Full House at BrassWorks' Haiti Fundraiser; $35K Raised

It was standing room only at BrassWorks Gallery's fundraiser for Haiti on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 31), an event which lured an unprecedented crowd of several hundred people and an unexpected $35,000.

The gallery, at 105 Grove St, had put together 217 works of original art, donated by about 160 local and student artists, each priced at $50. All the proceeds were earmarked for three charity organizations, Partners in Health, Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross.

The event opened at 2:00 pm, but getting there shortly after wasn't early enough. There was a line-up of about 15 people waiting to get inside, and all the (normally) ample parking spaces outside the gallery were taken.

"We have no idea how many people were there, but my guess would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 400," said Hillary Jaffe Reimnitz, who, together with Mona Brody, Rachel Leibman, Laura Weiner and John Reimnitz, organized the event. "We had an anonymous donor who matched every dollar we raised, so all together we raised $35,000!"

By 2:20 pm, many blank wall spaces and red-dotted tags, indicating that the paintings had been bought, greeted the hopeful buyer/donor. An interesting abstract piece in earth tones, done in wax, colored pigments, ink and charcoal by Tess Silverman, a senior art student at MHS, caught my eye and won my red dot.

Reimnitz said the gallery had sold almost all the paintings. If you missed out on BrassWorks' fundraiser on Sunday, you will have another chance to contribute while picking up a work of art over the next few days.

"There are a few (remaining paintings) in our front hall that I've assembled together today in case there are any latecomers in the next couple of days," said Reimnitz. "After that, we will be removing it and repairing and repainting for our upcoming shows."