Volume 12, Number 6

June, 2012

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This summer were splitting the traditional Greenspace Art & Adventure Auction into two parts to maximize the opportunities to raise funds and to increase accessibility and affordability. On July 14 in Robins Restaurant Garden, well auction just nine art works and nine adventures at a dinner limited to 60 paying guests. For this Art & Adventure Dinner and Auction we are targeting people who have been especially active bidders at past auctions. Then on August 11 we invite everyone to a Creekside Art Show at the Greenspace Creekside Reserve in the East Village. Admission will be free, artists will be invited to sell work and demonstrate techniques. Greenspace will sell about 50 art works from its collection. In effect were turning our traditional Live Auction into a fine dining occasion, and our traditional Silent Auction into a public art festival. The Greenspace Art Auction has been a Cambria tradition for 23 years, and a key to realizing the organizations mission. The new twist this summer is part of its natural evolution in response to changing times. The first art auction was in 1989 and Greenspace was in its infancy. John Colgan, Rich Davis, Rick Hawley, David Krause, Dave Raff, Ron Wyse and Diane Young were its early leaders. That auctions purpose was to raise funds to help create a hiking/biking trail from Windsor Blvd. and Highway 1, to the Main St. bridge beyond the current Dog Park. The group and other supporters believed the trail could be achieved by acquiring property and/or conservation easements on land along the creek. This was Greenspaces original and visionary purpose. Fifty-three local artists, galleries and supporters donated items to that first auction. Artist Ann Laddon created a commemorative poster to sell featuring California poppies. (In return Greenspace members built a swing set for her children.) That first auction brought in an amazing $10,000. It and the subsequent 22 auctions have shown how artists, collectors and nature-lovers can join to protect and enhance the North Coast area.

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A few years later Seekers Gallery owners Mike and Lynda Adelson sent a letter to their glass artists, suggesting they contribute to the now annual art auction. Lynda reportedly was flabbergasted by the response. Many have never even been to Cambria, but have written notes or told us over the phone that they care about helping the environment wherever they can. (Cambrian, Sept. 19, 1996) Greenspace conservation activities have diversified over two decades, and the concept of the auction itself has expanded. For example, business owners joined in by contributing an amazing variety of services and goods. But the Auctions core remained the linking of art and nature in aid of local conservation. To add new interest and revenue, Greenspace expanded auction offerings to include vintage jewelry in 2001, and then antiques. About that time we heard the lament, my walls are full, but I still want to support you! This triggered the addition of adventure travel beginning in 2003. The idea was to give nature-loving Cambrians the options of art, adventures, or both. So purveyors of adventure travel joined in, recognizing the connection between the Greenspace mission and the kinds of experience they offered. A cruise in Northern Europe with a Yachts of Seabourn kicked this off, and the next year it was a Panama/Costa Rica cruise. Lindblad Expeditions contributed a Galapagos Islands trip and then whalewatching on the Sea of Cortez. Cruise West took auction winners to Alaska and Natural Habitat Adventures on polar bear adventures in Canada. Weeklong stays in Mexico, France, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Tahiti came from supporters. We fused art and adventure in 2010 when we auctioned Take Art to Lunch (Art van Rhyn, that is truly an adventure!) The 2011 Art & Adventure Auction saw a first--a bidder by phone from Chicago snagging a weeks polar bear adventure for two.

Evolution of Our Auction Tradition