Brianna Mcilraith - Taranaki Daily News, Aug 21 2020.
Artists, from left, Jordan Barnes, Fern Petrie and John McLean are contributing to the Taranaki Women's Refuge biennial art auction, Art for Refuge.
Taranaki artists pushed for a charity art auction to go ahead in person after it was almost forced to move online due to Covid-19.
Taranaki Women's Refuge biennial art auction, Art for Refuge, will now go ahead live at the Te Henui Chapel in New Plymouth on November 13.
Shona Smith, refuge's relationships manager, said originally it was too risky to go ahead, when taking into account coronavirus, but not long before she went to announce plans for a virtual auction, things changed.
“There was this consensus that it's a nice event for artists to come together,” she said.
The art auction would still go ahead in alert level 2, with a 100-person cap inside the chapel, and 100 people able to watch and bid via a video link.
Artists Jordan Barnes, John McLean and Fern Petrie all agreed the auction in a live format, rather than virtually, was the right thing to do.
“It’s a win-win thing. They’re good for us, and we’re good for them,” McLean said.
“To know our work is contributing in a way to such an awesome cause is special,” Barnes added.
“It's nice to think it can change the world in some way.”
McLean would be auctioning two pieces, Petrie had put forward one and Barnes was still to decide how many he would do.
“It’s such a pleasure to use art, something so precious to us, to help others,” Petrie said.
