By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
On Feb. 22, the Arts Council of Big Sky hosted its 12th annual Auction for the Arts, welcoming 280 bidders and auctioning off 85 pieces of art made by 69 different artists. This year’s art auction was both the highest-grossing and highest-netting auction to date for the Arts Council.
The event was hosted at the Montage Big Sky hotel and raised a net total of $185,000 for local art programming. Auctiongoers considered artwork from a total of 100 regional and national artists and gallerists across silent, fixed-price and live auctions. In addition to the $238,000 collected during the auctions—that total amount was split between the Arts Council and each selling artist—the “Arts For All Paddle Call” raised $58,000 in donation pledges.