.box {
float:right;
margin:0 0 5px 15px;
padding:15px 0 15px 15px;
width:270px;
color:#404040;
font-family:Futura, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
border-top:solid 1px #404040;
border-right:solid 1px #404040;
border-left:solid 1px #404040;
border-bottom:solid 1px #404040;
background-color:#f1f2f2;
-moz-column-count:2; /* Firefox */
-webkit-column-count:2; /* Safari and Chrome */
column-count:2;
}
#box {
float:right;
margin:0 0 5px 15px;
padding:15px 0 15px 15px;
width:270px;
color:#404040;
font-family:Futura, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
border-top:solid 1px #404040;
border-right:solid 1px #404040;
border-left:solid 1px #404040;
border-bottom:solid 1px #404040;
background-color:#f1f2f2;
-moz-column-count:2; /* Firefox */
-webkit-column-count:2; /* Safari and Chrome */
column-count:2;
}
Has “emerging art” become a dirty word?
While some would argue that “aspiring,” “newly-exhibiting” or “undiscovered” are politically more fitting, L’Anne Gilman of Gilman Contemporary in Ketchum explained, “You want to be careful about pigeon-holing an artist as ‘emerging.’ While it can generate interest, unfortunately, to some, it has a negative connotation. But we are hoping to change that.”
This criticism is mainly due to its slippery definition—although most agree that all “promising yet unrecognized” artists are considered “emerging,” others insist on its synonymy with “young.” Australia’s National Association for the Visual Arts went as far as to define it as “[one] that will have practiced as a professional artist continually for less than 5 years.”
But, as Gail Severn of the Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum points out, “There are emerging artists who are recent graduates, but even more who waited to pursue a career in art until after they’d lived another life—had babies or owned a business. Then there are those that have been creating art their entire life but are just now gaining notoriety.”
Despite its ambiguous definition, both Gilman Contemporary and Gail Severn have been doing their best to promote emerging artwork in Sun Valley. “We considered it part of our mission when we opened,” said Gilman. “We felt that the emerging art scene here, especially for local artists, was very important and yet underdeveloped.”
Left: "The Passenger" by Chatham Baker. Right: "She Carried Arrows of Feather and Bone" by Chatham Baker. Bottom: Andy McCabe's "Speed Kills" mixed media and enamel on reclaimed wood
Gilman Contemporary has had a local artist show almost every year since 2007, including now big names like Valerie Stuart, and this October they will be presenting Wendel Wirth, a local contemporary photographer who mentored with Gilman while getting her Master of Fine Arts online.
“The directed study with L’Anne helped a monumental amount,” said Wirth, who had been practicing photography for 18 years while shooting advertorial and product shots for her (now closed) local pet shop. “So few photographers have the opportunity to learn the gallery aspect of a show, how they work and what they want and need from me, as a beginning artist.”
Wirth isn’t the only emerging artist doing solo shows in Sun Valley, young local talent like Aaron Pearson, Chatham Baker and Andrew McCabe all recently had exhibitions at Ochi Gallery.
Pauli Ochi, daughter of owner Denis Ochi, has been making strides for the young art community in the Valley. “There is a lot of art here,” she said, “But not a lot of it is local or young. I think these shows are important because they inspire other ‘young’ artists.”
Shows like the 2nd annual Death to Day Jobs exhibition each spring, which featured 11 budding local artists, helped “bring everyone together,” Pauli said. “Artists need to be talking to other artists. The more people are aware, the more it will catch on.”
Unfortunately, showing emerging art isn’t always a realistic endeavor for galleries—while they appreciate the potential, it is admittedly a risk for their business. “It’s hard,” said Gilman. “We would love to do more shows like that, but it’s just not possible financially.”
Brooke Bonner is a fine art photographer and owned Green Antelope Gallery in Bellevue for seven years. As she explained, “There is limited wall space in galleries. I know that better than anyone. Local artists can’t expect representation. They need to get comfortable marketing themselves and searching for other avenues to display their work.”
That’s one reason Bonner helped create the Wood River Valley Studio Tour, together with Suzanne Hazlett, which begins this October. Over 50 artists from all over the Wood River Valley will open their homes and studios for two days, allowing locals to meet the artists and explore our Valley’s network of talented creatives.
The tour also provides an ongoing Artist Education Series, which helps beginners learn how to present shows, take quality photographs of their work, market their art or create a digital presence. “There are a lot of wonderful artists out there, and this is a great opportunity for them to gain exposure and learn the industry,” said Bonner.
Chatham Baker, one of the local emerging artists recently featured at Ochi Gallery, noted, “This town has a very sophisticated art scene, but there is a gap somewhere between the coffee shop shows and the well-established galleries. I would love to see the rise of artist co-ops, more street art and alternative displays.”
Because the physical space for a show is typically expensive to rent and renovate, and gallery walls are both limited and competitive, these “alternative displays” are becoming more and more popular.
Many young artists are moving their work where the rent is free and easy—to the streets. Innovators like the British street artist Banksy have resurged the 1980s Graffiti Movement, and in metropolises like Buenos Aires, they have tours of some of the best and freshest in urban art—using the city streets and subway trains as their own avant-garde galleries.
In Ketchum, on a much smaller scale, they have planted the seeds for something similar. The “Cover Art Project” has four Idaho artists wrapping vinyl images around utility boxes, otherwise awkward and ugly structures made beautiful by local hands. Hoping to gain momentum in 2013, it’s “aimed at beautifying the city’s existing infrastructure,” according to the Ketchum Arts Commission.
Another ever-expanding and rent-free space where many artists have turned is online. Barbi Anne Reed, former owner of the Anne Reed Gallery in Ketchum, recognized the potential in this forum and decided to turn her entire gallery virtual. ARTProjectA, as it’s called, explains on its website that they “recognized the growing need for easier access to affordable fine ART that is also high quality, distinctive, and unique.”
Whether popping up on street corners, hanging on virtual walls, displayed prominently in galleries or being produced feverishly in dark studios, it seems that art—especially here in Sun Valley—will always find a way.
This New Year's Eve, be sure to check out the Ochi Gallery's exhibition, The Value of a Line, featuring Heather Hansen.
