Task 150 local artists with one simple but open-ended assignment — to decorate an 8-inch-square panel — and you can count on a dazzling display of diversity and talent.
All 150 artworks are up now on the walls of the Columbia Room at the Vancouver Community Library, but they won’t be there for long. Everything goes on sale today for $30 apiece at 5 p.m. sharp, when December’s downtown First Friday Art Walk begins, and branch manager Jackie Spurlock expects there to be something of a run on the art then, as the library’s art sale also begins.
The sale is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Vancouver Community Library organization — the same volunteer group that maintains the perpetual book sale in the library entranceway. The money from this sale will be dedicated entirely to more community art displays at the library, according to organizer Charles Forshew.
In fact this whole project is about community, Spurlock said. The Friends organization bought the lumber. Panels were cut by Friends of the Carpenter, the local homeless day center and woodworking shop, and then the library and its Friends started distributing them at First Friday Art Walk events. A couple of local schools asked if their art classes could have some panels in bulk. Many members of the Southwest Washington Watercolor Society took up the project as a group. So did some families that Spurlock knows, with family members doing their own panel.
If You Go
• What: “Art4Art,” a display and sale of 150 small works by local artists.
• When: Sale begins at 5 p.m. today, ends 6 p.m. Monday.
• Where: Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St.
• Prices: $30 each.
• Sponsored by: Friends of the Vancouver Community Library.
• On the web: www.fovcl.org/
First Friday Art Walk
Download the latest hotsheet for the monthly downtown Vancouver event: www.vdausa.org/first-friday-downtown
The panels grew so popular and sought-after, Spurlock said, it was funny to remember that they were in fact still blank.
“It has been a very gratifying process,” she said. “Some very well-known artists in Vancouver took some panels and did some amazing things with them. Also, some people who have never done art before and they’re looking at this as a way to start.”
Nearly all of the artworks are unsigned, except on the back. When you see them up on the walls of the library’s Columbia Room, nearly all will be anonymous and equal (except for a very few front signatures that slipped through).
“That’s one of the ideas behind this, that all the art is on a level playing field. They’re all side by side and they’re all $30. This is art by the community, for the community,” Spurlock said. “We strongly preferred they not be signed on the front, and will probably emphasize that more for next year. But this year, we are accepting all of them gladly. It will be a stunning show.”
Most are paintings. But some are drawings and some are even 3-D, with ceramics, sculpture and other media attached to the panels, Spurlock said. “Some are very abstract and modern, some are traditional, some are very cute. There is no topic or theme or even a common medium. There are all kinds, and they’re just beautiful.”
Many of the artists will be on hand during today’s First Friday reception. Music will be provided by guitar duo Mike Beaton and Zaven Papakhian.
Spurlock is serious about that 5 p.m. run on artworks. Nobody has been allowed to reserve anything and there’s no presale — but Spurlock knows of several artists, young artists’ parents and library staffers who have their eyes on particular prizes they mean to grab as soon as the sale opens.
You literally snatch it off the wall, march it to the cashier, pay up and call it your own, Spurlock said. The sale will continue through Monday evening.
