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INTERTAINMENT
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Monday, November 1,1999____ _ Page 9
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Story By Jason Hardy Photos By Nate Wagner
Haydon director lends hand to artists
ivareiy uo you ima an an major
who also majors in business.
Historically, art and business have
not coexisted in total harmony. For
whatever reason, artists tend to have
trouble bridging the gap between creat
ing their work and marketing it
For artists in the Lincoln area, this
can be^ven more difficult. A large
number of quality artists live in the
area, but a relatively small amount of
galleries and buyers exist to show and
buy their art.
One gallery helping to market
Lincoln artists is the Haydon Art
Gallery, located in the Hardy Building,
335 N. Eigftth St.
A project of the Nebraska Art
Association, the Haydon was designed
to help with fund raising for the
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, to sup
port professional Midwestern artists
and to offer artistic education through
exhibits and artist workshops.
Ann ragei, director oi me nayoon,
said the gallery currently represents
about 100 artists who pay the Haydon a
commission for the work Pagel and her
associates sell. Itfc an arrangement that
she sees as very advantageous for busy
artists.
“We make a gallant effort to sell the
works, so we do require a commis
sion,” Pagel said. “It’s worth it to (the
artists) to pay for the marketing side, so.
they can spend more time in the stu
dio.”
Ed Rumbaugh, a local painter and
photographer represented by the
Haydon, agreed, saying the Lincoln
market was tough.
“You don’t have people knocking
on your doors 24 hours a day,” he said.
“But Lincoln is a pretty small town,
and there are a lot of good art patrons,
bid there is no shortage of quality, so
it’s hard to sell work.
“I think Ann does an excellent job
with what she works with.”
What Pagel works with is a tiny
staff, consisting of a few co-workers
and interns, and an extremely tight
budget. Despite its limitations, the
Haydon still has a visible impact on the
local and regional visual art communi
ty.
we provide a wonderful service
for professional artists to live in this
region and make sales,” Pagel said. “I
also feel very good about die quality of
work that’s offered through the
Haydon. We only take about 2 percent
of the artists who seek out our repre
sentation, so there is nobody represent
ed by this gallery that isn’t profession
al.”
The size of die Haydon’s staff lim
its the promotion the gallery is able to
offer each of its artists.
“I don’t think you can find a hand
ful of artists who are making it by just
their art in Lincoln,” Rumbaugh said.
“In fact, I don’t think I know even one.
“You hope that your relationship
with a dealer is a stepping stone to
independence, and for the last three
years, I’ve been able to paint about 20
hours a week.”
Despite Rumbaugh’s increasing
independence and creativity, he has yet
to make a considerable profit
“I’ve made some sales, but I’ve
never made enough sales to cover the
cost of my work,” he said. “But Ann has
definitely helped the art community as
a whole. She’s given them exposure,
and if you look over a period of years,
she’s given people shows at a time in
their career that really boosts them up.
“It’s all part of one big machine,
and if it works well together, we’ll suc
ceed.”
Time has shown that Pagel and the
Haydon Art Gallery have been able to
offer artists a means not only of selling
their work but learning how to go about
seeking representation outside of the
Midwest
Despite the incredibly fast pace of
operating the Haydon, which has
already scheduled exhibits into the
year 2006, Pagel stilffinds satisfaction
in the Haydon’s day-to-day operation.
“I believe in visual art. I think it
makes lives better. It’s something that is
enriching, and it’s very satisfying for
me to match a client with a piece of art
work,” Pagel said. “I’m always making
plans.
“We always stay busy, and there are
always still a zillion things I want to
do.”
ABOVE: JUDITH ERNST CHERRY’S exhibit “Unswept Floors and other Facts” ran at the Haydon Gallery in October.
Her work “open hand” is a mockery of dirty floors la the Capitol.
TOP RIGHT: ANN PA6EL is the director ef the Hayden Art Gallery, which features a different artist’s work each
month. The Gallery is already beaked until 2006.
TOP LEFT. CHERRY’S pictures of palms represent someone's life and profession. The three palms are of “Elaine,
Custodian,” “Christie, DJ and Diver” and “Jeff, Glass Worker.”
