Art to benefit Nicaragua

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 7

Art to benefit Nicaragua

By

SUZANNE KEEN

Christchurch’s first benefit art exhibition and auction for many years will open on Monday with many facets of art represented. All proceeds from the event at the C.S.A. gallery will go to provide medical aid for Nicaragua.

More than 50 Canterbury artists have provided work, ranging from those with established reputations such as Don Peebles and Alan Pearson, to

emerging young talents, like Joanna Braithwaite and Julia Morison. Works include painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, pottery, jewellery and furniture-making. Mr Terry Coggan, a spokesman for the Nicargua Must Survive Campaign, which has organised the event, said none of the artists he had spoken to could remember when the last benefit exhibition and auction had been held in Christchurch. "It should

create a great deal of interest. There is some really beautiful work there.” He hopes that up to $lO,OOO will be raised from the auction. A similar event organised by the campaign in Dunedin two years ago raised $7OOO. Money from the Christchurch auction will be used to support the Leonel Rugama School for war wounded, a newly-estab-lished facility in Nicaragua for the rehabilitation of disabled victims of the

war with the Contras. "We are not aiming at what is known as ‘the art market,’ but also at people who may never have bought an artwork before but who want to join in the international effort to help Nicaragua,” said Mr Coggan. The exhibition runs until April 2, with the auction on April 1. The member of Parliament for Sydenham, Mr Jim Anderton, and recent visitors to Nicaragua will address those at the auction.