By Heidi Ulrichsen
It may not look like spring. However, this Saturday, March 23, the Art Gallery of Sudbury will be ushering in the warm weather with its annual fund-raising dinner, the Spring Fever Gala.
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Dr. John Fenton with a birdhouse he decorated for the auction |
The gala is one of the gallery?s main fundraisers. The Ontario Arts Council Foundation has promised to match the funds raised at the event? every person who buys a ticket ensures that the gallery gets double the money.
The gala promises to be a fun evening of gourmet food and bidding on artwork at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel. Work by Sudbury area artists Helmi Kurki, Rachelle Bergeron, AJ Casson, Bonnie Hallay, Ray Laporte, Rob O?Flanagan, Oryst Sawchuk, and Ann Suzuki, among others, will be auctioned off.
Also up for auction besides the work of area artists are 33 birdhouses which have been decorated by Sudbury doctors. The birdhouses were designed by Chris Perry of Perry & Perry Architects Inc., and built by Sudbury Secondary School technical students.
Art Gallery of Sudbury curator Bill Huffman says that there is a specific reason that decorated birdhouses are being auctioned.
"In our first year of doing this event, we challenged Sudbury area architects to use their skills to build a house specifically designed for birds. The birdhouses have since almost become our trademark, associated with the gallery. Now we have a different profession decorate the birdhouses each year.."
This year, more than doctors got involved in decorating the birdhouses after a challenge from the Sudbury and District Dental Society, who decorated them last year. Some of the doctors who decorated birdhouses this year are Dr. Christopher McKibbon, Dr. Gary Koop, Dr. Susan Vokey, and Dr. Judy Baird.
The art gallery's current show is by artist Paul Walde. He uses wood as a cultural metaphor for nature and is inspired from found wood damaged by animals, insects and weather.
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Work by local artists including Ray Laporte, will also be sold to raise funds for the gallery. |
The gala evening begins with a cocktail hour at 6 pm. Throughout the evening, attendees will be treated to complimentary wine, hors d'oeuvres, and a gourmet dinner. The auctioneers will be Wendy Watson of MCTV and the gallery's Bill Huffman. A dance follows the auction.
Tickets are $100 per person, and a $50 tax receipt will be issued. For more information, phone Michelle Landry at 675-4871, ext. 222.
