My art piece was a mobile made of wooden spheres painted to look like the Earth in three stages of death, regrowth and restoration.
Amy’s piece was a cross-stitch embroidery sampler based on a design from the early 1800’s featuring a design which included 2 doves, bluebirds, and a basket of flowers.
We also helped with the load-in on Thursday night, and display set up on Friday.
This past Friday night was the main opening event for our Artspeak weekend, and I would say it was a great success. Starting after 6 pm dozens of art lovers from Highrock and the local area arrived. It was gratifying to see so many people enjoying and interacting with the art pieces we had helped create and set up.
For the first part
of the evening, we adjourned to the upstairs of the Old Town Hall to hear more
about iSanctuary, and to hear reflections from Pastors Brynn and Aaron, hear
original songs, a poem, and even two rap songs that supported the theme of the
art on display. The theme of the donated artworks was Restore, and was meant to
express an unearthing and restoration of beauty, dignity and humanity in all
its various forms. If you’re not aware, iSancutary is an organization committed
to helping women who have been rescued from the sex-trafficking industry regain
their sense of self through learning a useful trade and equipping them to
support themselves through creating jewelry and stationary crafts.
Afterwards, we moved back downstairs to enjoy refreshments and to start the silent auction bidding. Over the next hour people looked at artwork, networked, ate cookies, hummus and cheese and drank sparkling lemonade from Trader Joe’s, all while checking in at the bidding table every few moments to see how their bids were performing.
Amy and I
decided to bid on two pieces we especially liked. It was exciting to see if you
would get the piece you hoped for or not. As the hour progressed, we found
ourselves in a small bidding war over a painting titled “Evening Marsh” by Ben
Ober, and took out our bid for the second piece we liked so we could focus on
this one piece. It’s a lovely piece, and we anticipated that at least one other
person might like it as well. However, our dollar limit was a little higher
than our competitor’s and we won the bid. We are now the proud owners of an original
work by Ben Ober, and are looking forward to giving it a home in our Salem
condo.
Besides acquiring a new painting to put in our home, I also gained a new appreciation for how the arts can be used to bring justice and healing to our broken world. Before this event I’ve never used my creative abilities in a way that will so directly impact the lives of others in need. I was greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic turnout and reception of the event, and I believe that God is working and will continue to work in our lives and the lives of those we hope to touch through this and similar events.
