Supporting Historic Albany Foundation’s “BUILT” Silent Auction

A few weeks ago, when I dropped off some rolls of film to McGreevy Pro Lab for developing, the clerk at McGreevy, fellow photographer Joe Putrock, asked if I had considered entering anything into Historic Albany Foundation’s “BUILT” silent auction and art show.

“No,” I replied.  “I thought the deadline had passed.”

“It hasn’t passed,” Joe said to me.  “In fact, if you call them, I think you can get your artwork in under the wire.”

A quick phone call later that day, and yes there was an opening for the show.  I quickly looked through my remaining framed artworks – the ones that weren’t already earmarked as gifts for friends, or earmarked for other auctions or sales.

And luckily, I still had the framed print of The Agfa Bridge Over Ansco Lake available. I submitted a photocopy of the picture, so the Historic Albany Foundation judges could decide if the picture merited inclusion into the silent auction.

A few days later, I got the word.  Agfa-Ansco was accepted.

On Friday, November 5, I dropped the framed artwork – the same one that had snagged a ribbon at Altamont, and was on display at the Photo Center of Troy’s Members Show – at the Cathedral of All Saints.

And last Saturday night, I went to the auction itself.

The Cathedral of All Saints was converted into an elaborate art gallery for the night.  Paintings and photographs and mixed media collages were all hung and displayed throughout the church, the artworks hung on doors that were salvaged from Albany’s lost architectures.  Images of everything from the Empire State Plaza to St. Joseph’s Church, from the Capitol Building to the Wellington Hotel, were memorialized and captured in all their elaborate and biddable glory.

Let me tell you – the pieces shown were absolutely stunning.  If I had a few hundred dollars to spare, six or seven of these artworks would be hanging at my place this morning.

The artwork that won “Best in Show” was a fantastic piece that combined a 100-year-old copy of the Albany Evening Journal with some mixed media.  Absolutely breathtaking, and when the person found out that she had won “Best in Show,” she had a reaction that almost bordered on a lottery win.

During the night, I met up with fellow artist (and Street Academy of Albany alum) Samson Contompasis, he of the Marketplace Gallery and the “Living Walls” project.  He had two large artworks available at BUILT, and they received substantial bids.

And oh look – there’s my artwork, The Agfa Bridge Over Ansco Lake, hanging right over there.

And eventually that artwork received some viewers.

And, as the night progressed, my artwork received some bidders.

As the silent auction wound down to its final minutes, Agfa-Ansco was caught in a bidding war between two different patrons.  In the end, however, the winning bidder – who stayed near the artwork in its final minutes to outbid any competitors – got his prize.  And Historic Albany Foundation received a good amount of the proceeds from the sale of Agfa-Ansco to continue its mission to preserve and protect Albany’s history and architecture.

It was a great night all around, and I definitely look forward to next year’s event.  Who knows?  Maybe next year bidders might have a chance to take home Nipper’s Polar Panorama … or Midnight at the Palace Theater … or whatever photographic concepts I can come up with in 2012.