City of Tracy Cultural Arts Division News Release

Media Contact:

William F. Wilson II, Gallery Supervisor City of Tracy - Grand Theatre Center for the Arts

715 Central Ave. Tracy, CA 94376 (209) 831-6299

william.wilson@ci.tracy.ca.us FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 24, 2009

GRAND GALLERIES OPENING 2009-10 SEASON WITH EXCLUSIVE PREMIER EXHIBITION

A Measure of Humanity – The Harcos-Huneke Collection, curated by Anné M. Klint

(Tracy, CA) – The City of Tracy Cultural Arts Division presents the opening of the 2009-10 Exhibition Season at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, 715 Central Avenue in historic downtown Tracy, California. A Measure of Humanity – The Harcos-Huneke Collection is on display from September 12 through November 21, 2009 in the Grand Galleries. The exhibition opens as part of the 3rd Anniversary Weekend of the Center and coincides with the Tracy Bean Festival. A Gallery Talk and Reception with the Curator and Collectors is scheduled for Saturday, October 17 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. These events are free and open to the public. A Measure of Humanity is an exclusive thematic presentation curated from the contemporary art collection of Julie Harcos and Jack Huneke. This exhibition explores the evolution and devolution of the human condition through the range of human emotions, psychology and relationships to nature that exist between the brutal and the sublime. Artists include Robert Arneson, Louise Bourgeois, Roy De Forest, Hung Liu, Tom Marioni, Joe Mariscal, Henry Moore, Nathan Oliveira, Ed Ruscha, Wayne Thiebaud, Heather Wilcoxon and William Wiley.

A Measure of Humanity celebrates the public premier of nearly 100 works from the Harcos-Huneke Collection. Julie Harcos and Jack Huneke have amassed a collection of works by known and unknown regional, national and international artists over the past seventeen years. In addition to the more than 350 fine art pieces, Harcos-Huneke also boast a massive collection of ceramic, glass and craft works in their home and private gallery. After relocating from San Leandro to Miramonte, California, Harcos and Huneke founded Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts in 2001. This Artist-In-Residence program allows selected artists and writers a retreat in which to focus solely on creative production. The couple generously opens their home and provides studio workspace several times per year in a mountain ranch environment near Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. As the Grand Galleries are a unique visual arts learning environment, the exhibition is designed to allow viewers to choose their exploratory path of the human condition upon entering in the Souza Gallery. In addition, a Gallery Talk and Reception with the Curator, Anné M. Klint and Collectors, Julie Harcos and Jack Huneke will be presented on Saturday, October 17 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. The public is invited to participate in a discussion that will give additional insight into the exhibition and share experiences from the lives of contemporary art collectors and patrons.

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Anné M. Klint of Tracy, is a California-based conceptual artist working primarily in digital media, sculpture and installation. Klint holds a BFA in Photography from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Ms. Klint was featured in the 2008-09 Exhibition Season as the Grand Galleries’ first artist working with new media in her installation-based exhibition entitled Oceans. She has studied New Genres (Media Art) with Joachim Blank and Helmut Mark at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Germany. In 2007 she presented a video installation at Best Buy in Tracy, and was honored with a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to fund expenses while studying abroad. In 2006 she was selected as an Artist-In-Residence at Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts. Ms. Klint has been exhibiting professionally since 1998.

Curator Klint explains, “Harcos-Huneke are interested in individual personality in relation to sociology and psychology, and above all, interested in the human condition - in what it means to be human, especially at this period in history. I followed both my intellectual curiosities and my emotional responses in selecting individual works from within the collection to tell this story. The 21st century human can and does exist in many states of being including the brutal, sub-human, degenerate, cyborg, genetically modified, super-human, abstracted, enlightened, pure, sublime and divine. While we are reaching for redemption and enlightenment, we are also headed for damnation and oblivion in the spiritual disintegration brought on by the hatred and slaughter of our own species and the environment. We humans are curious and contradictory creatures. The Grand Galleries’ spaces offer a unique opportunity to present A Measure of Humanity in a manner conducive to exploring the human condition and relationship to nature on a continuum, without a necessarily fixed viewpoint. As the two larger galleries are connected via a smaller portal gallery in the middle, the viewer, entering at this point, must choose which direction to take from this intermediary zone that connects brutality in one space to the sublime in the other. Depending on how one moves through these spaces, one experiences a progressive evolution or a degressive devolution.”

About the Grand Galleries The Grand Galleries Exhibitions Program offers combinations of professionally produced exhibitions and arts-based events featuring local, regional, national, and international artists, as well as arts educators and organizations in all disciplines and genres. Often, exhibitions collaborate with the Arts Education and Presenting Programs to develop educational and interactive components such as demonstrations, gallery talks, receptions, residencies, and workshops. Please note the Grand Galleries will be open during the Tracy Bean Festival, Saturday, September 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. The Galleries will be closed on Friday, October 2 as part of a City-wide furlough and on Wednesday, November 11 for Veterans Day. Public hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., and for one hour prior to all performances on the Grand Theatre stages. Free parking is available on nearby streets and public lots at 6th Street and Central Avenue. Tours are available and private and group gallery talks can be arranged. The Grand Galleries are accessible to persons with disabilities and patrons are asked to call ahead to address special requests and needs at (209) 831-6ART (6278). Exhibitions are free and open to the public.

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The Grand Theatre Center for the Arts is a unique interdisciplinary arts center offering professional and community-based fine arts programming though arts education, exhibitions, and performances of all kinds. Further information regarding the Exhibitions Program is available by calling 209.831.6ART (6278). To arrange a facility tour, visit online at www.atthegrand.org, or call the Box Office at 209.831.6TKT (6858).

Curator’s biography and promotional images are available upon request. Please call (209) 831-6299 or email: william.wilson@ci.tracy.ca.us.

Additional information for Ms. Klint and Stonehouse can be found online.

http://www.annemklint.com http://www.stonehouseresidency.org

The opinions expressed on these websites are those of the Curator and Lenders and are not attributed to the City of Tracy.

Photo Captions:

Red Man by Heather Wilcoxon Image Used With Artist’s Permission – All Rights Reserved

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