ROANOKE – Thursday marks a chance for people in the Roanoke Valley to buy original pieces of quality art from local artists at a reasonable price.
The Taubman Museum of Art is holding a Monster Art Rally with more than 30 local artists on site, creating original pieces to be auctioned off. It's part auction, part rally, and part performance-- as guests get to interact and watch the artists as they create the pieces that will be up for auction moments later.
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The first shift of artists begins working at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m., the second shift will begin creating their work. After all of the pieces are completed and put on display, the auction beings.
Instead of a silent auction or a bidding war, each piece of art is just $50. Anyone interested in a particular piece will draw a card from a deck of playing cards. The person with the highest card wins and gets to buy the art.
"If you had any inkling of coming out for a good time or you want to get some art for your house, your kitchen or your bedroom," explains William Sellari, an artist at the show. "Now is the perfect opportunity to get amazing works of art from artists all over Virginia in a way that's not possible at any other event-- all while helping the museum."
It's an opportunity for people in the community, especially young adults, to buy high-quality art they wouldn't be able to otherwise.
"People who don't consider themselves art buyers, they can come to an event that's sort of like a performance," says Stephanie Fallon, the Adult Education Manager at the Taubman. "They get to come and meet the artists. It feels more social, it feels accessible and they get to purchase something that they may have thought, 'There's no way I can't spend thousands of dollars on this,' for just $50."
All of the profits from the Monster Art Rally will support educational programs at the Taubman, including Art by Night as well as classes, supplies and the cost of bringing in speakers and teachers.
The event doesn't just benefit the community, but artists as well because they get a chance to interact with the community in a unique way and show off their work and talk about their inspirations.
"You get to interact in a way, as an artist, that is usually very confined to your stinky basement or your studio or whatever," says Sellari. "So there is a little bit of pressure, having people watch you, but at the same time it's exciting to have people interact with you in a way that doesn't happen in the wild."
The Monster Art Rally is free to attend. For more information, click here.