Kudzu Winners

The winners of the Kudzu competition have been posted. I didn't make it but I appreciate your support. There were some nice pieces submitted. Be sure and browse their gallery.

Post Adoption Auction Party - Part 2

(Go to Part One)

I was anxious to get back over next to SAM. When we got back in the lobby you could tell that the bulk of the crowd had finally arrived. The time they were spending in front of the forms was more attentive. When I got back to SAM, he had been bid on by a couple of different people! The price was $450. Once again I began introducing myself but this time they were introducing themselves as bidders. One was Gummie.

I had actually known about Gummie's interest in SAM before the party. There had been on-line bidding for all the forms about 30 days before the party. I was tickled to see that SAM had actually gotten a bid – from Gummie. As it turns out, Gummie was a volunteer on the Auction Committee and had fallen in love with SAM. Considering her ties, we decided to ask her how some forms ended in silent auction and others in live.

Gummie is fairly new to the area but not new to charitable auctions. The auctioneer that the Humane Society had hired told them that it was impossible to live auction 46 forms in one night. He set the limit. The forms that were chosen for the live auction were random. But Gummie said she had seen a live auction of 200 pieces of art in one night and disagreed with the auctioneer's assessment. I know that there were some artists upset to be "stuck" in the silent auction. But we would soon see why they auctioneer chose a limit.

I was overwhelmed with the idea that people were actually choosing to bid on SAM. That of a room of 46, SAM was one of their choices. There were at least five different bidders for SAM and three that battled it out until the clock struck 8:15. I didn’t see the final price before the clipboards were snatched up but SAM raised the Humane Society around $725.

They wasted no time gathering everyone for the live auction. I so wanted to stay for the entire thing but ValetBoy and Minx had left to get us a table for dinner and my feet were killing me. I had worn these adorable little strappy high heals with jeans. They were actually fine as long as I was walking. Or sitting. But to stand in one place for 2 hours... Yikes!

We couldn't see very well so I can't tell you exactly which forms we saw auctioned. I know we were there for Femme Fatale and Corky. The auctioneer was wonderful. He was entertaining and stirred up a lot of excitement in the audience. He took his time and made sure the audience was engaged. The first forms went for $1250. There were twenty more forms to auction off and the price went up every time. We left when Corky was sold for around $2500. I read in the paper the next day that the Humane Society raised $80,000 and the last form was sold for $7000. Oh, I wish I had been there for that!

This was such a wonderful experience - I would do it again. As we left the lobby, I looked back at SAM and said my last goodbye. I'm very proud of him.

(See newspaper article here.)

Vote Sept 8 - 22

One of the prizes awarded in the Bank of the Carolinas' Kudzu Art competition is the Community Choice Award. This is determined by online voting so I need your help!

• Go here between Friday, September 8 and Friday, September 22 .


• Click on "BEGIN VOTING".


• You are then taken to a registration page. You must register to vote.


• Mine is in the "18 years or older" category (I know some of you will wonder).


• You will have to search through the entire gallery of 145 pieces to find mine. Right now, it is in the 24th row in the middle. This may change but I'll try and let you know.

The name of my piece is "Come On In".

Post Adoption Auction Party - Part 1

Things have been very hectic so I haven't written a movie review or reported on the Art Unleashed Auction. I know you're on pins and needles.

The venue was the main lobby of The Wachovia Center. It was a perfect location. Around 26 of the cats and dogs lined the walls of the main lobby. They were a part of the silent auction that would take place until 8:15. SAM took his party position to the left of the ticket table as you entered the building. Next to him was Swirls the cat and then the Magical Mandala dog.

We were asked to arrive early and stand next to our form so that potential bidders could ask questions. I didn't see any other artists near their forms so I felt a little uncomfortable - conspicuous. So those perusing didn't think I was gawking at them I would introduce myself. "Hi. I'm the artist." Then they were very excited, even if only politely so, and usually had questions.

My nerves were getting the better of me and no one was bidding on SAM. I thought maybe it was weird with me standing right there so My Geek and I decided to check out the food and drinks which were generously donated by several local restaurants. Taking a walk and pacing in front of the food options didn't calm my nerves. Neither did the arrival of my friends (Valet Boy and Minx). It didn't help that the alarms in the area kept going off. Through the outer glass wall you could see additional seating on the balcony. People were trying to go out one of the many exterior doors which set off the alarms. Once triggered, the security guards seemed to be unable to figure out how to get it shut off again. Eventually the approrpiate wiring was yanked out of the wall to a round of applause!

Before leaving the food, I was interviewed briefly by Leigh McMillan who writes a column for the Accent section of the Tuesday edition of the Winston-Salem Journal. Leigh is a friend of the Minx who had told her that I was one of the artists. Minx told me to be prepared. Leigh was very sweet. Check out her article here.

On our way back to the food we passed the live auction area and the 20 remaining dogs and cats. The live auction was set to start at 8:30. One of the burning questions of the night was how did certain forms get chosen for the live auction and why weren't they all in the live auction. We would learn this later when we met Gummie.