Each year, $5,000 is budgeted for Curator’s Choice, the purchase of portable works for the King County Public Art Collection. Working with a subcommittee from the PAAC (Public Art Advisory Committee), the curator researches and proposes specific artworks. Interested in identifying gaps in the collection, curator Esther Luttikhuizen is focusing on prominent artists not yet represented in the county collection. After much consideration, the 2010 purchase will go to prints by the late Richard “Dick” Elliott (best known for large scale integrated reflector mosaics) and the painting, Pinwheel Spoonbill, by Justin Gibbens. Gibbens reinvents nature; his paintings have the look of tongue-in-cheek Audubons. Justin Gibbens is a founding member of PUNCH Gallery.
Richard Elliott: Vibrational Field #25, print, 22″ x 17″ (photo courtesy of the artist’s estate)
Justin Gibbons: Pinwheel Spoonbill, dimension 26 x 36 inches, the medium is watercolor, pencil, ink, tea on paper. (photo courtesy of the artist)
