The following is a PDF for download which includes an extensive chronology of Gordon Peers’ education and career as an artist from 1932 to 1985.  Please click the link to download the PDF.

Click to Download Extended Chronology

taking a look
2007 Theme series
Bert Gallery Program: A round table discussion exploring the topic, “Who creates the art market?” from the perspective of the commercial gallery, art critic & artist.

Tuesday – June 12, 2007 at
Bert Gallery starting at 5.30pm

The art world is made up of a variety of factions that create and effect the market. How do you measure success in the art world—is it really about the art itself, those who create the art or the handlers of art? If an artist has a museum exhibit, does it increase the value of his or her art? Who reads the art critic’s review and what is its impact on an artist’s career? A dealer represents an artist: what does that mean? Once an artist sets an auction record, are they then ‘discovered’? Come to a round table discussion at Bert Gallery and witness the debate. Space is limited—please call for reservations.

Moderator:
Patricia McLaughlin: Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Johnson and Wales University and former Director of Administration for the City of Providence. Ms. McLaughlin was instrumental in creating the arts district for Providence.

Panelists:
Berge Ara Zobian: Owner/Director of Gallery Z
John Pantalone: Professor of Journalism and former regional editor for Art New England
Lisa Utman Randall: Arts and Entertainment Writer for the Newport Mercury
Paula Martiesian: Providence artist and co-founder of Gallery Night Providence
Nick Paciorek: Providence artist

The program is in conjunction with the Bert Gallery exhibit “Who really creates the art market – museums, auctions, curators, critics, artists, collectors or galleries?”
• On view May 8 – June 22, 2007
• At Bert Gallery, located along the Providence waterfront at Corliss Landing, 540 South Water Street in Providence, Rhode Island
• Open Gallery Night: June 21st
• Gallery Hours are Tuesday – Friday from 11 – 5pm, Saturdays 12 - 4pm or by appointment. Exhibits are free and open to the public.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Patricia McLaughlin is currently the Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Johnson & Wales. Previous experience includes serving as the Director of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations for RISD and various positions for the City of Providence, including Director of
Administration and Deputy City Solicitor. She currently resides on the board of WaterFire Providence, The Providence Center, Splendor of Florence USA and is a member of the Executive Committee for the Rhode Island Foundation’s initiative, Housing Works.

Bérge Ara Zobian is a Providence-based photographer and Owner/Director of Gallery Z, a fine art gallery that features Armenian, European and American artists. Gallery Z is dedicated to the community by presenting meaningful artistic expression that engages a diverse clientele and acting as a center for experiencing art and supporting artists by offering an intimate setting to share their artistic expression.

John Pantalone is a professor of Journalism at the University of Rhode Island and the former regional editor for Art New England. Prior, he was the editor of Newport Life Magazine and Newport This Week and arts editor for the South County Independent.

Lisa Utman Randall recently received a Rhode Island Press Association award for her arts and entertainment writing in the Newport Mercury. She was the co-founder of Island Arts, a non-profit art gallery in Newport, and spent 14 years as Executive Director.

Paula Martiesian is a practicing Providence artist, represented by Bert Gallery, and Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Gallery Night Providence. Other professional experience includes Curator of BankRI Galleries, Editor and Co-Publisher of Quix Art Magazine and Chairman and Founder of Center City Contemporary Artists. She states of her own artwork “I have always figured my personality was a contradictory mix of subtlety and mack truck, and my paintings are beginning to reflect that rather unlikely combination.”

Nick Paciorek is an internationally-known artist for his work done at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy. He aligns himself with a new generation of Fauvists by using broad strokes of brilliant color for their emotional impact. He loves large cities with active skylines, busy streets and the relationship of one building to another.

Essay by Catherine Little Bert

Complimenting the main exhibit Who Creates the Art Market?
– museums, auctions, curators, critics, artists, collectors or galleries
is a small pocket exhibit of contemporary Rhode Island artists: Frank Gasbarro, Dana Levin, Paula Martiesian, Kenn Speiser and Carmel Vitullo. For the past twenty years, Bert Gallery has exhibited these artists, working hard to promote local talent beyond the state borders. The particular challenges for contemporary artists are addressed in this small installation.

A Rhode Island artist or any other contemporary artist from another part of the country faces extraordinary challenges to achieve recognition for their art. Our republic has never been keen on the concept of direct patronage of artists as compared to our European forefathers. Rather America’s capitalistic and practical nature has done little to foster national artistic culture.

By mid 19th century as America grew into an international power, the lack of attention to its cultural development became apparent and an embarrassment. Our design and artistic quality as a nation compared so poorly to other world powers. It became particularly humiliating at the Crystal Palace, or The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. Out of sheer competitiveness Americans responded to the challenge and in the United States an era of remarkable growth of art schools, academies and art organizations lead to a maturation of art culture. The late 19th century saw a flurry of development in all the arts areas as Americans embraced the arts even if only sometimes as an “ornament of civilization”. Certainly, with new wealth came a desire to garner personal culture and social position by many.

The American artist as a professional status emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. Not only did the numbers increase there were many levels of professional artists from international notables such as John Singer Sargent, Frank Benson, Mary Cassatt, Cecelia Beaux to regional and local professionals. Just at the Paris Salons alone by 1899 over 5,000 paintings were exhibited yearly, of which a good percentage were by American artists. Locally, Rhode Islanders such as S.R. Burleigh, Clara Maxfield Arnold, George Whitaker were successful and highly regarded professionals in their community who sold and exhibited art their entire careers. Being an American artist was never an easy profession but a profession nonetheless recognized in City Business Directories at the same professional level as teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.

During the twentieth century in the Depression Era, when financial troubles for our nation abound, the WPA employed artists as a professional group to paint murals for public spaces such as libraries, train stations and other municipal locations. Artists were still recognized for their career expertise.

It was in Post depression era that we saw a shift in the artist as professional. The pursuit of painting as a career became tied to practical matters, teaching at art schools or for commercial purposes such as illustration and advertising. Art as a moniker of visual, social and political thoughts was being produced by fewer artists and supported by a shrinking audience of museums, critics and a small group of collectors. The artist profession was transformed mindful of practical proclivity of American society.

The late forties saw the emergence stateside of the great talents of Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell and with this new generation of artists American visual arts shifted to the importance of the artist as the solitary creator where their paintings and sculptures needed no practical purpose or justification to the public at large. The artist seized the visual arts as their medium to express ideas, thoughts and commentaries pertinent to society.

By the 1960’s American artists took the visual stage on the international front and with this transformed the art world and profession. Museums, galleries and the art centers centralized to major cities most notably New York City. Artists evolved from a mundane professional class to individual art celebrities.

Today 6 billion dollars of art is sold at Sotheby’s and Christies with 18% of the sales being contemporary. Contemporary art stars are on the retainers of prominent galleries, bought and sold by hedge fund operators and placed in deep pocket museums. And so it goes… the transcendence of artist as an 18th century colonial era craftsman to a 21st century visionary apostle and “pop star” of the secular world.

With this current state of affairs, developing an audience for regional practicing artists is increasingly difficult. If New York art professionals do not pluck them in early career, it is hard for artists to support themselves in their own communities as art professionals creating and selling their art. An added dilemma facing the majority of artists today is that with the abundance of excellent art schools where hundreds of artists are trained per year, to be professionally successful is very limited to the small competitive arenas such as New York, London and Berlin.

While good art is being made in many other communities, such as Rhode Island, the accomplished professional artist needs to work hard to manage their career and develop a collector base. Despite these challenges, the good news is that artists are infinitely “creative” in finding a way to produce good art and jump the hurdles often place before them. The narrative on the American artist for the twenty first century is just beginning to unfold.

Catherine Bert’s Lecture on:

Auction History: Gender Differences in the Auction Market

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Thank you for stopping by this afternoon for my discussion on gender differences in the auction market, a good topic to explore for Women’s History Month.

Before I delve into the details of gender differences, it is important to mention that you first need to understand the basics of bringing an artist to auction before thinking about our topic.

This current exhibit helps to highlight the varying conditions for each artist (both male and female) and how it reflects in the auction market. I have lots of documentation on issues to consider when looking at an artist in auction or understanding their auction prices. There are several factors or determinants of the value of an artwork by an artist. So heed this warning that you need to consider all of these determinants in order to interpret the auction numbers.

As you will find out shortly, there are dramatic differences between comparable male and female artists in auction.
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Auction Hits in the Rhode Island Market

March 6th – April 19th
Gallery Night: March 15th
Closed Gallery Night in April

The billion-dollar art auction market is booming across the world and some Rhode Island artists are making their mark. Who are the 19th and early 20th century Rhode Island artists who have hit auction highs? What if an artist sells for $5,000 in a gallery and $500 at a Sotheby’s auction—how do you interpret the data? Visit Bert Gallery and get an insider’s look at how different Rhode Island artists are faring in the auction market. Find out about the secondary market, a critical component in securing an artists’ reputation in the art world.

April Gallery program

• Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 4pm - What does auction data mean? Discover the inner workings of the auction market. Among the panelists are Charlie Wharton of UBS Financial Services, Inc. and Dan Mechnig of Meckandil Tool Co., Inc., both local collectors.

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