Saginaw Art Museum Heats Up the Winter Months with Region 11 Student Exhibition, Antique Appraisal Fair, and the Ever-Popular ‘Cheeseburgers in Margaritaville’ Fundraiser

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    icon Feb 05, 2015
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Several dynamic events are exhibitions are in store at the Saginaw Art Museum guaranteed to fill these cold winter days with color and excitement over the next several weeks, including the annual Antique Appraisal Fair that is happening on Saturday, March 14th from 10 am to 3 pm.

“This presents a great opportunity for people to bring their antiques to the museum and have their items reviewed by different antique and art appraisers that are experts in their field,” explains museum director Stacey Gannon. “People can bring items varying from dishes and glassware to toys, small pieces of furniture, and jewelry. Plus something we have not featured in the past and are planning on trying this year is coins, as we will have an appraiser on hand that specializes in rare coins, so we encourage people to bring any of these items over to the museum.”

The Antique Appraisal works much like the Antique Roadshow. People come and register and fill out a form with a description of their items; and then appraisers will examine the item and relay to you its actual value. “In the past people had to wander through various areas of the museum, so this year we are setting up everything in the Exhibition Hall,” continues Gannon. “This will make it easy to walk around and locate the various appraisers that will each be set up in their own booth.” 

The cost for this event is $5.00 per item for non-members and $4.00 for members. “Most people that attend usually bring a couple of items and some bring paintings or various pieces of artwork and collectables,” she notes. “This is also a fundraiser for the museum, as money raised goes to support programs here at the Museum.  Dennis & Melodye Adomaitis have always volunteered their time to coordinate this annual event and we can’t thank them enough for all the work they put into this.”

According to Dennis Adomaitis, all the appraisers are ISA (International Society of Appraisers) certified and will include Dick & Connie Groening, who specialize in gemology; Suzanne Short who deals with jewelry; Jack Short & Dennis Adomaitis handling the paintings and artwork, Robert Ramsey who specializes in general antiques, Rockwell Scherzer who specializes in glass; and Philip Sheraton from Sheraton Arms who calibrates his aim on the valuation of antique guns.

Michigan Art Education Association Region 11 Student Exhibition Showcases Youthful Talent February 3-21st

The MAEA Region 11 Exhibition offers an excellent opportunity to examine the incredible and gifted talent of artwork by elementary through high school students across the region. Region 11 covers Saginaw, Gratiot, Tuscola, Sanilac and Huron counties; and this annual student exhibition will feature works in various media, with a selection of the work that will advance to the MAEA State Art show in East Lansing. Student work will be in a variety of medium including drawing, sculpture and painting.

The Michigan Art Education Association's mission is to promote quality visual arts education through leadership, service, and professional development.

The Museum will hold a Macy’s Museum After Hours on Wednesday, February 11 at 6-8pm to celebrate the student’s work. This After Hours event will be free and open to the public, providing an opportunity to visit the museum outside of regular hours and enjoy light refreshments.

According to Melissa Carpp, MAEA liaison and art teacher at Nouvel Catholic Elementary, generally anywhere from 75 to 100 pieces of original artwork from students are featured at the exhibition. “I’ve been teaching for 29 years in the area and I would say that we easily feature at least a dozen schools throughout the region,” she explains.

“Each teacher is only allowed to bring five pieces from each of their classes, so all the work goes through a process of judging and assessment and represents the finest work from each class,” she continues. “I teach elementary and middle classes, so can bring five pieces in from each class. Judges then come and assess the work before it goes up and they in turn choose pieces that go onto the state for judging, so when our show goes down it will then go to the next level. The pieces chosen here will move on to the East Lansing show.”

The work represented exemplifies the divergent range of both media and talent generated by young artists from our local schools. According to Carpp, one student not from the Saginaw area, but from another school that was featured in a similar regional show that was part of the Michigan Youth Arts Festival had a piece shown in the Grand Rapids Museum at ArtPrize.

“There is always some great work featured here and I highly encourage people to come and experience the high caliber of talent offered firsthand,” she concludes.

The MAEA Region 11 Student Exhibition will be on view at the Saginaw Art Museum between February 3 and 21. Museum hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm, open additional hours for special events and programs. Please call 989-754-2491 or visit www.saginawartmuseum.org for more information.

12th Annual Cheeseburgers in Margaritaville Happening on Friday, March 6th at Horizons Conference Center

One of the Saginaw Art Museum’s major annual fundraisers is the ever-popular Cheeseburgers in Margaritaville, which will be happening this year on Friday, March 6th at Horizons Conference Center from 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

Easily one of the best parties of the year, this annual excursion into paradise allows patrons to escape the cold and enjoy an evening of tropical splendor listening to the music of Empty Canvas while enjoying tropical drinks, Island tunes, Caribbean food and coastal artwork. All proceeds help the Museum build quality art education and exhibition programs for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

“This will be the first Cheeseburger in Margaritaville party that we’ve thrown at Horizons Conference Center,” explains museum director Stacey Gannon, “and we’re very excited about the opportunities that it opens.  According to Gannon, last year they experimented with holding the vent on two different nights, but based upon feedback from participants, they decided to move it back to one night.  Plus last year they had 700 people attend both nights, so the move to Horizons was based upon the growth and popularity of the event.

“With what we’ve reinstalled here at the museum and given the number of people attending, we can’t accommodate it with this facility, so moving it to Horizons will give us more capacity,” she explains. “We would love to see 1000 people attend this year and it’s a great time of year to stage this event, as usually by the time Cheeseburgers comes around people are sick of the snow and ready to celebrate the color and warmth of the tropics.”

According to Gannon, this year different sponsorships are being introduced and they will feature a VIP hour from 6-7 PM that will feature the Michigan Jazz Trail Big Band, with Empty Canvas returning for the 7-10 PM party. Additionally, they will be auctioning off the ‘group’ painting created during the event along with six Adirondack chairs from local artists and have added a spectacular raffle event.

“People can purchase raffle tickets that will be available next week for an opportunity to win a 4-day, 3-night Vacation to Key West, Florida; with the second place winner receiving a $500 American Airlines Gift Card. The cost will be $15.00 for one ticket and $20.00 for two tickets, so this is a neat little perk we’ve added into the event as well,” notes Gannon.

“We’re going to have the same decorative flair and transform Horizons into a tropical paradise and this year our pricing is at $30.00 general admission for young professionals, $40.00 for museum members, and $50.00 for the public in advance, with $60.00 tickets available at the door.”

“Another really cool thing we are offering this year is a ‘Cabana’ Ticket Package that gives you eight tickets for $750.00 and people can own their own cabana, decorate it, and get as crazy as they want with it, and also enjoy the benefits of having a dedicated server.  We thought this would be a fun thing to layer into this event.”

Chairing this year’s event are LeAnne Lamurrii and Laura Reindel and noted below are the various sponsorship packages:

  • $4,000 • Margaritaville VIP: Featuring 30 tickets, private NIP Hour from 6-7 PM with the Michigan Jazz Trail Big Band, recognition as presenting sponsor, prominent individual and joint signage, dedicated sponsor space, and the rights to distribute a logo-imprinted gift, along with unlimited additional tickets at $30 each and 40 museum guest passes, as well as discounted museum memberships for all employees.
  • $1,000 - Key Largo – Featuring 6 tickets, prominent signage, unlimited additional tickets at $30 each, mention in the sponsor thank-you ad, 20 museum guest passes, and discounted museum memberships for all employees.
  • $500 - Paradise – Featuring 4 tickets, prominent signage, unlimited additional tickets at $30 each, mention in the sponsorship thank you ad, 10 museum guest passes and discounted museum memberships for all employees.
  • $250 - Key West – Featuring 2 tickets, signage, unlimited additional tickets at $30 each, mention in the sponsor thank you ad, and Saginaw Art Museum Affiliate Membership with reciprocal privileges at over 700 museums and 300 gardens across the country.

For more info on any of the above events call The Saginaw Art Museum at 989.754.2491.

 

 

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