Kickstarters.com a Discovery for Artist At Winter Gallery Night

Art Funding @ Kickstarters.com

Jan. 24, 2012

2:44 a.m.

While the winter weather played havoc with January\'s Gallery Night, this season's event found itself a new mascot…an actual knight in shining armor standing on the sidewalk of Broadway. He claimed he was the official “Gallery Knight” who promises to be in the Historic Third Ward each gallery weekend to hand out special coupons for drinks from local businesses.  The cold and wind abated inside the Marshall Building, a welcome place to warm up frigid fingers and feet. Cranston's display by ceramicist Ryan Pederson was a visual delight, his celadon green coffee pots, cups and vessels shone with luminous blue glazes. All Pederson\'s pieces were affordable beginning with a price point of $35.00 to purchase beautiful, functional and original.  Timo Gallery enjoyed the music from a four-piece band that was pouring out from his first floor gallery and on the second floor Greymatter Gallery featured Jessica O'Hearn. A lively discussion followed in the gallery when viewing her collaged prints about images labeled “Untitled.” No definitive decision could be made that evening, although O'Hearn had resolved for the New year to begin "naming" her thoughtful, abstract prints, even if only doing so by using the dates they were created. At Grava Gallery, author and illustrator Sue Lawton reflected on her self-published hard cover book, a work of art and love, titled The Circus and the Cyclone. Her ink, pen and watercolor originals (a sampling from a total of 72 images taken from the more than 80 page book) brilliantly focused attention on her story. The cyclone Lawton refers to was a devastating tornado that surprised New Richmond, Wisconsin on June 12, 1899. That June proved to be the day the Gollmar Brothers Circus came to Richmond and Lawton imagined the historic fictional narrative for her book, which she wrote and then illustrated, by incorporating circus characters. The process began in 2008 and was finalized with self-publishing in December 2011. The website kickstarters.com became instrumental in raising the funds. At kickstarters.com a person may place any creative endeavor with a clear objective (art, book, film, exhibition, installation, cooperative art gallery, film or video) on the website in order to receive pledges toward the project with valuations from $100.00 to $50,000. A time limit is imposed so within 35 days the project must be completely funded or all the money will be returned. The urgency in the short time frame helps with the funding. Lawton's The Circus and The Cyclone required 28 days to be funded completely and social media (facebook, twitter) accelerated this process. Funding other projects on the website she found interesting was helpful because then those projects assisted her in return. The Circus and the Cyclone reads like a story blending 19th century newspaper account and a novel. Lawton will be showcasing the book around Milwaukee, including Art & Soul Gallery on Vliet Street near 60th, with the illustrations only on exhibit at Grava Gallery. Signed copies will be made available through Grava Gallery although the Cedarburg Cultural Center plans an official book release party for Lawton on February 17, 6:30-9:30 p.m. <o:p /> <o:p>A short</o:p> stop at Tory Folliard Gallery found painter Fred Stonehouse in a relaxed frame of mind, very wiling to chat about his current exhibition “Marschmeister.” Visit Art Talk for an online interview over the weekend with hopes the January weather will be more welcoming. <o:p> </o:p>

Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.