HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ARTAB_12.08.2010Minutes of the Meeting of the
Art Selection Committee for the SU/3M Grant,
a subcommittee of the Arts and Culture Board
December 8, 2010
Panel members present: Mary Visser, Southwestern University; Robert Laemel, Parks and
Recreation Board; Charles Aguillon, Mandy Solin, and Dar Richardson, Arts and
Culture Board
Absent: None
Staff Present: Eric Lashley, Library Director; Judy Fabry, Library Administrative Assistant
Regular Session
Call to Order at 4:00 PM
A. Eric Lashley called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.
Judy Fabry advised the panel that the amount of money available was $3600 and she
distributed photographs of the art in the Georgetown Sculpture Tour that is currently
available for sale The group went through the list of sculptures and selected those that
were $5,000 or less. They then considered the sizes of the pieces and the amount of
maintenance they might require.
After discussion, Charles moved to purchase Marla Ripperda's piece, Horatio II. Bob
seconded the motion which passed unanimously with Dar Richardson abstaining
because he is a friend of Ms. Ripperda.
The panel members who are on the Board will present the decision to the Board at the
meeting on December 21. If the decision is accepted, Dar will contact Marla Ripperda to
discuss the price and other details that need to be considered.
The meeting adjourned. at 4:45 p m
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Fabry, Acting Secretary Eric Lashley, Acting Chair
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SUN
Wednesday, November 17 2010
f Section
Port_/Arts
02,
411
Photos by Ben Trollinger
Georgetown artist Dar Richardson fell in love with the visual arts decades ago after trying his hand at wood carving. Now retired, the 73-year-old keeps busy fashioning whim-
sical characters out of clay and coordinating the Georgetown Sculpture Tour.
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Portraits is an occasional series fea-
right haloes of their brains to shock, awe
turing Williamson County residents who
and inspire others. Know an artist with an
spend their days drawing painting, mold-
interesting story to tell?E-mail slade a wil-
ing, sculpting or otherwise flexing the
cosun.com.
By R A C H E L S L A D E
the wood that asked him not to show
off his skill level, but just to express
t all started with a little wooden
himself.
hillbilly.
"Some people are very gifted— they
€< Delos Darwin Richardson, who
are artists, by skill level — but I never
simplifies things by going by "Dar,"
approached it that way; I approached it
was traveling the world helping
as how to express my ideas or my sense
companies incorporate computerized
of humor," lie said. "That's how I got
systems into their manufacturing
into art, that's what got me interested
processes when he stumbled upon a
in it."
woodcarving class at the National Carv-
Soon, small wooded pieces traveled
ing Museum in Colorado. He'd never
with him everywhere.
considered himself a visual artist in his
"It was something very flexible, so
Dar Richardson says his pieces should make people smile. youth, but there was something about Turn to PORTRAIT, Page BB
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PORTRAIT
Art offers outlet foi,
busy businessman
Continued from Page 113
I could take it with me," he
said, "and I could put it down
and pick it back up later
when I had time.
Mr. Richardson has had a
colorful life. After being born
in San Francisco, he spent
his formative years in Red-
mond, Washington. There, lie
fell for the active theater arts,
singing and theater. He'd al-
ways been naturally talented
when it came to singing, and
he'd even set records with
the International Thespians
drama group by the time
he left high school, but he
decided to be realistic when
it came to a career. After at-
tending a vocational school
to study electronics, he began
work with Boeing, spent time
Is tationed in Hawaii as part
of the Navy Air Forces and
helped with the launch of
the first Minute Man missile.
He then returned to school
for an industrial engineer-
ing degree at what is now
known as California State
University, Long Beach, and
spent a lifetime working for
companies like McDonnell
Douglas, Enviro-Tech and
Baker Hughes.
Between work and vaca-
tion, Mr. Richardson has vis-
ited several countries, lived in
eight states and visited every
state except Alaska. He even
spent a season with the Utah
Opera Company, and took
leading roles in stage shows
like Oklahoma and Showboat
as an artistic outlet along the
way. It was working in Utah
nearly two decades ago that
he met his wife, Cheri, and
the two have been inseparable
since, creating a family with -
his four boys and her daugh-
ter from previous marriages
16 years ago.
After wood carving on the
side for about 20 years, sell-
ing pieces and working com-
missions, it was finally time
to retire. A final job working
with a .com startup in Austin
had landed him in the area,
and about 10 years ago he
said goodbye to corporate life
and moved to Georgetown.
With extra time on his hands,
his hands got busy.
"When I retired, I shifted
gears and now I do art
basically full time," he
said. "That's when I started
sculpturing cement, and then
clay."
Holding onto his love for
31), tactile art, Mr. Richard -
soil began spending hours
a day learning the ins and
outs of clay sculpture.
Wood carving had proved
to him that he was capable
of creating visual art, and
his whimsical imaginings
were soon flowing into piece
navevrour,' sS t f i +1, around?
#' 1�s
40
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% ilia, 1 Y 1- �7..
after piece — goofy looking
angels, chubby cats, peace
sign -throwing dragons,
cheerful leprechauns.
His studio name- Righ-
teous Cats Studio— came
from a comment he received
at a clay workshop in San
Marcos.
"I was making this cat
and [the instructor] said,
`man, that looks righteous,"'
he said, chuckling at the
memory. "Cheri thought it
was a cute name."
Now Mr. Richardson
heads to his studio daily
to click on classical music,
think for a bit and get his
hands dirty.
"With clay, you can just
start messing around with it
and it starts to talk to you,"
he said.
Inspiration comes from
anywhere; his latest piece,
In the Land of the Blind, the
One -Eyed Man is King, is a
cheerful, portly fellow sport-
ing a black eye patch. To
Mr. Richardson, art is about
letting his sense of humor
shine.
"I've found that a lot of
times, people limit them-
selves; they write them-
selves off as `I'm not an
artist' or `I can't do things'
and I find that quite not to
be the truth," he said. "You
can express yourself with
art. This is fun."
No matter the subject, Mr. "
Richardson has one goal.
`Art, by in large, is an
emotional thing," he said.
"People who see my work
Ben Trollinger
Though Dar Richardson started out being known for his cats, he's
branched out into other animals like rabbits and pigs.
should smile."
Despite working and sell-
ing art for decades, it was
only about seven years ago
that Mr. Richardson sudden-
ly realized that his passion
could be transformed into a
second career.
He jokes that he's never
done it for the money be-
cause he "would really be a
starving artist," but it was
then that Mr. Richardson
began showing regularly,
setting up shop at the Austin
Farmers Market and actively
booking gallery displays.
He's also taken his passion
for public art to the streets
and trails of Georgetown.
As a member of both the
Texas Society of Sculptors
and the Georgetown Arts &
Culture Board, Mr. Richard-
son coordinates the more
than 20 pieces of public art
on display year-round at the
Georgetown Public Library,
Georgetown Recreation
Center and San Gabriel Park
as part of the Georgetown
Sculpture Tour.
"I hope to encourage art
to become a more important
part of the community," he
said. And I think it's neat;
you go to the library right
now and there's this rhino
sitting there looking at
YOU."
At 73, Mr. Richardson has
no plans to quit his craft
anytime soon. There are
too many curiosities left to
explore, too many creatures
of his imagination awaiting
discovery. And anyway, "it's
really an ageless thing," Mr.
Richardson says. "That's
one nice thing about art."
slade@wilcosun.com