Full Spectrum of Art at Spectrum auctions Nov. 12 and 14

Members of Spectrum’s art selection committee searched galleries from Atlanta to Austin, Texas, as well as Chattanooga studios in the Southside and North Shore, to cherry-pick pieces of art they believe will boost bids at the city’s biggest art auction of the year.

Spectrum, the Hunter Museum of American Art’s black-tie dinner and live art auction, will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, at the museum. A silent auction of art will precede it on Thursday evening, Nov. 12, during a cocktail party held in the museum. Proceeds from both Spectrum parties will help fund museum special events such as last summer’s “Monet and the American Impressionism” exhibition or Hunter’s jazz brunches.

“We hit Nashville, Atlanta, Austin and Chattanooga,” says Alexis Bogo, who chaired the art selection committee with her husband, Barry.

“We tried to have a good selection and representation of galleries and artists from our hometown – I would say 20 percent of the pieces are from Chattanooga. Not only do we have River Gallery, Hart Gallery, Gallery 1401 and Shuptrine Gallery represented, we have pieces from Cessna Decosimo, Alan Shuptrine, William Parker and Krista Eubanks – all of whom are Chattanooga artists – and many more than I named. It’s quite remarkable the quality of galleries and artists we have in this community.”

The committee has chosen 86 pieces in a wide range of media, size and prices, says Hannah Legg, Hunter’s director of communications. Of the 26 pieces in the live auction, four are from local galleries, says Bogo, while the remaining ones are available in the silent auction.

Legg explains that the pieces are on consignment to Hunter for Spectrum’s auctions. Bogo adds that there is an agreement between galleries and the Hunter committee as to a minimum sales price for each piece as well as the ability to return any piece that doesn’t sell back to its gallery.

“Historically, we can look back and see what’s the ‘sweet spot’ to which people feel comfortable spending money, which is the $2,000 to $5,000 range, Bogo says. “When we began this process, I thought pieces would be divided between the silent and live auctions based on price – higher-priced art in the live, $2,000 and under in the silent. But as we visited galleries, some of the pieces we thought would be the most fun and more conducive to the live auction, where people get excited and caught up in bidding, were lower-priced. So you’ll see a range of prices in both. It’s a real mix of pieces as well as prices from $500 to $8,000.”

New this year is a user-friendly electronic bidding system called BidPal, which Legg says will expedite check-in, check-out and the bidding process for the silent auction as well as part of the live auction.

“Registered Spectrum guests will receive both email and text message notifications directly from the museum in advance with a link to download the BidPal application to their phone and brief instructions,” she explains. “Spectrum guests will need to bring a charged smartphone to participate in the bidding. An electronic kiosk will also be available for guest without smartphones.”

Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.