Local News - February 2003

Sweetheart of an auction will benefit East library

By JACOB RUDOLPH, LTN Staff Writer

February 5, 2003 - Valentine’s Day is for sweethearts, and you can’t spell sweetheart without art.

Pro-Tech Automotive, 3604 Denver Drive, will be transformed into an art gallery Thursday Feb. 13 for “Fall in Love with Art,” an auction to benefit the East Lincoln Branch Library.

There will be musical performances, chocolate and dessert samplings and, what else, art.

 “If you like art, want to be entertained, and really haven’t planned anything for your valentine this year, plan to attend,” Jack Funk,  Denver-Lake Norman Rotary Club director of community service said.

The auction will feature a variety of art–watercolors, etchings, photography, lithographs–some reprints and some originals.

It is sponsored by the Rotary Club, which arranged the auction through State of the Art Fund Raising Art Auctions, Ltd. of Cleveland, Tennessee.

Distressed with fund-raisers that yielded mediocre results, Funk and club president Doug Phillips saw the auction as a unique way to earn money for the library.

“You can only ask people to buy magazines or barbecue so many times,” Funk said.

State of the Art’s warehouse stores more than 10,000 pieces of art, some originals from world-renowned artists, such as Salvador Dali and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.  It supplies auctions, such as this one, with roughly 250 pieces.

The first 30 minutes of the show will be dedicated to educating auction-goers on the history, background and specifics of the art and their artists.  After that, the bidding begins. 

Although the art is often exquisite, the venues which house the art are what make the auctions unique, according to the company’s auction coordinator Jill Serin.

“Sometimes we’re in country clubs and sometimes we’re in gyms,” Serin said.  “However, this is our very first automotive shop.  Although, when $750,000 worth of art is set up, it won’t be an automotive shop anymore.”

Pro-Tech Automotive owner Dave Knierim said he was apprehensive of the idea at first.

However, after tossing the idea around for a couple of days, he saw it as an opportunity to introduce his business to the community.

“I think (the auction) is going to put me on the map,” Knierim said. “It will allow me to meet a lot more people, and give them an opportunity to see my facility.”

Prices for the works of art range from $50 to $1000s.  Recently, State of the Art sold a small Norman Rockwell at a show in Buffalo for $12,000, Serin said.

In addition to selling the art, the company also mattes and frames the work. It also offers a 15-year exchange program, so if you change your decor, you can exchange your art.

Tickets for the event are $5 in advance, or $8 at the door.  For more information call Funk at 704-483-0198.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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