My pal Walker Waugh held a small works art auction called” I Heart Art” on Valentine’s day at his artspace, The WORK Gallery, in the Columbia Street Waterfront neighborhood. I met Walker at our local coffee spot, the Coffee Den, where you can find him servin’ up hot joe in the early mornings.
This was the first time he had done an auction like this, and he collaborated with the Wassaic Project in the Hudson Valley, whose founders he knows from college. Let me tell you, this show they put together was fantastic! Almost the entire show comprised of small works, all priced for $60 each. Additionally there was a silent auction of a half-dozen medium-size works. Some of the pieces were made by local artists, but many also came from around the country. Not only was it a well-curated show, but it was also really well arranged inside the gallery. The media ranged from drawing to painting to collage, video, and sculpture, and pieces were grouped together either by a color theme or a a thread in their subject matter. There was so much to look at and discover that I kept exiting and re-entering the gallery to go back and see what else I didn’t see the last time I looked.
Walker also throws a damn good party, complete with a drum fire on the sidewalk (good thing he has a couple of friends in the local Engine just two doors down – ?!?), strong hot toddies (an excellent technique for loosening up people to buy art – also good for selling wine – I even know this trick, and I bought three pieces today), cookies and brownies from Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, and music out of the back of a U-Haul just outside in the street. I donated a case of wine to the case too. As you’ll see in the pictures below, the event was packed and spilled out into the streets on this awesomely sunny Valentine’s afternoon.
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