SOFA NEW YORK 2003 Opening Night Gala To Benefit Museum of Arts & Design
May 28 Event at Leading Decorative and Fine Arts Exposition
Scheduled at Manhattan's Seventh Regiment Armory
NEW YORK – SOFA NEW YORK 2003, the Sixth Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art, kicks off on Wednesday, May 28, at New York City's Seventh Regiment Armory (Park Avenue and 67th Street), with the annual Opening Night Gala Benefit Preview. As always, proceeds from Opening Night Gala benefit the Museum's educational programs and exhibitions. For more information, visit the SOFA NEW YORK 2003 website at
www.sofaexpo.com SOFA NEW YORK 2003 offers the strongest line-up to date of decorative and fine art galleries – more than 100 of the world's most prestigious dealers will exhibit works by more than a thousand of the world's finest artists to an anticipated 10,000 visitors. This year's event features New York's greatest chefs and personalities in “A Taste of New York.”
The New York Times has called the SOFA NEW YORK expositions, “a stunning array of art…known for reflecting and setting cutting-edge design trends.”
Ticket Information for Opening Night Gala Benefit
Tickets levels for the Museum of Arts & Design are: Benefactor at $5,000 per couple or corporation; Patron at $1,000; Sponsor at $500 and Supporter at $250. To purchase tickets or for more information about the event, contact Lynn Hendricks at (212) 956-3535, ext. 112.
The Opening Night of SOFA NEW YORK 2003 also inaugurates the Second Annual Contemporary Decorative Arts Week, May 28 - June 3, in New York City. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg again will officially proclaim Contemporary Decorative Arts Week (CDAW) to be a weeklong, citywide celebration of the New York's vibrant contemporary decorative arts and design scene, showcasing dozens of exhibitions at New York museums, auction houses, art galleries and organizations.
SOFA-related events:
Friday, May 30: Horizon Awards, at the Armory, 4 PM
The third annual Horizon Awards for emerging artists will be presented at SOFA NEW YORK 2003 on Friday, May 30, 2003, at 4 p.m. in the Tiffany Room of the Seventh Regiment Amory.
The awards, conferred by the Museum of Arts & Design and Hunter Douglas Window Fashions, will be given for first, second and third places – $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000, respectively. The award-winning student works will be exhibited at SOFA.
Participating this year were School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles; Minneapolis College of Art and Design; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and School of Visual Arts, New York City.
First prize went to Shayna Leib of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; second to Kevin Vieths of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; third to Min Seong Kim of School of Visual Arts, New York City.
Each year the Museum invites five schools to submit the work of undergraduate and/or graduate students for consideration by a panel of distinguished artists, designers and museum professionals. The Horizon Award is granted to students based on individual talent, innovation and a demonstrated future commitment to working professionally in the three-dimensional visual arts.
Second Annual Daphne Farago Lecture, by Suzanne Ramljak, at the Museum, 6-7 PM
Daphne Farago, a long-time friend and patron of the Museum, is a prominent collector of contemporary international jewelry and craft. Ramljak, editor of Metalsmith magazine and former editor of Sculpture and Glass magazines, has written on art and craft for publications ranging from The New York Times to ArtNews. Ramljak, who has extensive lecture and curatorial experience, holds a masters degree in Art History from the University of Michigan and is completing a doctorate at the Graduate School of the City University of New York
Saturday, May 31: “Behind the Glass Curtain,” panel discussion on Central European studio glass moderated by Curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman of the Museum of Arts & Design, at the Armory, 11:30 AM–1 PM
About the Museum of Arts & Design
(Formerly American Craft Museum)
The Museum is an international education center for the study and interpretation of three-dimensional objects created by artists to communicate visual and cultural values, to explore the aesthetic potential of materials or techniques, to comment on the human condition, or to serve practical functions. The objects collected, displayed and interpreted by the Museum are tangible records of the creative process that links art, craft and design, and the synergy that exists between decorative arts and architecture, fashion, performing arts, science and technology in the contemporary world.
The Museum of Arts & Design will soon build a new museum at 2 Columbus Circle. It currently hosts 275,000 visitors per year; in its new home, the Museum will be able to greatly expand its educational and public outreach efforts and exhibit its permanent collection of decorative arts and design objects for the first time.