Update: THANK YOU for making this a successful auction!
We are very grateful to everyone who so generously bid, donated your artistic creations and treasures, and shared this opportunity with family, friends, and community to support Vesterheim’s Folk Art School! There were 111 bidders and 61 items sold, which grossed $17,936.
Find final bids on pieces here www.biddingforgood.com/VEST-AUCTION.
Contact Marcia McKelvey at 563-382-9681, or mmckelvey@vesterheim.org, with auction questions.
Thank you for your interest and participation, and we hope that you will be part of the 2020 Folk Art Benefit Auction!
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Vesterheim’s Benefit Auction will be online from noon (CST), Saturday, October 12, until 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 20. Auction pieces will be available to view soon. In the meantime, go to www.biddingforgood.com/VEST-AUCTION and get your account ready.
The auction has over 30 pieces of one-of-a-kind folk-art by artists working in the Norwegian tradition. Folk art makes a great gift for that hard-to-buy-for person! It’s easy and fun to participate in the auction and share it with your friends and family.
Also, the auction includes a river cruise from Viking Cruises. Choose any eight-day river cruise in 2019 or 2020 for two people! On a relaxing and immersive Viking river cruise, you can explore the world’s great cities, and enjoy ever-changing scenery along the banks of waterways such as the Danube, Rhine, and Seine. You’ll unpack just once on an award-winning, state-of-the-art Longship and journey into the very heart of iconic cities and charming towns.
Proceeds from the auction will support Vesterheim’s Folk Art School, which has provided classes since 1967 in fiber arts, woodworking, painting, cooking, jewelry, blacksmithing, knifemaking, and more. At the Folk Art School, students and instructors create a community of learning and experience the joy of making something by hand.
The folk-art experience at Vesterheim doesn’t end with classes. Artists develop their skills to enter pieces in an annual judged competition, “The National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition.” Pieces in the exhibition are awarded Blue, Red, and White Ribbons representing points that accumulate over successive years toward a Gold Medal.
Many of the pieces in the Benefit Auction are donated by Vesterheim Gold Medalists and exhibition ribbon winners. There are beautiful examples of rosemaling (Norwegian decorative painting) in a variety of styles, wall hanging, woodcarvings, and more.
Vesterheim is very grateful to everyone who donated to this auction!
Through exceptional support from artists and donors, previous auctions have raised more than $77,000 for the Folk Art School. Please help support Vesterheim Museum and help keep these wonderful Norwegian folk-art traditions alive.