Our first fundraiser

From 21st to 23rd April 2004, at the Queens Hotel, Penzance, we held a very successful art exhibition and auction a first fundraiser to establish the West Cornwall Art Archive.

The auction took place on the evening of Friday 23rd April, and raised a sum, including the raffle of the wonderful cat donated by Michael Roberts, of just below £28,000. The exact sum is not calculated yet due to some late collectors, and one or two further donations.

Our dear friend and benefactor, Dr Elspeth Pope, from Hypatia-in-the-Woods, Washington state, was present for the event, and took back with her a beautiful piece of work (in a large tube!) by the late Rachel Crossley.

The auction was generously supported and conducted by Graham Bazley, W. H. Lane and Son, Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers, and was opened by the popular and well-loved BBC Radio presenter, Tim Hubbard.

Brought together for the new charity by the exhibition organisers, Andrea Garrihy and Jacqueline Pritchard, the whole event was well supported by local artists and by donors who donated one or more fine art works from their own collections.

Graham serves as one of the five initial Trustees of the WCAA that will comprise information on the life and works of professional artists, past and present, who have worked here, are working in Cornwall, or who have connections with this region. The well-illustrated catalogue was introduced by another of the Trustees, Professor Charles Thomas, the Honorary Curator of the Courtney Library of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, Truro.

The Honorary Curator of the new Archive in Penzance will be Dr Melissa Hardie, who has been collecting books and artefacts toward the establishment of this Collection for many years. The idea for an Archive and Reading Room, first mooted to the artists by Passmore Edwards in 1895 when donating the money for the Newlyn Art Gallery (NAG) to be built at Newlyn Green, was resurrected in 1995 by the Council of NAG as an appropriate centennial project.

The funds raised will go towards consolidating and developing the West Cornwall Art Archive into a comprehensive resource for all those interested in the long artistic life of the region.