Buckman Art Show & Sell

From Buckman Art Show & Sell Website:

Show & Tell about the Buckman Art Show & Sell
In 1989, Buckman Elementary School was re-established as Buckman Arts Magnet Elementary School, with principal Candace Beck at the helm of this exciting new educational program. With a focus on the arts, Beck and her staff set to work integrating art forms of all kinds into the academic curriculum in ways that would inspire deeper, more meaningful learning among students. In addition to this innovative interweaving of the arts into academic lessons, specialized classes in dance, drama, music, and visual art students were offered each week. The programs that Beck and her colleagues began nearly twenty years ago are still in active, dynamic use today at Buckman.

The initial program was covered by a two-year grant, a fact that inspired creative fundraising on the part of leaders at the school. Knowing that the funding for the program would soon disappear, Angela Pozzi and Connie Cheifetz, the school's art teacher and a parent volunteer, respectively, began brainstorming ways to raise money for the next year's art supply budget. Pozzi and Cheifetz wanted their fundraising endeavors to relate to the arts, but they wanted to avoid asking artists to simply give away their work, as so many other charities were doing. Out of this desire to respect artists' financial needs and provide funding for art at Buckman came the idea of an art sale-one where the proceeds would be shared by the artist and the school. Expanding on an example that Ms. Pozzi had seen in Idaho, the two set to work recruiting top-flight artists to participate in the first Art Show & Sell (a play on the familiar classroom phrase "show-and-tell").

In selling artists on the idea, Pozzi and Cheifetz proposed that the school would take a lower-than-usual commission, and that older work was welcome. This would allow the artists to "clean house" and price their work fairly low, as they would at an artists' studio sale. They approached Jack McLarty, a well-known local artist who had painted the mural in the school's front hallway and taught for years at the Museum Art School (now known as PNCA). Jack readily agreed, and his name and reputation encouraged a dozen other high-quality artists to join him in participating. The tag line was "Great Art at Great Prices."

Parent volunteers handled all aspects of promoting and running the sale. In addition to the artwork, there was a hands-on art area for kids, a snack bar, and even some art supplies for sale. The entire sale was held in the Buckman cafeteria. That first year the Art Show & Sell raised about $400, and a new tradition was born.

A solid core group of parents came together and used their contacts in the arts community to build on the initial group of participating artists, always with an emphasis on high-quality art and craft. Within a few years the show's reputation was such that artists were clamoring to be included, and patrons were forming lines down the block to get first pick of the work being sold.

Over the Buckman Art Show & Sell's 26 years, some things have changed, while others have remained the same. The biggest change is the size this year, approximately 140 to 150 artists will participate. The show now extends throughout the first floor of Buckman into the gym, the dance studio, and the hallways. In the past few years we've added a silent auction, artist demonstrations, live music by numerous local professional performers, a student art gallery, gourmet meals, espresso cart, and a Sunday lineup of student performances

In 2008 we were very pleased to have added the Buckman Bash at the beautiful Jupiter Hotel featuring an art auction and solo performances by the incredible James Mercer, lead singer with Portland favorite The Shins, and one of indie-rock's most influential musicians, Stephen Malkmus, of Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks!

As the children of that initial core parent group grew up and out of elementary school, new parents come on board each year to add their ideas, leadership, and hard work. We are proud of this community event, and we take great pride in the way it supports our local Portland artists and Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School. We hope you will enjoy participating, as an artist, shopper, parent, student, community member, or supporter of arts education.