Art Buzz

The paintings of the late David Budd, an acclaimed artist who was born in St. Petersburg, attended the Ringling School of Art and is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, are included this month in an exhibition at the Thomas McCormick Gallery in Chicago (along with works by Robert Motherwell and Arshile Gorky). McCormick saw the pieces when he came to Sarasota in January to visit with April Thurber, Budd's daughter, and her mother, Corcaita Cristiani Bowes. Bowes says McCormick was especially interested in the paintings from the 1950s and chose about two dozen. Budd's most recent exhibition in Sarasota was organized by Kevin Dean for the Selby Gallery of the Ringling School. The Ringling Museum of Art acquired several of his paintings for the permanent collection in the late 1990s.

Sarasota sculptor William Tarr, who was in three Whitney Museum exhibitions in the '60s and created the sculpture that welcomes the public to the Sarasota County Administration building on Ringling Boulevard, has had two major works acquired by the Neiman-Marcus Collection for their store in Coral Gables. Julie Kronick, corporate art curator for Neiman-Marcus, says they were so pleased with the Coral Gables sculptures the store commissioned Bill to make a work for the Dallas store, too.Fellow artist Robert Giordano had one of his major sculptures purchased by Manatee Community College in Bradenton and placed in front of the art gallery there. Gallery director Joseph Locissano says, "When the sculpture landed on the site, it seemed like it belonged there.".Dennis Kowal, who has several sculptures in downtown Sarasota, was feted last month at the annual Sculpture Key West exhibition at Fort Zachary Park. This show, which could be seen by land, sea and air, included the work of more than 65 artists.

The new airport security procedures caused a bit of a setback for artist Sandy Winters, who created a room-sized installation for Selby Gallery in January. Her crates were sent on ahead of her; and when no one was there when they landed in Miami to explain what was inside and why they were setting off the metal detectors, security tore the crates apart, damaging her work. Fortunately she was able to repair and reconstruct the various components.

Goodheart Plaza in downtown Sarasota was recently dedicated by Mayor Richard Martin, who called it "an example of the kind of collaboration we want to see more of downtown." When the city decided to reconfigure the intersection of Pineapple and Lemon Avenues near Ringling Boulevard, they asked artist Nancy Goodheart Matthews to create a new concept for her original fountain design there. She did so, with the result being wonderful narratives told with creatures springing from her imagination. Art dealer Allyn Gallup raised $7,500 by selling fragments of the original plaza floor; that money plus a donation of $25,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Sam Hamad will go into a special city maintenance fund for the area.