Cyber Gallery

Spring Exhibit is “People for a Better Tomorrow”

On Saturday, April 1, the UCR/Sweeney Art Gallery will officially open its doors in a newly renovated space that places the gallery at the intersection of Main Street and University Avenue in Riverside.

“People for a Better Tomorrow,” from guest curator Meg Cranston, is the first exhibit in the new space, the nearly century-old Walling building that originally served as the headquarters for Riverside’s First National Bank.

“Instead of cash and gold, the gallery will house art exhibits that bring a new kind of valuable resource to downtown Riverside,” said Joel Martin, interim dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. “The Sweeney joins the established UCR/California Museum of Photography and the planned Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts, providing additional space and energy and creative treasure to UCR and to the Riverside arts community in general.”

A curator’s walkthrough of the first exhibit, which showcases the work of eight dynamic and diverse artists dedicated to idea that art can transform society, is scheduled for 4 p.m. April 1 and the opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. that night.

Jim Isermann, associate professor of art history and a recognized artist in his own right, serves as the faculty director of the Sweeney Art Gallery. “We’re very excited about the gallery’s new location, and especially Peter Zellner’s design,” he said. “It’s high-profile and will help us attract the best art exhibits possible. As well, the location in downtown Riverside puts the gallery in the heart of the Inland Empire, and this increases our ability to reach out to the community well beyond UCR.”

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On Jan. 9 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, GW Professor Maida Withers’ work received prestigious recognition and gave opportunity for reflection.

Withers accepted the D.C. Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline on behalf of her company, the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, founded in 1974.

The Award comes at an appropriate time for reflection of Withers’ past accomplishments and artistic developments, and is fitting for Withers’ fortieth anniversary of teaching at GW.

Maida Withers was honored as an engaging and innovative experimental performer, holding a unique position in the international and DC art community. She holds a position as a GW dance professor and graduate program director.

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Works by Jeff Koons and Paul McCarthy were among those sold by Germany’s “punk princess.”

Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis likes motorcycles and rock stars, lavish parties and jewels. She is known among the international jet set as the “punk princess” who collects contemporary art. But sometimes, she cleans house.

On Monday night she put 50 works by some of today’s trendiest artists — including Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy — up for sale at Phillips, dePury & Co. (Phillips auctioned 85 more works from her collection on Tuesday morning.)

Although the princess was not in attendance at Phillips’ Chelsea salesroom Monday, her two daughters, Elisabeth and Maria Theresia, were there, videotaping the proceedings. Their mother will no doubt be pleased by what she sees.

The sale totaled $6.3 million, or $7.4 million with Phillips’ commission. (Prices of record include the commission.) The high estimate was $7 million.

In 1993 the princess held a nine-day sale of furniture, art and objects from Schloss St. Emmeram, the family castle in Regensburg, Bavaria — everything from a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to 75,000 bottles of vintage wine.

That sale, which brought more than $19 million, went to pay inheritance taxes on the estate of her husband, Prince Johannes, who died in 1990.

In 1992, she had already sold much of the family jewels, also at Sotheby’s. Simon de Pury, chairman of Phillips, then chairman of Sotheby’s in Europe, presided over both events, and he and the princess became friends.

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