Patricia Cosgrove always wanted the White River Valley Museum museum to be more involved in the fine arts.
And it was on a visit years ago to a Santa Fe, N.M., gallery, which was putting on a small works art show, that Cosgrove thought about trying something similar at WRVM.
“The idea is that if the works are smaller, they are often easier to fit into your home or give as gifts that aren’t quite as expensive,” said Cosgrove, WRVM director. “It’s a good way to start collecting and seemed like a great idea.”
The Auburn Arts Commission and the museum this year worked together to present the first such show, one that would celebrate diversity and creativity in the regional arts scene, showcase the work of emerging and established Pacific Northwest artists, and offer the community a chance to purchase fine artwork.
The result is on display at the museum until Dec. 14.
Open to all artists, the show drew the interest of 32 from Auburn, 35 from greater King County, 18 from Seattle, 40 from Pierce County and 16 from other Washington counties. Because it was a juried arts show, judges Sheila Farr, Jim McDonald, and Paul Metivier selected 78 original artworks submitted from the 369 entries of 141 participating artists and settled on 49 artists for the exhibition.
Artists were able to enter two categories: small works and mini works.
Artists working in a wide variety of media were represented, including photography, painting, printing, and collage. All entries were limited by size in either the small (20” x 24”) or mini (6”x 6”) categories. The entry fee was $5 apiece.
The inspiration was not only to provide a unique opportunity for regional artists, but to offer fine art at affordable prices during the holiday season.
“We looked at other galleries that do juried shows,” Cosgrove said. “Our top three wishes for jurors were to get people well enough known and names that would help inspire artists to bring us work. Sheila Farr is the arts critic for Seattle Times, and she said she would do it. Jim McDonald is a corporate curator. He has worked for Safeco, and as art curator for City of Seattle. Paul’s connection is that he is a really wonderful sculpture professor at Green River (Community College). That was our dream team.
“There was so much interest … it was like a herd of artists coming to us constantly,” Cosgrove said. “It was amazing and made us all happy. I had anticipated if we were lucky we might get a couple hundred pieces of art, and we got works from more than 300.”
Photographer Alfred Harmon, “retired military and retired school teacher” submitted a dramatic photo of two firemen.
“I buy a lot of magazines that have some real good artists in them, and I try to be selective as far as different scenes, different lighting, different moods. Then I tear a couple of those pages out and I have a room where I just display them and start getting a photographic image as far as what good art is. You know it when you see it, and I am working off that right now,” Harmon said.
Winners of the show were as follows:
• Best in show: Kathleen Fruge-Brown “Study for “Glass Forest”
• First Place: Mike Ferguson “New Construction”
• Second Place: Bill Ritchie “That Slow Dance…”
Honorable Mention:
• Wendy Ray “A Little Curious”
• Matthew Johnson “Array – Porter’s”
• Ken Strange “Nautilus Ring”
• Sue Jackson-Andre “Mini Rex”
• Lydia Sutton “Discovering”
• Zachary Kolden “Vagabond”
• Frances Buckmaster “Tacoma-Tahoma”
Cosgrove wants to make the show an annual event.
“Hopefully, by doing an annual exhibit of small works, we’ll be able to create a tradition, and artists will look forward to sharing their work with the public this way and collectors and gift givers will enjoy that opportunity in reverse,” Cosgrove said.
