Art and pop-culture lovers can visit the Art Works 4 The Cure auction and sale while they get to know local artists during the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County’s Winter Arts Showcase this weekend at the Utah Film Studios.
Art Works 4 The Cure, sponsored by Zions Bank, is a separate event that will be set upstairs, while the Winter Arts Showcase will take place downstairs, said organizers and art collectors Dick and Elsa Gary.
The auction and sale runs from 5-9 p.m. on Friday, March 10; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, and from noon-5 p.m. on Sunday, March 12.
Admission is free.
“There is plenty of free parking, and the studio is just off the freeway and highway,” Dick Gary said.
The money raised from the Art Works 4 The Cure auction and sales will benefit Primary Children’s Hospital, which has been saving young lives for 100 years.
The hospital, located adjacent to the University of Utah Hospital, has grown from an act of compassion for one child to delivering premier pediatric care to 100,000 children a year, regardless of their ability to pay, according to an Artworks 4 The Cure press release.
Items in the auction and sale will include art and pop-culture memorabilia such as a 2010 self-portrait by Leonard Cohen, photographs by Stephen Trimble, a $7,000 guitar made of 500,000 crayons by Herb Williams, as well as works by local artists including local elementary students in grades kindergarten through fifth, who participate in the Kimball Art Center after-school art classes, Elsa Gary said.
“We have a box of their art, and the idea is that there are children making art to display and sell to benefit other children,” she said.
Elsa will also sell her own digitally manipulated photos during this weekend’s event.
“I think we’re going to have about 150 or more items total in the auction and sale,” she said.
In addition to a portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Justin BUA and a “Dancing Rabbi” painting by Andre Miripolsky, who burst on the scene in 1980 after he designed Elton John’s piano jacket, Art Works 4 The Cure will feature hand-knitted donkeys by their daughter Amanda Gary, founder of The Neurburro project, and her knitting instructor Susan Lewin.
The Neruburro, based in Argentina, sells knitted donkeys, which are given to patients in children’s hospitals in the United States and Argentina, according to Dick.
“People can buy them for a $50 donation each,” he said.
Amanda Gary started the Neuroburro Project a few years after she had neck surgery at the University of Utah Hospital, according to her mother.
“While she was recovering, she decided to learn how to knit,” Elsa said. “So, we went down to Wasatch and Wool, and there was Susan who gave lessons.”
After Amanda learned how to knit, she decided to knit a donkey, which she named Brandon, after her surgeon, Brandon Lawrence, Elsa said.
And things snowballed from there.
“Amanda’s concept was to make enough to donate them to children’s hospitals to help kids ‘carry the load’ of treatment and recovery,” she said. “So, Susan, who lives here locally, will have 12 or 13 finished for us, and Amanda just sent six of them from the DHL office in Uruguay.”
All Art 4 Action attendees will receive an Artbucks certificate that will give them a $25 discount, Dick said.
“We’re trying to make it fun,” he said. “We wanted to continue to put the ‘tired’ into retired, so we decided to do this.”
The Garys are also grateful to the Utah Film Studios owners and the Arts Council of Park City and Summit County for collaborating on their event.
“Crandall (Capital) is donating the space, and we appreciate Jocelyn Scudder at the arts council,” Dick said. “We like the idea of having people who know the local artists drop in and see what we have to offer, and we hope those who know what we do will stop by the arts showcase.”