Timeraisers: A fiendishly clever way to add to your art collection

Last year several people said they wished I’d blogged about Timeraisers before the event instead of after, because they would have gone if they’d known about it.

So here you go: It’s happening this Saturday November 13th, 8:00 p.m., at the National Gallery. Tickets are $20. Franklin’s Fault will be providing musical entertainment. Cash bar. Dress code is “Saturday Casual,” whatever that means.

Timeraisers is a fiendishly clever concept. Here’s how it works. It’s a silent art auction, but you bid volunteer hours instead of money.

There are about 30 pieces of art (preview them here – the selection is better than ever this year), all of which were purchased for full market value from local artists. (I suspect artists get asked a lot to donate pieces for charitable auctions. I like the fact that Timeraisers supports local artists as well as charitable organizations.)

Before the auction starts, prospective bidders get an opportunity to circulate amongst a number of volunteer booths. At each booth you can learn more about a particular organization – what it does, what kinds of volunteer positions it has available, etc.

Then the bidding starts, and continues for about an hour. It’s a lot of fun – there’s an atmosphere of friendly competition amongst people who have the same artistic tastes.

If you win, you have a year to work your hours. You can devote them all to one organization, or spread them out among a number of organizations. You can even use some of them for organizations that aren’t under the Timeraisers umbrella.

If you complete your volunteer hours commitment, you pick up your artwork at next year’s Timeraisers. (In the meantime it will hang in the offices of one of the corporate sponsors of the event.)

Is that not clever?

Last year I bid on several pieces but didn’t win. However, I was contacted later in the year by the organizers and told that the winner of one piece was unable to meet her pledge, and did I want to replace her? I did. The piece is called Bus Stop, and it’s a painting of an OC Transpo bus (the #85, if I remember correctly) at a bus stop. I love it. The artist is Claudia Urbach, who was recently interviewed byApt. 613. I’ll be picking it up this Saturday, at the Timeraisers event. (And then I’ll be able to say that I own a piece of art which has hung at the National Gallery.)

My volunteer hours were spread amongst Christie Lake Kids (working in the after-school art program with a really interesting group of at-risk teenagers), a homelessness organization, Shepherds of Good Hope and a few hours with Friends of the Experimental Farm.

I hope some of you will come out on Saturday night. It’s fun, it’s clever, and it’s good for artists and the community.

Previous Timeraisers blog posts:

2008: In which GC and I suddenly notice we’re not young
2009: The one that got away