The evening consists of two parts: A silent auction – where guests nominate their favoured works and, rather than bidding to secure the work, having their name drawn enables them to purchase the work for the fixed price of $500 – and a live auction. Three surprising works have been donated for the live auction. In addition to contributions from Grahame Sydney and Shane Cotton, for the first time in six years and in stark contrast to recent work like Chalice in Cathedral Square, Neil Dawson will complete a small work, approximately one metre square.

"The success of the Art Event has been entirely due to the willingness of artists to support the Gallery, and on the value the community places on their works – connecting people with art is what it’s all about" says Ronnie Kelly, Manager of Public Programmes.

In addition, more artists than ever before will be donating work this year. Participating artists, in alphabetical order, are:

Hannah Beehre, John Bevan-Ford, Don Binney, Ruth Cleland, Peter Cleverley, Shane Cotton, James Cousins, Neil Dawson, Simon Edwards, Charlotte Fisher, Virginia King, Euan MacLeod, Kathryn Madill, Marian Maguire, Tim Main, Judy McIntosh-Wilson, Kazu Nakagawa, Gary Nash, Neil Pardington, Grahame Sydney, Marte Szirmay, Grant Takle, Sue Upritchard, Ronnie Van Hout, Marilynn Webb, Colin Wheeler and Martin Whitworth.

All proceeds from the event, organised by the McDougall’s After Dark Committee, go towards purchasing artwork for the new Christchurch Art Gallery.

Held in the Gallery’s elegant centre court, the black tie fundraising event will take place on Friday 7^th June at 7.30 PM. It will be the last social function at the Robert McDougall, barring the closing ceremony, before the new Christchurch Art Gallery opens.

Tickets at $50 per person (including wine and supper) are limited and can now be purchased from the Robert McDougall Art Gallery Shop. For further information, please phone Catrina McDiarmid on 941 7991 or email catrina.mcdiarmid@ccc.govt.nz.