Sphere Madness auction ends with surprise 'winner'

Bidders compete for their favorite spheres

After a summer dispersed throughout downtown Racine, the 74 art spheres that made up Sphere Madness were together Saturday afternoon for the last time -- all assembled in Memorial Hall for their final event: their auction.

Barely two weeks ago, a team of two judges pronounced their assessment of the spheres, awarding $6,000 to three prize winners and also naming five honorable mentions. Saturday, the public spoke -- with its wallet, and named its favorite spheres.

They weren't the same. The auction-buying public paid top dollar for a sphere not mentioned at all by the judges. Selling for the highest bid drawn out by Auctioneer Bob Hagemann was a sphere totally overlooked by the judges. Princess, designed by Lynn Spleas and Jeff Dolezal and sponsored by S.T.A.R.H.S., was a fanciful recreation of Cinderella's carriage. It was bought by Ronald E. Jones, vice president of manufacturing, at Styberg Engineering.

Although Lynn Spleas didn't win the judges' praise, she was pleased by "winning" the auction ... and happy with the $2,150 her artwork earned for the Downtown Racine Corporation, which puts on the annual street art promotion. "The money all goes to Racine, so it's a good thing," she said.

The second-highest auction price went for A Starry Night, a re-creation in more than 8,000 mosaic pieces of Vincent van Gogh's painting, done by Sherri Shaver, and sponsored by Monfort's Fine Art Gallery. It went for $2,050. It had received honorable mention by the judges.

Botanical Bubble, by Kathleen Lippold, sponsored by Photographic Design and Donald and Gabriella Klein, sold for $1,500.

The auction was in two parts: 25 of the spheres were sold through a voice auction, and the rest through bids accepted in a silent auction. The voice auction raised more than $15,000 for DRC, but 15 of the silent auction spheres did not attract the $350 minimum bids required. A list of the unsold spheres will be available Tuesday, and they will be on display at 413 Main St., available for sale through Friday for $350 each. Any spheres remaining after Friday will be part of a raffle whose winners will be picked at Party on the Pavement on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Update: And here's the list of the unsold -- and still available -- spheres. First $350 takes whichever you like:

Magic Bead Ball, Shine, Growing Green, Fireworks Fanfare, Cherry Flavor Paver, Death Star, Knots Landing, Big Fish Bowl, Sorcerer's Spell, The Rose Ball, Color Burst, HEADerLINES, Pond, Sweet Treats, Around the Yard, M C Escphere, Escargooo, Mod Pod and Ball of Yarn.

Stop in the DRC office at 425 Main Street or call 262-634-6002. The spheres are pictured online.

Spheres are Here!

I'll admit it, I was a bit skeptical about this year's Downtown art project. Spheres? What's anyone going to do with a sphere? Well, count me officially wrong, wrong, wrong. Artists dropped off their finished spheres at Downtown Racine Corp, and they're amazing (maybe the best yet!).

Below are some initial pix. Thanks to DRC for letting us get a sneak peak at the creations!

13-year-old Holly Howe (she's actually 12, but her birthday is on Saturday) stands to the left of the turtle she created with 13-year-old Kayla Clair. Both Holly and Kayla are students at Mahone Middle School, where their art teacher, Laura Covelli (who's pushing the turtle), got them started on the turtle. While Covelli helped a little, Holly and Kayla did nearly all of the work, including finding the materials needed to make their reptilian creation.

Here's the finished project. Covelli lives in Racine and is a veteran of the Downtown art projects. She's made various creations in past summer, and made two more (one with her husband) for this year's exhibit.

Here's a collection of the spheres dropped off on Tuesday. They'll hit the streets next Monday, after taking part in an artist appreciation dinner and fundraiser at Windspread on Saturday.

More spheres!

And still more!

And more!


Craig Aude, an employee with DRC, helps roll in a planter created by Sally Orth and Terry Leopold.

Keith Nelson unstraps a speedy snail from his truck.
Kim Nelson, who created the snail, helps unload the art work.

A very cute Scrubbing Bubble sphere (I bet SCJ bids big on this one at the auction!)

The owl sphere is striking!

Aude and volunteer Richard Harris work on attaching wheel bases to the spheres. That way, store owners can roll the spheres inside at night, protecting them from the elements and ne-er-do-wells.

The baseball cow is another great piece from Kim Nelson.


Careful setting down that work of art!