BAAC holds art auction of locally made donated works

Colorful paintings, handcrafted jewelry and original sculptures donated by local artists will go up for auction tonight at the Rosemary P. Miller Gallery of the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut Street. The Bloomington Area Art Council's annual fundraiser will last from 5 to 8 p.m.\nThe auction is the BAAC's largest fundraiser of the year. Letters requesting donations for the event were sent to all of the artists on the BAAC's mailing list. Gallery Director Mary Hambly said local artists have shown tremendous support for the organization by donating nearly 60 original pieces of art for the auction. \n"Through the generosity of these artists we are able to hold a fundraiser for the BAAC and the Waldron," Hambly said.\nThe BAAC first revealed the pieces up for auction at a reception Friday, which Hambly said was well attended. The artwork has remained on display since the reception to give the public a chance to preview it. The public can also preview auction items on the BAAC Web site at www.artlives.org. \n"People can scroll through and see everything that's up for bid," Hambly said.\nWhile the organization originally planned to allow pre-bidding for items on the Web site, they decided bidding would be done at the event itself. Since patrons will drive the prices of the items up themselves, there is a potential for obtaining artwork for low prices.\n"Sometimes you can get really good bargains on really quality pieces of art," said Diana Corrigan, director of development at the BAAC.\nBecause area artists work in diverse genres, a wide variety of artwork was donated to the auction. Bidders can to choose from practically every medium of art, from glass and wood sculptures to watercolor paintings.\n"There's not one medium that dominates," Hambly said. "One of the interesting things from a patron standpoint is that we do have such a variety that there's something to suit everyone."\nMalibu Grill and Oliver Winery are scheduled to cater the event, which is free and open to the public. \n"They both believe in what we do here and they donated their products, which was fabulous," said BAAC Executive Director Sally Gaskill. \nGaskill said most of the money raised from the auction will help support the BAAC gallery program, which shows the work of local and regional artists. \n"The gallery helps introduce art to local audiences," she said. "That's the reason so many artists were so generous with their work."\nExhibits change every two to three weeks to show new original works by area artists. Some of the money raised at the event will also help support some of the art classes given at the Waldron. \n"So many local galleries hold auctions but we're the only ones who put the money back into art programs for visual artists," Gaskill said.\nShe said her goal for the fundraiser is to raise $10,000 for the BAAC. \n"We call this auction 'art for art's sake' because that's exactly what it is," Gaskill said.\n-- Contact Arts editor Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.