For a second year in a row, Art From the Attic will be taking place in Invermere at the Community Centre. The event, which raises much needed funds to support the Columbia Valley Arts Council and the Invermere Health Care Auxiliary, is a giant one-day sale of new and recycled art donations.

Held for the first time last year, Art From the Attic drew approximately 1,000 pieces of art and more than 1,200 eager art buyers looking to find an art bargain or an undiscovered masterpiece.

Volunteers are predicting an even greater number of donations this year. Last year the sale raised $15,400, which was divided equally between CV Arts and the Health Care Auxiliary.

Currently, organizers are accepting everything from empty frames and inexpensive department store prints to one-of-a-kind original paintings, essentially anything that will hang on a wall, including needlepoint and collector plates.

Among the treasures sold at last year’s event were a signed silkscreen print by aboriginal artist Clarence Wescoupe that sold for $160, two large silkscreen prints prepared for the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary that sold for $250 each, and a Patrick Roy hockey jersey that sold for $400, plus hundreds of vintage and contemporary prints, photographs and paintings.

To help facilitate the donation process, organizers are offering free pickup of donations in Calgary as well as in and around the Columbia Valley. Drop off points have been set up at the Invermere Thrift Store or the Pynelogs Cultural Centre.

The sale will take place on September 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Invermere Community Centre. The sale will accept cash or cheques only and during the last hour of the sale everything will be sold at half-price.

For more information, call 250-342-0444 or email elinor1@telus.net for free pickup. You may also visit the Art From the Attic page on Facebook, or check under Events on the new Columbia Valley Arts Council Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pynelogs.

—Submitted by Joshua Estabrooks, CV Arts