The offerings from this auction were shown as part of Peekskill Project V, an initiative of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA), in support of talented young artists as they move forward in their careers.

As a citywide festival of Contemporary Art, Peekskill Project is devoted to bringing cutting edge contemporary art out of the museum and into the community. Using the city as a stage, Peekskill Project activates the urban environment and its inhabitants through site-specific art exhibitions, performances and screenings by emerging and established artists selected by a juried committee of renowned curators.

The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, located in Peekskill, NY, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and education organization founded in 2004. The Center is dedicated to the development and presentation of exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs that enrich our understanding of contemporary art and its relationship to social issues. Operating a 12,000 square foot exhibition space, HVCCA is also committed to the enrichment of Peekskill, a multicultural community that has recreated itself as a major arts destination. Some 120 artists who have now gained renown, had their first showings at the HVCCA.

JULIE ANNE MANN

Born and raised on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, Julie Anne Mann grew up in a secluded, heavily forested region where nature was a focal point in education and recreation. This early immersion in a natural landscape has remained a primary influence in her work. A first hand observation of Darwinism, both social and scientific, brought to focus the harsh reality of survival and the overwhelming beauty of life. Working to develop and refine a perception that explores the link between man and nature, she left Washington in 1990 and has lived in various rural and urban areas throughout the west until moving to New York in 1997. Mann has now settled and lived in Brooklyn until 2011, recently relocating an hour north up the Hudson.

Works in the series Botanicals, are created from large accumulations of seeds and pods. Some are threatening, as with The Wood of Suicides, a giant sphere of countless thorny water chestnut pods, an invasive aquatic plant, or The Devil’s Sun, which is constructed from hundreds of the barbed seed of the southwestern plant known as “devil's claw” or “wood spider”. A less ominous piece titled A Thousand Wishes contains thousands of fluffy dandelion seed heads.

Mann received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Her work was recently exhibited at the Hoyt Street Community Garden, Brooklyn, NY; the Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College, NY; the Limner Gallery in Hudson, NY; Go North Gallery in Beacon, NY, and Shadow’s Space Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. Her awards include a Fellowship Residency through the Arts Alliance LES Rotating Studio Program, as well as grants from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Brooklyn Arts Council.