Roughly two dozen amateur and professional artists from Stratford and beyond have been busy recently creating more than 360 miniature works of art to support Gallery Stratford through its Little ART Things online art-auction fundraiser.

Following the cancellation of Gallery Stratford’s annual gala fundraiser and its educational programming — which together account for about 50 per cent of the organization’s annual revenue — when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the region, gallery director and curator Angela Brayham and the gallery’s board of trustees began looking for ways to recoup at least some of that lost funding.

“Cancelling those two things is not an easy decision to make. It’s a really tough thing because it impacts everything we do,” Brayham said. “… In planning for our gala, what we were going to do is we’d had a group of women, who are our painting drop-ins, making these little three-by-three canvases that we were going to use as part of a raffle thing at the gala.

“I had a about 100 of them and them and I was thinking, ‘They’re really lovely. What should I do with them?’”

So Brayham began photographing the little works of art she had on hand and posted them online in hopes she could raise some money by auctioning them off.

“I had no idea what to call it, so I just thought, ‘Little ART Things,’” Brayham laughed.

The Little ART Things auction quickly gained traction, both among art lovers and artists in the community and beyond.

“Other people started volunteering to do them,” Brayham said. “We now have 364 of them and we have probably close to two-dozen artists who have contributed so far.”

The artists who have contributed to the online auction fundraiser range from kids who created their pieces as part of art classes at the gallery prior to the pandemic all the way to well-established artists like the Toronto-based artist, Ron Shuebrook, who exhibited at the gallery in Stratford a couple years ago.

“Artists in our community at the hobbyist level to people that are selling professionally and have taught for us have all contributed,” Brayham said. “… Because the artists are in their home and there’s only so much bread you can bake and you can only watch so much Netflix, a number of the artists have told me that it’s given them something to feel productive about.”

Each of the pieces up for auction at event.auctria.com are listed with a starting bid of $10, as well as an option to “buy it now” for $25. As a twist, the artists who created each piece won’t be revealed until after their work has been sold.

“We did that so people aren’t just buying them by the name,” Brayham said. “We want people to buy work that they like so everything is kind of equal. You don’t know if you’re buying work by an eight-year-old or if you’re buying work from somebody who sells their work for thousands of dollars. I mean you can kind of tell, but not always.”

With the gallery closed, Brayham is delivering the pieces purchased by locals herself, and charging $2.50 for delivery outside of Stratford. The gallery will contact successful bidders directly to arrange payment. Successful bidders can also call the gallery at 519-271-5271x 222 or email abrayham@gallerystratford.on.ca.

gsimmons@postmedia.com