It's October and that time of year when an onslaught of pink ribbons pop up here, there, and everywhere, from candy bars to shiny new cars. Now a San Francisco gallery, ArtHaus, has teamed up with Breast Cancer Action (BCA), a national watchdog organization, to present a show that invites viewers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.  

Think Before You Pink (also the name of a BCA campaign) features 14 artists, including at least one breast cancer survivor, Torrie Groening. "I was fed up and saddened by the fact that I couldn't even buy my family groceries without being bombarded with reminders of cancer in the shape of pink ribbons," Groening says. Her photograph, This Elixir, It Won't Fix Her (right), features a volcano of consumer good erupting out of a tin can—teddy bears, lemon squeezers, and sunglasses. "When researching for this piece I only had to Google 'pink ribbon store' to discover this was a huge industry. Hundreds of online stores sell thousands of manufactured and pink ribbon objects—enough to fill many landfills." Groening says she is sick of pink and she's participating in the show, in part, because BCA holds companies accountable, including ones that manufacture carcinogenic products and then urge the public to buy its products to support cancer research.

Among other things, BCA also encourages consumers to read the fine print—how much of the money really goes toward breast cancer? According to BCA, for example, Lean Cuisine once displayed pink ribbons on its boxes, but the purchase of the frozen delights did not result in any money going toward breast cancer research. Instead, the consumer was directed to a website to buy a pink Lean Cuisine lunch tote.

Groening says everyone copes differently, but she prefers not to concentrate on cancer and keep a sense of humor and focus on her family and artwork. Think Before You Pink runs at ArtHaus through Oct. 31.

—Bonnie Gangelhoff

I'm cleaning out the old e-mail inbox today, and I found a lot of interesting events happening now or soon!

• Michigan Water Color Society 62nd Annual Exhibition travel show will be on display at the Rankin Center Fine Arts Gallery at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI, July 6-31.
• Also in Michigan, Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman will give a talk called "Comix 101" on July 15 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
• Admission is free for all of July and August at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.
• This is the last weekend to see the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond before it goes offline. The museum is undergoing a major renovation before its grand reopening next May.
• The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is seeking entries from veterans, surgeons and civilians for its art exhibition "Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements." The deadline is October 15.
• Tougaloo Art Colony's annual events for educators, artists and students in Jackson, MS, kick off July 12.
• Bank of America's Museums on Us weekend is coming up July 4 and 5. Cardholders get free admission to more than 100 museums.
• Move over, Iron Chef—the Tacoma Art Museum is looking for an Iron Artist July 31. There are a few days left to sign up to compete.
• The annual "Form & Figure" show at Trailside Gallery in Jackson Hole, WY, is up July 1-31.
  

—Bonnie Gangelhoff

I'm just back from the opening of the California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition in Pasadena, CA. What a gathering of great artistic talent—and what a scary moment for this visitor from Boulder, CO. Right before the rooftop awards ceremony, Peter Adams, the president of the CAC, announced that the fire marshal wanted some people on my side of the roof to move to the other side pronto because the building was "shifting." I found this call to action unnerving and moved pretty fast. But the mostly California-based art crowd just calmly ambled over to the other side as if such requests were part of their routine.

Meanwhile, a few minutes later, Lindsay Goodwin and Ignat Ignatov, who have appeared in Southwest Art's annual "21 Under 31" themed-issue, received awards. As I perused their paintings that night I was struck by the similarities of their models' poses. Each painting featured a young woman slumped in a chair, one with clothes on and one without.

Tony Peters, yet another 21 under 31 alum, also took home an award for his intriguing self portrait. Among the other top award winners were Adams, Daniel Pinkham, Jove Wang, and Dennis Doheny. Southwest Art's award of excellence went to Huihan Liu.

By the way, paintings by two new emerging artists caught my attention—a moody portrait by Julio Reyes and some awesome thorny flowers by Candice Bohannon. Keep an eye on them. The CAC show is on view through May 17 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

Iceberg Outlet (pastel, 10x10.5) by Bill Cone

Bill Cone, the pastel artist behind Pixar movies such as Cars and A Bug's Life, sent us the beautiful painting above and this note:

"I am about to have my first one man show in San Francisco of four years of work from painting in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The show is at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco, and runs April 15-May 10. I have also put together a catalog of work from the show, which will be available at the gallery, and through my blog."

We wrote about Bill in the March 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine—it's worth digging through your stacks of old magazines to find!

Learn more:

• Download a digital copy of the March 2008 issue
• Get all of The Artist's Magazine's 2008 issues on CD—on sale now!
• Read about the positions for artists at Pixar