Connecting at Art Auctions

What exactly does this mean: connecting at art auctions? Simply stated: I introduce and reintroduce myself to, and converse with, artists during two art auctions. This interaction Is the best part of each evening. The worst is the discomfort of watching art bids below market value, while artist donors observe. But this is an entirely separate posting, for another time.

At a fundraiser for Greenville Hospital System's Cancer Research Institute, hosted by Frame Warehouse in Greer, SC, I settle into a conversation with photographer Janet Barnes, while appreciatively munching on a slice of her pistachio-coconut cake. Tom Rickis, painter and president of the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg (of which I am a member), is also present and always ready to share Guild news. He is encouraged by the increased level of in-kind donations for the second annual Artists Going Live event, which is a "fundraiser for the arts."

The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg is holding the event at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC. During my October artist residency in Paducah, KY, I describe Spartanburg as a sister city to Greenville and, although I like to think this is an apt term for the urban centers' relationship, it may be more hope than reality. My experience to date reveals two separate circles of artists with very little overlap, although I'd love for it to be otherwise. Please correct me if this perception is false.

Connecting at art auctions, at the Guild's Artists Going Live: paper artist Carol Funke, pen-and-paper artist John Hill, bead artist Melissa Earley, and painter Deborah Jane Wall. All Guild members demonstrating "live."

Carol Funke is on my list of people to meet, because I seek out artists who work in paper. Carol is a paper maker who reassembles her components into relief-style wall pieces. I am instinctively drawn to her textural white "Circles" - one in a series based on the circle, triangle, and square - and delight when the artist invites me to touch. Only now, back home, do I realize that I missed her handmade paper workshop earlier today at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute/Furman University). But I am glad to finally connect the artist with the work.

John Hill arrives tonight with a partially-begun pen drawing that finds its completion well before Artists Going Live is nearing a close. I've missed his live performance but have been drawn (hmmm...pun here?) to his work previously. Upon initial sighting, I conclude - falsely - that his relatively small drawings are computer generated. They are precise, inventive, and a heck of a lot more interesting than zentangles. These technical pen creations are akin to doodles that both wander and congregate, in the manner of dreams. Can I check out your sketchbook one day, John?

Melissa Earley is stitching large black and white beads, creating another in her series of Enlightened philosophers' portraits. The artist shares that she majored in philosophy, likes the pixelation effect generated by the scale of these beads, and the fact that the portraits only reveal themselves at a distance. You'll see on her website how Melissa moves from drawing to painting to beading. And that she also creates portraits with colorful minuscule glass beads - 285 per square inch (!) - using a traditional Native American stitch.

Deborah Jane Wall answers my question before it forms completely: "The black specks are charcoal." The black specks are indeed a dynamic, dimensional aspect of Deborah Jane's painting - an energetic plane of blues, greys, and white. (Sorry, I couldn't locate your Facebook page.) I ask that she talk about the work she has created within the past hour; the artist confides that she was nervous (who wouldn't be, performing extemporaneously?), not knowing what would emerge tonight. I sense that Deborah Jane rode the surfboard of her anxiety confidently over the waves of uncertainty. She is smiling. 

Yes, the best part of art auctions: connecting with artists.