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DESCRIPTION:Art Houses project to help Ritter House raise money to battle 
 homelessness\nJim Welte\nPosted: 02/27/2010 06:36:12 PM PST\n\nArtists 
 Peter Allen and Kathleen Lipinski were among those chose to design the Art 
 Houses of Marin, a public art display of 25 miniature homes placed around 
 the county starting Monday. They ll be auctioned off May 1. (IJ 
 photo/Frankie Frost)\nMARIN RESIDENTS unaccustomed to seeing loads of new 
 homes popping up all over the county will get quite a surprise Monday when 
 the Ritter Center unveils a new anti-homelessness fundraising 
 campaign.\n\nThe venture, dubbed Art Houses of Marin, will exhibit 25 
 miniature houses - bigger than a dollhouse but slightly smaller than a 
 children's playhouse - that have been painted and decorated by some of 
 Marin's top artists. The\n\nhouses will be on display throughout the county 
 and will be auctioned at a May 1 gala at Woodlands Farm in Ross.\n\nThe 
 money raised will help the nonprofit Ritter Center expand some of its 
 services and heighten its focus on eradicating homelessness in Marin by 
 finding more transitional housing units to offer. According to a 2009 
 survey conducted by the Marin County Department of Health and Human 
 Services, there were some 1,770 homeless people in Marin, up from 1,002 
 people counted as homeless in a 2007 survey by the Marin Continuum of 
 Housing and Services.\n\nRitter Center hopes to raise $150,000 to $250,000 
 through the Art Houses campaign, said Diane Linn, the center's executive 
 director.\n\n"Every time we go to work and see the people who might benefit 
 from this, it's pretty inspirational," she said.\n\nThe project piggybacks 
 on similar efforts held in Chicago, San Francisco and Portland, Ore. An art 
 cow campaign in Chicago raised $3.5 million for a variety of charities, 
 while "Hearts in San Francisco" has drummed up nearly $5 million for the 
 San Francisco\nAdvertisement\nGeneral Hospital Foundation.\n\nLinn 
 originated the idea for a public art-based fundraising plan after her 
 experience as chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners in Oregon's 
 Multnomah County, which raised about $2 million for homeless youth programs 
 with a spinoff of the cows on parade campaign.\n\n"We think it's possible 
 to end homelessness in Marin," she said. "This kind of project is 
 specifically and uniquely matched to Marin because of our celebration of 
 arts and culture. The fundraising\nArtist Peter T. Allen stands beside his 
 art house called 'Our House.' He used the lyrics to 'Our House' by Crosby, 
 Stills, Nash & Young for his house. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)\npotential is 
 extensive."\n\nRoss artist Peter Allen connected Linn with Michael Osborne, 
 designer of the hearts created for the "Hearts in San Francisco" campaign. 
 Osborne designed the 4-foot-tall art houses for Ritter, and Donna Seager, 
 who owns a downtown San Rafael gallery, headed the campaign's artist 
 selection process.\n\nThe artists chosen include a wide range of Marin 
 standouts, including Nicholas Wilton, Joe Brubaker, Michael Cutlip, Richard 
 Lang and Judith Selby Lang, Judy North and Reuben Raffael, Kathleen 
 Lipinski and Heather Wilcoxon, among others. The varied styles of the 
 artists are reflected in the work, from Lipinski's pastoral landscapes of 
 Marin theme to Allen's decision to use the lyrics of the 1970 Crosby, 
 Stills, Nash & Young song, "Our House."\n\n"Ritter Center is so brave for 
 initiating this project," said Lipinski, 59. "This is high visibility and 
 high risk, and I was thrilled to work on it. I picked this theme because I 
 find solace in Marin's natural landscape."\n\nAllen, a veteran of the brand 
 communication business and a former creative director at Apple, added 
 elements such as a chimney and a wooden roof to the house as 
 punctuation.\n\n"This was about the psychology of homes and home 
 ownership," he said. "It reflects the dream of home ownership and what it 
 would be like to live together."\n\nOne of the most prominent homes will be 
 placed in front of San Rafael City Hall. Dubbed the "Rock 'n Roll House," 
 it features artwork from the late Jerry Garcia and former Jefferson 
 Airplane singer Grace Slick. Donation of the art was the work of Tim 
 Jorstad, the business manager for Slick and manager of Garcia's 
 estate.\n\n"Grace was thrilled to lend her painting," he said. "It should 
 be a good bid item."\n\nPublic art campaigns have become a major phenomenon 
 in recent years. Their recent origin traces to fiberglass cow sculptures 
 that were created in 1998 in Zurich, Switzerland, with a similar exhibition 
 opening a year later in Chicago. Since then, dozens of cities have used 
 public cow sculptures as a fundraising venture in the United States, Europe 
 and Asia.\n\nThe money raised by the art houses campaign will go toward 
 implementing Ritter Center's new strategic plan, adopted by the board in 
 March 2009. The plan calls for a variety of changes, including expansion of 
 the center's health clinic's hours to five full days a week, up from four 
 partial days.\n\nThe major change involves going beyond a predominant focus 
 on "harm reduction," or "giving people what they need when they need it," 
 according to Linn, who oversees a staff of 14 and an annual budget of $1.4 
 million. The center will focus heavily on providing more transitional 
 housing units in Marin, like the four multiroom units designated for Ritter 
 at Hamilton Meadows, an affordable housing program at the former military 
 base in Novato.\n\nThe need has never been more apparent, said Linn, who 
 noted the Feb. 6 electrocution death of a 42-year-old homeless woman at the 
 Pacific Gas and Electric substation in San Rafael.\n\n"She should have been 
 indoors," Linn said. "She was just trying to find a safe, warm place to 
 be."\n\nMARIN ART HOUSE LOCATIONS\n\nBelvedere\n\nCity Hall Plaza, 450 San 
 Rafael Ave.\n\nCorte Madera\n\nThe Village, in front of Pottery Barn, 1618 
 Redwood Highway\n\nTown Center, 100 Corte Madera Town 
 Center\n\nFairfax\n\nBolinas Park\n\nGreenbrae\n\nBank of Marin, Sir 
 Francis Drake Boulevard at LaCuestra Avenue\n\nKentfield\n\nWoodlands 
 Market, 799 College Ave.\n\nLarkspur\n\nDowntown grassy lot, between Ward 
 and Post streets\n\nMill Valley\n\nMill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino 
 Alto Strawberry Village, between Asqew and Woody's, 800 Redwood 
 Highway\n\nChamber of Commerce, 85 Throckmorton Ave.\n\nNovato\n\nMuseum of 
 Contemporary Art, 500 Palm Drive\n\nVintage Oaks, 208 Vintage 
 Way\n\nRoss\n\nPost Office, 1 Ross Commons\n\nSan Anselmo\n\nCity Hall, 525 
 San Anselmo Ave.\n\nSan Rafael\n\nCity Hall, 1400 Fifth Ave.\n\nWest End, 
 1561 Fourth St.\n\nRafael Theater, 1122 Fourth St.\n\nDowntown Plaza, 1002 
 Fourth St.\n\nSan Rafael Community Center, 618 B St.\n\nMontecito Plaza, 
 Third Street at Grand Avenue\n\nMarin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 3501 
 Civic Center Drive\n\nNorthgate mall food court, 5800 Northgate, Terra 
 Linda\n\nSausalito\n\nCity Hall at Sweeney Park, Caledonia at Litho 
 streets\n\nBank of America Plaza, Bridgeway at Anchor 
 Street\n\nTiburon\n\nTown Square, Main Street and Juanita Lane\n\nContact 
 Jim Welte via e-mail at jwelte@marinij.com\n\nput up 
 http://digitaldaq.deviantart.com/gallery/\n\nmostly for outside bay 
 area\n\nhttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000031433391\n\nhttp://twitter.com/davidaquinley\n\nmostly 
 for in bay area \n\n\n\n\n\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/02/28/18639087.php
SUMMARY:Various Locations in Marin:Ritter House 25 Art Houses:Homeless Benefit for May 1 Auction
LOCATION:photos of http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14485212
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/02/28/18639087.php
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