New Venue for Contemporary Art, Grass Valley, CA October 16, 2001 NEW VENUE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART GRASS VALLEY,CALIFORNIA INNOVATIVE GALLERY FEATURES EMERGING & ESTABLISHED ARTISTS CONCEPTUAL ARTIST DAVID IRELAND WILL COLLABORATE WITH GALLERY CO-FOUNDER, RICHARD BAKER, ON AN INSTALLATION for ONGOING EXHIBITION Julie Baker Fine Art is launching a new venue for contemporary art that offers cutting edge exhibitions, collector's services & cultural activities. The gallery’s mission is to educate and celebrate the creative influences that ignite contemporary art. Julie Baker Fine Art is drawing on art resources from around the country and bringing them to Grass Valley in California's Gold Country. The gallery specializes in painting, photography, works on paper and sculpture. The opening exhibit "Baker's Dozen" features 13 paintings by 13 artists from across the country. The setting is bucolic, the aesthetic is sophisticated contemporary. The gallery offers a dynamic mix of media, style and geography. Like Woodstock, Aspen & Santa Fe, Grass Valley has always attracted a creative community seeking haven in the natural beauty. At the foothills of the Sierras, this charmed Gold Country town and it's sister, Nevada City has long been home to luminaries and mavericks, famed for bluegrass festivals and Zen poets, a high country retreat from San Francisco and Los Angeles. Julie Baker Fine Art adds a venue for the bounty of local and national artistic talent as an important part of the international contemporary art market. As Napa and Sonoma proliferate private collections and cultural centers, Grass Valley is the emerging rural outpost of Northern California culture. Julie Baker Fine Art is designed to invite connection between artist and audience, between the community and the creator, between the collector and the culture. Art's material beauty or power will not be isolated from the experience of making art. The gallery will offer video installations, film screenings, artist's talks, a roster of public programs designed to engage a community of interests. Collector's will be invited to partake in an Artstar program that generates supports for cultural and educational programs. The gallery is a partner with the Nevada County Arts Council to coordinate the promotion of arts in the Foothills and is working with the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento to build awareness of contemporary art in Northern California. To honor the confluent energies of painting and jazz, Julie Baker Fine Art will host a Jazz Gala to celebrate the performances of Wynton Marsalis, Ted Nash and jazz ensemble Odeon in Nevada County for a pre-performance reception. November 23, 2001 The founders of Julie Baker Fine Art bring expertise and talent from their lives in the contemporary arts. Julie Baker was President of Gerngross and Company, a major New York arts marketing firm serving museums and galleries for fifty years. She previously worked in the contemporary department at Christie's. Richard Baker, architectural designer and photographer, worked on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Groundbreaking installation with David Ireland, and with photographer Norman Locks, painter Frank Stella and architect Richard Meier. He is a Nevada City native, connected to the area's cultural resources. Frances Gerngross has worked with leading New York galleries and artists as Vice President in the firm her husband founded, Gerngross and Company. Julie Baker Fine Art is a continuity of a family tradition of significant contribution to the contemporary art world. The theme of the Gallery's Inaugural Exhibition is Prepared to be Moved. "Baker's Dozen" features highlights of artistic expression in painting today with thirteen paintings by thirteen artists from around the country. For example, Erin Noel from Nevada County offers pure abstraction color fields. Alexandra Eldridge, from Santa Fe, creates vivid narrative paintings inspired by William Blake. Nellie King Solomon's blood red paintings on mylar were praised in the San Francisco Chronicle by Kenneth Baker as "pleasures in her rich pools of color and sheer unforced lushness". All 13 painters have received strong critical praise and public enthusiasm. In association with Gallery Paule Anglim, David Ireland has been invited to initiate this new site for art, as he has officiated at the inception of Headlands Center for the Arts and the groundbreaking of the new building of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The latter event was national art news because he instilled old ceremony with new meaning and anchored an important connection between artists and collectors, audience and cultural institutions. Mr. Ireland will replace 13 ceiling tiles in the gallery in his signature palette to challenge and expose the vernacular architecture of traditional building design. In this collaboration with gallery co-founder Richard Baker, Mr. Ireland will create an installation to herald the introduction of contemporary sensibility to the historical gold rush town of Grass Valley. Mr. Ireland will attend the gala opening. At Julie Baker Fine Art work will be presented for the viewer to get to know the artist, their studio, their inspiration. The gallery's organizing conviction is that each artist has a unique process that when peeled away reveals a story. Upon viewing the painting, the story maybe a mystery which allows the viewer to create their own relationship to the work. Founder Julie Baker says " Since our goal is to make art a shared pleasure, an exchange of a moment of energy and perception, I will ask the artists to reveal their process, whether they strive to redefine beauty or make sure that we are moved." BAKER’S DOZEN November 20, 2001 - February 16, 2002 Julie Baker Fine Art Installation by David Ireland and Richard Baker Inaugural Show "Baker's Dozen 13 Paintings by 13 Contemporary Artists Jeremy Adams Alexandra Eldridge Susan Homer Shona Macdonald Menlo Macfarlane Doug Magnuson Jason Middlebrook Tracy Miller Erin Noel Nellie King Solomon Mary Street Joe Tonetti Kazaan Viveiros Gallery hours: Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 5pm and by appointment. 120 N. Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA 530-273-0910 fax: 530-273-0690 www.juliebakerfineart.com Directions to Grass Valley Grass Valley is 2,785.1 miles from Chelsea in New York City (47hrs and 2 minutes driving time!), 2 1/2 hours from downtown San Francisco (If the Bay bridge traffic is reasonable), 1 hour and 15 minutes from Sacramento, CA, 1 hour from Lake Tahoe, CA, and only 7 minutes from downtown Nevada City. From the Bay Area: Take I 80 E towards Reno. Take the CA-49 exit towards Grass Valley/Placerville. Turn left at light. Follow signs to Grass Valley. Take the exit towards CA-174/Colfax/Central Grass Valley. Turn left onto S. Auburn Street. Continue past W. Main Street until S. Auburn turns into N. Auburn. 120 N. Auburn Street is on your left. There is parking outside the building. Upcoming Calendar: November 20: Gala Opening of Julie Baker Fine Art presenting "Baker's Dozen" 13 paintings by 13 contemporary artists. David Ireland, Bay Area conceptual artist, has been invited to initiate this new site for art with an installation, as he has officiated at the inception of Headlands Center for the Arts and the groundbreaking of the new building of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Live music, wine, food, live performances and art treats. 5 - 8pm. Contact the gallery for more information. November 23: Special Program: Wynton Marsalis, Ted Nash and jazz ensemble Odeon pre-performance party. Co-host Nevada County Arts Council December: ART TALK Meet "Baker's Dozen" artist Jason Middlebrook on his visit from New York. He will explore installation art and his exploding matter paintings. Date: to be announced. Contact the gallery for more information. January: PERFORMANCE Meet "Baker's Dozen" artist and Nevada County resident Menlo Macfarlane for a special performance of story art. Date: to be announced. Contact the gallery for more information. Upcoming Exhibitions. Winter/Spring 2002 Photography Today. Group show including photographs by Norman Locks. The Cadillac: A history of an American Icon in Contemporary Art. Architectural Drawings: The art of architecture Images for current exhibition and artists represented by Julie Baker Fine Art are available to download on the website: www.juliebakerfineart.com or contact the gallery directly at 530-273-0910.