LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
LottoENERGY |
by Sondra N. Arkin |
BALANCE, ENERGY, ACTION, CENTER, HOPE: these are the words we asked artists participating in the live auction to interpret for the HEART of the Community segment of our Whole Lotta Love Weekend.
This year, we have both new and familiar artists participating in the live auction segment. Their work is very eclecticand it is always fun to see how the artists have approached the theme, and to see how art and artists evolve and connect. Several of the artists used Hope as their starting point. Michael Weinert's New Horizon focuses on the hopeful and expectant point where land, sea, and sky come together. Aina Nergaard-Nammack has created a delightful, sunny abstract landscape called Balance of Hope. While Lee Wayne Mills' Hope as a Lost Moon is the correlative of Aina's sun: with "its central orb hovering in space like a moonzen-like, reassuring given all the darkness around it." Its title comes from the haiku: Hope as a lost moon Gathering gold from the dusts Of recollection. In his work, Woven Into the Fabric (Weave Hope), Jeff Moore painted the symbol of the American Flag and then wove into the painting rainbow colored painted strips of paper to "illustrate the hope that one day there will be no separation between America and Gay America, that we will all be part of the tapestry." The new body of work by Brian Petro, including this work Center, is a new exploration of found object work, but it also makes a tapestry of sorts. He is creating from salvaged materials from Brazil, an elegy to Sammy Hodis, a man from his childhood in Pennsylvania, who taught him much about "being resourceful with found things, and doing what he felt was most important to him." Continuing an Eastern relationship, like Lee, but moving toward the theme of Center, Geri Debiase's vivid abstract started out as two tulips shot with a macro lens at Longwood Gardens. The title, Hold Fast to your Center, stems from a passage in the Tao te Ching "all of who we are comes from and rests in our Center." Then at the center of J.S. Adams' work Begin Your Sentences with the Word 'Centering' 'Home' 'Close' or 'Heart' is his partner Joseph. In this piece, Jim hoped "to convey the nurturing embrace of community." Meanwhile Jim O'Dell conveys a couple centering their hopes on a balanced life full of energy and action in The Tourists. Rod Cook says that he "wanted to come up with a new, not traditionally 'Rehoboth' idea that embodied the idea of Energy in Magic TurboLottoHEART. The Propeller is a tool created for work, action and movement. This LottoHeart wheel will spin much like a wheel of chance at a carnival for the person with the winning ticket!" We loved how Rod gathered the spirit of fun and optimism in a memento work for this event. Ron Tate joined us in the silent auction last year, and on the Art Committee this year, and has now created this energetic Turbulencea magical landscape!showing the effects of an Autumn wind on a forest. And to take the idea of energy full turn, Ward Ellinger harnesses the core of life's energy in his work, Heat, made from forged steel, melted beeswax, and enamelall shaped with fire as their catalyst. And finally, Patti Shreeve's B, Balance Ballet, Terry Isner's The Birds and the Bees and Spencer Kingswell's Live, Laugh, Love in Balance all finely illustrate balance, happiness, and serenity in simple and synergic ways. Spencer returns to the Eastern route taken by many of this year's artists with a "simple design of flowers in a graceful curve that is representative of the letter C as in calm...and including the Japanese words for Live, Laugh, Love over the word for Balance. It is representative of that thought: Live, Laugh, Love, all in balance." The live auction will be part of the LottoHEART evening on July 3rd, and anyone attending the event can bid on one of these pieces. PHOTO CAPTIONS: Michael Weinert. Jeff Moore, Patti Shreeve, Lee Wayne Mills, Ward Ellinger, Rodney Cook, and JS Adams. LottoHEART ONLINECAMP Web Gallery Makes Lotto Choices Easy There is a lot of great art for you to love, so it will really help you to do some homework. Look at the art in person and on the web. Create a Favorites List. We'll have printed sheets to help you do this at the preview and event, OR visit our spectacular web gallery where you can view the art, add your favorites to a "cart," and order them in the rank you'd like them. Then you can print out your personalized Favorites List to assist you. Why is this important? When it comes to playing LottoHEART, you will only have 30 seconds when your ticket number is called to shout out the number for your art (or your ticket goes back in the fishbowl). Think of your Favorites List like a bingo card where you will cross off works when they are selecteduntil BINGOyour turn and you will know exactly which number to shout out. Or maybe not. But it will be fun. The LottoHEART Web Gallery will be online June 26. Get to it by clicking the LottoHEART link on the CAMP Rehoboth web site. Pay a visit, select your favorites, print your preferences, and come and play! On July 4th, we'll reveal the names of the artists, their websites, and gallery affiliations if you want more information on who participated in this event. Lotto THANKS It is fitting that I am writing this late at night on June 15th, the deadline for artists participating in LottoHEART to deliver their art. I'd forgotten that the majority of the art comes in the last day(s). Trooping through our doors were lots of happy, energized artists, pleased to be part of this effort. At one point four of them plopped themselves down and started sharing information on upcoming shows and opportunities, gossip and sorrows, and it completely brought home for me what this project is all about. Community.So many people have made this effort possible, and we'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge it. We've talked a lot about the artists, who have all been very gracious and honored to take part. But we haven't said our many thanks to the Members of the Art Committee who have done a yeoman's job of recruitment, sourcing door prizes, selling tickets, logging in and photographing art, and installing the exhibition. We also need to acknowledge the partnership of so many of the Rehoboth Art Galleries for their support. As a matter of fact, that makes me think about the whole changing face of the Rehoboth Art Community. In talking about this project, I found myself saying many times that Rehoboth is coming into its own as an art community. All the great work of the MOSAIC consortium of galleries, the new BASE studios at the Celebration Mall on Baltimore Avenue, in addition to the visual art changes, more live theater, the film festival, the jazz festival and other events...it is art happening and changing around us. We're very excited that CAMP Rehoboth is part of this changing culture of Rehoboth with space for exhibitions and performances. An additional thanks: the staff and volunteers at CAMP Rehoboth have been pretty darn indulgent with helping manage this complicated project. While it is designed to raise funds for the community center, it is really so much more than that. It is a powerful testament to Community. Please come preview the art any time from June 26-July 2 and you will see how much energy has been created. Then come on July 3rd and take a part of this project home with you. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 19, No. 07 June 19, 2009 |