Friends of the Gloversville Public Library

Art Auction

Joel Chapin 518 922 6167 Amsterdam, New York Donated an intaglio print valued at $180, minimum bid $110 Winner: Barbara Feidler

Joel Chapin earned his BA from Skidmore in printmaking and his MFA from SUNY Albany in drawing and painting. He has been a professor of fine arts at FMCC for 18 years. His work has been exhibited at the Munson-Williams Proctor Institute in Utica and at the Schenectady-Mohawk Regional exposition. He has a piece permanently displayed in the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls. Chapin looks to the complexity in nature for inspiration, even for those pieces which are not reality-based.

Don Dwyer 518 725 0387 Adirondack Stained Glass Works, Gloversville, New York Donated a stained glass snowflake valued at $110, minimum bid $65 Winner: Sue Kiernan

Don Dwyer is a self-taught stained glass artist who founded the Adirondack Stained Glass Works twenty-five years ago. Working with two partners, he produces lighting using Tiffany, arts and crafts, and mission design as well as crafting custom-made doors and windows. The Fulton County Chamber awarded them the 2007 Small Business of the Year Award for their contributions to the community. Dwyer has also produced a line of lamps and windows that capture the Adirondacks.

Don Fleischut 518 725 5474 Gloversville, New York Donated a wannigan valued at $250, minimum bid $150 Winner: Betsy Batchelor

Upon retiring, Don Fleischut attended the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine where he learned to restore antique boats and canoes, an interest he has now pursued for nine years. He shows his work locally in support of the Fulton County arts. His craft enables him to participate in what is a dying art form. Creating the wannigan is a natural extension of his restoration work and requires the same skill level.

Warren Greene 518 725 1582 Gloversville, New York Donated a photograph valued at $200, minimum bid $120 Winner: Susan Ringland

Warren Greene grew up in Gloversville and attended FMCC and SUNY Oswego, graduating in 1975. He has always had a love of the outdoors and nature, especially “the smaller things” such as birds and insects. His interest in photography began in 1976 when he bought his first camera and started using it as a means to document his natural observations. Greene’s photographs of birds have appeared on the covers of magazines and books, including “Adirondack Life”, “The Conservationist” and Birds of the Adirondacks. More than 400 of his bird photographs are in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and his pictures have appeared in publications throughout the country. He has exhibited at the Fulton County Art Show and gives many slide shows in the region. Greene’s photographs may be found at a new website opening in late September at: www.adirondacknature.com.

Bob Hartnett 518 725 3691 Gloversville, New York Donated a butternut desktop bookcase valued at $250, minimum bid $150 Winner: Mary Hoff

Bob Hartnett has been a professional builder and carpenter for over forty years with a particular interest in finishing and restoration work. This interest has spilled over into the building and repairing of furniture. The woodwork he does aside from his business is for fun, so he allows himself to work without a plan and to design and build as he pleases. This absolute creative freedom results in each of his pieces being one of a kind.

Linda Hinkle 518 762 4893 Linda Hinkle Graphic Design, Johnstown, New York Donated a giclee print valued at $125, minimum bid $75 Winner: John Blackmon

Linda Hinkle received her BFA from the University of Michigan. She has recently studied mixed water media with Karen Rosasco. Hinkle displays regularly at the Fulton County Art Show and has been accepted at several juried shows. This year she participated in the SVAN show at the Chamber of Commerce in Gloversville and took first prize in painting at the Adirondack Artist Guild 2008 juried show. She works by abstracting something real to reveal shapes and textures, even using photographs.

Jack Horning 518 725 8082 Gloversville, New York Donated a colored pencil drawing valued at $100, minimum bid $60 Winner: Jim Meinhold

Jack Horning’s work is well-known to area residents. Working primarily in ink and colored pencils, Horning has drawn many of Gloversville’s and the county’s familiar old buildings and landmarks. He has been a regular exhibitor at the Fulton County Art Show for over thirty years.

Dragan Konakov 518 525 6627 Gloversville, New York Donated an acrylic painting valued at $200, minimum bid $120 Winner: Patti Adamkowski

Dragan Konakov has a BA in civil engineering but has been interested in art since his adolescence. He was exposed to art as a youth by his father, a sculptor and professor at the state college in Serbia and by Malesevic-Tapi, a major Serbian artist who died while in prison during the Serbian conflict. Konakov is particularly interested in hyper-realism and bold brush strokes but trains himself by applying other artists’ techniques to his own photographs.

Mike Kratky 518 863 2821 Black Bear Studios, Northville, New York Donated a cherry burl vase with a natural edge valued at $175, minimum bid $105 Winner: Valerie Levine

Mike Kratky has been working with wood his entire life having grown up building and experimenting in his father’s woodshop. His passion for woodworking has led him to be active in several woodworkers associations including the Sacandaga Woodworkers Association which he co-founded. His work has won several awards including first place at the Saratoga Springs Showcase “Adirondack Furniture.” Kratky’s work combines art with function and reflects his love of the forests in the Adirondacks.

Barbara McMartin Deceased Selected works valued at $200, minimum bid $120 Winner: Betsy Batchelor Caroga: An Adirondack Town Recalls Its Past 50 Hikes in the Adirondacks: Short Walks, Day Trips, and Backpacks Throughout the Park Fun on Flatwater: An Introduction to Adirondack Canoeing The Great Forest of the Adirondacks Hides, Hemlocks, and Adirondack History: How the Tanning Industry Influenced the Region’s Growth Perspectives on the Adirondacks: A Thirty-Year Struggle by People Protecting Their Treasure

Barbara McMartin was the valedictorian of Johnstown High School in 1949. She received her PhD in Mathematics from the City University of NY, but in 1972 she became involved with the nature, culture, and management of the Adirondack Park, writing 25 guide books and histories of the Adirondacks between 1972 and 2005. She served not only on the NYSDEC advisory committee but also as volunteer curator at the Caroga Historical Museum and the Fulton County Museum. She was the recipient of many awards including the Founder’s Day Award from the Adirondack Museum and the Adirondack Heritage Award from the Adirondack Council.

Jeff Meuwissen 518 863 8116 Northville, New York Donated an intarsia and glass work valued at $150, minimum bid $90 Winner: Ellen Wood

Jeff Meuwissen is a retired forester who has been woodworking for much of his life. He began working with stained glass over 20 years ago after taking a course from Adirondack Stained Glass Works. After seeing intarsia at a show, he conceived of working with the combination of glass and wood, something he has never seen anyone else do. He has won a prize at the Northeast Woodworkers Show every year since 1999. His work is characteristically multicolored, an effect created by the colors of the woods he uses, not from the use of stains or paints.

Ellen Rae Panero 518 762 1958 Johnstown, New York Donated a watercolor valued at $125, minimum bid $75 Winner: Marion Viglione

Ellen Panero received her BFA from the Pratt Institute, with a concentration in graphic arts and book illustration, and her MA from Elmira College. Her work appears in collections throughout the U.S. and Canada including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Congress. She has participated in several competitions both at the national and state level, and has appeared in innumerable watercolor exhibitions throughout New York. This year she participated in the SVAN show at the Chamber of Commerce in Gloversville. Panero often paints on location, recreating finished works from sketches and notes taken from what she has seen, but more and more she paints from her imagination.

Bonny Pera 518 883 8942 Mountainview Custom Framing, Broadalbin, New York Donated a photograph valued at $100, minimum bid $60 Winner: Dawn Ryan

Bonny Pera is a self-taught photographer who has been working in the medium for 25 years. Initially a painter, Pera turned to photography because she did not feel her paintings adequately reflected what she saw in nature. Her photographs have won several awards in the Newport, NH and the Hagaman shows and have regularly appeared at the Fulton County Art Show. It is her expressed hope that her work enables the viewer both to see and to feel what she does when she looks through the lens.

Paul Petrie 518 725 6515 Gloversville, New York Donated a turned oak bowl valued at $125, minimum bid $75 Winner: Genia Meinhold

Paul Petrie’s interest in woodturning as an art form evolved from his work turning spindles for railings and furniture. He has been working seriously at woodturning for the last 10 to 11 years during which time he feels he started to truly learn about his craft. His work has appeared in Fine Woodworking, a USA magazine, and Woodturning, a UK magazine. His work is often distinguished by its being very thin and pierced as well as colored.

Judith Plotner 518 725 3222 Gloversville, New York Donated a framed fiber collage valued at $300, minimum bid $180 David Pesses

Judith Plotner attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and majored in art at the City College of New York. Her work has been exhibited nationally in group and solo shows including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum and the American Craft Museum in New York. Several publications include her work, most recently Portfolio 12, 13, 14 Studio Art Quilts Associates, Inc. She is the recipient of three Individual Artist Grants from New York State Council of the Arts and a Special Opportunity stipend from New York Foundation for the Arts. Plotner dyes, prints, and paints her fabrics. Her work is improvisational, using symbols that may seem disconnected but are related in her mind.

Richard Russo Camden, Maine Donated selected works, autographed, whose value is priceless, minimum bid $150 Winner: Jane Alexander Bridge of Sighs Mohawk Nobody’s Fool The Risk Pool Straight Man The Whore’s Child and Other Stories The Whore’s Child and Other Stories - Audio CD (read by the author)

Richard Russo, who was born in Johnstown and raised in Gloversville, has used the places and characters of this area in some of his works, referring to the Fulton County Art Show in his most recent novel, Bridge of Sighs. His novel Empire Falls won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, while his novel Nobody’s Fool was adapted into a movie starring Paul Newman. Russo has written six novels, a collection of short stories, and several screen plays. Included in this selection is Russo reading his own short stories.

Carmella Scarpa Woodworth Lake Road, Gloversville, New York Donated a wooden box valued at $250, minimum bid $150 Winner: David King

Carmella Scarpa, a self-taught artist, has been around wood all her life so working in wood comes naturally to her. Her brothers are carpenters who do construction, and she works with them painting and doing interior work. She has been a contributor to the Fulton County Art Show for several years, often displaying her pencil drawings which are her main interest. Creating art is for her a relaxing spare-time activity which she enjoys as she enjoys gardening.

Cindy Sheeler 518 725 5072 Gloversville, New York Donated a watercolor valued at $100, minimum bid $60 Winner: Heather Abraham

Cindy Sheeler, who grew up in Gloversville, has known since second grade that she wanted to teach art. She received her degree in Art Education from Westminster College in Pennsylvania, and has been teaching art for 27 years, 22 of those in Gloversville. Sheeler works in many mediums, but no matter what the medium, her work is as she puts it, “happy and whimsical and fun.” This year Sheeler was selected to be one of the featured artists at the Norman Rockwell Museum exhibit of artist-designed garden gates. The exhibit was open in Stockbridge MA this past summer.

Sandra Grace Smith 518 725 9500 Gloversville, New York Donated a ceramic pot valued at $100, minimum bid $60 Winner: David Pesses

Sandra Smith has worked professionally as an artist/teacher for over 30 years. She is currently an adjunct professor at the College of St. Rose. Her work has been on display throughout New York including at the Cooperstown National Art Exhibit where she won the Elsie Birch Watercolor Award. She has also been the guest artist at the Fulton County Art Show and has had a one-person exhibit at FMCC. Her work has been purchased by several galleries and institutes including the Munson-Williams Proctor Institute and the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery. Her work is currently in the Finger Lakes Gallery in Canandaigua.

Bill Tyler 518 725 5450 Gloversville, New York Donated a spalted maple vessel valued at $150, minimum bid $90 Winner: Anne King

Bill Tyler started woodturning shortly after retiring from the Air Force in 2000 having become hooked after a day of playing with his brother-in-law’s lathe. He now belongs to five different woodturning groups including the American Association of Woodturners. Tyler creates work that reflects his interest in trying new shapes rather than standard designs. He particularly enjoys the fact that woodturning enables him to create something from what initially has no shape or form.

Kathryn (Ziggy) Zajicek 518 762 1385 Johnstown, New York Donated a pastel valued at $225, minimum bid $135 Winner: Erin Wheeler

Ziggy Zajicek graduated with a BFA from the College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MS in Education from Elmira College. She has taught art at Johnstown HS for 32 years. Her work has been featured twice in the Fulton County Art Show, once as a guest artist and once as a member of a group show of the work of area art teachers. She works in every medium except oil and watercolors as part of her belief that if she must teach everything then she should try to use everything herself. Her work captures familiar images and remembrances and reflects the influence of American regionalists.

Culinary Artists Each donated a $50 gift certificate for a total value of $250, minimum bid $150 Winner: David Pesses 391 South Main 773 3663 Gloversville New York Dick & Peg’s 725 6440 Gloversville, New York Lanzi’s on the Lake 661 7711 Mayfield, New York The Rail Yard 725 0122 Gloversville, New York Union Hall Inn 762 3210 Johnstown, New York