph Oberg, Kenneth Riley, W. Jason Situ, and Kathryn Stats.
Waterfront Park
City planners and artists are combining talents to transform a toxic vacant lot in Seattle, WA, into a sculpture park along the city’s scenic waterfront. The $85 million Olympic Sculpture Park, the first of its kind on the West Coast, will mix major works by Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra, and Mark Di Suvero with newly commissioned pieces by Louise Bourgeois and Mark Dion, among others. The park is scheduled to open late this summer.
Scholarship Fund
The Martha Meier Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established to benefit the University of Houston’s Blaffer Gallery Young Artist Apprentice Program (YAAP), which provides art education for underprivileged high school students in the Houston area. Meier, who passed away in 2005, was the director of Jack Meier Gallery in Houston for many years. The gallery is planning a silent auction with paintings that have been donated by artists to benefit YAAP. For more information, contact Elisa Dreghorn at Blaffer Gallery at 713.743.9971 or www.jackmeiergallery.com.
Featured in May 2006