BonnerSprings.com

If your idea of culture is art, wine and live music you didn't have to leave Bonner Springs to get a taste of it Thursday night.

The George Meyn Center was the site of the first Cooldown, a benefit auction for the Bonner Springs YMCA's program to help families who can't afford memberships. Organizers hope to make the affair an annual event.

The event featured art work donated by Kansas City-area artists, including Bonner Springs' artist Michael Potts, who did three large "live" paintings at the event, and Alison Borgschulte, an employee at Moon Marble Company.

Half of the proceeds for each work purchased went to the artist and half went to the Mission Campaign.

Donated by Alison were scarves of unusual shapes, including one that looked like a fox stole. It came with a photo of the scarf hanging near a beef carcass, in which the scarf looked like a dead rabbit.

Bryan Albers, who came up with the idea of Cooldown and serves as the YMCA's Mission Campaign co-chair, bought the scarf, he said, because it was "freaky."

Albers said he didn't know if he would wear it, because, "I'm not sure it's my style."

Bruce Breslow, co-owner of Moon Marble, donated a "Moon and Stars" marble to the auction.

"I made it especially for this," Breslow said, while sipping a glass of Riesling wine from Matchit Liquors, a Shawnee store that provided wine for attendees to taste and to bid on.

Another artist, Sasha Sanders, from Kansas City, Mo., donated a couple of large abstract paintings, because it was for a good cause, she said.

"I do several charity events," Sanders said.

The auction included a variety of media, including photographs of Mexican deserts and architecture, and a large metal sculpture featuring a sphere composed of different shaped-scraps atop a curved rod pedestal.

The highest price paid for any work was $900, for a huge John Lennon portrait that Bonner Springs artist Michael Potts painted live at the event, along with two others of George Brett and Janis Joplin.

Albers said he assembled the artists responsible for the roughly 45 pieces at the event through contacts he knew from his involvement in the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. About half of the works sold, he said.

"We had quite a bit of response," Albers said, especially considering "we didn't give the artists a bunch of time."

So for next year, with more time Albers said he hoped to assemble a larger collection of artwork that would be made especially for the event.

Jeff Harrington is co-chair of the Mission Campaign and organized the event with Albers.

"It's a good turnout for the first one," Harrington said. "I'm just ecstatic it's being supported."

Harrington said the reason for the campaign was "so we don't have to turn anyone away," and holding an art auction and wine tasting was a good alternative to "just asking people for money."

"I just wanted to support the event," said Ruth Ann Kirby, who is a member of the Bonner Springs YMCA. "I love the Y."

Kirby, a retired schoolteacher, and her husband, Charles, have been members for years. She swims at the Bonner facility and takes part in the Silver Sneakers walking class.

"It's been good for us socially," Kirby said. "We've made lots of good friends."

The event also featured live folk music and acoustic covers by Danny McGaw.

Sheryl Hungerford, center executive of the Bonner Springs YMCA, said she was happy the event attracted the attendance it did and that the total money raised had not been tallied as of Tuesday.

Last year the Mission Campaign for the Bonner Springs YMCA allowed the organization to award more than $80,000 in financial assistance to more than 400 low-income families, Hungerford said.

Comments