3/07/08
Baker students have worked hard to put together the last Art Affair show of the year, which will include a variety of works by local artists.
Lesley Gillaspie, Art Affair student director, said this show will be called “Our Community,” and it will be larger than the show that is currently displayed in the gallery. The show will open 5-8 p.m. March 28.
Gillaspie said some regional artists’ pieces featured will be paintings by Mike Cullens, jewelry by Christy Carlisle and blown glass by Vernon Brejcha. Gillaspie said the show is really eclectic.
Professor of Art Inge Balch said this gallery is very important to local artists because they need exposure, and some featured artists in this new show have been involved in Art Affair before.
Balch said the shows are not always a wide variety of works, but mostly, they will consist of two or three different types of pieces.
Balch said the gallery was always meant to be a teaching tool more than a business. She said her aim is to help students learn to work with pieces of art, how to price the work and how to sell their own pieces.
“We have one of the nicest little galleries around, and it is only able to operate when the students have time in their schedule to run it,” Balch said.
Balch said her hope is that by this time next year, the gallery will be a classroom for gallery study instead of being only for work-study students.
Gillaspie said Art Affair benefits the students just as much as the local artists.
“It allows students to see the business side of art, which very few universities teach,” Gillaspie said.
Freshman Esther Grear has been working at the Art Affair gallery since November, and said she helps set up and take down shows.
Along with others, Grear helps coordinate how to arrange the art and talks to people who come in the gallery about the artists and their work.
When it has student art shows, Grear said the gallery helps local artists and even student artists get publicity for their work. She said she benefits from working at Art Affair even though she is not an art major like the other students working there.
“Working here helps me prepare and learn the process of running a business,” Grear said.