Earlier this summer, cosmetics-heir-turned-art-collector Ronald Lauder paid $135 million for a portrait by Gustav Klimt: Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Obviously collectors like Lauder are willing to pay that amount for a painting for other than economic reasons. Perhaps it is prestige, status, ego or even a passion for collecting. In Lauder’s case, he has spent huge sums of money creating a museum for German and Austrian art in New York called Neue Gallerie.

I read two articles in July about the trend, one in Slate magazine by Daniel Gross who determined that yes, indeed art is a good investment and a Bloomberg article by London based writer Linda Sandler that concludes art is not a good investment.

Gross focused on the Mei Moses Fine Art Index compiled by two professors at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Michael Moses and Jiangping Mei, who compile data and track the long-term performance of fine art. The Mei Moses index focuses on mature artists whose works command significant prices and have been sold repeatedly at auction. Mei and Moses then compare their indices to the S&P; 500.

The Mei and Moses All Art Annual Index 2005 shows that over the last 50 years, stocks (S&P; 500) returned 10.95 percent annually, while the art index returned 10.47 percent per annum. Between 200 and 2005, the art index dominated stock performance returning 7.27 percent per annum while stocks dipped into the negative -2.40 percent.

The hottest sector in art performance is American art created before 1950, which is up 25.2 percent in the last year. Masterpieces like the Klimt and old masters haven’t done as well. They are like the blue-chip stocks, limited in quantity, safe and stable. In art, as with stocks, the greatest opportunity for growth comes in finding a hot new sector or artist.

Unlike stocks, art is not liquid. And like stocks, art is susceptible to exuberance.

A few investment wizards have tried to create art investment funds, but most have failed, including Fernwood Art Investments, which was created by a Merrill Lynch executive.

The Bloomberg article utilized a Merrill Lynch study, which concluded “art is one of the worst ways for investors to try to make money.” Merrill Lynch says that art investors “Have a 17 percent chance of losing money over five years.”

In London, they did create the Fine Art Fund, which is still in business but according to Gross “it hasn’t made much of a mark.”

Sandler points out: “Modern art prices have more than doubled since 1998.” But she clarifies that “modern and contemporary prices are being buoyed by a narrowing group of the most expensive paintings.”

According to the Merrill charts, Sandler concludes, that real estate and small U.S. stocks are performing best in the current decade and that art, foreign stocks and the S&P; 500 are the worst performers.

That narrow group of expensive paintings is by artists who most likely died poor. Most artists do not benefit when their work appreciates in value over time. One art fund is hoping to change that.

The Artist Pension Trust allows artists to donate a work of art to the fund and then over time the fund will sell the works and the member artists will receive an income stream from the trust. Currently, this mutual assurance society is available in seven cities around the world and is curated by highly experienced professionals. By giving their art to the fund the artists hope to make money in the future.

While most artists continue to struggle to make ends meet and most art buyers are not billionaires with deep pockets, it seems silly to discuss art as an investment, but working in the art world I see regular people buying art they love while hoping that someday it will increase in value. (That, or god forbid, they are buying art to match their sofa).

The average art buyer should not consider buying art as an investment. Buy it because you love it.

More critically, if you want art you can pass down to your children and grandchildren then buy a real painting and not a giclée or signed and numbered print. Only a real work of art will hold its value.

Don’t confuse a signed and numbered etching with a print. The traditional art of printmaking is the only true way of knowing that you actually have print 5 of 30 because the printmaker destroys the copper plate they used to make the print. There is no way to know that an artist who is printing giclée prints on their inkjet printer at home has only printed 100 of them and will not print another 100 because the image has sold well.

Most galleries offer lay away and it is better to invest in the real work and pay over time than to take home the giclée because it is more affordable.

If you do chose to purchase a giclée find out about the pigments used in the printing and the sealant to protect the work. Certain pigments will only work with certain papers or canvases and there is no guarantee that the work will last without fading. Be sure to use a reputable dealer when buying giclée.

“Undulating Vase,” Peter Karner; “Continuum 3-D” and “Continuum 042004″ Intuition Markers by D. Michael Coffee; “Yell Fire,” ceramic and wood by Judy Brey; “Moonhouse,” “Labyrinth,” “Echo Canyon,” and “Spirit Walker” by Boots Brown; “In-Situ” Intuition Marker by D. Michael Coffee.

Review:

Ceramic art is born in fire. The work of Boots Brown in the fifth annual David Hunt Ceramics Invitational at the Fort Lewis College Gallery also is born of technical skill and careful craftsmanship.

Without meticulous technique such as Brown’s, the art will be marred.

His bulbous vessels are large, yet the walls are thin and burnished to a luster. Copper, iron oxide and salt mixed with hay, sawdust and wood fuel the patterns created by the reduction of oxygen during pit firing. The artist has limited control over what emerges from the pit; the aesthetic pattern in “Echo Canyon” ($300) a platter with a thick gray area contrasting with the rust orange and charcoal black markings is my favorite of Brown’s four pieces.

D. Michael Coffee also shows bulbous vessels: “Continuum 042004″ ($695) and the smaller “Continuum 3-D” ($495). Both are vivid lapis blue and metallic pewter. Coffee also shows “In Situ: Intuition Marker” ($695) three pillow-shaped ceramic rocks, one large, iron-oxide red and atop that a medium, speckled yellow and next to them a small, lapis blue. A Zen art garden.

Lisa Pedolsky’s work is small and elegant. “Canister I” ($120), “Canister II” ($95) and “Canister III” ($68) are pyramid-topped boxes with aligning black semi-circles joining the lid and the vessel. The canisters are ivory with terra-cotta squiggles and marks like Arabic written in the glaze.

I found glaring mistakes in Pedolsky’s work. The semicircles did not line up on the canisters. A smudge of ivory glaze bled onto the terra-cotta line dividing the lid from the vessel. This mistake was right in front next to the focal point. Over-wiped edges on the smaller canister leave terra cotta streaks showing through. Hairline cracks are visible on “Dandelion Platter” ($195). These mistakes detract from Pedolsky’s otherwise interesting aesthetic.

One work that merges aesthetics, color and craftsmanship is “Undulating Vase” ($350) by Peter F. Karner. The wavy construction of the vase is echoed in the scalloped layers of turquoise, green, orange and copper glaze, created using wax resist.

J. Burnite creates texturally intriguing work, scratching into the clay and using scraps and strips of clay. He says he is motivated by questions of what is possible in designing a shape. “Introspective View II” ($700) has a zigzag base with a doughnut-shaped vessel balanced on top. A glob of glue appears to be holding the work in place, and made me wonder if this shape wasn’t possible without the glue. Like Pedolsky, Burnite’s craftsmanship did not seem equal to his aesthetic vision.

Chyako Hashimoto’s “Mori” ($450) vessel reminds me of corrugated Mesa Verde pottery on steroids. I’m not sure what the accompanying organic shapes are supposed to represent and they detract from the large vessel. Hashimoto explained that Mori is a forest in Japan and describes the work as fire cured. A pungent scent of smoke radiates from the vessel.

Ceramic figures by Judy Brey round out the exhibition. “Yell Fire,” ($150) a ceramic figure atop driftwood legs hangs on the wall. The sculpture moves. There is tension in the arms. There is the sense of leaping, flying and wondering where one might land. “Always There” ($300) is a seated figure holding flowers in her hands and “This World Held” ($350) is a male figure with a blue baby tucked casually under his folded arm. Brey’s work is edgy and filled with tension.

” the piece represents our current world situation held in such a negligent and careless manner,” she writes in her artist statement.

I wish less of the work in this show was presented in a negligent and careless manner.

Jackson Clark at Toh-Ahtin Gallery has spent the last year putting together a collection of pottery for the Fall Colorfest Gallery Walk this Friday. Other gallery owners and managers also have diligently prepared to highlight new artists and new work from represented artists.

Toh-Ahtin will feature work by the legendary potter of San Ildefonso, Maria Martinez, an artist whose reputation and matte and shiny black-on-black works are easily recognizable. Additionally, the work of two contemporary artists, Terry Gasdin, a Hopi-Akimel O’Odahm sculptor and Kachina carver, and John Tissaw, who creates engraved sandstone tables and wall hangings with traditional petroglyph designs, will be highlighted.

Sorrel Sky will emphasize the work of local watercolorist Pat Howard. Howard has a background in design and illustration and has been a painter for 19 years. Her work is bright in color and she is attracted to pattern and texture as reflected in the subject matter of her paintings: flowers, rugs, landscapes, rocks and fruits.

Rain Dance is focusing on the colorful paintings of Peruvian painter Juan de la Cruz. Cruz, who began painting when he was 6 years old, creates vibrant pastoral paintings of his native country.

Open Shutter unveils “Spirit of the West,” an exhibition of work by Shane Knight, Robb Kendrick, Jenny Gummersall, Larry Price, Janet Woodcock, Tony Stromberg, Adam Jahiel, Chip Thomas, Emilio Mercado, Dean Conger and Paul Boyer. All are photographers specializing in images of the Western lifestyle.

Lime Berry continues to highlight its collection of work by local artists, including the dynamic work of Navajo folk artist Leland Holiday, the fun sculptures of Amy Vaclav-Felker and the creations of Deborah Gorton, Amy Schwarzbach and Angie Steinberger. All artists will have new work on display during Gallery Walk.

Karyn Gabaldon Fine Art will focus on metal and bronze works by Jeff Brown, Karin Schminke and Julie and Ken Girardini. These metallic, three-dimensional items will contrast nicely with Gabaldon’s own watercolors and landscapes, which are on sale Friday and Saturday only.

Ellis Crane highlights “Process,” a new series of mixed-media work by local artist Krista Harris, and new encaustic work by Albuquerque artist Sally Condon.

The large silk-screen works of Edward Lambert are still on display at Durango Arts Center, and Local Expressions features the work of local potter Rebecca Barfoot and pastels by Bethany Bachmann. Jim and Eileen Baumgardt will show their work and that of other local photographers at Image Counts. Earthen Vessel will host the work of potter Randy Bowens and Angels and Lights features a new line of dichroic jewelry.

A new gallery, located at Habitat Home Supply, will introduce visitors to the work of 15 local artists who are donating 50 percent of their sales to support the mission of Habitat for Humanity.

Participating galleries are:

• Angels and Lights, 726� Main Ave.

• Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.

• Earthen Vessel, 115 West Ninth St.

• Ellis Crane, 934A Main Ave.

• Habitat Home Supply Art Gallery, 600 East Second Ave., Ste. E

• Image Counts, 835 Main Ave. No. 108

• Karyn Gabaldon Fine Art, 680 Main Ave.

• Lime Berry, 925 Main Ave.

• Open Shutter, 755 East Second Ave.

• Rain Dance, 945 Main Ave.

• Sorrel Sky, 870 Main Ave.

• Toh-Atin, 145 West Ninth St.

artsjournalist@centurytel.netLeanne Goebel is a freelance writer focusing on the arts.

“Spiritual Sentinel,” “Deco Dude,” and detail from “Tattoo Totem,” all screenprint on cotton canvas by Edward Lambert

How do entrepreneurial business owners balance the passion they have for their product and the demands of the consumer? Savvy, successful enterprises manage to achieve equilibrium. Many small businesses fail because they cannot strike this balance.

I live in a small town with a tourism-based economy. Summer is the busiest season in spite of our proximity to a ski area. We have very long shoulder seasons. During March and April many local businesses wonder how they will survive. I’ve seen a lot of business come and go—for lack of vision, lack of funding, lack of planning, lack of customers.

Lack of customers is an illusion. It is blaming the customer for the failure of the business to do its homework. There are things we need in this small town. Things the residents would like to have access to, but do not. Perhaps we didn’t really need a truck accessories store or an artisan jewelry boutique or a flower shop. With a limited population it is difficult to support the overhead that many retail businesses require. Or perhaps, these businesses didn’t do enough.

I am actively involved in a local contemporary arts center. For two years we have launched exhibitions, sold artwork, sponsored workshops and lectures and done some very active market research—learning what people like and don’t like, defining our audience, attracting like-minded associates. It’s research that has required tens of thousands of dollars. Today, we know what the numbers look like. We have a clear idea of what we can do to make money and what endeavors we undertake that are loss-leaders and what are incredibly valuable and meaningful events for the community, but do not make money that will require sponsorship and grant funding. We have shifted our priorities to focus on the money-making enterprise that will fund the valuable community endeavors.

Which is what a small business owners must do, as well. Shanan Campbell Wells started her Sorrel Sky gallery thinking that she would provide Western art, fill a niche that she saw was missing in the Durango art scene. Today, four years later, her gallery has morphed into a balance of art she likes, artists she enjoys working with and what her customers will buy.

It comes down to market research.

Market research can be as simple as collecting zip codes from customers, asking them to fill out a comment card or as complex as purchasing $4,500 research studies on the world buyers of costume jewelry.

The website www.knowthis.com provides access to some of the free market research that is out there. Want to know about bloggers? Home furniture and appliance trends? Gourmet food statistics? Then check out their website for this handy information.

Locally, try your county’s office of economic development, your town’s chamber of commerce and the local library for access to information on the demographics of the community in which you operate a business. Talking to other business owners is key. How long have they been in business? What is the most difficult thing they’ve dealt with as a business owner? What do they know about their customers? The cycles?

Most small business owners have defined their business; the product or service they offer, how they differ from the competition; and how they will promote and distribute their product or service.

What they don’t spend as much time on is defining their customers. Are they men or women? How old? How much money do they make? Where do they live? What patterns or habits do they have? What do they read? Where do they shop? What do they listen to? What do they watch? What do they value about your product or service? And what can you do to keep those existing customers happy? And how do you reach those people? Where do you find them?

Once a business knows this, they can develop a proactive plan to reach out to those people. If I want to open a jewelry boutique in a small town that doesn’t have a large enough population to support the cost of doing business, then I can access a broader client base by selling my jewelry on Ebay, through a website or in catalogs that do reach my prospective client.

Knowing my customer and how best to reach them is the key to a successful enterprise.

Pagosa Springs is getting a new road sign. The sign will recognize Pagosa as a Preserve America Community.

The Preserve America Community program is a White House initiative that encourages and supports community efforts “to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage, use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization and encourage people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through education and heritage tourism programs.”

Benefits of designation include White House recognition; eligibility to apply for Preserve America grants; a certificate of recognition; a Preserve America Community road sign; authorization to use the Preserve America logo on signs, flags, banners and promotional materials; listing in a Web-based Preserve America Community directory; inclusion in national and regional press releases; official notification of designation to State tourism offices and visitor bureaus; and enhanced community visibility and pride.

Mayor Ross Aragon and Shari Pierce, chairperson of the Pagosa Springs historic preservation board received the award at a ceremony in Durango, another Preserve America Community. Other Colorado towns designated as Preserve America Communities include: Breckenridge, Cripple Creek, Fort Collins, Frisco, Georgetown, Glenwood Springs, Greeley, Lake City, Leadville, Montezuma County, Park County, Pueblo, Silverton and Steamboat Springs.

According to the Pagosa Springs SUN, town planners Tamra Allen and Joe Nigg submitted the application for the designation in July, in hopes that the town would receive national recognition for its efforts to preserve the downtown historic district and its local historic resources.

The most important benefit of the designation is not the highway sign, but the eligibility to apply for Preserve America grants, which can range from $20,000 to $150,000. The initiative offers Preserve America communities access to technical, financial and economic development assistance as well as other economic incentives.

These funds might be used to help fund the San Juan Historical Society Museum or to develop an historic walking tour of Pagosa Springs. Grant funding might also fund research and historic documentation, historic landmark or building identification signage and education and marketing efforts.

In 2006, Preserve America grants were awarded to three Colorado projects.

The Southeast Colorado Heritage Tourism program received $130,000, awarded to the Colorado Historical Society and the State Historic Preservation office to create a regional marketing program for heritage tourism in six-county rural region of Southeast Colorado. The grant will fund a public-private partnership with the goal of increasing visitation and revenue to historic sites and local tourism supported businesses.

The Soapstone Prairie Natural Area received $147,563 awarded to the Fort Collins Museum and the City of Fort Collins to collect oral histories from various sources surrounding the Fort Collins and Soapstone Prairie Natural Area community. The goal is an eventual exhibit that will educate and inform the public on the history of the area.

The Steamboat Springs Cultural Heritage Interpretive and Education program received $35,000, awarded to the City of Steamboat Springs to support the development of a Cultural Heritage Tourism program in Steamboat Springs by developing an interpretive plan, infrastructure, programs and materials. The goal for this project is to develop a multi-media museum exhibit focused on the history and cultural development of the city and the create 12 interpretive signs, develop two walking brochures and an educational program including living history days, guided walking tours and lectures.

According to their website, Preserve America advocates grassroots effort, local collaboration and the appropriate balancing of conflicting interests, strongly encouraging Public-private partnerships. “Preserve America is intended to help educate citizens about the benefits of heritage preservation and encourage creative partnerships that successfully overcome obstacles or conflicts about competing public interests.”

Preserve America brings together the White House and Executive Office of the President, including the Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget with participating Federal partners: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the Department of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation; the National Endowment for the Humanities and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

In addition, The History Channel is working with Preserve America and the White House on a complementary promotional and educational effort called “Save our History.” Preserve America is also working with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and awards an annual History Teacher of the Year award.

I work with creative people: artists, writers, photographers. Many are highly imaginative, prolific, brilliant even.

Some are not.

The thing about artists is that they are often so right brained they cannot function in any other mode. They want to make their art and then they want someone who is linear and logical and business minded to tell them it is worthy and sell it for them. They want agents, consultants, brokers, galleries and jurors to deem their work worthy and sell it. They just want to make a product and not worry about anything else.

Can you envision any company working that way? Did Henry Ford say I just want to make cars and I’ll let someone else tell me they are good cars and everyone will want one and buy one? Does the widget manufacturer focus only on creating widgets? Does the chef only make gorgeous, tasty food and hope someone finds him in his kitchen slaving away with mounds of polenta, grilled snapper with peach salsa, and flourless chocolate cake stacked in every corner? No, of course not.

Yet many small business owners think that all they have to do to run a successful business is create a great product or service and suddenly everyone will be clamoring for what they offer.

Kevin Stirtz of the Smart Marketing 101 blog says:

“We focus almost all our resources on building the operational part of our businesses. We develop our skills. We rent space. We hire people. We buy supplies and equipment. We design and develop a product or service that will knock people’s socks off.

We put so much into WHAT we offer people, we forget to tell people about it. Or we don’t tell enough people.”

In other words, we don’t go out and find the customers who want to buy what we have. We don’t announce our arrival to the world. We don’t shout from the windows I’m here and I have what you want!

I’ve worked with artists who do not want to talk about their art. Artists who refuse to provide their resumes and bios. Artists who live surrounded by their own brilliant work and think it should “speak for itself” and they never do anything to help it sell. Small businesses are often the same. They open up and hang a sign on the door and wait for the customers to arrive.

For artists, they believe the dirty work of selling is the job of the gallery (if they are lucky to get represented by a gallery). But the way a gallery sells art is by talking about it, the way you sell any product is by telling a story about that product and how it will make the buyers life easier, better, safer or fill whatever need the customer has.

Yet every writer or artist is a small business owner. And every small business owner must invest their time equally in marketing and selling their work as they spend in creating their work. Marketing and selling is as necessary as turning on the lights in the morning, opening the door, or making a deposit at the bank.

There are ways to market that cost very little or nothing. There are ways to promote your work and your business without investing huge piles of cash. With the Internet and new technology you can find cheap printing sources for postcards, flyers and brochures. Try VistaPrint.com or GotPrint.com where you can order 250 business cards for under $10. Network: join the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Women’s Networking nights or other organizations and talk about your business. Put up flyers in coffee shops and bulletin boards. Send personal letters to friends and family, acquaintances. Send an email to everyone you know. Pick up the phone and make some telephone calls.

This week, I read in USA Today about some successful artists who are using the Internet and technology to make a living selling their art. They are blogging. Yes, blogging. Now, I have a blog, I’m a writer. That’s what writers do, they blog, but visual artists?

Google “Painting-a-day” and the first site that comes up is for an artist named Duane Keiser, an artist who paints every day, small postcard-sized paintings and auctions them on EBay for $100-$1,200. Keiser has sold thousands of paintings to people who want to buy original art, but don’t have a lot of money and can’t afford a $20,000 painting.

Will Keiser become famous and collected by museums and high-end art collectors this way? Who knows? What really matters is that he is creative, doing what he loves, making a living doing it and selling his work every day.

The kind of success every small business owners strives to achieve.

Clarissa Hudson was 29 years old when she met the grand master of Alaskan Chilkat weaving, Jennie Thlunaut, at a weaving workshop. Thlunaut was 95 years old and the last of the Chilkat weavers. After a six-week apprenticeship, and two complete weavings, Thlunaut exclaimed, “You are it! You’re the one. My work is finished. Now I can go home to my Momma and my Aunties and my Papa.” The young Hudson did not understand what the old woman meant. Two months later, Jennie Thlunaut died.

Sitting on her front porch in Pagosa Springs, Colo., Hudson, who just turned 50, tells the story with wild hand gestures. Her animated, umber eyes look off into the distance as if the memory is a movie she is watching somewhere on a screen I cannot see. She smiles and then looks back at me, and I am drawn into the inner soul of this creative and spiritual woman. Her hair, long and the color of eggplant, flows around her square face with its high forehead and broad, flat nose. It is the kind of hair you want to touch, with just a few silver strands interspersed throughout the thick mane.

Hudson, a member of the Tlingit Tribe, was born in Juneau, Alaska, just before the territory became the 49th state. Part Native Alaskan and part Filipino, Japanese and Chinese, she is a master Chilkat weaver who specializes in designing and creating woven ceremonial robes and button blankets.

“I create using a traditional method,” Hudson said. “But I don’t replicate old pieces. I design my own work based on personal experiences, visions, dreams, statements, things happening in the now.”

Her award-winning “Copper Woman,” a five-piece dance regalia outfit, in the collection of the Anchorage Museum, took twelve years to finish. The headdress is inspired by Jamaican dreadlocks; the capelet is fashioned after a Seminole woman’s cape and sewn with patchwork; the dance apron has the look of a long Hawaiian grass skirt; and the robe combines Chilkat and Raven’s Tail weaving elements.

For Hudson, weaving, painting and making robes and blankets are a form of ceremony and meditation–her religion, her tradition and her connection to things past and things yet to come. And just as Hudson was mentored, she mentors other artists, learning from their traditions, weaving them into the warp and weft of her own history and experience.

Recently, Hudson was invited to Kaohsiung, Taiwan with Shaun Peterson from Tacoma, Wash. and Shgen George from Angoon, Alaska, to participate in “Raven, Hundred-Pace Viper and the Ocean,” a trans-Pacific collaboration in native arts as part of the Kaohsiung International Austronesian Festival. The raven represents the native people of the northwest coast of North America, and the hundred-pace viper represents the aboriginal people of Taiwan. Hudson, Peterson and George, together with six aboriginal Taiwanese artists, created outdoor sculptures from materials found in Taiwan. The only things Hudson brought with her were some mother-of-pearl buttons that she uses on her button blankets.

During the first week in Taiwan, Hudson and the northwest coast artists spent time getting to know the aboriginal culture of Taiwan. They visited the villages, listened to their songs, watched their dances. They met with artists, like Sakolie, a metalsmith who also owned a café.

“He said to me that it is very important for artists and human beings to have cafés, to sit down, relax and have a meal, to gossip and be together. It is very important for the spirit to have cafés.”

Hudson described Sakolie’s café as an open-air structure made from tree trunks and driftwood and stone. No windows, just the natural material and a fiberglass roof. She spoke longingly, as if the Asian winds were blowing through her hair and she was sharing a cup of tea with her Taiwanese cousin in his café.

During the second week in Taiwan, Hudson worked on her sculpture. She built a totem pole from bamboo. Hudson had never before worked with bamboo, but in five days she managed to create a 12-foot-tall totem with the help of her husband and collaborator, Bill. They used bamboo to create the wings and beak of a raven and a curtain of bamboo formed a flowing robe, like a wave. The bamboo reminded her of a warp and so she took rope and red cloth and began to weave it like a Chilkat robe. Using the red cloth, she wove a snake facing the beak of the raven.

She called the piece, “Thinking the Sky, Thinking the Water.”

Yet, with all her awards and experience, Hudson confesses her own naïveté. “I recently realized that some artists are wannabees,” Hudson said. “I thought all artists were like me, that they made art because they have to do it or they would not be sane. I thought they all used art as a way of coping with this reality, to rise above the mundane into a space not so heavy.”

I asked Hudson to explain. She said that through the process of making art, unresolved issues are resolved. By solving the issues, they are not passed on to the next generation.

“History is preserved and debts are paid,” Hudson said.

For more information on Clarissa Hudson, visit her website at http://www.clarissahudson.com.

Leanne Goebel is the founding editor of Arts Perspective and a freelance arts journalist. Contact her at artsjournalist@centurytel.net.

“Bust of a Man,” 1996 collage by Kelsey Hauck; “Chris, R. I. P.,” 1986 pastel by Karl Isberg; “Untitled,” 2000 oil by Doug Pedersen

Special to The PREVIEW

“Mind’s Material: Sensation, Cognition & Knowledge” at Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts features the master works of Doug Pedersen, Kelsey Hauck and Karl Isberg.

The exhibit, which runs through Oct. 7, is the first time the three artists have shown their work together, even though each has a long list of exhibitions and shows on their individual resumes.

Pedersen started the education program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1966. In one of several recent conversations, Pederson talked about being in New York, with artists such as De Kooning and Rothko. He mentioned being a poet and said seeing the unfinished work of Michelangelo is what made him want to be an artist. Michelangelo had done with his sculpture what Pedersen wanted to do with his poetry.

From 1964-1969, Pedersen taught painting, art history and sculpture. In 1985, he earned his MFA in painting at New Mexico Highlands University. He and Hauck have lived and worked in Majorca, Italy, Mexico, Spain, New York, Boston, Portland, Ore., Santa Fe and Taos, among other places.

Pedersen has shown his work consistently since 1960 in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Boston, Santa Fe, Taos, San Francisco, Salida and Wurzburg, Germany.

Hauck has shown since the ’70s in many of the same locations as her husband, Pedersen.

Isberg co-owned 1418, Denver’s first alternative art gallery, taught art-related courses in the department of philosophy at Metropolitan State College, showed his work in the ’70s at the Denver Art Museum, at numerous galleries in Denver, at one of the galleries Pedersen and Hauck owned in Taos, and in several galleries in California.

Isberg met Pedersen and Hauck in 1983 in Taos. They have been friends ever since.

The human figure is key to each artist’s work, but each represents the figure in his or her own unique way.

In the front gallery at Shy Rabbit are two early pastel drawings by Isberg, one a portrait of Pedersen, in dark reds and purples. Next to that is a drawing of a woman created in 1984, “Chris R.I.P.” Chris has short, black, spiked hair and blue eyes. She is drawn in shades of orange, green and violet, contoured in white and a hint of yellow. A shade light orange spirals around her eyes and yellow arcs above her brows. Over her right eye is an arcing mark that fades into white dots, somewhat like an antenna. Through Isberg’s expressive use of color and line he manages to capture the energy and aura of personality.

Collages by Hauck line the wall in front of me. Her figures are created with multiple layers of paper to create depth, and color provides vibrant juxtapositions. Some papers are filled with text, Chinese characters, map topography and each portrait has an individual life as unique as humanity. I will say more about her work later.

Pedersen’s “Contari,” a woman singing, is opposite Isberg’s pastels. The woman wears a thickly textured charcoal gown against a blood red background. Her mouth is open and one can imagine hearing an aria spilling forth into the room, the tension in her lips and eyes as she hits high C. Her hair is yellow and her face is also painted in shades of yellow and orange, illuminated by the lights on stage.

The fourth wall in the front gallery features two of Pedersen’s collages, one made with a red bandana. Pedersen’s collages seem made of found objects and they are compelling. The dancing skeleton in “War God” is posed like John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever,” dancing happily. It is an appropriate depiction of George Bush senior painted in 1991 during the first Iraq war.

In the back exhibit space, the left wall is lined with more of Pedersen’s oil paintings, beginning with a piece with a green horizon and violet sky background setting off a white figure holding a bright orange and yellow mask. The mask is eerily similar to the face on the figure and when one gets very close to the canvas, the layers of color that Pedersen uses to achieve what appears to be white, reminds me of the theory of white light, that all color exists in white. Pedersen proves that to be true. The mask is colorful; the person is white. The mask conceals, but this person is removing his deceptive outward appearance. Masks represent the many types of human personalities encountered in life. A mask can allow a person to become the host of another spirit or being. As in many of Pedersen’s paintings, the mouth of the face is agape and the teeth are bared.

In the middle of the wall is another painting with mask symbolism. This painting, “Figure Holding Two Masks,” features a turquoise blue background with a bright green horizon. One mask is on a stick and looks like the face in the painting. It’s almost like a shrunken head. The other mask is again very similar to the face. And, interestingly, the hands have no thumbs. A large “Untitled” canvas with many heads, some happy, some grotesque, like a dream image, anchors the end of the wall.

Pedersen’s paintings are heavy with oil paint and pigment in an almost German Expressionistic style, expressing a somewhat grotesque view of humanity with harsh colors and violent brush strokes. In “Head,” from 1997, paint spews forth from an open mouth, in “Head,” from 2000, an eye is blacked out, vacant and hollow.

More of Hauck’s collage work lines the back wall. “Head” from 1989 is a small abstracted mask-looking collage, very graphic, with heavy black lines and lots of red. Next to this is “Bust of a Man,” 1996 – a man holding his head in his hand. His face is made from a topographical map and contoured with lime green nose and lips. He appears to be speaking out of the side of his mouth. Dark gray comes from his mouth like heavy, cold words. His head is tipped in despair, leaning on an invisible palm. This is a man trying to find his way in a less than hospitable world.

The prominent “Woman with Pearls,” 1988, is a woman with egg-shaped pearls at her long neck. Her portrait collar dress is made of butter yellow pap
er with black text, her hair is pulled up in a bun, but bangs hang on one side above her eye. She is elegant and the background of this portrait is of blue-gray rectangles of paper that look like block brush strokes. Layers of fine curls and strips of paper in yellows, grays and black form her hair, her nose is long, her cheekbones round, her mouth open as if greeting the viewer. She is the kind of woman who would kiss the air next to your cheek and say “Hello dahling!”

Each of Hauck’s collages is a unique being with a personality, perhaps images of people the artist has met or known, or characters she envisions the way a novelist creates character. They have a story to tell, if only the viewer will stand and listen.

The other long wall in the exhibition space is filled with six acrylic paintings by Isberg. Two larger, muted canvases are created by painting the canvas black, then building layers of color on the ground. The first canvas on the left is the darkest of them all, cool in shades of blues and grays. It is called “Jupiter Eating His Children,” and is of two boxy abstracted figures, one with what looks like the shape of a duck in its mouth.

Next to it is the warmer painting, “Love is Funny When You Don’t Like Each Other,” featuring two primitive, cubed figures with tubes and spirals, echoing the spirals in the pastel drawing of Chris in the front gallery, with similar arcing antennae extending from the head. They have big, boxy heads with eyes, long sausage noses. The figure on the left has lips. The legs are boxy with spiral cinnamon roll knees. It’s hard to tell the gender of either figure. The one on the left has a sausage in an anatomically correct location for a male. The figure on the right has what appears to be large, sticky bun looking breasts. A hand reaches across from the figure on the right to touch the figure on the left. At least it looks like a hand, with three fingers. I think the figures are hermaphrodites and the painting reflects the confusion of gender roles in modern marriage. There is sexual tension in the painting, physical groping. We grow and change during our lifetime and in marriage that often means we take on new roles. This painting captures the idea of compatibility and companionship that come after being together a long time. Marriage is hot and cold and so are the colors of paint used in this painting: earthy caramels contrast with cool blue-grays.

The rest of the paintings by Isberg are smaller canvases painted more brightly, in yellows, golds, oranges, moss greens and sienna, with bug-eyed, cartoon-like images. “Just Outside the Rijksmuseum” is of two figures made from what appear to be fruits and vegetables. Or as one of the writer’s from “Brown Bag Writer’s” put it, it looks like two Kachinas celebrating the harvest. There is food all around, but the two figures seem to be devouring the same item.

Isberg uses color and geometry in his painting to express emotion and capture snippets of life, but he challenges us to view those snippets in a compelling way.

Pedersen said that art is observation. If so, then the world that these artist’s observe is ferocious, humorous, expressive, vibrant and very much real. It is a world worth exploring.

“Mind’s Material: Sensation, Cognition & Knowledge” is on display through October 7, at Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts, 333 Bastille Drive, Units B-1 and B-4. Regular hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 1-4 p.m. with extended hours on the second Thursday of the month from 1-6:30 p.m. For more information: log onto www.shyrabbit.blogspot.com or call 731-2766.

Leanne Goebel is a freelance arts journalist and a member of the creative development team at Shy Rabbit Contemporary Arts.