Art Auction Record Bid

Lot number 52 in the Oamaru Opera House fundraising Renaissance Art
Auction catalogue - Grahame Sydney's 'Night Store, 2002' created a
serious amount of interest on auction night in Oamaru last week.

A stunning lithograph, edition number 38 of only 60 was one of 5 works
donated to the auction by Brett McDowell and Marshall Seifert, gallery
owners in Dunedin. So serious was the final bid of $5,400 that Brett and
Marshall believe this is a record price paid for an edition in this
series of lithographs, produced by well known and respected artist
Grahame Sydney 5 years ago.

Else Mackenzie, Opera House Encore co-ordinator says that the auction
evening was a special event: "Amidst beautiful music provided by
harpist/soloist Lynley Caldwell, the Redcastle Singers accompanied by
Suzanne Russell and a delightful flute solo by Hanna Ohlson-Nord, we
were entertained courtesy of MC Cr Jim Hopkins whose quick wit amidst
his more serious duties provided much hilarity."

Auctioneers 'Floggit & Runne', alias Tony Spivey Jnr and Marcus Brown
aided by Marshall Seifert who introduced each work, raised a total of
$27,577 through their unique, but successful auctioneering style.
$11,148 of this total raised will be paid out to a large number of the
contributing artists who took the option of receiving 50% of the price
reached at auction for their works.

"We are extremely grateful to each and every one of the contributing
artists for their generous donations, but we also realize that producing
a work does cost money, so always offer this option to the artists,"
says Mrs Mackenzie.

The special announcement made that we have been successful in securing a
$500,000 grant from the Lotteries Community Facilities fund specifically
tagged to the new Green Room structure, made for an extra special
fundraising evening.