Silent Auction To Fund Public Art
As part of this Saturday’s Fall Fair, people will be able to take part in a silent auction that will help to launch TMR’s Public Art Foundation.
“We’ll probably not make a lot of money, but it should be interesting and a nice start to the foundation in getting some funds raised there,” declared Mayor Vera Danyluk.
Over the summer, the foundation received federal and provincial approval for its charitable status that enables it to give income-tax receipts for donations. At the Summer Fest, local Public Security also raised $1,000 for the foundation – its first donation – through its popular dunk tank activity.
Since the Town was already holding its Fall Fair – the sixth annual – it was decided to twin the silent auction with it. Starting today you can follow the link on the Town’s website to view the various items open to bidding.
The 40 items put up for bidding include gourmet gift baskets, fine luggage, gift certificates, fine wine and liqueurs, collectors’ items, artwork by local artists, finely crafted woodworking by the New Horizons Workshop, a one-night stay (with breakfast) for two at a Laurentian auberge, and a golf set, among others.
Each item includes a photo, the donator, its value, and the starting bid. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to set up the site to bid on-line so you will have to go to the Town Hall’s Royalmount Room to put in your bid. The deadline is September 29 at 4pm when the winners will be announced.
Local businesses, artists, residents, and industrial-park companies were all “very generous,” said Mayor Danyluk.
Public Art Foundation
As its name suggests, the foundation’s objective is to finance public art within the community and to enhance the appearance of TMR’s parks and public places. This will be done through private or corporate donations and not via tax funds. “Citizens would be concerned if we started to take out chunks of tax dollars to put up costly pieces of sculpture,” the mayor explained.
Though not always obvious, the Town already has the beginnings of a fine-art collection in the Elizabeth Salon and a sculpture of the late mayor Reginald Dawson on display at the local library done by local sculpturer Yevkiné De Gréef.
The public art chosen would likely be made by a committee composed of local people from artistic and heritage groups who would ask specific artists or sculpturers to submit a work of art that would be the most appropriate for the Town and within a certain price-range.
It’s also hoped that individual companies or banks would be willing to fund individual projects rather than from the foundation itself, the mayor said.
Preliminary ideas include putting up a fountain in the Rose Garden, a sculpture in front of the library, and heritage plaques in front of the former train station, the Maison Brison, and the Town’s oldest farmhouse located on Cote-de-Liesse.
“Within five or ten years, I’m hoping that people will contribute to the foundation so that we would be able to develop a whole new urban artistic landscape,” said Danyluk. “We want to create a milieu of which our citizens would be very proud.”
Météo: Montréal, 12 mai 2008 / 10°C
/ Généralement dégagé
/ Vents: 15 Km/h / Humidité relative: 58 % 
Steven Guilbeault - 
