Coming soon to Park City…

A project inspired by the “Moose on the Loose” campaign in 2004. Get ready for “Dogs Of Bark City!” Large, medium and small dogs will strut their stuff and make their entrance into the Park City art scene (with your help, of course). Friends of Animals, Mountain Trails and Park City Performing Arts Foundation are joining paws to bring this public art project to town. The proceeds will benefit the non-profits as well as the Artists.

Your canine inspirations can embody whatever the muse moves you to create. Your dog will be delivered in June and you will have at least 2 months to transform it. Unveilings will begin as soon as works are completed, with a final deadline of September 15th. The transformed pups will be displayed on the streets and in the stores of Summit County concluding with a gala auction on December 28^th.

Special events are planned through the summer and fall to generate interest.  Sponsors and artists will be promoted in print, on the Web, at events, and in the streets.

The dogs are made of fiberglass and come in 3 sizes; Large; 46″, Medium; 30″ Small; 17″. Once you have finished, the dogs will be clear coated (if appropriate) to protect your design.

Each artist selected by the jury will receive 20% of the net auction price. (If desired, $200 of the net auction price can be provided up front.)

Artists selected will receive the following in addition to the stipend:

• Participating Artists Community Showing at The Kimball Art Center, Date TBD

• Artist’s name recognition in the Dogs of Bark City Guide Book

• Artist’s name on the dog’s display plaque

• Your dog design, your bio and contact information on the Dogs of Bark City website

• 2 tickets to the kickoff event

• 2 tickets to the Dec 28^th gala auction

For more information and a formal application please contact Park City Performing Arts Foundation at 435-655-8252. Ask for Abby or Ginger.

Or stop by the following locations: Park City Performing Arts Foundation at 333 Main Street Suite 130 or Furburbia located at Tanger Outlet Mall.

Popular artist Warren Neary has some new and fantastic news about his works of art.

“I just found out from Cathy at Raymar Art today that “Fading Winter Evening Light” was selected as one of the top 12 finalists for their 2008 annual competition.”

Congratulations to Neary! The top twelve annual winners haven’t been posted yet, but they will soon be at www.raymarart.com. There are some really excellent painters who compete from across the US in this monthly competition. From that selection, they pick the 12 finalists. Out of the 144 paintings throughout the year, they pick 12 annual winners, one of which is Warren Neary’s work.

Very exciting news from one of our local artists, Jan Perkins. Her work “Sanctuary” was accepted into the prestigious Annual Spring Salon at the Springville Art Museum. A new work by Michael Bingham was also accepted into the annual show. If you haven’t yet been to this museum, you should. It’s a little gem here in Utah, and one of the finest little art museums in the west. They have a fantastic collection of Russian Impressionism works as well.

Here’s Jan: “I thought you’d like to know, this painting, Sanctuary, just got into the Springville Museum of Art’s Spring Salon Exhibition. They had a record breaking number of submissions, so I’m happy about getting in.”

Jan Perkins will be featured on Park CIty Television tomorrow (Friday) morning to speak about her work and also the evening’s Gallery Stroll on Main from 6 to 9 p.m.

In addition, Jan Perkins will be the featured plein air painter at the Park City 125th anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 13th on Main Street. Join us on Main for concerts and other events in celebration of 125 years of Park City living.

Written by Monica Valenzuela, Gallery MAR

As I watch the snow melt, I am reminded of an artist’s work that I saw about five summers ago while on a family vacation in upstate New York. Tucked away in a small gallery in the charming, though kitsch, town of Woodstock, I was lucky enough to see the work of the illusive artist Stevan Z. Soszynski. His work is not famous by any means (in fact I cannot find anything about him anywhere online); I was mesmerized more by his unique artistic process than by his name.

He practiced what he called “the art of Snow Painting,” a technique that I believe would go over well in Park City, a town so familiar with the element. Soszynski claims to have discovered the process of Snow Painting in the great blizzard of 1983 when New York City was buried under many feet of snow. (Though Park City is well equipped to handle such massive quantities of snow, New York City becomes paralyzed by anything more than a foot.) Living in Brooklyn at the time, Soszynski scaled to the roof of his apartment building and began experimenting with “Snow Painting”. Put simply, he would layer snow and pigment (sometimes up to nine layers and seven inches of snow) on a surface that would eventually contain his final work. After waiting for the snow to melt away, he was left with an elaborate watermark of mingling colors and shapes that boasted a translucency that he believed was unavailable in other painting techniques. He worked with a variety of paints including nail polish, auto paint, dyes, and powders, all the while experimenting with “the wonderfully absent-minded and random setting of color and shape”.

He claimed that the nitrogen component of snow caused certain alchemical reactions to occur between pigments, maintaining exceptionally clear, bright, and translucent colors. After almost twenty years of experimenting, Soszynski was able to more successfully control the evaporation of snow, allowing him more control over his final design.

His works, though abstract, sometimes asserted landscapes or figurative elements. Viewing each of his canvases, which ranged in size and scheme, was an emotional and beautiful experience, in the way an original Rothko might take your senses for a spin. Oddly enough, I cannot find anything on this process or artist anywhere on the internet, however, I have attached a copy of the three page artist’s biography and statement that I had to dig out of my pack rat archives. This unique process is something we have all unconsciously experimented with – a coffee stain on a napkin, dirty footprints on the tile floor, or a dried mascara stain on a pillow. The means of applying the image evaporates, leaving behind an impression, a ghostly watermark. Without sounding too Family Circle-esque, I share this process with you in hopes of inspiring some snow painting in our aspiring artist readers.

It is a terribly interesting process, on which I cannot find any information. Therefore, I am challenging the ambitious to experiment. Intersperse the lingering leftovers with some paint (whatever you can scramble together), let it melt upon a canvas of your choosing (wood, linen, etc.) and after it has evaporated you have a beautiful footprint of winter.

Kirk Tatom, “Sunrise, Avon,” 16″ x 20″, 2009

Kirk Tatom:

Currently living in the UK (but feeling rather homesick!), Tatom recently went over to the North coast of France for the Easter holiday. He drove all over Brittany and Normandy in the cool, damp weather. “[I]could have used more warmth and sunshine… but the gray cloudy light was good for photos of the wonderful farms.” We look forward to seeing more of Tatom’s new work, from this trip, in the gallery soon.

Shawna Moore, Encaustic artist

Shawna Moore:

Moore writes to us that “this year is just slipping through my fingers!” The artist and her family spent the winter in southern Baja, Mexico camping on the beach, home schooling, doodling, tanning, windsurfing, and eating tacos. The current economic situation has turned out to be a fantastic time for her to recharge and energize her art.  Exciting happenings for Moore are her inclusion in the Montana Triennial Exhibition www.missoulaartmuseum.org and a new art grant in Montana: “The Innovative Artist’s Award.” She will also show/teach in Jackson, Wyoming the weekend of July 24-25, and will open a show in Santa Fe in late August. If that schedule wasn’t busy enough, Moore plans on teaching several workshops and another show in the fall.

Good luck to both of these artists with their busy schedules and upcoming events!

Michael Kessler Art Installation

The art market in New York is so different from the contemporary market in the Southwest and in our region that we might as well be on different planets. For our regional art market, prices are determined by the artist’s price list and recent sales. Most artists in this region increase their prices about 5-10% every few years; again, depending on sales and availability, as well as exhibitions and press, etc. Artists and their prices are rarely volatile and it’s even more rare to see decreases in their work’s value. Although you’re never going to make millions investing in regional artists, you’ll also never see huge decreases in value. Again, at Gallery MAR, we always recommend investing in art for yourself, for your life, and buying what you love.

But in New York, especially in the last few years (2000-2006) it has been “anything goes!”  for sales at the auction houses. Critics of this market say a lack of oversight in the art market permits manipulation (akin to Hedge-fund manipulation). Dealers, who can artificially inflate auction prices, or buyers who are “in” with the auction houses, can buy to drive up the market of their own collections. But others argue that the value of art isn’t determined by money. They say that the art world isn’t an industry and shouldn’t be treated as such.

It’s a fascinating topic and one that merits much discussion.

I was recently directed to this interesting conversation about the much-discussed high end contemporary art market. Amy Cappellazzo (deputy chairman at Christie’s), Chuck Close’s (artist with more than 150 solo exhibitions), and Jerry Saltz (senior art critic for New York magazine) argue against the motion that “The Art Market Is Less Ethical Than the Stock Market.” What’s your opinion? Listen and enjoy, then post your own position!