By Zirrus VanDevere, for the Redoubt Reporter
“So Sweet,” by Melinda Hershberger, is one of many pieces on display and up for auction at the Kenai Fine Arts Center, as part of the 11th annual Harvest Art Auction.
The Harvest Art Auction is coming up on its 11th year, and is a great way to support the Kenai Fine Arts Center while getting into some local art for great prices. Tickets are $35 and are being presold only for the event occurring Sept. 25 from 6 to 9 pm.
Sue Biggs and Jack Will are providing musical entertainment, and Charlotte’s is catering the dinner buffet. Jim Evenson has donated an original stone lithograph called “Harbor Scene I” that will be raffled and is on view at the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center until the night of the auction. Raffle tickets, as well as event tickets, can be purchased at the KFAC and the KVCC in Kenai, and at Donna’s Gifts and Art Works in Soldotna.
There are a range of offerings, from paintings and photographs to pottery, mixed media and jewelry, and the donated works fill the space nicely.
“Discovery” by Pat Lytle.
Celia Anderson has offered a large chalk rendering that is likely to bring in a bundle for the arts group. She has added a combination of careful and brisk strokes to thick black paper to build up an image of the Ward’s Cove Cannery that feels intimate and at the same time fairly epic.
Other notable pieces include an abstract painting by Pat Lytle, called “Discovery,” that evokes feelings of the sea and earth, but has colors seemingly foreign to both. The only black-and-white photographic entry, by Jolene Gough, depicts a truly found object. And a crazy and wonderful celestial-looking painting called “Tiny Bubbles,” by Kathie Painter, makes a splash.
Wade Wahrenbrock and Laurie Marta both have entered impressive digital photos, and the pottery is high quality and varied, as usual.
Debbie Harris has donated a couple basically two-dimensional cut wood sculptures in a Tlingit style, and Melinda Hershberger has painted flowers in oil that
“Rusted Past” by Jolene Gough.
almost beg to be caressed.
Popular artist Andy Hehnlin has entered a giclee print of his egg tempera painting on masonite of Sullivan Island. A giclee (zhee-CLAY) is an individually produced, high-resolution, high-fidelity, high-tech reproduction done on a special, large-format printer, accroding to http://www.novaspaceart.com, and are produced from digital scans of existing artwork. Many artists are moving towards this form of reproduction, as the final product is the best representation of the original that is technically available.
Many originals, including a large number of watercolors, are available to bid on, and the evening is always a lively and entertaining event put on for a good cause.
Zirrus VanDevere is a local mixed-media artist and owns Art Works gallery in Soldotna. She has bachelor’s degrees in fine arts and education.
