Bennington College Receives Donation of 500 Works of Contemporary Art – Auction June 2

BENNINGTON, VT — Bennington College has received a gift of 500 works of art to benefit Art for Access, an innovative fundraising program launched in 2018. 

Art for Access goal is to expand and enhance art holdings for teaching, enrichment, and enjoyment and to raise funds for scholarships through the sale of art. 

The gifted works — including prints, photographs, paintings, drawings, sculpture — are from the collection of noted art patron and curator Melva Bucksbaum (1933-2015). 

The gift includes works by emerging and established artists from across the globe, including John Bankston, William Copley, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Douglas Gordon, Sabine Hornig, Virginia Lavado, Rosa Loy, Raul Martinez, Tracy Moffat, Aurie Ramirez, and Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, among many others. Approximately half of the works donated will be used both for teaching (Usdan Gallery curator and director Anne Thompson is teaching from some of the works in her Spring 2021 multiples class) and enrichment of the campus and the community (some 100 works are being placed in buildings throughout campus). 

Through a partnership with Stair in Hudson, NY, a leading regional auction house in the Northeast, some 250 works from this donation will be sold in a single-sale auction on Wednesday, June 2 to benefit Art for Access.  For more information about the auction, which will take place online, go to: www.stairgalleries.com/stair-auctions/6_2_21.