Ready, set, go -- grab that Dali

Sep. 18--As he stood in line at the Orlando Museum of Art, Lee Jensen considered his strategy.

In years past, he had to run -- yes, run -- to claim his favorite works of art. "It was either that," says Jensen, administrator for law firm Baker Hostetler, "or get knocked out of the way."

So on Friday, when the velvet ropes were dropped to signal the kickoff of the museum's corporate-lease program, Jensen made a beeline for Salvador Dali's "Lincoln in Dalivision," while his colleague, attorney Dan Bachrach, raced to claim Jennifer Bartlett's "The Four Seasons," and Suzanne McClelland's "Mamamay I."

The two then ran around pulling claim tags -- the equivalent of a "sold" sign -- on seven other pieces of art.

Call it the dart for art, but it resembles the art world's equivalent of a game show. Imagine Supermarket Sweep with lithographs.

The customers come from law firms, insurance agencies, country clubs, hotels and high-rise office buildings.

Once every two years, the museum opens a collection of more than 100 lithographs, etchings, silk-screen prints and woodcuts to businesses small and large, allowing them to rent one-of-a-kind artwork for as little as $275 a year. The leases, which run for two years, include free installation by museum staff and free insurance.

The only catch: The art is divvied up first-come, first-served.

So Friday, at 11:30 a.m., while most Orlando office workers were contemplating a greasy hamburger, 50 returning customers were salivating for first crack at the 133 prints hanging on the walls in a small museum gallery.

When a docent lowered the ropes, the crowd surged into the room, each person eager to be the first to claim the work of a hot new artist or an old favorite, such as Dali or Andy Warhol or Robert Rauschenberg.

Jensen and Bachrach crossed the path of equally determined Ivonne Ferguson, assistant general manager of the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown. Ferguson and her boss, Marco Lozano, briskly made quick work of the gallery, snapping up their nine favorite prints in under three minutes.

"I had no idea you were so fast," Lozano told Ferguson.

Lozano rushed to get dibs on Katherine Bowling's "The Four Seasons: Winter." "That's the one I couldn't live without," he says. And though he would love to hang it in his office, all nine prints will hang in the hotel's lobby -- where they can be enjoyed by the public.

Receptionist has final say

Begun in 1974, the corporate-lease program gives local businesses a chance to rent a piece of artwork, while helping the museum raise money.

Although the program is popular, it isn't widely known.

"It's a quiet secret," says Cindy Walbroel, chairwoman of the program. "This is museum-quality artwork that you cannot buy."

Although returning customers can look at a catalog of the artwork beforehand, they cannot reserve a favorite print or a favorite artist. Instead, they must line up at the velvet rope, just like everyone else, and make a dash for it.

"That's the only way we've been able to make it fair for everybody," says Walbroel.

Although this year's event looked more like race-walking than a sprint, the mood changes from year to year.

"The first time I came, in 1996, it was hysterical," recalls Jensen. "When they dropped the rope, everybody ran. It was like a stampede."

This year, the crowd was more subdued but no less determined. At precisely 11:30, Barbara Ellingworth and Kristin Rodriguez hurried to their favorite print, a Diane Lorio piece titled "Translated Loosely," which will now grace the conference room at Lykes Insurance, where they are customer-service representatives.

They hesitated when they found a woman standing in front of the Lorio piece.

"When she moved to the left, I was relieved," says Ellingworth, who quickly pulled the claim tag and went to fill out the leasing paperwork.

"It's a little like shopping after the Thanksgiving holiday," says Ellingworth. "You have to be fast to get what you want."

Meanwhile, Dean Valente, business manager for the Holland & Knight law firm, strolled leisurely through the array of 133 pieces. Because the firm owns an extensive art collection, Valente and two colleagues casually looked for one piece of art for the firm's lobby.

"We don't really have a strategy," he said, smiling at colleagues Debbie Eubanks and Sandy Wilson. "We just pick whatever catches our eye." But the selection must meet the approval of Wilson, the firm's receptionist.

"Sandy has to look at it all day," explains Valente.

Within an hour, the gallery's crowds had dwindled to a handful of folks, some perusing through the several dozen leftovers for one or two pieces to rent.

Melissa Hazlewood pulled out a measuring tape -- to see if the Valentina Dubasky print and the Salvador Dali that she and her colleagues picked would work in the lobby of the high-rise building they manage.

"I don't know anything about art," says Hazlewood. "That's why I brought five other people with me."

Linda Shrieves can be reached at lshrieves@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5433.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.

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