Silversmithing photo by Tara Burns

WBCA In the News

Painters perform at art center
Patrons can watch as canvases fill

By MARY BAUER | May 17, 2006

You can't rush art. Or can you?

On Saturday, 45 artists will converge on the White Bear Center for the Arts and each produce an original piece, start to finish, in eight hours. With an audience.

"It's like the most fabulous cocktail party you've ever gone to, only in an artist studio with 45 artists," said Suzi Hudson, executive director of the center.

It's the second year for Open Canvas, a frenzied art-athon that last year raised $30,000 for the center and for a scholarship to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

The center gives each artist a 30-by-40-inch sheet of canvas and acrylic paints, and they're off. The pieces are sold through a silent auction as patrons saunter among canvases.

"Every artist comes up with a different vision for that blank canvas," Hudson said. "You think, 'Wow, this is what art is.' There isn't any similarity in the entire room of artists."

Last year's artists produced more than 40 pieces, including landscapes, abstracts and a still life or two. One artist brought a model dressed in an exotic costume. Another painted a nude — from memory.

The idea is antithetical to popular notions of art as something produced in isolation at a leisurely pace. And that's the point.

"There's this intense anticipation of how a piece is going to evolve and turn out," Hudson said. "It's a really unique opportunity for people to witness how people work in the creative process."

This year's artists include sculptor Allen Christian of the House of Balls, as in bowling balls; Mike Judy, a well-known pastel artist who describes his work as a mix of Matisse and Mad Magazine; and Frank Zeller, a nationally renowned water colorist.

The artists get a head start, arriving at 1 p.m. The doors open to the public at 6 p.m., and the last auction closes at 10 p.m.

Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the door of the White Bear Lake Armory, 2228 Fourth St. For tickets, call the arts center at 651-407-0597. For more information and to see photos of last year's event, go to www.whitebear arts.org.

Mary Bauer can be reached at mbauer@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5311.

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