Sunday, June 7, 2009

New Paint 2009



Just yesterday David was a part of the New Paint Auction raising money for the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, MA which was so much fun. The auction has two components, a silent auction that artists can enter any of their pieces they've done in the past and a live auction also that has a very unique twist, 50% or 100% of the profit is donated to the essex art center. All the art in the live auction isdone the day of the auction. So artists were spread across Lawrence and the eastern half of MA painting local scenes of the unique New England Landscape we all love and David was working all day literally as the only photographer. He actually got up at 2am to make sure he had enough time to find the scene that was perfect, then process the negative, let the negative dry, print the photograph which can take a number of hours when working in the dark room making minor adjustments to the light to make it perfect and then working frantically with a hair dryer to dry the print to be able to matte and frame the piece all before 4pm and he did it.
The piece was absolutely beautiful, taken from a fire escape of the oldest mill in the nation, being sold for over $600 to one of the Eagle Tribune photographers who later came up to David complimenting him on his work. He also put one of his pieces taken in the White Mountains in the silent auction that also was bid on and sold, raising more than $400 for the Essex Art Center where David has printed all this year. All in all it was a successful night for him.

David's silent auction piece being hung right in the center of things

I also had a wonderful experience because I decided to volunteer to help prepare decorations set-up New Paint which took place in Jackson Lumber lumber yard. It was quite the transformation and a great way to connect with residents, employees and volunteers of the Lawrence community. All day we worked tirelessly to put up the monopoly themed decorations to transform the lumber yard into a elegant venue for an art auction.
Silent auction had over 40 pieces in it including painting, sculpture, photography, jewlery, and wood carvings

Hanging the entrance archway took about 9 of us and it took a while but we did it and it looked awesome!!

Location for the live auction

The entrance on both the left and right were the bios of the artist put on monopoly money

Henry and I were responsible for hanging all signs from the ceiling since he knew how to drive the lift and I was one of the few not afraid of heights. It was a great job.

5 "monopoly" pieces that were 5x5ft hung from the ceiling of the main live auction room

2 comments:

Mary Lundquist said...

What a cool event! I'm so proud of Dave for participating and selling his work, earning money for himself and for a good cause. Where can we see his photo from the live auction? It's so neat that you helped out, too. I bet it was a fun day.

-mary

David Shannon-Lier said...

it was a great day. It's actually on his website on the home page. It is a wonderful shot.