Shrewsbury art event raises £9,000 for charity

The Secret Artist Sale, hosted recently by The Soden Collection in Wyle Cop, raised almost £9,000 for charity and attracted queues of people, with some camping out overnight.

“The event involved us asking around 80 artists to contribute original pieces of work which we sold for £50 each – it was a huge success, selling out in around one hour,” said gallery owner Jonathan Soden.

“The most senior person to kindly donate a painting was Betsy Smith, who at 92 is well known in the county and beyond for her wonderful watercolours and who is still working as an artist.

“Our youngest customer was Max Clifton-Moore, who is 11, who chose Betsy’s artwork from the 120 paintings on show.

“We ask all our purchasers to contact the artist who kindly donated their piece to thank them for their generosity and Betsy was particularly thrilled that Max got in touch,” Jonathan explained.

Betsy, who ran popular art classes in Broseley for many years and now lives in Wolverhampton, travelled over to Shrewsbury to meet Max, who lives in Burlton and is a budding artist himself.

Betsy commented: “I was so pleased that Max bought my artwork – it just shows that a love of art can span the generations and I enjoyed meeting him and chatting to him about painting.

“I was delighted to contribute to this amazing event, which proved that there is a real passion for art in Shropshire.”

The Secret Artist Sale has just made donations to the four charities it supported: Breast Cancer Now, The Samaritans, The Alzheimer’s Society and Trees for Shropshire. The event is now set to become an annual fixture in the Shrewsbury Arts Trail calendar and hopes to be bigger and better next year.

For further information see www.sodencollection.com/secretartistsale