An Evening At The Museum

On Thursday evening the Raleigh City Museum hosted Time Warp 2009; their major fund raiser for the year. This was my first time attending, both as a member of the museum and as a donor. A member friend, who is also on the board, asked me if I'd consider donating some images for the silent auction. Of course I was thrilled so I selected three images showing a wide range of my work, from an abstract tulip to the dunking booth at the State Fair to an architectural image from downtown Raleigh that had been selected for Onward 08, a juried photography exhibit in Philadelphia.



I knew I was in for a fun evening when I arrived and valet parking immediately whisked my vehicle away...walked in and there were long tables filled with silent auction items, an open bar set up with wine and beer, a band tucked in the corner playing wonderful toe-tapping music (banjos, fiddles, bass), and waitstaff serving finger foods. Staying true to being Southern...the bbq was in the back.



Decided I needed to take a look around and check out all the items up for the silent auction: a week in a luxury private apartment in Paris, brunch at the exclusive Washington Duke Inn and Golf Course, a week in a vacation home at Emerald Isle, NC, one night stay at the historic Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, passes to the Raleigh Symphony for the 2009/2010 season, a 2-hour interior design consultation, gift certificates galore to Raleigh's best restaurants (The Angus Barn, 42nd Street Oyster Bar, Zest Cafe, The Mint, Humble Pie, and others to numerous to mention), jewelry, pottery, massages, well you get the picture, an array of fantastic items. Then I spied my images; two were among the silent auction items and one had actually been selected for the live auction, yikes! I was quite honored to be in the live auction along with an autographed Carolina Hurricane's hockey stick, a NCSU basketball signed by the coach and team, beautiful porcelain pottery, sterling silver designer jewelry, and other noteworthy items. Actually I became pretty nervous at this point wondering how in the world would I fare with those items. All I can say is it's a good thing they had wine!




The live auction and bidding began, an acrylic and gouache painting went for a song ($25), the signed basketball went for $100, the autographed hockey stick went for $85, a porcelain platter went for $75, silver earrings went for $50; they were coming down to the last few items and I became more and more nervous as it was time for my abstract tulip...I wasn't sure if I could watch. The bidding started out and before I knew it a little bidding war began among three bidders...then, Sold $150!!!





What a great evening...Paris anyone????