Project shows how art is made - and paid for

It's taken a year. And it's been a valuable learning experience for all concerned. It's the project that led to the current exhibit "C3: Create, Connect, Collect" at Main Line Art Center, now celebrating its 75th anniversary. Featured is the full slate of 37 artist participants who began this initiative, nine of whom were commissioned through this project to make 11 pieces of art now displayed. These works are shown front and center, accompanied by the work of quite a few very worthy artists passed over in this first go-round.

What's exciting is that this occasion marks a significant "first." It's the first time any local community has shown early results from a program lately set up explaining the step-by-step process of commissioning art as a patron. Naturally, it also gives attention to how artists go about getting commissions.

Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago seems to have pioneered in this field, and its friendly influence has been noted by Main Line Art Center. But Main Line's way of linking the art-collecting public with our community of regional artists is definitely a first for the Philadelphia area, and perhaps for the tri-state region as well.

During the last year, the local art center headed by Judy Herman held 15 salons at various locations including homes to explain this process - sessions that were attended by more than 150 people. Main Line Art Center is expected to remain a "go-to" resource for guidance of this kind. And Herman is well known for her eagerness to support local artists and to create lasting relationships between patrons and artists,

Among the commissioned works are two pieces made from a colorful array of found objects by Leo Sewell - Lower Merion High School's feisty "Bulldog" mascot and an "Apple" for Harriton High - LM's mascot possibly able to cause art throbs on the local circuit. Jonathan Mandell's suave, confident Portrait of Curtis Roth in Black and White has an acute sense of the geography of the face, while Val Rossman's handsome blue-keyed abstraction is convincing in its sturdy, geometrical construction and the physical qualities of paint she finds delightful. The energy and conviction that charge Fritz Dietel's carved rustic wall ornament are impressive. A show like this tends to attract an audience seeking genuine artistic expression rather than casual party chitchat.

Sketch Club.

The venerable Sketch Club welcomes 37 young professional artists invited to show their work in its hallowed halls, where there's an abundance of genuine "artistic atmosphere" rivaling just about any local cultural setting you can name. "Promises of Greatness: Young Philadelphia Artists" is a miscellany - a decidedly interesting one to be encouraged.

Two of its most striking works are by Matteo Colaizzo and Sarah McRae Morton. Colaizzo's piece is a very large woodcut print, The Slag Heaps of Northeastern Pennsylvania, an area he knows well. The direct power of this image with its awesome craftsmanship has the impact of an icon. Printmaking is one art in which you seldom have to be concerned that you're looking at pure display and nothing else. This piece is ambitious art in the service of society. Morton's large oil The Cast of the Cathedral Members seems on the way to creating a brilliant, compassionate and earthy epic of individuals confronting modern life and themselves. Infused with emotional purpose, this painting is never emptied of the senses.

This show abounds in the chatter of assorted kinds of art. Also memorable are works by Laura Adama, Desiree Bender, Veronica Hanssens, Paul Metrinko, Greg Prestegord, Josh Shaffner, Adam Snith, Gabe Tiberino, Laura Valez, and Thuy Vo.

The show was put together painstakingly from recommendations sought and received from major art schools, college art departments, area art galleries, and individual artists. Bill Scott made the most recommendations (seven) by an individual; Al Gury, representing the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, made six suggestions; Moore College five; and Tyler Art School gave thumbs up to four artists. Other schools sent fewer names. Of 10 galleries contacted, six responded by sending one work each. No student work was included. Could this show become an annual?