Artists dish up plates

"300 PLATES" is not a new dish at your favorite restaurant but the title of the fund-raiser/exhibition in Art Access Gallery — and it's a visual feast.

Seventy-five local artists transformed more than 300 aluminum printer plates, creating a unique and stimulating body of work.

The grid-like installation of each plate creates a cohesive collage of images otherwise unrelated — styles range from realism to stark modernism and everything in between. When considered individually, works stand out as strong personal statements and stories.

The 11-by-10-inch plates are numbered and hung on walls sequentially, from 50 to 378. The number on each plate corresponds to an asking price — plate 50 sold for $50; plate 51 for $51 and so on. Ten more plates sold during a silent auction May 19, starting at $425 and advancing in $25 increments. Prices of plates were randomly assigned.

"We don't do bargain-basement artists," said Ruth Lubbers, executive director of Art Access. Each artist was invited to create up to 15 different plates. If the artist submitted more than one, the images were equally distributed within the price range.

The fund-raiser began three years ago when Joseph Ostraff, Brigham Young University professor of art, suggested this project as a way to include the numerous artists associated with Art Access and its programs. The gallery provides opportunities for adults and children with disabilities, and others who are underserved, to participate in the arts.

"When we looked for a fund-raiser, we looked at what we had," Lubbers said. "We wanted to keep communication with the artists. It provides them with the opportunity to participate in and to learn more about the arts."

The exhibit asks artists to create a work of art on an aluminum plate's surface, something they're not used to. 75 local printmakers, painters, mixed-media artists and photographers took the challenge this year. The rules were simple. "We asked them to make a piece of art that is recognizable in their own style, have fun with it, and sign it," Lubbers said.

She added that patrons can spend hours looking at each image. "You are overwhelmed by the color, passion, motion and activity of the art. It's an amazing installation."

The one drawback to this exhibit is that it's shrinking. Patrons are eager to display their purchases at home, so they're already picking them up. This leaves gaps within the collage and takes away from the enormity of the project.

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E-mail: jharrison@desnews.com