We started off wanting to throw a party at an art gallery where we could drink wine and meet people while admiring beautiful priceless works... and then we had a thought- a lot of us have an artistic side that might benefit from a little encouragement as well... and after a terrific response and a few other ideas thrown in we've ended up with what we think will be a really fun night.. a holiday art auction featuring contemporary artists from the US, UK, and France that will be held on the evening of Friday, December 7th. This will be perfect timing to pick up a unique and personal gift (or 2) while meeting other alumni residing in London.
All proceeds above costs will be going to charity as well as a fixed portion of all art sales.
Here's the plan to bring wine, art, and socializing together & dare I say.. probably your first holiday invitation of the year...
Invitation:
- US Alumni Groups in London (including Univ of California, Berkeley, UCLA, etc., Columbia, Univ of Texas, Rice, Amherst, Brown, Cornell, Yale, Texas Tech, Boston College, Univ of Florida, Notre Dame, and a variety of others).
- French MBA Programmes- Grande Ecole alumni association (Essec, ESCP-EAP, Centrale, Mines)
- and guests..
Venue & Location: http://www.richmix.org.uk
Richmix
35-47
Bethnal Green Road
London, E1 6LA
Cost: £30 per person (covers entry, wine tasting, hors d'œuvres, auction entry, and entertainment- but not cash bar)
Tickets: Sold here by invitation
Or at the door on Friday.
When: Friday, December 7th 6pm-1AM
Food & Drink: Wine tasting (7 Fab Red & White Wines to taste mostly from the Burgundy region + Moutard Champagne for those who arrive earlier, cash bar, and hors d'œuvres
Artists: We expect about 30 artists to be entering submissions. We will also have pieces from the contemporary gallery http://www.enviedart.com/
Art: Contemporary Paintings, and Photography
Auction: A silent auction starting at 6pm on December 7th with bids closing later in the evening (between 9-10pm). At this time checks only will be accepted. Payments should be made the day of the event. Purchases can be collected or later delivered. Please bring 2 checks for each purchase- 75% will be paid direct to the artist and 25% direct to the charity.
Entertainment: The Maiden String Quartet to start followed later by DJ Laura Brown.
The Maiden Quartet has played with an eclectic range of artists and orchestras including sugababes, hayley westenra, lulu, maurice gibb, the oslo philharmonic, the belmont ensemble of london and london orchestra da camera. They have also taken part in a diverse range of performances in the fields of theatre, tv, chamber music and orchestral. These include performances with nigel kennedy, particularly the kennedy experience live for classic fm, top of the pops, the london concert pops orchestra, and west end musicals including singin’ in the rain and our house. she is a member of the belmont ensemble of london, performing in st. martin-in-the-fields, the purcell room and the queen elizabeth hall.
Listen:
mozart - allegro from divertimento no. 3
Dancing later in the evening with Special Guest DJ Laura Brown
Photography: A photographer will be on hand for photo requests.
Attire: Semi-formal with a Christmas flair
Charity:
The alumni art auction proceeds will go towards a much needed school bus that will serve three school programmes in Nigeria. Any additional funds will be contributed to the secondary school for their most urgent needs (e.g. books). http://gratiainternational.org/ Gratia International work with partners in Africa who lead a wide range of educational and small enterprise projects with a focus on building knowledge and leadership within their own regions that is relevant, responsible and corruption-free. Gratia's overall goal is to have a multiplier effect on the work of its partners that it could not have achieved alone. We do this by playing an advisory role and supporting a range of targeted 'projects' e.g. building a dormitory for school children, providing shcolarships for the poor, or launching a focused leadership programme. In all of these projects Gratia helps to build and implements strategies for the long term sustainability of the work.
Helping the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary support a group of Albanian Nurses who are running a palliative care hospice.
http://albania.lcmglobal.org/History/history.html
The Sisters of the Little Company of Mary started this in the 90's and all their work was destroyed by anarchy in Albania after completing the hospice. Not to be daunted, after they were evacuated back to England, the sisters waited until they had some money and equipment and went back and started to rebuild the clinic again and train the nurses in palliative care. They did this so well, that they were able to hand over to them and now they are running the palliative care unit. The sisters send them money each year to help them keep going and visit them each year to make sure all is going well.
They are doing a wonderful task providing education and care for patients and families who have life threatening illness. There is very little Medical Help in Albania, so therefore the patients are not able even to get a diagnosis and when they do there is very little treatment available. The Staff in the clinic 2 doctors and five nurses are now providing chemotherapy, day care and large home care service. They are trying to raise money to fund a machine for doing the blood counts, particularly for the chemotherapy patients. Also, they would like to have a mammogram machine for the diagnosis of breast cancer; they are doing a lot of education in this area and cervical cancer. However, it is no use diagnosing if they cannot follow up with treatment.
Questions: sam.sperling@islandsgroup.comDetails for the artists:
Entering submissions- email me with the format, size, auction reserve sale price (remember 25% of this will go to charity), and pics (send upon submission if available- if the work is in progress that's ok but we will need the size and image a couple of weeks before the event at the latest)
Framing/Hanging- all pieces (paintings, photography, or other) submitted must be ready to hang. In most cases this means framed (and matted where appropriate) which will be part of the sale and will go with the works.
Auction process- A silent auction will be in process through the evening with the bids closing and the highest bidder above the reserve buying. You can set a reserve price to anything that you wish. At minimum 25% of the final sale price will be paid directly to charity and you will receive 75% paid directly to you.
Dropping off/hanging process- We will be collecting works as we go before the event. We will need your help with hanging and we're having an artists event to do this with a later preview party on Thursday, December 6th.
Buyer Collection process- Some buyers may wish to take things home the night of the event. We'll work out a delivery option for those who want to collect later.
Picking up- For pieces that are either not for sale or not sold we will need you to pick them up the day after the event.
Photography- Please indicate if they are limited edition prints and if multiple have been made available for the auction. If you still need to do your printing and framing contact me and we may be able to organise a group discount.
Artists Bio- We will need a few sentence bio about yourself that includes your name, where you are from, where you live, your artistic background/influence in a few words
Piece description- A short description for each submitted piece will be needed that should outline medium (the materials used), the size, title, details if photography (medium/format i.e. film, 35mm or digital), and anything else that you'd like to share. Please submit the artists bio and piece description via email to sam.sperling@islandsgroup.com when making your submissions. Let me know if you have questions.
Main event and tickets- We hope that all participating artists will attend the main event but this is not required. To cover the costs of the venue, food, and entertainment we ask that you buy a ticket here for the main event for half price. There are no fees or other costs for art submission. We are having an artists get together soon.
