Auction benefits art program

by Eva Dameron

Daily Lobo

UNM's silent graduate art auction speaks volumes about community support of the University art program.

The Graduate Art Association is holding its annual silent art auction at the Harwood Art Center, at 1114 7th Street N.W., from 6 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 1.

"The proceeds go to benefit the catalogue for our juried show," said Ben Johnsen, co-president of the GAA. "We pay to bring in a juror to do jury work, and the juror comes through and picks a show. And then we'll have that show next spring semester."

Susan McAllister, Harwood's director, said the center donates space for the auction because supporting art is a worthwhile endeavor.

"They get a ton of people," McAllister said. "There's great artwork. It's a really good cause."

Johnsen said artists set a starting bid price for their work, and there's also a buy-it-now price.

"There are sheets next to each work," he said. "When you come in, you get a secret number, your bidding number, which then we have a log of with people's names and numbers. They bid with that number all night. At the ending bell, the name at the end of the sheet wins that item."

Graduate students and faculty have submitted pieces to

the show.

"It's a broad range, from every different medium that we have at the school - painting and drawing and sculpture and photography and ceramics and some printmaking," Johnsen said. "I'm a sculptor. I only have one piece. The piece in the show is called 'Phantom Utility,' and it's half of a chair that has been weighted against a cantilever so that it stands on its own."

Carrie Cooper, GAA's co-president, said professors generally get higher pay than the students for their work.

"We have graduate students who'll do several little tiny things and up to some of our really prestigious professors who will donate their own work that are mostly higher-ticket items," she said. "So, it's possible to maybe acquire something on the grad student level from $50 to a couple hundred dollars."

Cooper said the students are taught to make art substantial enough for a career in the arts, so it's worth investing in their pieces.

"We have some really incredible instructors," she said. "The program is designed to produce a consistency of good work, as opposed to people who are going to be the next big flash in the pan. They're going to have a career making quality and insightful art that has a consistent conversation with contemporary art practice."

Cooper has some photographs in the auction that address American consumer practices and their global impact.

"One of them is a photograph of a coffee bean and one of a tag from an article of clothing," she said. "It's very simplistic. I guess I consider myself a conceptual artist, but I'm definitely interested in the formal and aesthetic parts of the piece. I like work that is beautiful. ... I like things that are ugly, too, for other reasons. There's beauty in there."

UNM Graduate Art

Association Silent Auction

Harwood Art Center

1114 Seventh St. N.W.

Saturday

6 to 9 p.m.