Please join us
for our next PGH Photo Fair Speaker Series installment as we welcome
Northeast Ohio-based art collectors and philanthropists, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, founders of the Bidwell Foundation and Cleveland’s new events and exhibitions space, the Transformer Station.
After exploring the photography world from the perspective of the
auction house and the gallery, the third and fourth installments of the
PGH Photo Fair Speakers Series explore a new area by putting collectors
in the spotlight.
The talk will be held at The Andy Warhol Museum
on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Doors open at 6:00pm with a cash bar
followed by our talk at 7pm. This event is free and open to the public.
In
this talk, the Bidwells discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of
collecting, how they established their “ground rules” (to guide their
collecting and to keep from getting overwhelmed) and why they chose to
focus on contemporary art. For Fred, one of the
special rewards of collecting living artists is the relationships that
can develop. Besides the satisfaction of supporting creativity, he
notes, “artists tend to be interesting people.”
Fred and Laura
Bidwell will also introduce to Pittsburgh their latest project: the
Transformer Station. This public-private partnership with the Cleveland
Museum of Art, unique in the United States, is designed to bring
original contemporary arts exhibitions, events and programming from
around the world to the west side of Cleveland.
The Bidwells were
first inspired to collect photo-based art after visiting a friend and
passionate collector, whose home had been transformed into a remarkable
floor-to-ceiling exhibition. Gradually, as their collection grew in size
and significance, Bidwell Projects was formed. Today, the Bidwell
Foundation supports numerous artists and arts institutions concentrating
in Northeast Ohio. They have worked closely with Akron Museum of Art,
University of Akron, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, SPACES
Gallery, Inter-Museum Conservation Association and the Cleveland Museum
of Art.
Just as a refresher about the genesis of all this: PGH Photo
Fair, through the auspices of Fugitive Vision, LLC, is sponsoring six
talks on photography at a variety of venues in Pittsburgh on the 2nd
Wednesday of every month leading up to the fair this Spring. The series
aims to augment the already rich art and photography scene in Pittsburgh
with speakers who will focus on the state of the art, collecting, and
connoisseurship.
For more info about PGH Photo Fair, please click here.
For more info on PGH Photo Fair speaker series, please click here.
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Written with the help of Alexandra Oliver
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