Artists work on block for much needed gallery cash

(CNS): The Cayman Islands National Gallery’s third annual art exhibition and auction in support of its education programmes and collections fund opened this week and the public is encourage to go along over the next two weeks and bid on work by some of Cayman’s leading local artists. The exhibition is open until Tuesday, 30 September and will culminate in an invite-only reception and auction on 1 October 2014. The annual Big Art Auction distributes 50% of funds to the artist and 50% to the gallery to ensure the project remains sustainable and benefits both parties.

“Education is central to the NGCI’s mission of promoting the appreciation and practice of the visual arts of the Cayman Islands, and we offer more than 25 outreach and education programmes monthly, across all three islands, and accounting for 60% of the organisation’s annual output,” said the gallery’s director, Natalie Urquhart. “Museums and galleries like NGCI are now considered to be amongst the most effective places to enrich what is being taught in school, as our collections are representative examples of what is taught in the classroom.”

She explained that art on display is surrounded by contextual and interpretive materials and storytelling, arousing interest and curiosity by bringing Caymanian history alive.

“NGCI programmes go far beyond teaching art skills to include cognitive development, cross curricular learning opportunities (maths, literacy, social studies, and history), teambuilding, confidence growth and so on,” added Urquhart.

The auction includes work by Alejandro Angel, John Bird, John Broad, Randy Chollette, Hannah Cook, Davin Ebanks, Kaitlyn Elphinstone, Teresa Grimes, Guy Harvey, Bendel Hydes, Greg Lipton, Miguel Powery, Mikael Seffer, Joanne Sibley, and CE Whitney.”
The Gallery has also acquired a lithograph from Francisco Goya’s famous Los Caprichos series and which was recently exhibited in the National Gallery Metamorphosis exhibition which will also be auctioned.

“It was quite a coup for NGCI, as Los Caprichos is widely considered to be oneof the most influential series of graphic images in the history of western art,” said Urquhart. “We were thrilled when the local collector decided to generously donate one of the lithographs in the series to raise funds. It is an extremely rare opportunity.”

Anyone interested in purchasing work on display at the Big Art Auction 3 or supporting the National Gallery’s Collections Fund please speak to an NGCI staff member or call the National Galley at (345) 945 8111.