Art For HIP’s Sake
The Hastings Independent’s art auction at the Horse and Groom, St Leonards at the end of last month was a big success. More than 40 pieces of incredibly diverse art-work went under the hammer, ranging from traditional figurative work to experimental abstractions and sculpted carving. The back room of the pub was heaving with enthusiastic art lovers and bargain hunters and the auction raised almost £4,000 to help keep this free, community paper going.
A lot of work goes into organising such an event and we would particularly like to thank the whole team at the Horse and Groom. Andre and Pamela were especially helpful in the build-up to the event – and on a cold November evening, their beer and wine certainly helped to make things flow.
We would also like to thank all of the amazing artists who generously donated their work –without their support and creativity the auction couldn’t have happened. And, of course, we need to thank all the people that turned up and bid for the work. For some it was chance to own a work by a favourite or admired artist; for others it provided an opportunity to get some early Christmas presents; and one or two people may even have got a little carried away by the event and ended up with a work they weren’t expecting to have at the start. But that of course is the fun of auctions. Everyone seemed of good cheer and even a dog appeared to start bidding at one point. The auctioneer and master of ceremonies, Richard Fryer, kept things moving along at a good pace and we are grateful to him for volunteering his time and expertise in the preparation and on the evening itself. The Hastings Independent is run almost exclusively by volunteers and many of them generously gave up their time to make the evening a success.
It was generally agreed that there was a great atmosphere on the night, and we certainly hope to repeat something similar next year. All suggestions would be welcomed.
• We should mention that a few excellent pieces did not quite reach their reserve price. If anyone now thinks that they might like to buy one of these, please contact the arts team on [email protected]
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
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