Artists lend hand, brush to wildfire relief

Published 8:53 am Sunday, September 27, 2015

Haunted by the images of the recent devastation brought to hundreds of thousands of acres of forest in the Chelan and Okanagan regions, a group of Bainbridge Island artists and musicians have banded together to arrange a very special method of assistance.

The concert and custom art auction, with all proceeds going to wildfire relief funds, was originally the brainchild of island painter Diane Walker. Though, she explained, once she raised the initial idea to her friends and fellow artists, the effort quickly gained momentum and support.

“Around the end of August when all the wild fires were going on, there were all these images of the fires that I kept seeing on the net and on TV and on Facebook,” Walker remembered.

At the time, she said, she’d been working on a series of paintings titled “Aquatic Impressions,” but her work kept coming out red, despite her intentions.

“I tried covering them up with blue and it didn’t work,” she laughed. “I finally figured out [that] it was probably because all of those images were coming across the net of the fires, and they just sort of planted themselves in my brain.”

Walker decided to sell her two paintings and contribute the funds to the relief effort on her own. But, she realized, she had no idea how to go about doing that. And in asking her friends and other artists, she discovered most had a great interest to contribute works and efforts of their own in a larger scale relief effort.

“I sent out an email to a bunch of artist friends and some other friends and said, ‘What’s the best way to do this?’” Walker said.

The idea for a full benefit auction and concert came from island musician Anne Pell, Walker said, who immediately offered up the services of her jazz group the Anne Pell Trio for the occasion.

Artistic offerings quickly followed, including donations from Mary Agrell Stroeing, Hilary Goldblatt, Paul Brians, Victoria Foster Harrison, Gillian Bull and Dion Zwirner.

Also on the auction block will be a special book donated by Eagle Harbor Book Company and a quilted table runner from the Mongolian Quilting Center.

“It’s a small number of pieces,” Walker said. “I think we’ve got 10 in all and I think that’s just easily manageable for what we’re trying to do.”

The fundraiser will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27 at St. Barnabas Parish Hall (1187 Wyatt Way NW). There is a $20 suggested donation and wine and cheese will be served.

The event will also feature a presentation by Bainbridge Island Fire Department personnel who were engaged in fighting the fires in the Chelan region, Walker said.

Walker added that the Bainbridge fundraiser is just one way that concerned people across the state have been pitching in.

“It was so dry this summer [that] I think we all understood that wildfire is possible and could be really scary even here on the island,” she said.

Then, there were the fires on Bainbridge park land, Walker noted, “and I think we were all feeling a little vulnerable.”

All proceeds from the event will go to the Chelan Valley Wildfire Relief Fund.

After the fire

What: Concert and art auction to benefit wildfire relief efforts.

When: 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.

Where: St. Barnabas Parish Hall (1187 Wyatt Way NW).

Admission: $20 suggested donation.