LWGA Online Art Auction 

Are you hankering to up the quotient of Low County beauty inside your home and to benefit charity to boot? Mark your calendar and check out the Landings Women Golf Association’s (LWGA’s) online Art Auction on November 9-15. A slideshow of the nine paintings available in the auction, all created by members of the Landings Women’s Golf Association, goes live on LWGA.net on Wednesday, October. 14. Proceeds from the auction will support three charities, including cancer research at the Mercer University School of Medicine, Landings Military Family Relief Fund, and America’s Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia. Winning bidders will designate which charity they wish to support. “The three charities are near and dear to the LWGA and its members,” Mary Beth McGirr, president of the nearly 400-member ladies’ golf association, said. “Ongoing efforts to support charitable contributions to both community-based organizations as well as philanthropic initiatives in The Landings are central to the LWGA’s mission.” The paintings, which vary in size and are unframed, originally were donated and hung in on-course comfort stations in 2011. They are available for auction now because the LWGA, with McGirr’s prodding, launched its “art refresh” project this year to give artists a chance to swap out their pieces with new works and to include new painters in the mix. Paintings in the auction were created by Joni Arb, Pat Barry, Suzanne Croci, Judy Eckburg, Martha Hough, Karen Macek, Penny Thompson, Charmaine West, and Gail Wickstrom. As part of the “refresh” project, seven of the artists, with the exception of Macek and West who have moved from The Landings, are replacing their original pieces with new paintings. Paintings by two new artists, Janet Eastwood and Cathy Mahoney, already have been hung. Three additional pieces donated nearly a decade ago by Judy Burk, Mimi Diamond, and Barby Townsend remain in their current well-visited galleries. With its focus on the Low Country and the beautiful golf courses in The Landings, Patty Frothingham, a co-chair of the project since its inception nearly a decade ago, said it drives home the fact that we live in a joyful place. “It’s nice that we can capture that feeling and the energy and enthusiasm of women’s golf in The Landings with this project,” she said. Nancy Lieb, the project’s other co-chair, agrees with Frothingham. “It’s wonderful when you think about how many people get to see and enjoy these special pieces of art,” Lieb said. “It’s great, too, that the project has the added benefit of increasing the visibility of the artists’ work.” The opening bid for each painting in the online auction starts at $25. From there, it’s recommended that raises be made in at least $10 increments. The online auction will be gaveled (closed) at 6 p.m. on November 15. Anyone wishing to see one of the paintings up close and personal should call Nancy Lieb (414- 704-0546).