Des Moines Art Center "Vault" Auction

{My Donation to the Des Moines Art Center, 2011}

{Up for auction, May 12, 2011}

{The newly constructed vault at the Des Moines Art Center}

Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending "Vault: Letting Our Guard Down" a fundraising auction with donations of over 100 artists from Iowa and around the world. I donated the American toad painting above. I have worked as a faculty member at the Art Center for the past few years and I loved the idea of being able to give back to my workplace and thank them for all they have given me. My husband and I were there during the middle of the silent auction and only stayed a short time. With over 350 guests in attendance in such a small place it was uncomfortably warm and we couldn't afford to bid on anything anyways so we took a few pictures, said "hi" to a few people, snagged an hor d'oeuvre or two and left. At that time my piece was up to $150, which made me proud and happy. I don't know if it ever topped that but I was more than ecstatic that it made it that high. Its not that I don't think it is worth that much, but I have donated artwork for charity auction before and seen it sell for ridiculously low amounts. (which makes it barely worth your time. And its embarassing) The Art Center handled the bidding nicely. They started all works at $50 and people could bid in $25 increments. All in all, a nice affair that you can read about at this Des Moines Register link.