Marie Keep with the Skinner banner at the Saturday night preview party for Wet Paint 2013 at the Newport Art Museum
Dashing a prior forecast of clouds and rain, Saturday broke bright and beautiful as artists throughout the Newport, RI area gathered up their paints, palettes, and brushes. They headed to favorite spots within the historic village and more far-flung rugged coast line to create works of art to offer at auction at Wet Paint, a highly anticipated event organized by the Newport Art Museum. Both last year and this year I was honored to be asked to auctioneer for the event.
The Newport Art Museum is a museum of and for its people, from the staff, volunteers, artists, patrons, and itinerant friends who gather under that tent, there is a strong feeling of conviviality, support, and shared goals. The Museum’s $1.4 million dollar budget extends right back into the community with social programs including student outreach, adult education, historic preservation, and wide ranging exhibitions of established and emerging artists.
Throughout Saturday afternoon, artists unloaded canvases that volunteers swiftly moved into the Ilgenfritz Gallery and hung to cover nearly every square inch of wall space. The diverse array of subjects ranged from Castle Hill to enigmatic Elephant rock (a subject of near-muse status to Newport painters), Hanging Rock, and the Gothic chapel tower of St. Georges campus, an iconic view of Newport looking up the sweep from Second Beach.
At 6PM that evening, previewers leaned in to be the first through the opening gallery doors. I understood their purpose and momentum; many artist-donors are well respected painters who’ve created artwork for the benefit of the Newport Art Museum for years including Judy Chaves, John MacGowan, Sandy Nesbitt, and Brian Sage, among other local luminaries. First-time entrants add an element of discovery to the show, and some of the new artists are students enthralled and encouraged by the Museum’s student outreach programs.
Marie Keep conducts the live auction of freshly painted works of art for Wet Paint 2013 at the Newport Art Museum
On Sunday afternoon, I headed back into the Ilgenfritz Gallery where the clocks were approaching 4PM, the closing hour for the silent auction portion of the event. Patrons and bidders were reluctant to leave their pieces once the ropes went up. Why? Starting at that moment, a jury went methodically through the room and for the next 45 minutes pulled 50-some paintings out of the silent auction to be offered live at 5PM. Outside under a large white tent, a gathering crowd took up residence, ready to protect their interests and carry home the canvases, some still wet with layers of drying paint.
Bidding was a lively, funny, dynamic swirl of shifting circles. Artists stood near buyers, buyers sat near rivals, and art runners were directed and redirected back to interested parties for one last look. I had the easy and gratifying task of asking for just one more bid, and another, to top the prior. Some successful buyers never previewed the paintings inside the gallery — they waited until the canvases were off the wall and live in the tent.
In the end, many art-lovers left satisfied, carrying beautiful canvases that just one day prior had simply been a concept in an artist’s mind.