MOUNT PLEASANT, MI – The annual Art Reach Benefit Auction will be held on October 5, 2007 beginning with dinner at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the annual auction will be available at $60 per person and will be on sale at the Art Reach Center, 319 South University and at the Art Reach on Broadway Gallery and Gift Shop, 111 East Broadway. The theme of the 2007 Auction is The Magic of Art and is Art Reach’s main fundraiser for the year. All pieces that were contributed to the poster contest as well as other art works contributed will be up for auction.
A reception for the artists who contributed a piece in the 2007 poster contest will be held on Thursday, September 6, 2007 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Art Reach on Broadway and refreshments will be served. The reception is open to the public and will give people a chance to meet with the artists and to view the works which will be on display for the month of September.
The 43 entries for the 2007 poster contest were juried by Roy Saper, owner of Saper Galleries in Lansing, MI which was recently named by Décor Magazine, a national trade publication serving the art and framing industry, the top art gallery in 2007 based on the Picasso exhibition which it created and displayed in 2006. Saper Galleries was selected for the number one award over galleries from Europe, Asia, New York and elsewhere for the category of exhibitions and events. Gallery owner Roy Saper acquired and researched 77 original Picasso graphics and ceramics that Saper Galleries exhibited in 2006, attracting an international following for his scholarship, depth and quality of exhibition. The top three pieces in the poster contest were selected by Roy Saper and were then put to a vote by the Art Reach Auction Committee.
"My Secret Garden I" a digital mixed media photograph by Richard Galosy, was chosen as the poster contest winner for this year’s Auction. Richard Galosy owns …A Simple Elegance, a fine art gallery in Lansing, MI which specializes in fine art reproduction, custom photography, large format – giclee’ printing, reproduction of original art printing, and digital Imaging Services.
Describing photography and his work in his gallery as his "third career", Galosy also taught as a Psycho Physiologist in Dallas and worked in the law field for 10-15 years before moving to Michigan and opening up his Gallery about 6 years ago. His work as a photographer began as a 6 month trial and has been ongoing ever since.
Though Galosy started off with the use of film, he switched to digital early on. He feels that "Digital photography is an advancement. It gives the artist a lot more flexibility. Though film and the use of the dark room are still good, digital photography provides an extra set of tools, like the camera is a tool and the paintbrush is a tool, so the digital camera and computer become tools as well." Galosy’s subjects are primarily scenic, fauna, floral, musical and dance performance photographs, 80% of which are photographed within 100 miles of Lansing.
The idea for "My Secret Garden I" came to Galosy in a dream. After the dream he awakened in the middle of the night and promptly went down to his studio to do some sketches of the image that came to him in his dream. In his dream he saw the work in its final stages, framed for presentation. The image is comprised of 1 large photograph of an orchid, with 16 layers of the same image on a smaller scale blended over top of the original image. Vibrant hues of orange, yellow and green play against darker shadows, and the texture and lines of the layered image of the orchid give the piece great depth. The final product took Galosy about 70 hours to complete and was then printed on fine art watercolor paper, hand deckled and mounted floating above a black background. The piece is 1 of a series of 4 Secret Garden pieces by Galosy, 3 of which he has printed, and one that is still in the process of being completed.
Galosy became aware of the Art Reach annual Benefit Auction poster contest in when he was encouraged to enter in 2006. He did enter a piece, and though he did not win, he was impressed with the Art Reach Auction and Reception as well as the support from the community, and was pleasantly surprised when his 2006 entry did well at auction. Galosy is extremely delighted that he has been chosen as the 2007 poster winner and is happy to be a part of supporting an Arts Organization that is true to its mission.
For more information, call Art Reach at (989) 773-3689.
