Their mission and their success was an event to celebrate. Black Diamond Arts Alliance held their second annual Art Auction Gala this month. Fourteen participating auction artists from Enumclaw, Black Diamond, Kent and Covington brought an array of artwork to be sold. Soft live music along with a beer and wine bar accommodated a room full of bidders who competed by signing-in their silent bid for art pieces on display. Artwork ranged from framed and canvas, to photography, note cards, metal art, and more.
Six founders organized Black Diamond Arts Alliance in 2015. Patricia Moss, one of those founders, currently serves as president. She called the Art Auction Gala “a great success” while noting that several factors impacted attendance including flooding, road closures, landslides, and vehicular accidents.
Today’s Arts Alliance membership has reached 33 according to Tony Moss, the auction’s moderator. “Our members are award winning artists,” he said. “Our goal here tonight is to sell their art.” Proceeds at the Gala come from two sources, raffle tickets and artists’ sales. Thirty-eight raffle tickets were sold for $5 each. The tickets represented items donated by community members and for original artwork where the values ranged from $20 to $500. The art piece of highest value in the raffle was a framed photo by one of the founders of Arts Alliance, photographer Robert Dobson. His piece was estimated at $500.
One success at the silent auction earned a toast to Lauri Hillberg, who had the top number of sales. His art for auction was a result of his hobby, bird photography. All of his pieces sold. A spotted towhee on canvas and four different birds on four unique sets of note cards were photos of birds within the Enumclaw plateau. “These birds are often perched right outside my window at home,” he said. Over half the artists who participated in the Gala sold artwork. The highest price in sales went to Mira Hoke for her original acrylic, “Spirit Rising,” and to Patricia Moss for her original oil, “Unbridled Grace”.
Artistic mediums at the Gala were varied and captured a discernible depth of professionalism and talent. Mediums included oil, watercolor, sumi (black ink brush painting), pastel, acrylic, one-stroke (loading a brush with two colors), and photography. Studio work and plein air (painting outdoors) was included in the show. Subjects portrayed through art were equally impressive. American West art featured cowboy boots. The beauty of flowers, nature, and northwest trails was evident in mushrooms, corn on the cob, and pomegranate. Urban sketching featured Black Diamond architecture like the famous Bakery. Culture and indigenous people along with the eye of an elephant captured attention.
Black Diamond Arts Alliance is committed “to foster and mentor the growth of artists in Black Diamond and surrounding communities.” They welcome all area artists who are interested in learning about art and in developing their own artistic skills. Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month at Black Diamond Bakery, 7:00 p.m. The next event where local artwork will be for sale is at their annual Spring Open Exhibit held in May at the Gomer Evans Masonic Center.
