Landfall Foundation’s 14th Annual Art Show & Sale

A Wilmington Magazine SPONSORED EVENT

By JAMIE WALKER

Artists and volunteers are gathering again this year to prepare for the Landfall Foundation’s 14th annual Landfall Art Show and Sale, encouraging residents, organizers and artists alike to live up to the precept set forth by Winston Churchill:  “We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.”  

Area residents in attendance will not only have the opportunity to contribute to area non-profit organizations sponsored by the foundation, they’ll also have the chance to support local artists and the soul-serving endeavor of surrounding oneself with meaningful art.   

The Landfall foundation was established in 1995 to offer Landfall residents a philanthropic window of opportunity, a portal to better reach the needs of the greater Wilmington community.  Through the foundation, residents are able to pool their efforts and to create an impact that reverberates through hundreds of organizations, their members and their beneficiaries.  As of 2012, the Landfall Foundation has contributed more than $2.5 million to area nonprofits.  With over 150 volunteers, including 17 board members and 13 grant committee members, the foundation serves 66 area organizations including Airlie Gardens, Nourish North Carolina, Wilmington Concert Association, Wilmington Health Access for Teens, Rachel Freeman School of Engineering, St. Mary Dental Clinic, the Dance Cooperative, Sunset Park Boys Book Club and so many others.   

One of this year’s art show volunteers, Carol van der Kieft, said that she likes the nimbleness of the foundation.  “They can do what they want.  If they want to jump in and help fund a one-time need, they can.  Nimbleness is unique, and it makes the work more gratifying,” van der Kieft said.     

Landfall Foundation president, Janet Burkholder, a member since its inception, said that there’s an intricate method that supports such agility.  “We believe in the way that the grants committee works.  The committee tirelessly labors over the selection process each year, shuffling through hundreds of applications. Once an application is accepted and money is awarded, it has a monitoring system in place to ensure that funds are properly used,” Burkholder said.  The committee focuses heavily on the underserved population.  While the foundation has imparted two capital grants, one to the Airlie Garden Butterfly House and one to Good Shepherd for the purchase of a new kitchen, the foundation has decided to eliminate capital grants so that the reach can continue to broaden.  The current cap on individual grants is $6,000.

The focus is often on smaller programs that serve the disadvantaged, but the foundation will award grants to national organizations, such as the Red Cross.  In those cases, however, it does so only with the assurance that the money will be used entirely within Wilmington’s three county area.

While the foundation hosts several key events every year, including the Quintiles Marathon, the Landfall Gala, the Car Show, the Big South Auction, and the Holiday Marketplace, van der Kieft says that the art show is, hands down, a community favorite.  

“I never miss putting it on my calendar,” she said.  “When I heard that the committee needed help this year, I didn’t hesitate.  We all look so forward to this event.”

Artists are all from North Carolina with a heavy concentration of local artists living in New Hanover and surrounding counties.  Several of the artists are landfall residents including Ed Hearn, local bronze sculptor, fond of replicating coastal wildlife from Herons and Egrets, to Bullfrogs and Lionfish.  

There are currently between 60 and 70 registered artists.  Art show co-chairman, Pam Bradley, expects that the cap of 100 artists will be met before the deadline on July 31st.  “There’s always such a wide range of work,” Bradley said.  “We have artists from all backgrounds ― oil paintings, pastels, watercolor, colored pencil, ceramics, wood and metal sculpture, jewelry, mixed media and fabric art.  This year we even have a muralist bringing some large works to the show,” Bradley said.  Trapper Cramer is a well-known area muralist from Pender County and will be presenting for the first time this year at the Landfall Art Show.   

Bradley said that the Wilmington Art Association (WAA) helps facilitate organization.  “WAA not only helps us find the finest artists in the area, but also helps with the placement of the art in the days before the show,”  Bradley said.  “We try to encourage newcomers and they (WAA) help us find them.”

This year’s judge, plein air artist Larry Moore, will be handing out monetary awards for best in show as well as 2nd and 3rd place.  Honorable mentions, and best in category will receive ribbons.  

The show starts on Thursday, August 29th at the Dye Clubhouse in Landfall and ends on Saturday, August 31st.  A cash bar will be available from 5-8pm each evening.

When the heat of late August is too much to bear and the cool is calling, the art show, free and open to the public, will offer a Labor Day reprieve for area residents and visitors alike.  

With work from the most talented area artists, The Landfall Foundation Art Show, says van der Kieft, gives new meaning to the adage “to give is to receive”.  For more information about Landfall Foundation or the Art Show, visit landfallfoundation.org.