On the 1st of December 2016 we hosted a fundraising event for Paws Awhile Animal Sanctuary. The exhibition titled ‘Animals – Seeing the Sentient Being’ celebrated animal sentience and the artists involved expressed this in many beautiful and creative ways. The event was held as Allpress Studio in Freemans Bay and featured works from over 50 different artists. There was a mix of established and emerging artists form different parts of the country. We had an array of interesting mediums on display from spray paint and acrylic, pencil, oil and wax, foil and ink to glass and ceramics. The gallery was alive and vibrant with many different interpretations of animals as sentient beings. And it looked amazing!
The event facilitated a wonderful coming together of community, artists and animal activists all working hard to raise money for animals in need. Our chosen charity Paws Awhile Sanctuary in Raglan is run solely by passionate animal advocate Anna Dahlberg. Paws Awhile is a home for abandoned, unwanted and abused animals, it’s a large property and is home to many different animals including miniature ponies, kunekune pigs, dogs, cats and many chickens! All the animals have been lovingly cared for and rehabilitated by Anna and the many volunteers that regularly visit the sanctuary on working bee trips.
Direct Animal Action wants to extend a massive thank you to everyone involved in making this event a success. To all the fabulous people who purchased art from the exhibition! To the community, the artists and all the volunteers from the Direct Animal Action community who helped make the night run smoothly. To the talented Tamara from Tamara Josephine Photography for taking all the beautiful pictures of the event. To Sara Wiseman for being our wonderful MC for the evening, to Allpress Studio for letting us host our event in their beautiful studio, to Steve Heywood for being such a vibrant and entertaining auctioneer and to Ian Cheesman for the exceptional job he did installing all the work in the gallery. And to our many sponsors: To Phillipa from Tart Bakery for providing all the delicious food for our lovely guests and to Hell Pizza for feeding all our volunteers. To Toi Toi New Zealand Wine, Kaimira Estate Wines, Lothlorien Organic Feijoa Wine, Hallertau Wines, Yealands Family Wines, Astrolabe Wines and Epic Larger for keeping all our guests with drinks in hand! To Allpress for providing us with 1kg of beautifully roasted coffee and a barista workshop to give away. To Framed 200 for giving us a great deal on framing! To Artwoods for providing all the packaging materials we needed. And last but not least to the companies that provided us with experiences to include in our live auction, Solscape Eco Retreat in Raglan, Infinity Float Center and BGT-Actors, Models and Talent NZ. Without you all of you this event would not have been possible!
In the coming weeks we will be making the trip down to Raglan to meet with Anna and gift her the money raised from tonight’s event, so watch this space as there’s more good news to come!
