Arts Agenda
Arts Agenda
Gallery News & Other Notes
by Orin Buck
The Arthouse is a brand new gallery at 1 06 E. Liberty on the second floor, above Selo-Shevel Gallery. Open since January 26, it is throwing an opening party Friday February 9th from 6 to midnight. The press release States: "The Arthouse is a multimedia gallery featuring artists works in traditional media such as sculpture, painting, illustration, and photography, as well as new media like animation, and computer graphics. It is a forum for exceptional local and national talents to display cutting-edge artwork. The goal of the Arthouse is to support and expose the starving artist through the selling of artist-designed products and fine art collectibles."
The first show is a group show with the emphasis on museum-style modern art. Gallery Director Krysta Ahn s a professional photographer, and is expanding into the art business with the positive attitude which is required to sell art in Ann Arbor. Tony Keene, whose ceramic sculpture is in the Arthouse show, is opening his own shop just down the hall of the same building. He says: "Art and the World Wide Web is a new Internet development site and a fine art gallery featuring national artists and artisans. Our goal is to contribute to the development of a quality local web." In February Art and the WWW features Keene's own recent works with an opening the same night as The Arthouse's. The web site is at http://MENDEZ5000.com
Just upstairs from The Arthouse and Art and the WWW is Griff's Jams. Every Thursday there is either a music jam in the old sound studio of WPAG of The Gathering, where artists in all media and others are invited to discuss art and life. With the wild mix of ethnic and other unusual artifacts in Selo Shevel Gallery downstairs, this building has suddenly become a center for the arts. Griff's Jams will also be open the night of Friday Feb. 9.
Bruise Gallery in Kerrytown, 415 Fifth Ave., run by Kendra Williams and Joshua Moyer, has a more eclectic mix than The Arthouse. Transplanted from downtown Ypsilanti, Bruise Gallery has been in its present location since last April. At this time it has an impressive stock of fine art, graphic novels (comic books), other unusual books, prints, jewelry, clothing, and ethnic folk art, including American primitive or "outsider" art. It also has an impressive collection of tough-looking handmade drums. According to Moyer the store changes its mix of contents regularly as things sell out and new items come in, so if you've already seen the place once you will be surprised by the changes if you go back now. Some live performances have occurred in the gallery, and Moyer tells of art, videos and books long since sold out.
Moyer is from New Orleans and has extensive contacts with American primitive artists. One called Sam executed a mural filling Hing a wall of the gallery. The present selection includes several works by Howard Finster.
Kerrytown brought them in to add new color to ts retail mix. Perhaps many people who frequent Kerrytown are repelled by the bland chain-store atmosphere of a Briarwood, but Bruise Gallery is a little too much even for some of them. A different crowd is attracted to the gallery, and the other retailers are only gradually getting used to it.
Also in Kerrytown is the new Berman-Pelletier Gallery, which has left ts old location next to Zingerman's on Detroit St. An Open House s planned for Saturday February 10, 10 am-6 pm. In Kerrytown this gallery should be in a better position to sell from its collection of Italian lighting designs and custom furniture. As noted in previous issues, it will stilt sell fine art including new prints from original Laszlo Moholy-Nagy negatives.
The 34th Ann Arbor Film Festival will blast off March 12-17, and it needs volunteers for a variety of tasks before and during the festival. To my mind this is still the greatest contemporary art event in Ann Arbor all year, any year. It's worth the effort to develop a taste for art film if you have any ambition to appreciate art, and this is the place to do it in Ann Arbor. Cali 995-5356 to volunteer.
AGENDA readers may be especially interested in an exhibit of Art by Michigan Prisoners with an Alcatraz Island Installation by Richard Kamler. Prisoners are one of the fastest growing cultures in our nation, and if you want to see some of their work it will be displayed in the galleries on Rackham's third floor Feb. 20-28. The exhibit was put together by U-M English professor Buzz Alexander, who founded the Prison Theater Project and the Prison Creative Arts Project.