Post Art Fair Musings from a Downtown A2 Gallery

The streets are back to normal downtown Ann Arbor, that is, as normal as they get. The garbage has all been hauled away, happy art collectors have taken their pieces home, artists have gone home with less work than they brought and, hopefully a little bit of $$ in their pockets (or a lot!).

Love it or hate it, Ann Arbor depends on the Art Fair to bring several hundred thousand people to the City to buy art, food, drinks, all kinds of retail items and stay in hotels and B & Bs. As a matter of fact, a 2008 Power Marketing survey reports that local hotels made $5million and restaurants made over $25million during Art Fair alone that year. Art is essential to our local economy!

The next time you have the opportunity to tell your Congressperson, schoolboard or state politican that art matters, keep those numbers in mind!

Off-Site show at U-M Hospitals for WSG artists

Two WSG artists currently have work in the U of M Hospitals' Gifts of Art program. Clay sculptor Francesc Burgos and painter Martha Keller will be gracing the walls and pedestals of the Taubman Center with their work. Gifts of Art is a(n) unique program curated by a dedicated group of individuals for the hospital system. Shows last for 6-8 weeks and provide a welcome distraction for folks spending a vast amount of time at the world-class hospital system.

Burgos' contemplative pieces are created from porcelain and terra cotta clays and draw inspiration from nature and architecture. While Keller's paintings draw inspiration from nature, color and seeing.

Martha Keller: Irises

Stop for a look if you're at U of M hospitals. The work is on view through March. For more information, visit the website: http://www.med.umich.edu/goa/exhibits.htm