Quail Valley Charities added a new event to its fundraising arsenal with an inaugural Quail Valley Art Show and Sale, held recently in the Waterfront Dining Room of the Quail Valley River Club.
“We have 13 artists participating in the art sale and 21 artists participating in the art show,” said Kristen Redner, marketing and social media coordinator.
“We wanted to do the art show for those artists that didn’t feel comfortable selling, but they could put a piece into the show. And then with the art sale, they have their own 8-foot area, and they can sell whatever they created,” she added. Pointing to the layout, she indicated show items in the center of the room, and sale displays circling the dining room.
The variety of works in the sale ran the full artistic gamut of paintings and photography, and the show featured one-offs of artwork and crafts, including a lovely, embroidered quilt and a Nantucket-style wine basket. Photographer Betsy Crothers was doing a brisk business with her stunning imagery that she inserts into functional Lucite trays and makes into notecards, as well as designer notepaper in Lucite boxes.
“And then a percentage of the proceeds of the sales, which is 25 percent, goes to Quail Valley Charities,” said Redner. “And Rick Kelly is doing a live demonstration on the porch. Then that painting is going to be up for silent auction and all the money he raises for the painting will go to Quail Valley Charities.”
Despite the pandemic limiting some of their fundraising efforts this year, Quail Valley Charities was still able to raise and recently distribute contributions totaling $705,000 to the representatives of 37 charities that focus on children and education, including the Quail Valley Employee Education Fund.
By the end of the day, the Art Sale artists – Elizabeth Carothers, Cynthia Colella, Wendy Douglas, Dottie Ferone, Patricia Forelle, Elise Geary, Dede Gilbert, Rick Kelly, Gail Long, Madeline Long, Suzy Mellott, Emily Tremml and Andrea Williams – had sold nearly $26,000 worth, which meant a contribution to Quail Valley Charities of about $6,500.
Many of the artists said that the pandemic had given them some extra time to work on their artwork, and with the world going ‘virtual’ some also took online art classes to keep busy.
“This has been a great success,” said Martha Redner, Quail Valley Charities executive director. “The membership has been really happy, and the artists have been happy.”
As the event was happening, Kathy Mulvey, CEO/owner of Quail Valley Golf Club, was meeting over lunch to strategize fundraisers going forward with Wanda Lincoln, Quail Valley Charities Week event chair, and Trudie Rainone, who oversees the auction donations.
“We’re honored to showcase the many artistic talents of our own members,” said Mulvey.
“It’s impressive to see how supportive they are of each other,” said Lincoln in agreement.
“We hope to expand this next year because it seems like it’s so successful. We’re actually discussing it right now,” added Rainone.
Photos by Kaila Jones
