PLATTSBURGH — Jump start North Country holiday shopping at the Fine Art and Artisan Craft Sale and Auction sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Plattsburgh on Saturday, Nov. 9.
The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the church at 4 Palmer St. in Plattsburgh. The auction takes place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. both in person at the church and online.
The sale features oils, pastels, photography, pottery, stained glass, calligraphy, handmade hats, woolen mittens and more.
The work of more than 20 North Country artists will be showcased in the sale and auction:
Bill Crosby, Lynda Mussen, Jackie Sabourin, Louise Patinelli, Ron Nolland, Lucas Haight, Shaun O’Connell, Darlynn Bates, Ursula Jones, Liesa Bassoi Pedersen, Linda Pearson, Michelle Ouellette, Kimberley Bertrand, Roy Brinker and Lee Clark.
“We are excited to give some of our local artists a platform to show and sell their art and crafts,” Darlynn Bates, organizer and photographer, said in a release.
Money from both the sale and auction will benefit the artists as well as the Fellowship.
“The positive response from local artists has been amazing,” Shaun O’Connell, co-coordinator and artist whose pastels will be in the show, said.
“We are most grateful to our fellow artists for their kindness and generosity in supporting the work of the fellowship with their donations of time and talent,” she said.
New this year is a fine art auction of original paintings and prints, which will go live from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 9 at the Fellowship and via Zoom link.
ARTIST WAY
O’Connell, a Plattsburgh native and artist since age 2, majored in art at SUNY Plattsburgh. Her entire career was spent in the graphic art field.
“Now, I’m retired,” she said.
“Now I have the time to make fine art. I’m very excited about being part of this upcoming event, a Fine Art and Artisan. This sale and auction is a fundraiser for the individual artists so that they make some money and their names and works are promoted through this and this is also a way to promote my church, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. It’s a bunch of very active good-deed doers. They are a good group, a friendly group. They do good work.”
HISTORY
The sales history goes back a ways.
“S. Booker when I met him was a street artist selling his paintings on Margaret St.” O’Connell said.
“I remember I could buy a painting from Booker for $10, but I was so poor, a starving graphic artist, I couldn’t even buy one for $10. Booker and I had very good relationship with the arts council here and participated in a lot of things over the years.”
Mountain Lake PBS formerly held annual arts auctions at the station.
“Every year, Booker would donate a piece of his,” she said.
“At the beginning he was an unknown street artist. Booker is one of my three favorite artists either living or dead. Personally, I loved his work.”
An alum of West Virginia State College and a U.S. Navy veteran, the late artist passed away on March 23, 2016.
“A lovely man and a genius artist,” she said.
“So I would watch the Arts Auction every hear and think, oh boy this is the year that I’ll able to get a piece of Booker’s art cheap. I would definitely go as high as $25. But then it started to jump and jump and jump. I remember the last year I watched the auction, Booker’s piece got to $800 and went above that. So from a $10 street artist to an $800-plus artist, Booker gained the attention and the rightful fame for his work due to the Arts Auction. It was a perfect way to promote the arts community in Plattsburgh and the surrounding North Country.”
The concept of the upcoming sale came from O’Connell and her friends’ memories of the Mountain Lake auction.
“The next phase of this story our friendly art group, the Strand Center for the Arts Open Studio Life Drawing Group, was a large group of elders, basically, in the arts community,” O’Connell said.
“We talked and joked about ways to promote ourselves. So when one of our friends Carol Allen was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, we decided to do a fundraiser for her. Because of the beautiful work that was presented that day at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, we had an enormous attendance.”
O’Connell sat up in the Fellowship’s balcony and tuned in to the interactions below.
“I listened to the laughter, the questions, and the camaraderie,” she said.
“It was such a good spirit in the building. So, we called it the S. Booker Memorial Starving Artist Sale or something like that. We named it in honor of him. and we did it, essentially to start with, for Carol because she really needed help with her medical bills. However at the same time, one of the members of the group was Gharan Burton. One day he was at life drawing, and he talked about Hurricane Maria hitting his island of Dominica and devastating his family’s fruit orchard.”
The group, even Allen, said that was horrible, so profits from that sale were split between her medical support and Burton’s family to rebuild after the hurricane.
“It turned out to be a very well-intentioned, a very well-received, and joyous,” O’Connell said.
“It was a joyous occasion. Old friends. Tears. It was a wonderful experience. At that time, it was just our art club that rented space at the Fellowship to do it.”
Several years ago, Fellowship member Ursula Jones reminisced about that 2017 sale.
“She said, ‘Boy that was fun,’” O’Connell said.
“She said, ‘Would you consider doing one for the Fellowship?’ I said, maybe. Then, I started remembering all the camaraderie, support, fun and fundraising that occurred on that day. I’m a member of the UU Fellowship, and I said absolutely.”
Last year’s sale was very successful for the artists and artisans that participated.
“Every single person that showed their work has agreed to come back this year,” O’Connell said.
“They had a good time, and they made a little money. Last year, we tried to have a silent auction but it really didn’t take off. So this year, we decided to broaden the idea of an arts auction. We have 20 pieces from 20 different North Country artists that are being shown right now at the Fellowship. So leading up the sale which is Saturday, Nov. 9, we are going to accept silent bids on the pieces that are displayed at the Fellowship and we will continue to do that including the preview sale.
“The doors will be open Friday, Nov. 8, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. We are going to have a preview sale of the fine art and crafts on display and we will be accepting silent bids for the pieces that are being auctioned.”
At 2 p.m. on Nov. 9, the silent auction will go live.
“People that are present can bid from the floor of the Fellowship,” O’Connell said.
“We’re also created a Zoom link, so people can join a Zoom meeting and bid from home. We’re all very excited about it. I’m very scared and hope that it works. I myself and artists comrades and mostly the ladies of the Fellowship are very excited to try this.
“We hope that it makes money for the Fellowship, and we know it will make money for the artists. It’s meant to promote and profit the artists. It’s meant to promote and profit the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. That is the intention.”