Palm Springs, CA – The Palm Springs Fine Art Fair 2015 has announced it will highlight Arlene Schnitzer as its Arts Patron of the Year Honoree while also highlighting her son, Jordan Schnitzer, the largest collector of fine art prints and multiples in the U.S., as the guest speaker on collecting fine art prints.
“The Schnitzer family has made an indelible mark on fine art in America and we’re honored to celebrate them at PSFAF 2015,” says Rick Friedman, President and Founder of Hamptons Expo Group, the producer of the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair.
Arlene Schnitzer is the consummate arts patron. A native Oregonian, she was the founder and director of Portland’s legendary Fountain Gallery of Art from 1961 until 1987. In addition to her lifetime trusteeship at the Portland Art Museum, she was an early supporter and board member of the Portland Center for the Visual Arts during its life as an influential cutting-edge arts venue. She served on the board of the Oregon Symphony and is perhaps most popularly recognized as the woman whose name graces the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Outside of Oregon, Arlene currently serves on the boards of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Palm Springs Art Museum as well as the McCallum Theatre and the College of the Desert Foundation both in Palm Desert, CA. From 1995 to 2003, she was a member of the National Committee for the Performing Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Schnitzer has received many public service awards and for decades has been as a tireless advocate for social causes. Through the efforts of The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, Arlene has remained involved in the Northwest Academy, Oregon Health & Science University Foundation, the Center for Women’s Health at OHSU, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Portland, among many other organizations.
Jordan D. Schnitzer, known in art circles as “The Prince of Prints,” purchased his first work of art when he was fourteen years old from his mother at the Fountain Gallery. It was through her that his initial acquisition of one painting turned into a lifelong pursuit of arts patronage. Jordan began avidly buying contemporary prints and multiples in 1988.
At this year’s Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Jordan Schnitzer will lead a discussion on his passion for fine prints, lessons he learned in collecting, the importance of parents instilling a passion for art in their children and how he has established a world-class museum at the University of Oregon.
Under Jordan Schnitzer’s guidance, the PSFAF is creating a new Prints Pavilion in the Fair, which will introduce and highlight a few prominent prints publishers. To that end, one of the genre’s icons, Gemini GEL founder Sidney Felsen, will be named Honorary Prints Publisher, and feted on Sunday, February 15th, in the VIP Lounge.
Among his other accomplishments, Schnitzer founded the Jordan Schnitzer Family FoundationLoan Program, which is focused on promoting and exhibiting fine prints. This program has sponsored over 90 exhibitions of prints and multiples from Mr. Schnitzer’s collection at more than 60 museums nationally and internationally. The exhibitions are provided at no cost to the museums, and the Family Foundation funds grants to pay for school children or seniors to visit the exhibitions.
“For me waking up each day without art around me would be like waking up without the sun- When you live with art around you, your mind and soul are filled with the beauty of life and the creativity of the human spirit,” Schnitzer says.
In the 1990s he became the major donor of the art museum at the University of Oregon, reopening in 2005 as the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. In 2013, he provided a $5 million gift to establish a new art museum at Washington State University’s Pullman campus.
Schedule of Events:
Thursday, February 12 – 7:30pm – VIP Opening Night Reception and Award for Arts Philanthropist of the Year to Arlene Schnitzer
Friday, February 13 – 4pm – 5pm – Jordan Schnitzer – Meet the Prince of Prints (All Ticket Holders), reception in the VIIP Lounge to follow hosted by Desert Magazine
Sunday, February 15 – 1pm – 2pm – Meet Sidney Felsen and Brunch – Black Card, VIP Ticket Holders and Exhibitors
The Palm Springs Fine Art Fair is an annual production of the Hamptons Expo Group which also produces ArtAspen, the Houston Fine Art Fair, Silicon Valley Contemporary and ArtHamptons. The 2015 PSFAF will be held February 12-15, 2015 at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. For complete event information visit PalmSpringsFineArtFair.com.