Tonight sees the official ‘Secret Canvas’ art sale at the Yass Showground Roundhouse and it promises to be quite an event. The slogan is “100 artists, 100 canvas’, $100 each” and apparently that’s the absolute truth.
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Art has become a great way of raising money for worthy causes and there seems to be no end to the generosity of artists prepared to assist. In recent months we have seen fundraisers for the Tangmangaroo Anglican Church and also for the training of care assistance dogs. The YASSarts ‘Secret Canvas’ is the group’s major fundraiser for the year and assists in the staging of ‘YASSarts SPRING!’.
The idea is the brain child of YASSarts coordinator Al Phemister and was first staged some years back as a fundraiser for the Mount Carmel School.
“The last Secret Canvas was a great event’ Mr Phemister said.
“The fact is that YASSarts has now grown and developed and in order to stage many of the events for the ‘YASSarts SPRING!’ program, we need to generate funds. The Secret Canvas is a perfect vehicle by which to do this”.
The title was coined by YASSarts creator Kim Nelson who also created the classic poster– a sunglass wearing Mona Lisa!
“I’d always wanted to put sunglass’s on the Mona Lisa and this gave me the perfect opportunity!” says the artist. “Personally I feel that events like ‘YASSarts SPRING!’ shouldn’t be reliant on handouts, but be proactive in raising funds in the staging of events. We have a considerable asset in the collective skills of our arts community and a capacity to raise the funds needed”.
So how does the ‘Secret Canvas’ work? All the artworks are the same size (30x30cm) and are hung side by side, the identity of the artists hidden until all artworks are sold. Some of the artists may be well-known locally or nationally, some may work in an amateur capacity, some may be students from the local schools– and a select few may have celebrity status but not be practicing artists at all.
The idea is that the guests attending will bid for the art that they wish to buy, not knowing if they are acquiring a ‘Picasso’ or perhaps a potential future Picasso. Some of the celebrity artist featured this year will be Chris Kimball (ABC presenter), Katrina Hodgkinson MP, David Pereira (Cellist), Tim the Yowie Man and Max Cullen (actor).
This year’s guest MC will be comedian Emo Parsonson and music will be provided by a range of local musicians of or from the Yass Valley.
The Secret Canvas will begin at 7.00pm, Friday 12th September 2014 at the Yass Showground Roundhouse and all are welcome. You can find out more about ‘YASSarts SPRING!’ via www.yassarts.org.
Contributed.