The Garden City Telegram
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Banner day for artists
Published 12/1/2008 in News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
In one local artist's depiction of the Windsor Hotel, the vivid walls and windows are as colorful as the autumn leaves of crimson and burnt umber surrounding the building.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram — Kandee Klein, left and Nancy Harness look over some of the banners up for silent auction on Saturday night at the Downtown Vision office.
Beverly Glass, Downtown Vision's executive director, said she would have been happy just making enough to cover the expenses for next year's art banners.
But this weekend's auction -- which raked in more than $2,400 -- brought in enough to cover the expenses for next year and pay a percentage to the local artists who contributed their talents.
Inside the office of the five-year-old Downtown Vision, 413 N. Main St., more than 50 bidders assembled to celebrate local art.
"Regardless of taste, there is something here for everyone," Glass said. "We didn't have a theme. We just told the artists, 'create something.' And as little guidance as we gave them, they produced wonders."
Most of the 24 bright paintings -- which have hung on Main Street's lampposts since mid-September -- were weathered from the harsh winds and hot and cold temperatures of the past few weeks, despite a weatherproofing substance that coated each one. Not everyone, however, saw the cracks in the thick through the same lens.
"Actually, I think it kind of works -- it looks like it's part of the art," said Reynaldo Mesa, a city commissioner and former mayor, as he gazed at the artwork.
Local artist Meli Hernandez used his white canvasses to depict the portraits of Garden City's founders, C.J. Buffalo Jones and John A. Stevens.
Hernandez, a Garden City native who graduated from the local high school and majored in art at Garden City Community College, said he chose the two figures because he wanted his art to represent the city's rich history.
Hernandez' portrait of Buffalo Jones, a historical figure who helped bring the Sante Fe Railroad to the city and donated the land where the Finney County Courthouse now sits, stands in front of a bright blue background, his silhouette painted in aged yellow and brown.
Don Harness, president of the Finney County Preservation Alliance, bid on Hernandez' other portrait, which depicts area founder John A. Stevens.
Stevens built the famed Windsor Hotel and is the namesake of downtown's Stevens Park. Harness said he'd ultimately like to donate the portrait created by Hernandez to whatever business he hopes will move into the Windsor Hotel building.
"I'm really impressed with the quality of artwork here," Harness said, minutes before his wife informed him the bidding on the portrait had gone up to $125. Harness, disappointed by the news, said he'd have to let the portrait go.
The highest bid -- $275 -- was won by local artist Archie Oliver, who has taught art at Holcomb High School for the last 17 years.
Oliver's painting, entitled "Over Three Million Served," depicts the face of a cow standing in a plot of Kansas farmland. In an innovative twist in his use of art materials, Oliver incorporated cow hair into his painting, floating above the head of the cow and blending into the short yellow grass behind the animal.
The Banner Art Project was born through a partnership between Garden City Downtown Vision and the Southwest Kansas Arts and Humanities Council.
The project addressed the need for new banners along downtown's Main Street, as well as a celebration of a thriving art community, Glass said.
Net dollars from the auction -- minus the purchase of canvasses for next year -- also will benefit this year's downtown holiday events, Glass said.
Already, local artists are gearing up for next time.
"If they invited me, I would do this project again," Hernandez said. "It's for a good cause."
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