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Home - Art
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Group Gallery
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Artists’ Co-op Gallery helps emerging
artists grow
by Sarah Baker Hansen
The art world can be a game of survival of the fittest.
And though none of the artists showing as part of the Emerging Artist Show at the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery will be kicked off the island when it closes, there is a bit of the reality show formula at work.
“It’s a bit like a television show,” said Jean Mason, a longtime member of the cooperative and the curator of the show. “In some way it does seem kind of contrary to the art world, but it does make for some fun interaction with the public.”
The formula isn’t new for the cooperative the show usually has an element of public voting. At its conclusion, the co-op tallies the votes and the winner receives a free three-month membership to the cooperative. During those three months, the winner works with established artists and learns about the basics of the art world, including promoting a show, building a resume and contacting galleries.
Mason said it’s a big deal for these artists, since most have had only one or two shows, to put their work to a public vote. In spite of that, she said, they had unparalleled enthusiasm for the show.
“Studio artists are notorious for working alone in our studios,” Mason said. “When you put out a body of work, it’s like exposing your soul. You have no idea if people are going to love it or walk by it without interest. It’s a big risk.”
Mason helped the artists select their strongest work for the show, and much of it is solid. The nine participants chose from three to eight pieces. Their work is far reaching in style, subject and experience.
Three recent graduates of the Kansas City Art Institute showed strong promise. Will Anderson’s abstract work explored ideas of beauty and terror through a muted, restrained palette. Layers of paint built on each other to create a varied product with depth and meaning. Dan Crane’s large-scale portraiture uses bright colors and a process of laser-engraving images onto wood panels. His work has a touch of street art: it’s big, bold and fearless. Christine Stormberg shows two large-scale, up close and personal portraits. She’s interested in social contradiction and texture of the human body two ideas that produce a strong result.
The rest of the show features work that runs the gamut: painters Pam Cates, Kate Cahill-Fleming and Cait Irwin have vastly different approaches to the same craft. Julie Sopscak creates book art and transforms clothing into paper. Amy Haney creates delicate, ethereal prints that seem to float on the wall. Julie Kregness Thorsen, in her most recent work, transforms turn-of-the-century furniture into frames for her color-focused paintings.
So far, Mason said, the group is finding success. Irwin is working on a mural piece at Greenstreet Cycles. Stormberg has a solo show at the Bemis Underground on the books for this spring. Cahill-Fleming and Cates will each show in the Passageway Gallery in 2010. Mason has worked with the group on resume and marketing tips, goals and critiques. She’s helping the remaining artists nail down shows at local galleries.
“These artists are just ripe for the picking,” Mason said. “They’re ready to roll. We just happened to nab them before everyone’s heard of them yet.”
Mason said no matter what the public vote lends and sometimes it’s a surprise all the artists will benefit from participating in the show.
She said votes from friends and family can affect the voting process, but that in previous years, an artist who seemed to have the contest in the bag didn’t actually win.
“The voting we realize is completely unscientific,” Mason said. “We might be completely surprised.”
She said ultimately, the most important thing is that the emerging artists find a place in the community when the show is over.
The Emerging Artists Show continues at the Artists Cooperative Gallery, 11th and Farnam, through Feb. 28. The public is invited to vote on which artist they think is best via a red ballot box in the gallery. The winner will be announced at the gallery’s March 6 opening. The winning artist will show in the Artists Cooperative Gallery in June, July and August. Call 342.9617 or visit artistsco-opgallery.com.
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