Art Loop Artists Raise Thousands for Scholarships

[pengwen]

Ruidoso & Lincoln County Artists Raise Funds for Students
By: Ruidoso Reporter
© 2006 SONewMex.com - Permission to Reprint Granted

Ruidoso - On May 27, 2006, over 60 talented Lincoln County artists and a couple of hundred art lovers from around New Mexico gathered at Ruidoso's Cree Meadows Country Club to enjoy an art show and raise funds for Art Loop's local Arts Scholarship program. The events they were gathered for were the Art Show and an Art Auction sponsored by the Lincoln County Art Loop and its member artists.

A couple of hundred artists and art lovers shared the evening together.

The Art Scholarship program is a project sponsored and supported by Art Loop and its member artists. The goal of the scholarship program is to provide local financial and educational support for promising Lincoln County art students and artists. The annual art auction is a major source of funding for the scholarship program.

To participate in the program more than 60 Lincoln County artists volunteered to create a custom artwork designed around simple 12"x12"x1" pine boxes. According to Contributing Artist and Event Coordinator, Rhonda Dougherty, there were practically no rules or guidelines about the types or styles of art to be created. "Artists were free to think either inside or outside the box," Dougherty said.

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As the above three works show, a wide range of beautiful art was displayed.

The artists who contributed art to the auction and the titles of the works are:



Jeannie Adams - Campo Santo
Jeannie Adams - Woman in Blue Gown
Leif Ancker - What's Up, Doc?
Susan Weir Ancker - Liminal Places / Triptych
Carolyn Arcure - Bunny Shrine
Judy Bensen - Bird of Paradise
Virginia Braden - Chair
Aubrielle Brown - The Wandering Artist
Verla Caster - Family Portrait
Polly Chavez - Dia de Los Muertos
Alex Cristen - Chicken Scratch
Randy Dougherty - Spot
Rhonda Dougherty - Hampster Soup
Rhonda Dougherty - I'm in the Soup and the Soup's in Me!
Rhonda Dougherty - The Balance of Compassion
Pat Dunbar - Remember When
Robin Franco - Napolito Blossom
Lorene Gaywood - Mountain Morning
Linda Gilmer - Title Unknown (Rooster)
Scott Goewey - Clay Tablet
Susan Goewey - Chaco Trilogy
Raynene Kate Greer - La Amore Por Los Corazones
Louise Groethe - Shelf Sculpture
Ann Haile - All Tied Up
Dorthy Harvey - Midas
Mike Lagg - He Gave His Right Arm So She Could Dance
Annmarie LaMay - Prom Night Overkill
Joan Malkerson - Chromosome X #1-4
Carol A. Maloney - Free Spirits
Patsy Massey - Angel in the Garden
Victoria Mauldin - Ancestral Home
Jennifer McManus - Buffalo Sunset
Dr. Eugene Mendonsa - Christmas Push
Zoe de Negri - Water Is Always Found
Zoe de Negri - With Ever Bigger Steps
Jo Josie Powell - The Char-Jo
Devina Purnell - Definitions
Maureen Quemada - Celebrate Something
Peter B Renich - The Arrow of Time
Diane Robbins - Abstract Poppy
Dalton & Debbie Roberts - Cree Meadows
Patricia Robinson - Masquerade I
Patricia Robinson - Masquerade II
Kay Rucker - Blockhead
Nancy & Richard Rumph - Tropicana #1
Nancy & Richard Rumph - Tropicana #2
Madeline Sabo - Earth's Treasures
Madeline Sabo - Warmth of Feathers
Wyn Salazar - Curiosity
Shangr i-La Woodworks - Koi Music
Betsy Shaw - Spirit Doll with Tray
Ray Shaw - Box Spider
Karen Smith - No Chlorine Bleach
Karen Smith - Safe for Colors
Cheryl Sullivan - Of Nature
Pat Sullivan - La Iglesia de San Juan Bautista
Ann Templeton - Escondido
Pearl Tipp - Garden Motto
Pam Topper - Looking Both Ways
Amy Ward - The Hamburger Sunset
Free Ward - H2 No


Since the scholarship program is aimed primarily at local students, several artists did seem to focus on educational themes for youth. But a wide range of general art pieces were contributed as well. The list of contributed art included paintings in pastel, acrylic and oil, kinetic sculpture, wood works of various sorts, china painting, collages, mixed media, fiber art, metal art, spirit dolls, stained glass and blown glass works and even do-it-yourself sculpture gardens in sand-and-ceramic.


The array of works was impressive indeed. For more information about the Art Loop group and their upcoming July 7th, 8th & 9th Art Loop Tour, please read Rusidoso Art Loop Looking Good At Age 11 or visit Art Loop's web site at www.artloop.org (http://www.artloop.org/). To see a gallery of many of the artworks displayed in the May 27, show and sold during the auction, see Steppin' Out's Art Loop Auction Gallery.

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Verla Caster's painted plate, "Family Portait" did well at the auction.

The most notable thing about this program was the large number of Lincoln County artists who agreed to participate and the outpouring of support from the community that resulted from their efforts. Prices for the artworks sold at auction varied in price from around $60 to well over $1,000 for a piece contributed by local painter Ann Templeton. "The list of items contributed and sold at the auction reflect the wide range of creative skills among Lincoln County's Artists well," said Dougherty. "We have lots of talented artists and artisans our county and in the Art Loop group too," she added. "If you think this is impressive, wait until you see our July Art Loop show. It's really amazing what our local artists can do."

All entries were judged in a juried art competition composed of local artists, art experts and gallery owners. Individual works were awarded blue ribbons in several categories based on style, uniqueness, creativity, best example of a particular medium and so forth. Later, an art auction was held and the 61 contributed works were sold to the highest bidder.

Steppin' Out has created a 6 page gallery containing 61 photos of the stunning art offered and sold that evening. To visit our Art Auction gallery, click here (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/569). Each page of our gallery contains 12 images. There are 6 separate pages of photos. Click the page numbers in the page navigation bar above and below the 12 images showing on each page to visit and view more pages.

Each thumbnail image in the gallery is clickable. When it is clicked, a second -- slightly larger -- image is displayed. If that second image is also clicked, our third and largest image of each work will be displayed for you to enjoy.

All funds raised by the Art Loop Art Auction went to support Art Loop's Art Scholarship Fund. According to the Rhonda Dougherty, several thousand dollars were raised.

[webmaster]

Explanation and Thank You to "the Artists"...

During the Art Loop Auction, Steppin' Out's intrepid reporter made a serious effort to try to take photos of every piece of the art in the show. The trouble was that on the night of the auction -- with a couple of hundred people wandering about the room -- the conditions for taking art photos were something less than ideal. The light in the room was fading fast and there were dozens of artists and art fans crowding about enjoying the objects-de-arte. The crowded conditions and fast moving crowd combined with the need to work quickly made the use of a tripod impossible in many situations.

As the light in the room faded, our intrepid reporter faced another dilemma too. Using the camera's flash was causing color-accuracy issues for many artworks -- not all of which were particularly well-lighted. On the other hand, working without a flash or tripod raised risks that some photos might be blurred or turn out darker than we would ultimately need...

Still, after an hour of frantic photo-taking, the camera finally did contain at least one image of all art in the show. So, with the auction about to begin, our photographer finished working and grabbed a seat for the Auction. Ultimately the reporters went home that night with four treasured artworks purchased during the auction.

Only later when we got those photos into our lab did we realize several photos were blurred and unusable... while others were darker than we'd have liked. Nevertheless, our photo lab and web team team persevered and in the end we were able to post a gallery of 48 mostly-acceptable photos of the works in the show around the middle of June. :o

It wasn't until after our gallery was posted that we learned there was a second (name-unknown) photographer at work that day. That photographer had taken photos of the art in the show during the day using a tripod, at a time when there was no crowd milling about and when the natural lighting conditions were better than they were in the evening. So, we begged for access to those photos and the show's coordinator, Rhonda Dougherty, graciously agreed to send them to us. That second, unknown photographer was about to save the day! Needless to say, we knew we'd been rescued by an angel when Rhonda offered to email us Art Loop's photos of the works for our use.

As it turned out, emailing all those images proved impossible. After frustrating attempts to send them over several days, we were forced to admit emailing the images wasn't happening. So, Rhonda rode to our rescue again and put the images on a CD and mailed them to us. The day the postman arrived with that disk, we celebrated. Finally, we had all the images together in one place. Finally we had a complete set of photos from the show. FINALLY, we'd be able to complete the work our reporter had so boldly started.

But time had passed and other priorities were in the foreground now. So, try as we might, we couldn't find the block of time required to finish the project we'd started... Until this weekend, that is!

After weeks of trying to find time to make changes and corrections to our gallery, we set aside a day to finish the work this weekend. Early Saturday we set to work with coffee in hand and slowly-but-surely, our Art Loop Auction gallery started to take it's final form. :)

One-by-one we lightened, retouched and hand-corrected each image and added artist's names or corrected misspellings as required. At least a dozen times we thanked heaven for Rhonda Dougherty and that wonderfully skilled photographer from Ruidoso whose name we may never know. And in the last construction step, we added the missing images for those created-with-love artworks whose photos we'd failed to capture the evening of the auction.

At 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning we sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. The work was done. Hopefully, we have appropriately honored the artists whose stunning works were auctioned off that night... and in the process have said "Thank you" to those who worked so hard to make that art show and auction possible.

At this point, the work of nearly 70 of Lincoln County's fine artists graces our proudly presented gallery in 61 photos covering 6 pages. Yes, there ARE still more images than artists. But at least NOW that's because several works were collaborative efforts between husband and wife artist teams and not because we've left anyone out. :rolleyes:

Special thanks go to Rhonda Dougherty for her assistance and cooperation AND her yoeman's efforts "above and beyond" as she tried to get the missing photos to us. We also thank the unknown and unnamed -- but obviously talented -- Ruidoso photographer whose photos saved the day. Thank you, whoever you are. Without YOUR help, this gallery would have been impossible to finish.

But most of all we thank the artists... those who worked so hard to make the Art Loop Auction possible. It is your skills and talents that made the auction a success and make this gallery come to life. While we know it's not perfect and will never be so, this gallery is our tribute to you... the talented creative Artists and Artisans of Lincoln County, New Mexico.

Our hat is off to you!

To visit our Art Auction gallery, click here (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/569). We've created a 6 page gallery containing 61 photos of the art offered and sold that night. Each page of our gallery contains 12 images and there are 6 pages of photos. Click the page numbers in the gray page navigation bars above and below the 12 images on each page to view more gallery pages.

Each thumbnail in the gallery is clickable. When it is clicked, a second -- larger -- image is displayed. If that second larger image is also clicked, our third and largest image of each work will be displayed for you to enjoy.


Best Professional Regards,
Greg Platt
WebMaster and Alleged-Publiser (a.k.a. Person-to-Blame)
Steppin' Out New Mexico - www.SONewMex.com (http://www.sonewmex.com/)