Local artists sell their art to benefit the homeless

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - It’s not often that artists sell their paintings, and all of the proceeds don’t go to them.

That’s what’s happening with a new fundraiser collaboration with Eden Village and Cape Fear Community College’s Fine Arts Department.

Eden Village: A Collective Exhibition is an art fundraiser show featuring several Cape Fear Community College artists that say they wanted to help out those at Eden Village of Wilmington, including Ben Billingsley, Geoff Calabrese, Jennifer Mace, and Sharon Wozniak-Spencer.

These artists offered multiple of their pieces for sale, with most the proceeds going to Eden Village. Eden Village builds tiny home communities for the disabled and chronically homeless across southeastern North Carolina.

With the sale of these pieces of art at the Wilma W. Daniels Gallery, individuals have the opportunity to buy local pieces and some of them are actually of “friends in need” as Sharon Wozniak-Spencer says. She was inspired to create this show after hearing Dr. Dalton spoke at an event about how they wanted to create a community to help those in need.

Wozniak-Spencer’s pieces on display are all of those in need or homeless, and she says she taught them how to pose and paid for them to model.

“Every single person in the paintings that I painted, they were all paid. I taught them how to model, just how to pose naturally.” says Wozniak Spencer. “I got their stories. And I think to me, that was something that is just priceless.”

In helping put this together, Wozniak-Spencer says she has one hope for the exhibition “I hope that people will either come out to see the show, and if they can’t make it, they can actually look at the art online.”

For those who can’t make it to see the work in person, there is a silent auction online where 100% of the proceeds on these auctions will go directly to Eden Village.

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