IMPORTANT UPDATE - YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!

The exhibit of our mother's work at ArtSpace Gallery in Bay City, Oregon, was to end last September (2007). But due to the show's very enthusiastic response and the desire to allow more visitors to view her pieces, curators Trisha and Craig Kauffman were to keep it up through the end of January 2008 in the space they've dedicated decades to filling with top-drawer Northwest painting.

But the weather had another idea in mind: on December 27th 2008 hurricane winds heavily damaged the The Museum of Peoples Art/ArtSpace building, and so closed down the Ruth Patterson Hart exhibit in that space permanently.

The record-breaking storm raged up and down the Oregon Coast, and Bay City bore much of its brunt. Our mother's art survives, thanks to the literal heroics of the Kauffmans - Trisha, Craig and their daughter Keisha. Close to midnight, at great personal risk during the height of the wind and rain, as the wind tore off portions of the Museum of Peoples Art/ArtSpace building's roof, these three carried the paintings and drawings - those by our mother as well as works by other Northwest artists -- out of the gallery and up the street into safer quarters next door. They held close to the wayward side of the building in the deafening storm as they struggled against the wind; the fierce gale bending the stop sign at the corner to the ground, moments later tearing off the steeple of the church next door.

Now The Peoples Museum/ArtSpace Gallery remains cold, dark and in need of major repair. More than a month after the storm that packed 150-MPH winds at Bay City by local report, the Kauffmans still are drying out the structure's shell, working slowly to remove sodden insulation and sheetrock, waiting for power company teams to rebuild the electrical hook-up, and struggling through storm after storm with less than a full roof. Conversations with insurance companies and FEMA are under way, but are slow moving and very uncertain.

While the family was able to save every single piece (more than 150) from Ruth Patterson Hart's trove, but the Kauffmans sure weren't as lucky with the space in which it had been displayed since summer 2007. Damages are estimated at $50,000, and the couple says they have no idea when their beloved building will be revived. Bought with a down payment of their "pin money" 20 years ago and bootstrapped forward since then with remarkable commitment and vision, Trisha and Craig have used the space not only for gallery shows but also for museum events, having established the non-profit 501(c)(3) Museum of People's Art in 2002. Over the last several years, Trisha has applied her fine cooking skills to establish a gourmet cafe, with a cluster of tables adjacent to the large window looking out on Tillamook Bay. The cafe received wide acclaim and made the Peoples Museum and ArtSpace a true destination for Coast travelers.

Now the Kauffmans have had to cancel previously scheduled exhibits for this season, and the future is uncertain, since operating funds have been depleted.

We daughters, thus, have opened an emergency fund to collect donations for the building's eventual and full restoration for use by the Kauffmans as the Museum of People's Art and ArtSpace Gallery. Not only are we grateful to the Kauffmans for having recognized the beauty and talent in our mother's many pieces, we are also enormously grateful to them for their dramatic storm rescue and preservation of the work. In the largest sense, we honor their dedication to the arts in general and to Northwest artists in particular. Their love and legacy should be restored, along with their museum.

To make a tax-deductible donation and receive a letter confirming your gift to this non-profit, please make your check payable to Museum of People's Art and mail a check to:

Museum of People's Art
Emergency Fund
P.O. Box 3023
Bay City, OR 97103


And we thank you, deeply, for joining us in making a financial dedication to these fine, local curators' future.

Martha Hart Schulte
Sally Hart Retecki
February 2008

Additional information about The Museum of People's Art is available. Contact us for information from their Board of Directors.