Ice Gallery

Save ICE Gallery Fund Needs You

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WE DIDN’T MEET OUR GOAL BY THE DEADLINE BUT WE CAN STILL USE YOUR HELP.  PLEASE KEEP READING FOR MORE INFO.

If you’ve been following our progress through the USA Projects site you may already know that we did not meet our fundraising goal by the deadline.  One of the stipulations of posting a project on USA is that you must reach your goal by the deadline or you won’t receive any of the pledged funds.  However, before the deadline we were able to raise $4085 thanks to the generosity of 36 individuals.  That’s pretty good!  In addition to that $4085, another individual has promised a substantial pledge.  So combined with what’s already been pledged, plus the funds we already have, the ICE fund could potentially have over $6000.  That’s where you come in.  Even though it’s less than our original fundraising goal, we feel like $6000 is too much money to give up, but we need your help

Your task is simple.  Our USA fundraiser is over, but we’re asking you to still pledge to the cause.  However, instead of doing it through USA we’re asking you to send us your pledge via a check or PayPal.  Checks are preferable due to PayPal taking 3%, but for those of you donating via credit card, PayPal would be just fine (if you’d prefer to use PayPal, we’ll send information on how to do that).  We realize a check is a few extra steps for you, what with the actual writing and mailing, but if need be we’ll even send you a self addressed stamped envelope.  🙂  Plus we are still offering one of a kind pieces of art from Michael, Lee, and Tom in exchange for your pledge.  You actually get something in return for your philanthropy!

We are determined to keep our space any way we can, but we can’t do it without your help.  Please email icegallerysd@gmail.com  if you would like to pledge and tell us how you would like to send it (check or PayPal.  or for those in town we can come and pick it up from you).  Remember, if everyone who already pledged keeps their commitment we’ll end up with over $6000.  Plus there’s time for people that didn’t pledge during the fundraiser to still do so.   We’re incredibly anxious to get our space fixed so that we can go back to making bigger and better installations this year.

We look forward to hearing from you,
Michael, Thomas, Joseph, Lee

 

Fundraising goal dropped, time extended

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For those of you who thought we were out of our mind to try and raise $20,000 in 30 days (us included), we’ve got a new, possibly more attainable goal.  USA Projects has lowered our fundraising goal to $12,000 and extended our deadline to January 7th (our original end date was 12/30).  That’s good news because the lowered fundraising amount automatically put us at 26% of our goal.   That means that we now qualify for the Artist2Artist Fund which allows us to receive 1 to 1 match funding for up to $1000.  So, the next $1,000 we raise means we’re actually getting $2,000 (that would give us a jump to 42% of our goal).

Thanks to 25 very kind individuals we’ve raised over $3,000.  If we can just get another 75 people to pledge in the same manner we’ll make it to our goal.  Considering there are 4 of us trying to raise that money, 100 donors doesn’t seem that unattainable.

We’d also like to remind people that pledging a donation isn’t an entirely one sided gesture.  We’re offering some great “perks” in exchange for your kindness.  Some of which include one of a kind drawings by Michael James Armstrong, limited edition wood block prints by Lee Lavy, and one of a kind sculptures by Thomas DeMello.  And as always with USA Projects, your donation is tax deductible.

Email us if you have any questions, and check out our project page if you’d like to pledge a donation:  USA Projects

ICE: sink or float?

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Well, we’re at the halfway point in our fundraising project. Thanks to 21 very kind individuals, we’re currently 13% funded with 2 weeks remaining. We were going gangbusters at the beginning, raising 12% in the first 8 days! With the exception of one of our very good friends upping their pledge yesterday, for the last 7 days we’ve seen no action. We’re not complaining, though. The fact that we were able to raise the amount that we have is astounding to us, and we are immensely grateful and humbled by the generosity we’ve been shown thus far. Going forward, should we see another spike in pledges and get to 25% then we will become eligible for 1 to 1 match funding for up to $1000. Which means if we raise $1000 past our 25% mark, then we’ll automatically get another $1000. Seems possible and utterly impossible at the same time.

So, what if we don’t make it?

We’ll still have the space of course. And hey, maybe we’ll come upon a different/better solution to fixing the space. But whatever the solution is has to be arrived at fairly soon, because the question remains: how long should one continue to pay for a space that is unusable for half the year?

In the meantime, we’ll keep fighting for our space. It may be a dump, but in a city of nearly nonexistent attainable spaces, we almost can’t afford NOT to keep it.

HELP SAVE ICE GALLERY

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If you’ve read our About page then you know that long before ICE was an exhibition space it was and still is a low cost art studio space.  For as long as we’ve been renting the space, and for other tenants before us, the roof has leaked.  In addition to the roof being in bad shape, the rest of the building in general has been no prize to look at or reside in.  Despite these flaws the leaky roof has been somewhat manageable…until this year.  When the first rains came this year we saw just how bad the roof had become.  It no longer leaks, it pours – and It’s become way too much for us to maintain.

In a last ditch effort to save our space, before we reluctantly abandon what has become a source of great enjoyment and pride for us, we decided to set up a fund raising project on the site unitedstatesartists.org.  It’s similar to Kickstarter, but the difference is that in addition to being somewhat exclusive in that you have to be screened or invited by a USA.org fellow, USA.org is specifically for artists.  We were lucky enough to be invited to join the site by none other than Doug Wheeler, one of our favorite west coast artists.

Should we attain our fund raising goal, our project will entail professionally fixing the roof as well as totally gutting the inside of the building.  We wish to turn ICE into one big open exhibition space by knocking down all interior walls and getting rid of what is currently three art studios in the rear of the building.  This will double the amount of space we have to use for exhibitions to roughly 1200 sq. ft.!

We realize our fund raising goal is highly ambitious, but this is our last chance to keep ICE alive.  If we’re unable to fix our roof, we’ll have no further option but to vacate what has been a low cost haven for local San Diego artists for years.  If you would like to contribute to our survival please visit OUR PROJECT PAGE.  Your efforts will not go unrewarded.  We have different incentives for the various donation levels – everything from wood block prints by Lee to actual pages from Michael’s sketch book.

Thank you to all who have supported us,
Michael James Armstrong, Thomas DeMello, Lee Lavy, Joseph Huppert

Photos from A Study In Transparency

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Finally, shots from Michael’s last exhibition.  This piece was next to impossible to capture in photos, but we know some of you who didn’t get to see it in person are curious what it looked like.  So, click the image below to see all the shots.

ICE gets mentioned by someone other than friends!

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Thanks to Joan and Reuben Baron for mentioning ICE and Michael James Armstrong in their Light and Space article for artcritical.   It gives us a thrill to be mentioned in the same article as some of our inspirations.  The whole article is a good read, but the best part is the last sentence of the 6th paragraph.  😉

 

In other news, we’re not dead yet.  Plans are in the works to try and raise money to fix ICE Gallery.  More info and photos are coming soon, we promise.

 

 

the two photos above are a view of Michael’s show that most people didn’t get to see.

R.I.P. ICE Gallery

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Michael’s new installation “A study in transparency” was ruined by the severe downpour we experienced last night.  The above shot is from happier times, and don’t worry we’ll be posting pics of the piece soon.  The shot below, however, is from last night.  Yeah, that’s Tom standing next to a lake of brown water right in the middle of the gallery.  And it’s not just the gallery that’s ruined, the studios in back are much worse!  Looks like ICE might be out of commission until next summer….or until we get a grant to fix this place (which we’re working on – details soon).

Rain, concrete, and a new show

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To those of you who wonder how some poor artists who live paycheck to paycheck can afford to have a space in a decent, high traffic part of town…this is one of the main reasons why:


If it’s wet outside, then it’s bound to be wet inside. This puddle is relatively tame compared to how it can get on a day when it pours. Today was just a mild shower. As you can imagine, this can be really frustrating when you’re trying to install a show that’s supposed to open in a week. Hell, if this continues, we might have to postpone more shows until after winter. Ugh, so aggravating. But again, that’s part of the reason the space at 3417 30th St is an artist run exhibition space, and not some trendy clothing store.

Ah well, on a sunnier note…we got new concrete! Yes! Much like the rest of the property, the sidewalk in front of the building was deteriorated beyond repair. As you can see in the picture below from Lee’s 2010 show, it was half shoddy asphalt, half dirt.

It was finally time to do something about it.  So early one Saturday morning, Lee, Joey, and Michael went at that crappy asphalt with a digging bar and a sledge hammer.

and then dug out a reasonably level hole, and made two trips to the dump to get rid of the asphalt.

That was enough for one day.  Breaking up asphalt is hard work.  The next day it was time to lay some rebar in preparation for a new pad of concrete.   The concrete would have to wait a week though, so that we could have a professional help us.  Here’s where Dave comes in.  What an incredibly nice guy.  Dave was willing to help us pour the concrete for FREE just to help out a few penniless artists.  It just goes to show you that if you’re enthusiastic about a project, you can find others that will be just as enthusiastic about helping you, even if you have no money.

Man, Dave worked his ass off that day.  And when it was all done and we handed him a few dollars of appreciation, he was stunned.  He honestly didn’t expect any payment for the job, he did it just to help out some fellow artists.  Thank you Dave!  (and thanks to Jeremy for telling Dave about us, and for helping with the labor)

Well, all done.  This pad of concrete will definitely outlast the building.

Now when is Michael’s show going to finally be done?  What the heck is going on in there anyway?

Find out on 9/16/2011…provided it doesn’t rain.