In times like these, collectors, artists, and art directors need to come together to support and protect the production and funding of art in this country. With continuous threats to defund the National Endowment of the Arts, it’s especially important to foster non-profit art organizations with the mission to encourage society to participate in the production and appreciation of art.
The International Print Center is New York’s first (and only) non-profit art institution specifically dedicated to printed art. The IPCNY states that its core vision is “deepening its artist-centered approach, exploring the role of prints with broader artistic and cultural practice, and re-engaging the International artistic community”. Programs like IPCNY are able to exist due to generous donations by artists and collectors alike.
IPCNY’s Spring Benefit Dinner certainly showed how significant a difference members of the art community can make by all coming together. On May 24th, the International Print Center New York held its annual Spring Benefit Dinner. Over 300 collectors, artists, gallerists, curators and print-loving enthusiasts gathered at Capitale in Lower Manhattan.
IPCNY Director Judy Hecker welcomed three honorees; artist and printmaker Jim Dine, Curator Emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art David Kiehl, and founder and president of Barbara Krakow Gallery, Barbara Krakow, to accept their award for significant contributions to the world of Fine Prints.
An impressive $400,000 was raised from the benefit proceeds and auction which included prints by artists Mel Bochner, Dan Walsh, Ruth Lingen, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and many others. The auction also included Miss 2017, sashes that were originally screen-printed for the 2017 Women’s Day March created by artists Louise Eastman, Jess Frost, Tara Geer, Katie Michel, Wendy Small, and Janis Stemmermann. Another reflection of artists’ involvement in the protection of rights and freedoms in this country.
Guests included Kiki Smith, Jeffrey Deitch, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Adam Weinberg, Guerilla Girl Zubeida Agha, Marnie Pillsbury, and among many others. The event revealed that despite the threats the NEA has received from our current administration in Washington, no one can stop artists and collectors alike from coming together and fostering the creation and enjoyment of art.
