VARGA Gallery GIFT SHOW & The Max's Kansas City Project in WOODSTOCK, NY Saturday 11/13/10 6 - 8pm

Online, November 9, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The VARGA Gallery opens The Gift Show - a pre-holiday sale of giftables for the artful gift-giver. The show will feature works by such notables as furniture maker Laura Shapiro, luthier Peter Head's handmade instruments, small sandblasts by Michael Hunt and an assortment of handmade wearables and accessories by local artisans. Highlighting the show will be a special exhibit of works from the vaults of The Max's Kansas City Project - a not-for-profit organization founded by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin in honor of Mickey Ruskin who founded Max's Kansas City - the notorious artists' bar in downtown Manhattan. The Gift Show and the Max's Kansas City Project reception will be from 6 - 8pm and the exhibition run through Sunday, December 5, 2010.

The VARGA Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Le Shoppe at VARGA Gallery - a boutique to feature local artists, jewelers, designers and artisans with everything from candles to cashmere scarves. Artisans interested in placing their goods in Le Shoppe are invited to drop in to the gallery. Artists to be showcased include such luminaries as award winning ceramicist Astrid Nordness who was celebrated for her glaze technique by Coyote Clay, French designer and singer Magnolia Santibanez, stone sculptor Django Houston, woodworked James McColgan's birdhouses, collage artist Chloe' Valentine, as well as knitted works by Dell Huffman, hats by Jonathan James, imported Tibetan clothing and VARGA wearables like tshirts, tank tops and other merchandise bearing the VARGA Gallery logo. The collaborative series of works by James Love Cornwell IV and gallerist Christina Varga will go on display for the first time in the November show at VARGA Gallery along with the works of many other artists including Bronson Eden who will be showcasing his first of a new series of graphite on masonite cut-out nude portraits featuring local art legends. The first one is titled "Annie".

Featured in November's show are works from the vaults of not-for-profit organization The Max's Kansas City Project founded by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin, the long time companion of the late Mickey Ruskin and the mother of two of his children. In 2001 she established the Max's Kansas Project in his memory, a 501c3 not-for-profit serving the arts and youth communities. The Foundation embraces Mickey Ruskin's philosophy of helping artists in need. Max's Kansas City was an artists' bar and a focal point in the downtown art scene for almost a decade. It was a refuge for artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, fashion designers and musicians in the late sixties and early seventies. Debbie Harry and Emmy Lou Harris waitressed there, Bruce Springsteen did his first NYC gig there on a double bill with Bob Marley and the Wailers, Aerosmith got signed to their record deal there and Lou Reed & the Velvet Underground were the house band for the summer of 1970. Dan Flavin's Red neon light sculpture coined the "Bucket of Blood," hung in the corner of the back room where Andy Warhol held court nightly at the Round table like at the Algonquin with his Factory Superstars Edie Sedgwick, Viva, Candy Darling, Ultra Violet and Gerard Malanga to name a few. Regulars at Max's included Truman Capote, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Dennis Hopper, Lauren Hutton, Fellini, Iggy Pop, Betsey Johnson, Alan Ginsberg and a host of other A-list celebrities.

Mickey was a staunch supporter of the arts. He provided a refuge, a home-away-from-home, for everybody who was anybody in the arts, many of whom are now famous. Every afternoon at cocktail hour Ruskin put out free chicken wings, chili and whatever else was available that fed half the downtown art scene. For many, it was their meal of the day. Chick Peas - dried - not really edible - were on every table and on the bar. They were used as projectiles that gave way to the famous chick pea wars. After cocktail hour, the artists would go home, only to return later that night dressed in the wildest fashions and that is when the change over occurred and Max's really came alive. It was THE uber-sophisticated night spot that every contemporary art curator had to experience.

The Mission of the Max's Foundation is two-fold providing Emergency Funding and Resources to individuals in the arts in need, awarding one time grants of between 500-1000 for housing, medical and legal aid (www.maxskansascity.org) and empowering teens through the arts. It has in development FEARLESS YOUTH, featuring an interactive online teen cyber cafe. the Fearless Youth program is characterized by a positive skills
building approach, introducing teens to the creative arts as an outlet to meet the challenges of life in constructive ways, mentoring them and raising awareness on the dangers and consequences of substance abuse and addiction. www.dropin2maxs.com.

The VARGA Gallery is pleased to feature artworks, rock photography, and rock memorabilia from the Archives of the Max's Foundation featured during The Gift Show opening Saturday, November 13th from 6 - 8pm. Works in the collection have been donated by Max's Alumni and grant recipients. Sales from the works go towards furthering the mission of "The Max's Kansas City Project" and the "Fearless Youth Program". Works in the Max's Kansas City Vault include a fingerprint portrait by Annie Leibovitz, a banner by Aerosmith, a bustier worn by Kate Pierson of the B52's during the "Cosmic Tourgasm", an Ektachrome print of Freddy Mercury by Mick Rock and much, much more. Supporters and sponsors of the Max's Kansas City Project include REM, Trash & Vaudeville and New Line Cinema with artist contributors as varied as Blondie, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Betsey Johnson, Little Steven, Peter Max, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Bob Gruen, Elliot Landy, Billy Idol and on and on! For more information or to make a financial contribution to the foundation visit http://www.maxskansascity.org/ or http://www.dropin2maxs.com/ To see some of the works in the foundation's collection come to VARGA Gallery on Saturday, November 13, 2010. You can find out more about the VARGA Gallery at http://www.VARGAgallery.com.

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