SAQA reverse auction and my piece in it

On Sept 10, SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) will begin this year's reverse auction, their third such effort. It's called the SAQA Benefit Auction 2009.

This amazingly well organized auction has become SAQA's main gig. All the quilts are 12" x 12", but the subjects and styles are as varied as you'd ever find in an art quilt exhibition, and the artists who've donated are often very well known within the art quilt movement.

My piece in the auction is on the third page, Page 2a, so it'll be auctioning starting on Thursday, Sept 17, starting at 2:00 PM Eastern time, but you can view it there now, along with the other pieces in that auction. My piece, "Garden Hug #3" is in the eighth row down, on the far right of that row.

You can see the development of this piece of mine in my June 8 blog entry. But here's it's full view, in case you don't have time to go check out that entry. (Detail shots are the other images on this page.) "Garden Hug #3" is a whole cloth drawing with airpen and fabric paint and with marker. It's hand brush painted with fabric paint and mostly machine quilted, with Nature-fil bamboo and organic cotton batting. It has my signature one Green Temple Buddha Boy bead near the bottom left corner, on the peapod leaf.


(From SAQA's site:) How the Auction Works:

There are 234 Benefit Auction quilts donated by our members. The SAQA 2009 Benefit Auction - Part 1 will begin Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 2:00 Eastern.

Last year's Benefit Auction raised $41,775. The funds raised through the Auction are critical to supporting SAQA's exhibitions, catalogs and outreach programs.

How the Auction works:

The Auction is run in three sections (Section 1 - Pages 1a and 1b; Section 2 - Pages 2a and 2b; Section 3 - Pages 3a and 3b).

On the first day of each section's auction, the price for all pieces in that section is $750. The next day (at 2:00 Eastern), the price drops to $550. The third day, it drops to $350, then $250, then $150, and finally $75.

The first section will begin September 10th at 2:00 Eastern.
The second section will begin September 17th at 2:00 Eastern.
The third section will begin September 24th at 2:00 Eastern.


Prices by day:
Section 1 - September 10th at 2:00 Eastern - $750
Section 1 - September 11th at 2:00 Eastern - $550
Section 1 - September 12th at 2:00 Eastern - $350
Section 1 - September 13th at 2:00 Eastern - $250
Section 1 - September 14th at 2:00 Eastern - $150
Section 1 - September 15th at 2:00 Eastern - $75

Section 2 - September 17th at 2:00 Eastern - $750
Section 2 - September 18th at 2:00 Eastern - $550
Section 2 - September 19th at 2:00 Eastern - $350
Section 2 - September 20th at 2:00 Eastern - $250
Section 2 - September 21st at 2:00 Eastern - $150
Section 2 - September 22nd at 2:00 Eastern - $75

Section 3 - September 24th at 2:00 Eastern - $750
Section 3 - September 25th at 2:00 Eastern - $550
Section 3 - September 26th at 2:00 Eastern - $350
Section 3 - September 27th at 2:00 Eastern - $250
Section 3 - September 28th at 2:00 Eastern - $150
Section 3 - September 29th at 2:00 Eastern - $75

You bid by filling out the online bid form. You can bid on up to 7 pieces at a time. First bid on each piece wins. We will then ship the artwork to the winning bidder by insured USPS Priority Mail.

Unsold pieces will be for sale at $75 in the SAQA Store through the end of October. If they are still unsold at that time, they will be returned to the artist.


My note: The bidding is hot and heavy on sought-after pieces, so if you know you really, really wnt a certain piece, then you have to suck it up and pay full price! I believe this is how ALL art auctions ought to be conducted, because then the art sells for what it's really worth. I hate donating to auctions in which collectors brag about what great art they got for "such a bargain."!!!! Power to the People! No more Starving Artists Auctions!

This is an auction with a lot of class and dignity. And of course, all the money goes to SAQA, which is fine. But nobody gets really good work dirt cheap! Yea! And Yea also for how SAQA diligently advertises the auction via email and online, to keep people thinking about it and planning their strategies for purchases. Tell all your art auction places about this reverse auction model, and have THEM check it out. We need to turn the nightmare of bargain-basement prices at art auctions into powerful fundraising events that leave the donating artists feeling really good about the great support for the cause, that their art makes happen.

That's it! I hope to put up a little blog entry soon about what's been going on here at home, while I'm NOT teaching, for a little while! :)

Peace and Universal Health Care! Lucky