The Birthing of Art Meets Fashion

Besides the fact that this event takes more than 9 months to gestate, I feel that it is much like carrying a fetus to term. Strange for me to say perhaps, as I have never born a real child, but just look at the process and make up your own mind.

It is always easy to procreate with a partner and whether you call it a marriage or a friendship, I could ask for non better than Felena Hanson who is the Fashion Designer coordinator for Art Meets Fashion.

We turn to Krystel Tien, Fashion Show coordinator with the aid of Loren Smith Productions for our baby shower i.e. thefashion show launch. This is the celebration for all the participants and a few special guests. We are anticipating the more extensive shows in the various venues and giving the project its extra push into the world.

You need a Midwife standing by to aid you through the process and Rosemary KimBal does proof reading, mans a desk, gives me a ride…what ever I may need most. Amazingly she is also making with the Valentine Viannay the scarves commemorating the project and also fabric for the dance performance and even doing a demonstration of Giant Brush painting at the Art Walk (the event draws 150,000 on one day.) where she will help us promote Art Meets Fashion.

Birthing is a natural process but it is essential to have this vital person to supply money transfusions Doctor Carolann Dekker is our Sponsorship Liaison

Standing by is the Nurse practitioner, Lauren Letizio who coordinates the over 35 Fringe Event which are cross promoted during this project. We consider them all our Neighbors who lend a hand when needed.

What could be more vital than choosing the correct hospital and with the help of Constance White and Susanna Pereda we secured the San Diego International Airport to birth the project.

It’s sextuplets! We thought we had an 11 pound (team.venue) baby, but it turns out there is an online competition with winners presented at the L Street Fine Art Gallery by Kay Colvin , an AMF artists exhibition at San Diego Dance Theater directed by Aimee Dupuis, a Mannequin show organized by Denise Bonaimo and Ariane Brittany at the NTC, a group show at the SD Airport and all those fringe events galore.

We have the glorious fortune to have three Godmothers, ,Irene de Watteville who watches over us and Rana Sampson, first lady of SD and our honorary patron and Jodi Kadesh, NBC San Diego Traffic & Weather Anchor and MC for our fashion show at the airport.

Christening is the time you declare your joy to the entire world and what nicer place than the NTC Promenade at Liberty Station for our public launch party hosted by Alan Ziter and with a dance performance by Jean Isaacs, San Diego Dance Theater and fashion show coordinator Ranee Alano. Having the public join in on the catwalk is an extra bonus with all that good will and best wishes.

Spreading the good news is Kim Richards our PR Liaison, .Louisa Garcia the documenter coordinator and Art Blog Editor, Erinn Ryan our Fashion Blog Editor. We have Adam Levins and Jessica Mandeville to thank for creating the video promotion of the project. Watch for the video by John Schell and those wonderful baby pictures by Kira Corser and Clarissa Danielle Sepulveda who documents the SD International Airport Fashion show, April 28, 2011

Knowledge transfer is handled by Denise Bonaimo Educator coordinator of the many schools who will be teaching lesson plans and to the Art Institute of Ca, SD and their staff including Jaye Brown and Ruth Holden with help from Tania Alcala and Mark Jesinoski.

It truly take a village to raise a child and ours is well tended by the more than 200 collaborators who are the artists, the fashion designers, the educators, the documenters, the gallery and boutiques owners. It’s a boy, It’s a girl….it’s Art Meets Fashion. Pass the cigars!

SDVAN presents LA Contemporary Art Fair 2011 in under 2 mintues

LA Art Fair in under 2 minutes

LA Contemporary Art Fair 2011 at the Barker Hanger.

OK, you are going to have to bear with me as I just got the digital video recorder and the editing software isn’t even paid for yet. But for those of you not able to attend the LA Contemporary Art Fair or those who went and want a bit of a memory of it, you can watch my little attempt on UTube or on the SDVAN A+Art Blog site.

We thought the fair was a bit smaller and not quite as good as the Art SD one, but we did have a very nice day. We went early afternoon of the first full day of the fair (a Friday) and had no trouble parking and no large crowds either. I am sure it was packed on the opening night.

.I really liked the Quint Gallery display of photographs by Lee Materazzi. Wow, that woman is something else. She is a winner. Make sure and flip the pages of her book in this link to see the whole show.

I included the new little sheep with the pink neon by David Adey (SD Art Prize 2010) from Luis de Jesus Gallery.. I am looking forward to seeing his whole presentation through The Contemporary Committee of the SD Museum of Art. If you don’t know about this group, you should. It is very inexpensive to join and you go to collectors’ homes to hear presentations by selected artists.

The best artist who I discovered for the first time was Andrew Schoulz who is from Milwaukee but showing at a Milan gallery Jerome Zodo. His lines and compositions were compelling to me

Ace Gallery had huge targets of concentric circles by Christian Schoeller (not available for view in the catalog or online but you can’t miss them on the video). Justin Bower’s huge heads at Ace (also available locally at Alexander Salazar Fine Art) were show stoppers as well.

Patrick Painter Gallery featured Liz Croft and her huge needle points were homey and contemporary at the same time.

Like all viewers, I am attracted by the things that move and glitter. Some of these were most interesting as well, but on retrospection, I think the quality works were those from San Diego. Rather made me proud.

Best Tidbits for the Twelve Months of 2010

Here is our picks of the best of the Tidbits that were recorded over the entire year of 2010 for you to re-digest and enjoy. These were first posted in our RAW gossip column.

Dec: "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade, MONTEREY, CA, loved and hated for his cutesy home and hearth paintings will go to jail in June for drunk driving. Read about his other debaucheries in the full article in ArtInfo. PS. Did you know that his production company declared bankruptcy? How the mighty have fallen.

Eyes in the back of your head department: Professor Wafaa Bilal had a digital camera implanted in the back of his head, in New York. Bilal, a performance artist, was commissioned by the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar and the work is titled The 3rd I which is on view from December.

The ultimate conceptual Christmas tree has been created by Giorgio Sadotti for Tate Britain The work, entitled Flower Ssnake, is an unadorned spruce with a bull whip coiled at it base. On 5 January 2011, the spell of Christmas will be dramatically whipped out of the tree in a performance art finale.

Nov: For the category of why can’t we have this in San Diego Harbor: Now in its second year, DRIFT is staged by Illuminate Productions with installations include waterfalls at two locations on the river which feature words from live news feeds falling through a curtain of water. The amazing technology used to create “bit.fal”l allows words to be displayed in mid-air in the droplets.

Oct: Documentary film, Waiting for Hockney is a mesmerizing true story about an artist who spends 10 years working on a portrait and wants David Hockney to have the honor of discovering him. As the documentary unfolds it weaves between the stories of how/why the artist spent 10 years making this portrait and his attempts to meet Hockney.

Sept: They are Eating Their Art Out in a big way in London with The Cake Britain exhibition. Held at The Future Gallery this show is sponsored by Tate & Lyle Sugars and produced by the Mad Artists Tea Party.

Aug: Young vandals are tipping 600 pound sculpture cows over in Burlington, Vermont. Those colorfully painted cud chewers are hitting the dust, but one of them managed to hit back and broke the foot of its attacker. The town has organized bartenders to watch out for the cow’s safety. They call them ‘cow tenders”. How come we find ourselves rooting for the vandals on this one?

July: Charles Saatchi just gave his $37 million dollar collection to the British government and his museum will be re-titled the MOCA London. Also from London: five members of the art activist group Culture Beyond Oil poured non-toxic black oil around the British Museum’s world famous Easter Island sculpture, in protest at BP’s sponsorship of the museum. They were careful not to get any oil on the art.

June: Marilyn Monroe's "Blondes" Dress Heads to Auction and the superstarlet's gown from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" carries an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. Is this where Art Meets Fashion? Princess Diane’s racy black dress has already sold for $275,000.

May: Peter Schjeldahl (Man of the World, New Yorker, Dec 21, 2009), reminds us, “Pleasure is the only trusty teacher and guarantor of seriousness in art.”

April: The EyeWriter has been chosen as the winner of the first FutureEverything Award, a £10,000 prize set up to celebrate the creative imagination that will shape our future. The EyeWriter is a pair of low-cost eye-tracking glasses that allow artists and graffiti writers with paralysis to draw using only their eyes. Inspired by Tony Quan, a graffiti writer, social activist and publisher who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (AML) in 2003, The EyeWriter is the result of collaboration with five other artists and a production company. Tony Quan comments: ‘Art is a tool of empowerment and social change, and I consider myself blessed to be able to create and use my work to promote health reform…”

March: Check out these paddy fields in Japan that have been planted with various colored rice to create living murals. Definitely worth a click. Thanks to Deanne Sabeck for feeding our souls with this tidbit. When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination

Feb: Alberto Giacometti’s L’homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) sold for $104,327,006 and is now the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction which was reported by Sotheby’s.

Jan: Take a look at the really fun digital show at the Victoria and Albert Museum as reported by the BBC in London.The Digital Design Sensations Exhibition includes “eyes” that look at the viewers and gestures that result in flung paint.

Katherine Sweetman has a home at SDVAN

We are NOT thrilled at all to see that some wonderful writers are being given an opportunity to write a blog for the Union Tribune on the arts for NO PAY. Not all the articles will make it into the print edition that will be financially rewarded but the Sketchbook Blogs online are introduced by David Fobes and are giving space to Joe Nalven, Richard Geaves, William Parson, Drew Synder, and Allesandra Moctezuma.

Letting Robert Pincus go was bad enough, but getting these artists to write on spec is outrageous. It is like the UT is holding the art world to ransom because if these writers do not write, how will we get coverage.

Katherine Sweetman’s resignation from her blog duties at the UT was withdrawn from the UT site in 13 hours, but you can read it and register your protest on The SD Reader thanks to Don Bauder. There is talk of a boycott. The story has even made it to ArtInfo. Here is our cry to SD art writers: If you are going to write for free….write for SDVAN and serve an organization that gives back to the community and is 100% volunteer. Contact us at info@sdvisualarts.net

You can read many of Katherine Sweetman's articles in our Picked RAW Peeled feature on SD Visual Arts Network.

Filling a Need

There are garbage men in New York who are Russian immigrant musicians unable to find work. Their talent is being ignored and thus wasted. One of the suggestions of President Obama’s Committee on Arts and Humanity was to turn around our views of those coming into the country and see them as an asset and not a liability. Founded in 1982 under Ronald Regan, this group is an independent advisory committee, 35 members strong. Many of them are artists this year, but Chuck Close is the first visual artist on the committee since its beginning. He speaks passionately about how the focus needs to stay on real art projects and not on policy. Close talked of not inventing programs, but finding the best existing ones and cross pollinating those ideas. He also views anyone who sees a need and does something about it as a role model. You can see and hear the entire panel discussion, and hopefully become inspired to start your own project of some sort.

One outstanding example of one of these projects is the TED Prize winner for 2011. JR. a photographer and artist whose work is based on his ability to remain anonymous. In other words, he's a guerilla artist. In 2007, he did Face 2 Face where he asked different religious leaders to make funny faces. He then displays these as large scale humorous photographic murals. In 2008 Women are Heroes, in Paris and in 2010 "Women Are Heroes in Africa are variations on that theme. He has made huge collaborations with thousands of volunteers that enable his work to be public. The TED prize is $100,000 and it will be interesting to see what he does with it. This is a perfect example on one man who sees a need, makes his own opportunity and takes action.

October is National Arts and Humanities Month in the USA. For many of us, every month is arts and humanities month. For those who might need a reminder, here are 101 Things to Do to Celebrate NAHM .

Collectors Take Note

I was so proud to see the excellence of the art that was shown at the Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair particularly at the San Diego booths. This quality will hopefully be reported in stories taken back to Japan and Mexico City and New York by the other participants at the fair. We sold art to the valued of over $20,000 in our SD Art Prize display, met a huge number of new people and saw lots of friends and colleagues.

I hear over and over that there are not enough sales galleries in San Diego. I know why this is…. there does not seem to be enough people buying art to support those galleries. But I have noticed a few other bad practices that make it difficult for galleries to survive and for trust to develop between artist, galleries and collectors. So this is my plea: Break a few bad habits and create better ones. Then our galleries can survive and prosper in San Diego and support more artists and encourage more art collectors.

Artist

· Don’t go behind your gallery’s back to make a sales direct to a collector and cut them out

· Make sure your prices are the same for all

· Art work does not go on sale. Destroy the work you don’t like and don’t undermine your prices.

Art Gallery/Dealer

· Pay artists on time when you are paid

· Split your commission and work with agents and consultants and other galleries to build audience for your artists. Greed will restrict growing the reputation of the artists and thus hamper the rise of prices.

· If you discount the work more than 10% to make a sale, take the discount off your commission, not the artist’s share of the price.

Collector

· Use galleries…don’t cut them out to go directly to the artist. You affect the whole market with this practice.

· Don’t negotiate the price so that the gallery barely makes a profit. Pay full price if justified by quality, reputation and provenance.

So now there are so many wonderful visual art events in San Diego county that we are spoiled for choice. The San Diego Visual Arts Network has registered almost 6000 events since 2003 and you can find something to do almost every day of every month on our calendar.

Birthing Process

This last month I have challenged myself to think about the role SDVAN plays in the San Diego Community. We are unique in many ways and I am beginning to see how that uniqueness makes us innovative and helps us remain creative. I have a feeling that is why we draw so many volunteers and collaborators, find so many people attending our events and why we are so excited about the future.

We are lucky not to be the guardians of an established culture, the role so many museums have to take on in society. Instead, we can keep an ear to the ground, feel a buzz, and are able to respond to an idea. We do this on the grass roots level and it is those tender shoots that we encourage and try to nurture.

We are cutting edge in our strategic thinking and have evolved as logical incrementalist, a model put forward by James B. Quinn in his book Strategies for Change. This is a descriptive instead of prescriptive path which means we don’t always know what lies ahead. We are experienced enough and confident enough to know that the challenges of the future can be met. That gives us enormous freedom. So for example when a project for a dozen artists at one venue turns into 130 artists at 41 venues (Little & Large), we call on the troops to help and we make it happen. Art Meets Fashion is forming into a project that no one person could conceive. There are 13 teams, more than 15 fringe events, an online competition, a Mannequin project, lesson plans for teens…we are not sure where it will go or how many people will be included by the time the project ends in 2011.

All along the way we are networking and aiding new collaborations, watching life emerge as people and organizations pair up, birth new ideas and breathe life into creative whims. We hear people say time and time again how excited they are to participate, to have the opportunity to create and share. We have the privilege to see all that unfold and offer it the public.

And we are supported by and collaborate with organizations like Art San Diego Contemporary Fair and Synergy Arts Foundation, which are united in the joint effort to protect our local art scene and elevate it to reach it true potential. From Baja Norte to Fallbrook amazing things are being created and are waiting to be acquired and cherished. My own latest purchase was a fabulous work by the street artist Surge (Sergio Hernandez) from the Thumbprint Gallery, a small child dressed up as a James Bond spy, debonair in his mask and tux complete with a toy gun. He is poised for the fun of the chase. What adventure awaits us all!

Six Picks

The first week of September is full of Art San Diego Contemporary Fair events from September 2-5 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. Opening night tickets are $75 and include a donation to the SD Art Prize. Entrance on 3-5 is $15. .The following are my six picks.

1 .Join the volunteers of San Diego Visual Arts Network at Art San Diego Contemporary Fair as we celebrate the works of the SD Art Prize 2010 recipients Julio Orozco, Einar and Jamex de la Torre, David Adey, and Gail Roberts featured in Booth # 7.

2. Jon Block’s Sight & Sound, is presenting FREE concert on Friday Sept 2 from 7 to 10 pm at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel outside of Vela Restaurant and is in celebration of the 2010 SD Art Prize recipients and the emerging artist nominated for the prize in the San Diego Visual Arts Network's New Contemporaries III exhibition.

3. Come early to the fair that day and hear Lucía Sanromán, Associate Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, speaking about Between Here and There. Curatorial Strategies Towards a Regional Survey from 2– 3 pm.

4. A one-day conference titled: "Art in the City - Utilizing Art & Culture as Transformative Tools." is about how innovative arts/culture programs have added to the civic and economic life of cities across America. It is on Saturday, Sept the 4^th. The fair organizers are offering non-profits a discounted rate of $25 to attend the conference.

5. Mimosas and discussion begin at 11:00 a.m. at L Street Fine Art, (Jian Wang's painting) followed by lunch at McCormick & Schmick's in the Omni Hotel at 12:00 p.m. for those who join Art Talk: Art Walk. This evenit is in collaboration with Art Expressions Gallery and a portion of the proceeds will benefit ArtsBusXpress,. Guest speakers are Ann Berchtold (Executive Director of Art San Diego Contemporary Fair), Peter Fehler (Publisher of Art Ltd. Magazine), Robert Pincus (distinguished Art Critic from the San Diego Union-Tribune). Then a shuttle will take you to the fair. $75 per person (in advance) $85 per person (at the door). For more info and tickets: Art Expressions Gallery 858.270.7577

6. A satellite to the official fair is Easel - A San Diego Art Af(FAIR) will be one week only from Sept 2 – 6. and features Dan Camp and up to 200 works by 85 artists. Organized by Alexander Salazar Fine Art in a rented space at the corner of 7^th Avenue and C, the maximum price of work for sale is $2,000 and proceeds will benefit It’s All About the Kids Foundation. For more info: alexandersalazarfineart@gmail.com 619.531.8996. In 2011.

....And Three to go

In July, I was fortunate to interview Ed Fosmire, the new executive director of the Oceanside Museum of Art. I must stay I felt comfortable calling him Ed. He is quite young and extremely enthusiastic about his new position. His wife is an artist on hiatus as she raised their now 5 year daughter.

The 2010 strategic planning process was almost at an end that when he arrived in April, but Ed has managed to have some influence already. He wants to redirect fundraising (one of his strength) away from the capitol campaign for the plant expansion toward philanthropic support of the museum’s programming. When asked the secret of his previous success (over $1.5 million at CSU in Long Beach), he said it was “an honest and forthright” approach. He further explained that each patron has to know what is needed and then has to express what their needs are. Then it is a matter of creating a win-win situation for the museum and the donor.

He does want to bring a Contemporary Asian exhibition to the museum as his own special interest is India, Tibet and Japan. He is working toward that goal for 2012 but knows first he has to beef up the local Asian audience. Of course, the core supporters of the museum will not be neglected but a younger demographic will also be a continued goal. The outreach will concentrate on 5th graders and the NEA grant process is underway to supplement the museum needs in that direction.

He spoke of his support for local artist and their important in the community but there are no plans to build a contemporary permanent collection at this time. But there are signs that Ed Fosmire is a risk taker. The fifteen foot nude bright yellow baby created by ceramic artist Matt Wedel and placed at the front lawn of the Long Beach Museum of Art was controversial and his responsibility.

Ed Fosmire replaced Skip Pahl, and joins board president Beate Russe and vice president, Carolyn Mickelson. He is one to watch along with the new Roxana Velásquez Martínez del Campo new executive director of The San Diego Museum of Art who takes Derrick R. Cartwright’s job and Kathryn Kanjo who has been appointed the new Chief Curator and Head of the Curatorial Department of the Museum of Contemporary Art, SD and replaced Stephanie Hanor.

Willing to Fail

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist on Bravo TV (channel 42 in North County, Wednesday at 10 pm) Reality TV comes to Fine Art

Here Not There: SD Artist Now exhibition until Sept 19 at The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla.

What does a crass TV reality program have to do with an emerging art show in San Diego’s modern museum? Simple. Both are showcasing artists who are willing to fail.

Being willing to fail is more important than one would think. In fact, I would say it is the cornerstone of creativity. It means attempting something in a new way, trying to break out of the box, going where no one has gone before.

The frontier of the new is not for chickens. No matter how lame the artists on the American Idol twin might be, they are taking that chance and we could all benefit if it is a success. Imagine if a mass audience dared to support the arts by buying it and displaying it on their walls. What if the general population started talking about the latest fine art talent? What if this quest to find the great raised the bar for the normal?

That could mean that a show like that at the MCASD became a sign post for all those new patrons. The artist would benefit from art sales and the museum with more community support. And it would happen HERE not there, yes, right here in San Diego.

Life, Luck and Survival

The airplane rolled and pitched as it neared closer to earth. The land grew from small to large at an alarming rate. The wings leveled slightly as we held our breath and the motor quieted. But then a huge surge of power and at less than 20 feet from the ground, we swooped back up into the sky.

No, not a cut scene from LOST, but a real scene from my life last week. A reminder of how everyday of our life is about survival and survival can depends on luck and occasionally some skill and instinct. The week before, after being diagnosed with pneumonia and put on antibiotics, I was not happy with my mother’s progress. I took her off to the ER at Scripps Encinitas and she was rushed off to a hospital room with a pulmonary embolism. She is recovering now and has discovered drugs and the will to play golf again. I am planning her 90th birthday next month with glee.

How much do we dare to do? How much do we dare not to do? As it appears to be mainly in the lap of the gods, why not dream big and see what happens. So why did I spend far too many hours working on a grant proposal for emergency preparedness for artists. Maybe I was dreaming that this process would open doors for more grants and the ability to help artists in the future. But there is no doubt; I would rather be working on the programs themselves and in my own art studio. Sometimes the lap of my god seems a little hard and I wonder how prepared am I for an emergency.