* Art for baseball’s sake

May seems to be arts month across the country, and it should be no surprise that baseball would be well represented.

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George Krevsky Gallery’s (77 Geary Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco) presents its 12th annual baseball exhibition featuring artists from across the country capturing America’s national pastime in paintings, drawings, photography, and sculpture. The exhibit features Robert Flynn Johnson on the theme “55 Years and Counting: Reflections on Baseball and Being a Long-Suffering Giants Fan.” Johnson is curator emeritus, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Museums of San Francisco, and author of many books, including “The Face in the Lens: Anonymous Photographs.”

The program runs through June 20. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. For more information visit the gallery’s web site or call 415-397-9748.

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On May 30, the Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, NY holds another baseball program, featuring the work of Roger and Christy Patrick:

And finally, here’s another baseball/art combo, including a painting from our friend, Dave Baldwin, former pitcher for the Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Sox, and author of Snake Jazz. (Scroll down to April 30.)

* Separated at birth?

Jayson Bay, by the Boston Red Sox

“The Scream,” by Edvard Munch

* Can you Topps this? Artist Brian Fox

Kudos to Mr. Fox. The artist received the assignment of a lifetime. His work has been selected by Topps as a special insert into their 2009 set. But not as a mere insert. Distributed among the thousands of packs are “redemption cards” which can be exchanged for one of 50 individually drawn card-size sketches. So there’s virtually no way to collect them all, making each one even more valuable.

Among Fox’s collector’s items:

Josh Beckett

David Ortiz

Babe Ruth (5 cards)
Ty Cobb (3)
Mickey Mantle (3)
Jackie Robinson (2)
Manny Ramirez (2)
Chase Utley (2)
Derek Lee
Jorge Posada (2)
Mariano Rivera
Chipper Jones (3)
Josh Hamilton (2)
Dustin Pedroia (2)
Magglio Ordonez
David Ortiz (2)
Jose Reyes
Ichiro Suzuki (3)
Randy Johnson
Vlad Guerrero
Andy Pettitte
Mike Lowell
Albert Puljos
Ryan Braun (2)
Ryan Howard
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jim Thome
David Wright
Ken Griffey Jr.
Derek Jeter
Alex Rodriguez
Johan Santana
Alex Rios
Josh Beckett (right)
Jonathan Papelbon
Greg Maddux

I had the chance to share a few minutes with Fox to discuss his craft, the technical demands of “drawing small,” and the philosophical difficulty the Red Sox Nation-based artist had in working on portraits of Yankees players.

For more information on Fox and his work, visit his website.

Portrait of the artist.

Brian Fox with the Red Sox' Kevin Youkilis

* Announcement: Baseball art exhibit in Boston

http://www.hilaryshepherd.com/rantsnraves/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/body-painting-2.jpgFrom Boston.com, the web presence of the Boston Globe:

Sometimes it seems like you could go a whole 10 minutes in Boston without someone pontificating about the good old days and the game of baseball’s lengthy and proud history. In case you find yourself in one of those ruts, you might want to check out this new exhibit at the Bank of America Gallery called “The Art of the Game: Aesthetics of Baseball, America’s Pastime.” Running through Oct. 31, the show, featuring work from notable artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg, takes a multimedia approach to the game with painting, sculpture, photography, and prints of old-timey dudes such as Babe Ruth, who we’re assuming was some sort of sportsman. Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Bank of America Gallery, 100 Federal St., Boston.

* Announcement: Baseball art exhibit in Appleton, WI

Yesterday (Oct. 2), the Appleton Art Center opened “an exhibition featuring several works from its popular ‘Art of the Diamond: Baseball’ exhibit, which was originally on display in April and May as part of a series of events organized by Fox Cities arts groups under the title ‘Home Run for the Arts.’”

Also in the exhibition are several photographs dating from the 1930s and 1940s by Chicago photographer, George Brace, who from 1929 to 1993 captured iconic images of over 10,000 baseball players. Also included will be three vintage 1911 baseball cards depicting members of the celebrated Chicago Cubs infield — Joe Tinker, John Evers and Frank Chance — all of whom were in the Cubs lineup the last time the venerable Chicago ball club won the World Series 100 years ago. A highlight of the exhibit will be a rare, autographed baseball signed by Babe Ruth.

The exhibition runs through Nov. 15.

Speaking of art

The Sport Artwork Forum ran this interview with baseball artist Dick Perez, whose style would be instantly recognizable to a certain segment of baseball card (“art to go”?) collectors.

The forum ran a similar Q&A with John Hanley.

Several years ago, when I was researching the Montreal Expos, I spoke with Andres Gallaraga. It was one of my first athlete interviews and I think we were both a bit uncomfortable. But I had heard somewhere that he was an artist and asked him a few questions about that. That seemed to relax him a bit. I didn’t use any of that stuff for my project, but I learned a bit about getting people to open up by talking about things they like.

Other sports art sites you might find interesting (not solely about baseball, though):

American Sport Art Museum

The National Art Museum of Sport

* Art opening

“Oregon Nisei Baseball — The Early Years” exhibit featuring black-and-white images of Nisei teams and Northwest baseball tournaments.  Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center: 121 N.W. Second Ave. (503-224-1458) Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tue-Sat, noon-3 p.m. Sun.  Opening reception 1:30 p.m. Sun, Sept. 14; through Jan. 11, 2009.

From the Web site:

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, we are revisiting the very first exhibit put on in 1998. Originally curated by Miki Yasui and a team of community baseball advisors, the exhibit features black and white images of local Nisei teams and NW tournaments. Join us for this fun-filled and nostalgic exhibit, which runs through January 11, 2009.

The opening reception on Sunday, September 14th at 1:30 p.m. will feature a talk by Prof. Samuel Regalado of California State University, Stanislaus. He has written several articles on Nisei baseball and softball, as well as books on Latin American baseball.

* This would look nice on my bookshelf…

And a bargain at less than $12,000.

* Minor league baseball, Major League yuks

Came across this piece about a comic give-away courtesy the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on the Againwiththecomics blog.

* Because it’s never too soon to get them started

Baseball deco for kiddies.