Frances Cox left the Evanston Art Center’s annual spring auction with three pieces she said she got at bargain prices.
Cox, an artist from Kenilworth, Ill., who also had pieces up for auction, said she and her husband bought a set of two paintings for $100 and fended off two other bidders in the process.
“We were really lucky,” she said as she left the fund-raiser held at the EAC, 2603 Sheridan Road. “Our friends got some good deals too.”
This year, the EAC invited 130 Chicago artists to donate their work to a silent and live auction, the proceeds of which will benefit the center’s art school and outreach programs. About 160 guests paid $100 to attend the event featuring food donated from local restaurants and live jazz.
Alan Leder, director of the EAC, said last year’s auction raised $25,000 and this year’s amount will be determined later this week.
This is the first year that all 13 pieces in the live auction were sold, Leder said. The highest-selling item was a $2,300 photo of a Latino couple by photographer Dawoud Bey.
“Photographers have come into their own,” Leder said. “These are tough works and people have to make a shift in perception to understand the concepts of new photography.”
This was also the first year the center allowed people to bid for the silent auction items up to a month before the event.
Live auction pieces were also on display. Contributing artists included Karl Wirsum, Gladys Nilsson and Barbara Crane.
Gail Struve, an EAC board member and former teacher at the center, said there were pieces that could sell for thousands of dollars but were priced in the hundreds.
“There are some very, very fine artists showing here,” said Joseph Harris, an art collector who has attended the auction for the past three years. “If you were interested in collecting art on a small budget, this is the way to do it.”
Lisa Wainwright, the interim graduate dean at the Art Institute of Chicago, was the auctioneer for the event. Leder said her charisma helped sell the live auction pieces.
“You’re going to be kicking yourself later if you don’t get this painting,” she said as she hyped a piece by Deborah Boardman. “This is something that would look great in your kitchen.”
The piece sold for $1,025.
At the event, several people said they regretted that most of Evanston and Northwestern doesn’t know about the EAC.
“Any student that wants a dose of culture off campus need only walk two blocks,” said Linda Kaufman, a former EAC board member whose husband used to contribute to the auction.
Reach Deborah Meron at [email protected].
