Photo Credit: ABJ Seattle Glass Online 2010
I went to preview the annual Pilchuck auction at the Westin a few weeks ago. The lighting was really dim, and I took poorly framed pictures with my phone. But I like the retro way Paul Marioni's clear piece turned out against the background of the pea soup sateen hotel curtains.
Patti Payne October 2010:
"...I was emcee and could feel this certain can-do spirit in the room. It felt like a World Series atmosphere when honorary chairs Eve and Chap Alvord asked people to bid high, and cheers went up for them and co-chairs Linda Bonica and Dante Marioni. No peanuts or Cracker Jacks, but the sound of enthusiasm was there all night, as artists around the room cheered and rattled noisemakers to urge bidders on.
One sculpted, blown-glass piece entitled Tinder, by artist Shelley Muzylowski-Allen, was the subject of a bidding war between two very determined parties. Valued at $6,500, it went, amidst wild cheers, for $22,000 to Sue Hauberg. A white seaform Dale Chihuly set went for $35,000 to high bidders Pamela Merriman and Sonya Ross...Then skilled auctioneer Kip Toner, who has auctioned for almost four decades and has been at the helm of this Pilchuck auction forever, called 10-year-old, San Francisco glass artist Theoren Hanks to the stage. Hanks, holding a crimson bowl he created, was picked up by Toner and placed on an art pedestal in the middle of the stage, a symbol of Pilchuck’s future, while Toner brought in a record amount of more than $250,000 from the paddle-raise. The auctioneer, who says Pilchuck “feels like family” to him, said a heartfelt "thank you" after reading each of hundreds of numbers held high in the air, from levels of $100 all the way up to $50,000, a gift from Jack and Becky Benaroya. By evening’s end, more than $1.2 million had been raised."
Pilchuck Glass School auction shines" Puget Sound Business Journal. October 19, 2010. Accessed October 31, 2010. http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2010/10/pichuck-glass-school-auction-shines.html 
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