October 27, 2004
Ignorance bliss for Boys and Girls Club
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
While credentials, training and name recognition were missing, talent, creativity and enthusiasm weighed in heavily Saturday evening at the Ignorant Art Show.
Held in the basement of the Johnson Building, the show featured the work of 13 amateur artists and drew 350 attendees. Participating artists donated ten percent of any sales to the Boys and Girls Club of Grand Traverse, while proceeds from two pieces went solely to the club.
Eight pieces sold and the show raised approximately $5,800 for the Boys and Girls Club of Grand Traverse.
"We're excited, it is more than double the last one," said Robin Buchner, office administrator for the club of the $2,200 raised by an Ignorant Art show held in May.
"It is amazing, we're very happy," she noted. "If the show just grows every time, it will be awesome."
Except for $750, the money raised for the club will go into a general operating fund. Buchner noted that artist Jim Dawson designated this sum from the sale of his painting "Git R Done" for a fund to fix the facility's gym floor.
"These are the kinds of things that help us keep going," Buchner said of the fundraiser.
The show featured a wide range of media - oils, acrylic, photographs and silver prints - on a variety of backgrounds, including canvas, aluminum and steel. Styles in the juried show represented ranged from abstract to minimalist to representational to unclassifiable.
Strategically hung construction lights illuminated the works, brightening the cavernous brick- and wood-walled basement underneath North Peak Brewing Company. The show went up in two hours Saturday afternoon and was taken down in two hours Sunday afternoon.
The Ignorant Art Show is the brainchild of Ryan Wells, who works in finance and property management by day and is an artist at night. Wells is the brother of the Boys and Girls Club's executive director, Meredith Wells Kerr. The idea of a fundraiser that also highlighted and encouraged amateur artists was a natural mix.
Wells was determined to provide a venue for other 'untrained' artists like himself, a way for them to share their passion and creations.
"For me personally, it is because I'm self taught," said Wells, who created a new series of work for each show. "I'm not trying to be negative to the fine arts community in Traverse City, but there are other artists in the community who share their drive."
Ryan Grenier fits the bill of the untrained artist toiling during non-career hours. Working in finance at Hagerty Insurance, Grenier paints in a range of styles and has never had an art class in his life. He started painting a three years ago after his wife gave him painting supplies for Christmas. By New Year's Day he had completed a piece and launched a new and consuming pastime.
"I didn't ever think I would be in an art show," Grenier said. "I kind of like not having any training because I just think it allows you to be more creative. You just do whatever you feel comes naturally and I'm not worried about mixing the right color or doing the right technique."
Wells believes that the Ignorant Art concept also applies to the viewer or the purchaser. Being a patron of the arts does not require external education or keeping up with trends, but an internal compass of what grabs someone emotionally.
"People who come into my studio say, 'I don't know anything about art,'" he noted. "Then they go into an excellent explanation of what they like, what they want."
Wells has also inspired members of the Boys and Girls club. For both Ignorant Art shows, he stretched a canvas at the club and invited members to paint it. Sixteen members helped paint the most recent work, which sold for $325 Saturday night. The club's first collaborative painting, which sold at the show in May, was donated to a local McDonald's by the purchaser. It now hangs in the restaurant's play area.
"They just took the brush and started going, the idea was to make it all individual yet come together," said Christal Wilcox, director of operations, of the latest effort. "Becky Wakefield, our program director, helped the kids and taught them different techniques."