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Artists’ Showplace gallery will host an exhibition featuring the paintings of Maximiliano (Max) Alessandro Vatovac, age 19, and sculpture by his mother, L. Hart Rueter. The show is being held to help fund tuition for Max at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. Max applied for and won a place at the renowned art school; it is the first time in the school’s history that a student was unanimously voted in at the freshman level, beating out 80 other applicants for this spot. Max’s family has been hard hit by the economic downturn, and the family cannot afford the tuition. Moreover, Max cannot get a student loan or other financial aid since the school is not an accredited university. Sales from the gallery exhibition will go toward Max’s first year tuition.
Artists’ Showplace will hold a free reception on Friday, August 7, from 6 to 9 p.m., open to the public. The show will run through the month of August.
Max attended grade school in Dallas, and high school in Richardson. He studied welding for one semester at Brookhaven College and has also studied drawing under Igor Khunteyev for a year at the Sophia Art Academy in Dallas. At age 9, Max already was training as an artist aid for European Art Services art studio. He was promoted to a painter at age 12 and became a paid intern at age 14. Currently he works for Brad Oldham, Inc., a Dallas art studio whose client are primarily designers and architects, where he has learned the basics of mold making and casting of multiples.
Max had not thought of art as a career until his junior year of high school when he took an art class and entered a contest in which he won first place. Max’s mother, Hart, who is also an artist, trained Max in different techniques of painting and finishing. The idea of a joint exhibition came from Brad Oldham, who was impressed with the team Max and Hart made. Hart has taken images from Max’s paintings and turned them into sculptures. Brad then taught Max how to mold and make castings of his mother’s pieces. Together, Hart and Max became the “Muddersun Art Works Studio.”
When the economy collapsed, Max had to stop attending his class at Sofia Art Academy, and the family had to downsize their lives, moving to a smaller home and selling off all they could. “The news that Max had won the freshman spot at the Florence Academy was a shocker,” said his mother, Hart. “Since no one had ever gotten in on the first try before, we were ill prepared to send him off,” she revealed. Then came the idea of a fundraiser for Max. The Muddersun team would have an art show benefiting Max’s first year of schooling. Max’s ultimate goal is to complete the first four years as a painting student, then continue for three more years as a sculpture major. The Florence Academy of Art offers scholarship funding and work study opportunities to second- and third-year students in financial need, which is why if Max can raise the money for the first year, he will have an opportunity for a scholarship after his freshman year.
Artists’ Showplace is an expansive 12,000 square-foot gallery space located at 15615 Coit Road, Suite 230, in the southwest quadrant of Spanish Village at Coit and Arapaho. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What: The "Muddersun" Benefit Art Show
Who: Featuring the work of Max Vatovac and Hart Rueter
Where: Artists’ Showplace, 15615 Coit Road, Suite 230, in the elbow of the southwest quadrant of Spanish Village at Coit and Arapaho.
When: August 7-31
Reception: Friday, August 7, 6-9 p.m. - free to the public
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday,
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Phone number: 972-233-1223.
