It’s Saturday night, and I’m trying to get ready for this evening’s big gallery event – the Historic Albany Foundation’s ‘BUILT” charity art auction / fundraiser, or as I call it, the final event of my “charitable” photography season.
Gotta look nice for the event – essentially, dress to impress. Must find the right suit jacket, the right necktie – oh look, here’s a pinback button I received from last year’s BUILT event, designating me as a presenting artist for 2011. You know what? I’m going to wear it for good luck. That, and if I get a pin for this year, I’ll have a nice matching set.
Okay, it’s time to go.
I arrived at the Cathedral of All Saints, the display area for BUILT, in plenty of time. And my oh my, there were some amazing art pieces in this show.
I should note that the judges found great pleasure with the artwork of one of my fellow bloggers / tweeters, as Laura Glazer’s excellent map of Albany’s streets and thoroughfares – all traced on a formal white glove – won a judge’s award and plenty of accolades. The fingers of the glove represent the streets that branch out from the intersections of Washington Avenue and Lark Street, while the lines on the sleeve represent Washington Avenue’s cross streets. Congratulations to Laura on her impressive artwork.
And look over here, it’s a brilliant piece by fellow Times Union blogger Akum Norder, in which she recreated an image from a 1912 Washington Park postcard in a 2012 photograph. Absolutely brilliant and inventive, so applause with both hands to Akum.
And hey isn’t that fellow Times Union blogger and all-around good guy Don Rittner strolling through the gallery? And look, he’s taking a picture of one of my entries. Sweet.
Also saw some artworks from blog reader Bennett Campbell on display – I swear, Bennett’s the only guy in this show that can find a way to photograph Central Warehouse and make it actually look like less of an eyesore . And there’s an amazing piece of art from Samson Contompasis at BUILT – he painted a picture of Albany’s old Stanwix Hotel on a thick pane of glass – with the glass being salvaged from the old Harmanus Bleecker Library. Swank.
So now I wait. I wait as potential bidders walk up to my pictures, examine the artwork, marvel at the images, then they walk away. I try to stay in the distance, not attempting to hover over every bidder like a pig farmer trying to sell his prized sows.
And here comes a waiter, bringing a tray of bacon-wrapped shrimp scampi. Yes please. NOM NOM NOM. Okay, more like NIBBLE NIBBLE NIBBLE…
And as I glanced back at my artworks, I saw this.
This is exciting. And of course, being completely tethered to technology, what do I do?
Then, all of a sudden, there were bids on the other two pictures. Fantastic. All three images will generate money for Historic Albany Foundation. This is good. Another tweet.
Now I can relax and spend more time looking at other artworks and creations. And maybe I can draw inspiration from my fellow artists and artisans, and plan some ideas for next year’s BUILT auction.
And as the clock ticked toward 10:00 p.m. – the cutoff moment for all bids – I saw two women, both armed with pencils, trying to outbid each other on Dream Window 2: The North Pearl Street Limited. Hokey smokes, I’ve got a bidding war going on one of my Dream Windows? Wow!!
And in the end, all three of my pictures found homes. The Beat of Officer Harris raised $90, while last-minute spirited bidding allowed Midnight at the Palace Theater to hammer at $130.
And the bidding war on Dream Window 2: The North Pearl Street Limited drove the price for that artwork up to $160. One hundred and sixty levels of awesomesauce.
All in all, it was a fantastic night and I look forward to preparing something for next year’s BUILT fundraiser. My thanks to Historic Albany Foundation for accepting my prints for this project, and I’m definitely going to be visiting the Parts Warehouse for future ideas and concepts and considerations.
This is a good thing.
Chuck The Writer 
Chuck, many thanks to you and all the other artists who made this year’s “Built” event such a success. I was told that the event definitely set a record for attendance, as well as for the LOWEST number of unsold pieces. The financial results haven’t been tallied yet, but hopefully there’s a record in there as well.
As a member of the congregation at the Cathedral of All Saints, I love the fact that our building can be used for events like this by organizations like Historic Albany Foundation.
I’m still waiting, pen in hand, to show up at a charity event that you’ve donated to that has a piece that involves Wunsapana Farm at a minimum. or (even better) my girl Stella, who I know your camera loves.
LikeLike
Congrats Chuck. I wish I was there to bid on Officer Harris
LikeLike