Creative BackStage supplied lighting, sound, and consulting for the grand opening of the new wings 2006

 

A masterpiece of an evening Museum, arts supporters put on the ritz

Jaimee Rose

The Arizona Republic

Nov. 6, 2006 12:00 AM

The Valley's cultural scene took an elegant step forward with the Phoenix Art Museum's $50 million expansion, celebrated Saturday night with a swanky, sparkling society party.

As 970 Very Important Guests and donors swept into the new lobby on a chic walkway of red polka-dot rugs and were greeted by towers of crimson flowers and a mini orchestra, there was a buzz of cosmopolitan bliss: We're the country's sixth-largest city, and we have rallied to declare art important. Look at our soaring new Ellen and Howard C. Katz Wing for Modern Art, and our stunning new Dorrance Sculpture Garden. (And look, there are the Katzes and the Dorrances in person.)

And did you hear about the big Rembrandt show coming in January? Huge. Now do take a glass of champagne. advertisement The party, masterminded by the tiny Ellen Katz, a powerhouse of elegant partymaking who serves as vice president of the museum's board of trustees, raised $1.6 million and was a high achievement of its own. Think 461 pounds of filet mignon, 1,438 red flowers and a gaggle of young valets who squired Benzes, Maseratis and a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom with glee.

"Fabulous, just fabulous," art aficionado Marilyn Papp said as she mingled in the sculpture garden, where guests tried hard not to step into the sleek new fountains embedded in the courtyard as waiters served coconut shrimp and chicken satay from Roy's. "I think Phoenix needed this (night)," said Heather Greenbaum, she of the new Heather and Michael D. Greenbaum Lobby, as friends swirled around the couple with congrats. (Michael Greenbaum led the museum's fund-raising efforts and turned in more than double the monetary goal, which was bolstered by an $18.2 million bond approved by Phoenix voters in 2001.)

"It's so spectacular - the glitz and the glamour," Heather Greenbaum said. (You must see Gail Rineberg's gold dress, she added. "It's 60 years old. It was her mother's. Let's go find her.")

An ethereal all-white disco was erected for dancing, with sleek ottomans you could practically sleep on and a DJ imported from New York - a good one who had CEOs jamming to the Jackson Five. (ABC was a big hit.)

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., was there, sweetly talking to his wife, Caryll. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio came, too, and apparently doesn't ever smile, not even at parties. There was Jacquie Dorrance, dressed in rubies and a red gown, and Gov. Janet Napolitano, dressed down, in pants. It was a very good night for Judith Leiber clutches and long black dresses.

Ellen Katz flitted about joyfully in a gold Oscar de la Renta gown and fabulously gigantic pearl earrings.

Fur is in, and no one looked prettier in it than Diane Halle, wife of Discount Tire founder Bruce Halle. She was so insanely bejeweled and beautiful that she should have had a pedestal of her own.

Eddie Basha was a guest, plus Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, and all the bigwigs were there: Craig Barrett (Intel), Bill Post (Pinnacle West) and Ben Campbell (J.P. Morgan Chase of Arizona). How tempting it would be to sneak in and hand out business cards in the bathroom. There were Herbergers and Magruders and even Will Bruder, who designed the Burton Barr Central Library down the street.

The museum's big-deal architects were in from New York: Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Williams, feeling rather huggy, wanted to make sure everyone saw his favorite feature: the "secret stairway" in the corner of the new modern-art wing, where you could find Howard Katz floating between floors of guests, and a tray holding Jon Kyl's place card that the wait staff seemed to have claimed as a souvenir.

"The centerpieces were fabulous," declared guest Scott Coles, and indeed they were: architecturally impressive creations by Angelic Grove in red, black and white that were up to 5 feet high and lighted by 580 battery-operated red candles (because it would be clearly insane to allow tea lights in the midst of all that art).

During dinner, guests made sculptures of their twisted-wire napkin rings and ate gravlax in lemon-dill crème fraiche while admiring the sublime artworks of Richard Diebenkorn and Ed Ruscha.

And every few minutes, there was a radio update on Ellen Katz's exact location. "She's on the first floor, mingling," "She moving back to her table," and so on. (Apparently, staff members wisely wanted to keep their hostess very happy, which she was.)

"We were just so pleased, mainly that so many other people were so excited and impressed," Ellen Katz said. "I hope it means, for the museum, turning over a new leaf."

In the end, there was something new, delightful and sparkling in the atmosphere: all that champagne, all those candles, not to mention the incredible twinkling light installation by Yayoi Kusama in the corner, which made you feel like you were in the center of the best city in all the world, with lights stretching into the great beyond. And maybe, on this night, you were.

"The first time I walked into the lobby, I got tears in my eyes," said Sharron Orth Lewis, who was also unofficial tinsel of the evening, swathed in gorgeous Oscar de la Renta gold spangles. "And I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we're big time now.' "