Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 08/98) - The recent silent auction organized by the Arctic Art Gallery was a success, and gallery staff say the idea of promoting art in cyberspace will only grow.

Dana Britton said the auction was the best way to promote the gallery and some of the artists who are regularly featured in the gallery.

"We generally have a big auction around this time every year, but with the Arctic Winter Games and the Caribou Carnival this year, we didn't think there would be much interest in another big event," she says.

Pieces which were included in the silent auction included prints and paintings from a number of Northern artists, including Mona Thrasher, Graeme Shaw, and Ray Schweinsburg. In this most recent auction, 19 pieces were put on display and all three were sold during the event.

"It got pretty hectic from time to time," Britton says.

"There were times we had people coming in to place bids while we were trying to answer four phone lines and take bids off the Internet."

Items in the auction were featured on the gallery's Web site as well as in the galley itself. On the Web site, a thumbnail sketch of the piece along with the actual dimensions were posted for surfers to see and study.

A sheet of paper was put up beside each piece with the current high bid, and each bid was updated on a daily basis.

Final bids ranged from as low as $100 on up. The highest Ūnal bid was garnered by North Country Blues by Desmond McCaffrey. The winning bid on the painting was $975.

The most recent silent auction is in fact the second one organized this year by the art gallery. Britton says the Ūrst one, which took place during the Arctic Winter Games in March, was so well received that a second was organized.

Britton added that holding an art auction on the Internet not only allowed the gallery to better promote itself through cyberspace, but also gave bidders who might not be from the North a chance to learn more about the North.

"Most Web sites are only words," she says.

"Our site has pictures on it as well."

As for a third silent auction, Britton says the gallery is looking at organizing another auction later this year.