Casa de Terrible: A NEW DIRECTION

EXTERIOR ART

We have not talked to you in a bit, but we are still alive and well. We have been busy getting the houses in order. Most of our art is now in place at the new house. And we have become involved in the local culture. Here is one aspect of our current activities.

Rebecca and I are taking a different direction in the art we will collect: we are going to concentrate on works that can live outside. Because our house is small and we have substantial land, it only made sense to us to adjust our collecting to fit our space, perhaps creating eventually an art park of sorts. We are looking to create rather permanent installations throughout the property. Here is a little story about our first major piece and the art scene in Zanesville.

One would be mistaken to think that Zanesville is an artistic backwater. On the contrary, there is significant art activity here. And we do mean art, not just craft or craft art. Some of you may know that this area has had major pottery works for over a century. Although most of the big factories have long since closed, there is still a thriving community of smaller facilities and craftsman producing exquisite works of various ceramic materials – clay, stoneware, porcelain, etc. While many produce utilitarian works, such as plates bowls and mugs, they also are making objects that rise above 'craft' and are true art forms. And there are artisans in wood, metal, and other materials. (There are not so many doing blown glass, but there are several doing stained glass and beading.) And there are practitioners in other traditional crafts, for example, quilting, as well.

Visitors to Zanesville, particularly the downtown area, are struck by the number of large outdoor installations. Scattered around town and in front of many businesses are tall vases or bronze sculptures. The bronze sculptures are mostly made at Alan Cottrill's studio located downtown. His sculptures can literally be found throughout the world. Many are larger than life size. His studio is open to the public and he has numerous works in development.

The other large objects one sees are the tall 7 foot (2m+) vases. These are a homage or tribute to the Weller company that until it went out of business in 1948 was one of the premier pottery works in Zanesville. (Some of you may have heard of the company on Antiques Road Show.) Weller made a few giant ceramic vases. They are rare and valuable. The new ones about town are made of some acrylic/polyvinyl/plastic composite and are specifically made to resist weather. (Interestingly I think some of the original molds were developed at the Cottrill studio.) Other cities have had there large sculptures, such as Cincinnati's flying pigs. We have our giant vases.

Here are some pictures of a few of outdoor installations around town. We will add more as we have an opportunity to take photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157606523319131/

We thought it might be nice to some day have one of these. On one of the gallery tours we learned that what they were made of and the approximate price – not cheap but not out of line. As luck would have it, soon after our stroll the Muskingum County Community Foundation announced it would be holding an auction of giant vases to benefit various art organizations around the county. (In addition to the excellent museum here, the Zanesville Art Center, we know of at least three artist organizations: Art Colony of Zanesville, the Artist Cooperative, and the Zanesville Appalachian Arts Project.) The reserve price on the vases was set well below what just the blank would cost and various artists would donate their time to paint the vases. Here was our opportunity to purchase a piece at a considerably reduced price.

But there was a problem. We had a much more important engagement in Columbus on the night of the auction. (We miss you SK and MC L) However, the advertisement had a solution to our dilemma, so we thought. Vases could be purchased outright at a slightly higher price. So we went over to the auction site to see if we could make a private preview of the pieces.

Lady Luck struck again as the building was open and one of the artists was finishing a vase he was contributing. We looked around at the thirty or so vases that had already been delivered. All the vases were of good quality. Designs went from abstract to illustration. There were lots of flowers and nature scenes. Several showed local landmarks. But one in particular caught our eye and was our first choice. It had been made by a well-known stained glass artist; she had put in well over 100 hours of work. Later we would see it featured in much of the publicity about the event.

We contacted the director of MCCF and asked if we could pay the 'buy' price for the vase. Unfortunately this piece was not available as the artist had stipulated that the vase be auctioned. But the director suggested he could be our proxy and make a bid upon our offer. We accepted his generosity figuring that the vase would receive a much higher bid and that we would wait until a later date to purchase a giant jug.

Although there was good publicity before the event, the local news did not give the actual event much coverage. Partially that was due to the fact that there was another significant auction of historical property and artifacts the same weekend. We assumed our prediction was correct and our vase went to another home. When the MCCF Director called a few days later we thought that surely he was going to tell us that a much higher bid had won the day. But no, we actually were the winning bid – and at a lower price than our original offer!

Now, how do we get it home? We drove over in the beluga, but discovered even it was not big enough. Lady Luck again visited. The MCCF had a person who would deliver. We contacted him and he brought our vase down to the holler. He is a sculptor who was involved in the design of the original molds and has a hand in finishing the blanks. The delivery charge was quite reasonable. Here are some pictures of the vase and a few other pieces of outside art:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157606435035494/

Hope the summer has been kind to you. Let us know how you are doing.

Best wishes.

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

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