Art on a wine box raises funds

15 July 2010
Hawke’s Bay’s charity Wine Box Art Auction is going online this year in a bid to raise more funds to support the work of RealPeople @ Mosaic, a creative space providing art and educational courses for disabled people.

The fundraising event’s website has been “revved up” to encourage participation from beyond Hawke’s Bay and better showcase the artworks on offer. The auction, at the Mosaic Gallery in Taradale on 30 July, is also being broadcast live on a local radio station.

Riverside Wines co-founder Ian Cadwaller, a long-time supporter of RealPeople @ Mosaic, came up with the idea for the auction five years ago.

It involves Hawke’s Bay artists, some of whom are nationally recognised, creating the artworks from “naked” wooden wine boxes. Individual creations have sold for as much as $4000 at previous auctions. Winning bidders also receive six bottles of wine labelled with the artist’s design.

Event manager Karla Sewter, who has been preparing for the auction since December, says the response from the 30 artists involved this year has been wonderful.

“We’ve got many repeat artists who have supported us from day one; artists like Dick Frizzell, and a few new ones as well,” she says.

“Hawke’s Bay is famous for its wine and has a pool of well-recognised artists, so we’ve combined two of the things the region does incredibly well to create a fundraising event that gets fantastic community support.” 

In the past two years, the charity auction has raised $60,000 for RealPeople @ Mosaic, which is run by Presbyterian Support East Coast.

Fundraising and marketing manager Graeme Milne said that a virtual bidding option via the website will enable silent pre-auction bids and live phone bidding.

“We’ve googled wine box art and can’t find anyone else doing this on any scale – certainly not in this format,” he says.

An exhibition of the wine boxes opens at the Mosaic Gallery on 19 July and runs until the auction on 30 July.