Twelve area artists put their colorful variations on violins

By Melinda Bargreen
Seattle Times music critic

Seattle P-I editorial cartoonist David Horsey's violin.

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Don't try this at home with your own violin.

The Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra's newest and most creative fund-raising idea is a set of 12 violins — all painted, and in some cases sculpted, by a dozen prominent artists. The violins, now turned into objets d'art, go on display to the public in Bellevue Square July 23 to Aug. 22, and thereafter will be auctioned at an "Art of the Violin" event from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 19 in the Harbor Club in downtown Bellevue.

Kennelly Keys has donated all 12 violins, plus bows and cases. The artists who put their unique stamps on the violins are Alfredo Arreguín, Bill Braun, Gary Faigin, Paul Havas, David Horsey, Alden Mason, Richard Morhous, Pat Tolle, Z.Z. Wei, Robert Yoder, Teo Jonsson and Peter Bentley.

The violins are eye-popping. Their fronts and backs are decorated in the most ingenious manner, with each reflecting the distinctive style of the artist. Pulitzer Prize-winning Seattle P-I cartoonist Horsey's violin has an amusing tuba cartoon on the front, with the violin's "F-holes" forming part of the tuba player's white wig. Jonsson's violin is completely wrapped in plaster, which she sculpted and colored to look like marble or granite. Wei created her design by sculpting into the varnish of the wood, and Braun's "trompe l'oeil" 3-D effects include realistic Bellevue Philharmonic ticket stubs on the violin's front.

	Artist Teo Jonsson's plaster-wrapped violin.

Needless to say, these violins are to be displayed, not played. (Some of them probably are playable, but changes to a violin's varnish, not to mention carving or covering the wood, can drastically affect the instrument's sound. Besides, you wouldn't wear that autographed sports jersey or play catch with that hardball with Edgar Martinez's signature.)

To see the front and back of each violin, visit www.bellevuephil.org; then click on "Art of the Violin Auction" from the left-hand menu.

Proceeds from the auction go to the orchestra's award-winning music education program, "Sound Adventures in Schools." For more information: 425-455-4171.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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