Wall of Art - Dairy Studio

After Pauline Crook had nursed her mother-in-law through the debilitating illness of Motor Neurone Disease, she came up with a novel way of raising money to assist fellow sufferers in the local area.  The idea was to create a ‘wall of art’ made up of hundreds of postcards donated by artists and aspiring artists throughout the area and auction them off. Last year’s debut selection (at the Dairy Studios) included work from local artists Viv Cecil and Michael Bell, and Dairy tutor Susie Monnington is hoping they will contribute this year as well. “I haven’t opened them all yet”, she admits, “I get very excited about it though, it’s a bit like a Christmas stocking.” All the images have been produced to size rather than shrunk from larger works, Susie tells me, which can, apparently, be extremely difficult. “I did one last year and found it very hard to work in miniature”, she says. “But I’ve been working smaller this year so it should be easier."

Bids start at £1 and are entered on a ‘Snakes and Ladders' style chart. Fellow bidders simply cross out the lower bid and add a new total. It sounds a bit like e-bay, I venture. “Yes, or a silent auction”. And there is the added excitement that buyers only have an hour to make their purchase. “It’s a bit like Primark during the sales or something - lots of elbowing. It can get quite frantic”, Susie laughs. There will also be the opportunity to see the end-of-year exhibition of work produced by the classes at the Dairy studios. ER