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Printer-Friendly ModeLocal artists coming together for museum
November 16, 2009 —
More than 40 local artists, many with SVSU ties, are banding together this week for a special benefit for the Saginaw Art Museum.
Art in the Heart of the City will take place at the Museum, 1126 N. Michigan, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday. The casual event, featuring pizza and drinks, includes silent and live auctions. Attendees can also observe 11 artists at work during the event, modeling their methods.
Paolo Pedini, a 2008 graduate, and his wife Sarah Pedini are leading the fund-raising charge. The Pedinis are owners and operators of the fourmonth old Court Street Gallery, a fine art exhibition and studio space in Old Town Saginaw.
Pedini said he was approached by a member of the museum board to donate a piece, but realized he could do more.
“As a gallery owner, I saw I was in a position to sponsor the event, to round up a lot of local artists,” he said. “I could find people outside the norm.”
Pedini used his connections to solicit donations from younger and sometimes edgier artists, those artists he characterized as “more modern than the usual.”
“I want to expose new artists and new audiences to this museum,” he said. “These are not necessarily artists who have ever even been inside the museum before.”
One of those artists is Dennis Rogers, a graphic design senior who donated one work of digital photography to Pedini for the auction.
Rogers explained he used to frequent the museum as a child with his mother, but has not been there for some time.
“I didn’t know about this event until Paolo asked me for a donation,” Rogers said. “I’ve never had my work at an event at the museum before.”
As a supporter of the museum and an independent artist, Rogers said the benefit of this event is twofold for him.
“It’s a great cause, and it’s great exposure for me,” he said. “I try to do anything I can to help out the local art scene.”
Former Cardinal Kellie Schneider also donated her work the auction. Two prints of her dark and whimsical penand- ink drawings will be up for bidding Thursday night.
Like Rogers, Schneider said she was glad to help the museum. But she also expressed a more personal reason she was excited for the event.
“I’m really looking forward to just going to the museum, eating pizza and having fun all night,” Schneider said. “It’s going to be a really nice chance to relax.”