Date: Fri 12-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

WPKN-auction-Richter-Eckenrode

Full Text:

Artists Provide Art For The Airwaves Of WPKN

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

HAMDEN - "Art For The Airwaves," an art exhibition and auction of works by

well-known Connecticut artists and nationally acclaimed artists to benefit

listener-supported WPKN radio (89.5 FM), will take place on June 20 at the Eli

Whitney Barn. Among the list of artists participating in the benefit event are

a trio of contemporary artists living in Newtown.

The benefit auction, which will include a silent auction, will take place

after five days of daily exhibition of the artworks. From June 15 to June 20,

11 am to 7 pm each day, the public may preview the works at the Eli Whitney

Barn, 915 Whitney Avenue.

"Art for the Airwaves" will take place Saturday, June 20, when doors open at 6

pm. Bidding in the silent auction will be ongoing until 8:30 pm; the live

event will begin at 7 pm. A $10 donation will cover bidding numbers for both

auctions, refreshments and live music.

Like everyone else related to the radio station, Paige Gillies is chairing the

auction committee on a volunteer basis. She considers the events "occasional"

art auctions, she says, because they are not held on an annual basis. The last

auction the station held, for instance, was three years ago.

A full-time agent for children's book illustrations, Mrs Gillies decided to

become involved with the auction because she wanted to find a way into the

state's art population. She is excited at the concept of the auction, and

appreciates the donations from all artists involved because of what the

artists will not be receiving in return.

"Benefit auctions," she said, "are very hard on artists, I think, because the

audience is not necessarily `art savvy.'

"This may be the chance for many of the attendees to own art for the first

time, but they have no idea what the real prices of art are. I promise they

are almost always getting a fabulous bargain."

Art Donations

Over 50 artists have agreed to donate work for the benefit. Included on the

list is Rafe Churchill, a sculptor with a site-specific installation currently

on view at Gallery 13 in Danbury; James Grashow, a Redding resident who

recently completed a solo show at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in

Ridgefield; and the painter Chris Durante, one of the original founders of

Gallery 13 and the owner of a framing studio in Danbury.

Robert Eckenrode recycles. Not in the

drop-items-in-the-recycling-bin-to-be-picked-up-once-a-week kind of recycling,

however. The Newtown resident takes materials that would have been carted off

to the landfill and turns them into art.

One of his larger works, called "The Recycle," lives in Mr Eckenrode's yard.

"The Recycle" was his entry - and the winner - for the 1991 South Norwalk

Sculpture Race. The work is a skeleton-like figure on a tricycle, built

entirely from found material. It is unique, and humorous.

His WPKN artwork was completed just this weekend. It is a much smaller

sculpture than the pieces seen throughout the Eckenrode lawn and garden. "What

if... Radio" stands no more than eight inches high, including antennae. It is

a mixed media piece, predominately wood, that is a return to the radio theme

Mr Eckenrode presented the first time he entered the SoNo Sculpture race.

"What if... Radio" is a small, hand-held radio. The work represents what would

happen in the event (God forbid!) everyone's radio was taken away. "People who

know PKN appreciate it so much," Mr Eckenrode declares, "people would pretend

they still get PKN because they would miss it so much."

"What if... Radio" is not the first piece Mr Eckenrode has donated to a WPKN

auction. It certainly won't be his last, either.

"I've had a relationship with PKN for probably 15 years," he said this week.

"I've always appreciated their music, and whenever they've asked people to

lend a hand, I've been only too willing. I really appreciate what they do. The

variety of music is unsurpassed, and there's always something new to hear."

The photographer Joseph Kugielsky is the second Newtown artist contributing to

the show. Mr Kugielsky has had shows in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts,

Maine, Vermont and Nebraska. He has work in corporate and museum collections,

including that of the Aldrich Museum.

Mr Kugielsky has donated a framed multi-dimensional transparent photography

work, called "Journey To The Horizon/Window." The work stands approximately 14

inches tall, is about two inches deep and 12 inches wide. "Journey To The

Horizon" is an image Mr Kugielsky has pulled from a major work, called

"Tower."

"Tower" is a collection of 51 similar photographs, of all different views, set

up in one eight-foot tall steel tower, with four sides. Mr Kugielsky's

photographs are arranged on three of the tower's sides. The single "Window"

piece incorporates a found image - Raphael's "Madonna and Child" - with

architectural plans and a long hallway/entryway with a checkerboard floor

pattern.

Nancy Richter has decided to contribute a small, untitled piece of hers to the

show. The Newtown resident, who relocated with her family from Florida in

1995, had her debut Manhattan show the following year. She went on to be

presented in New York City four times that year, as a matter of fact.

She continues to show her work, and this summer will be an artist-in-residence

for Newtown's SMART program, a summer arts program. Mrs Richter will be

teaching charcoal drawing, painting, clay sculpture and mono-print courses.

She will also be included in "Sea Grant Rhode Island: The Visual Arts Program,

The First Ten Years," a group show in The Main Gallery at the University of

Rhode Island that will be presented in July and again in September.

Mrs Richter's painted paper construction for WPKN resembles a tree trunk that

has been chopped. The work is the lower half of the tree, with large pieces of

bark. The entire piece is paper, yet looks sturdy enough to look right at home

out in the woods.

The painted paper constructions Mrs Richter creates are the result of nine

years of developing a process of painting and making three-dimensional

constructions out of paper. Her initial interest in the wood-like pieces came

while living in post-Hurricane Andrew in 1995 while still in Miami. Earlier

pieces were more abstract, often geometric; some were described by the artist

as minimal, others as primitive looking.

Mrs Richter, who is included in the current four-person "Point of View" show

at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven, received an invitation from WPKN to

contribute to the station's auction. A listener to the station "from time to

time," Mrs Richter began thinking immediately about what she could offer the

station.

"I think it's a good cause to support," the artist said this week.

WPKN is an independent, listener-supported radio station. The station has been

listener-supported since 1989; it was founded as the student radio station of

the University of Bridgeport in 1963, so the station is celebrating its 35th

year.

The only paid employee of the radio station is its general manager, Harry

Minot. More than 70 on-air programmers and news readers - the remaining staff

of the station - are all volunteers. In addition, dozens of other volunteers

give their time to work in the music library, answer telephones during on-air

fundraising, assist with computer data entry, organize fund-raising events,

and handle other duties.

WPKN does not accept corporate underwriting or government support. The only

commercial money accepted by the station comes as a match for employee

contributions. The only foundation money received is the result of listeners'

action.

Like the music and programming of WPKN, the auction promises to be an

entertaining event. A few of the station's on-air personalities will be in

attendance, as well as the behind-the-scenes crew.

Tickets for the auction will be available only at the door the evening of the

auction. Says Mrs Gillies, "You come, you pay, you get your auction number,

and you wave your hand furiously every time something is put up to bid."

For additional information, call WPKN's office at 331-1309 or 331-9756.