An art theft in Powell River has resulted in the loss of nearly one-third of the collected pieces for a fundraising event.
According to Malerie Meeker, one of the volunteer coordinators of Art in the Attic, the fundraising event, planned by Powell River Hospice and Powell River Sunshine Gogos (Stephen Lewis Foundation – grandmothers to grandmothers campaign), was put on hold because of COVID-19.
“Because of the generosity of our community, we had close to 300 pieces of art; most of it stored in a Gogo’s basement,” said Meeker. “In early June we were offered free space in a storage facility and we jumped at the opportunity. Trucks and vehicles carefully transported everything and we breathed a sigh of relief as we filled two units and carefully locked up.
“Sadly, sometime between then and a week ago, one of our units was broken into, and about 85 pieces of art were stolen. Although the storage facility had an electronic card entry door, there were no security cameras. We were not targeted; two other units were also broken into.”
Meeker said organizers have given the RCMP a file of the photos of all the stolen pieces. She said every few days, organizers will post individual photos of the missing artworks in the hope that they will be able to reclaim some of them.
“For those permanently gone, these pictures will be a reminder of a generous donor and a lovely piece of art,” said Meeker.
To view these pictures, search Art from the Attic 2020 on Facebook.
“Although this is a blow for us, we are firmly committed to fundraising for the important work of Powell River Hospice and Sunshine Gogos: coming in spring 2021 – Art from the Attic,” said Meeker.
She said both organizations had put in hundreds of volunteer hours collecting and cataloging each piece of art. She said every time a piece was received, the artist would be researched. Pieces were being posted on the Facebook page to create interest.
Because of COVID-19, the sale has been in a holding pattern. She said organizers had hoped to do a modified sale. Instead of a big gala event, they were looking at displaying pieces in display windows around town and taking silent bids over a series of several weekends. She said they may still go ahead with that plan.
Funds were going to be split between the hospice society and the Gogos. The hospice funds would remain in the community and some of the funds would go to supporting grandmothers in Africa.
“Hospice is struggling right now with their funding; it’s such an important service in our community and all of the Gogos could get on board with supporting hospice,” said Meeker.
She said the last time she spoke to the RCMP, there were no suspects or leads in the theft.
The fear is that the art has been loaded into a cube van and taken to the Lower Mainland to be sold in markets there.
Meeker said local artists have been very generous in providing works for the sale.
“It was the hardest having to tell our donors that their generosity was not going to be used in the way that anyone intended,” said Meeker.
If people want to donate to the cause, they still can. Arrangements can be made by going to facebook.com/GogosandHospice.
