Every church needs to find a way to raise money to keep the roofs from leaking and the furnaces running. The Jasper Anglican Church has managed to find a way to keep some of that money rolling in while also supplying the community with esteemed, beautiful (and inexpensive) artwork. That long-running tradition of art and the practical continues this week as the church’s art auction starts up again after a two year absence.

“It’s really remarkable. Every year we do it, we seem to do a little bit better,” said Wendy Wacko, the owner of Mountain Galleries and a benefactor of the Anglican Church Auction who, along with David Prowse, a former Pastor at the church, and other volunteers from the community, have been organizing the auction for 16 years. 

She attributes the success of the auction to the quality of the work that is on hand and believes that this year’s selection is no different. A wide selection of paintings with oils, acrylics and water colours, along with stone sculptures, quilts, and prints of other paintings, photographs and drawings are currently displayed at the church.

“It’s a diverse collection,” said Wacko.

It appears that some real deals can be found at the auction as well. One piece with a retail value tag price of over $5,000 should sell for considerably less than advertised.

“If we got a thousand dollars for that piece, we’d be happy with that,” said Prowse. “If you’re a young person looking to get ahold of some art, then this is a good place to do it for a little cheaper.”

One of the highlights of the auction is a piece by esteemed Canadian artist Doris McCarthy. McCarthy, 100, who has recently been featured in MacLean’s magazine and the Globe and Mail and who has received The Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, five honorary doctorates and an honorary fellowship to The Ontario College of Art and Design, has a print of a triptych series of paintings she did while in Jasper. 

The original painting, which is 15 feet long and hanging in the lobby at Jasper Park Lodge, is a modern impressionistic piece, displaying the glory of the mountains around Jasper along the Athabasca River. One of the prints in the triptych is actually signed by McCarthy, something that she’s rarely done, said Wacko. 

Wacko, a friend of McCarthy who met her while attending art school in Toronto where McCarthy was a teacher, said that McCarthy has a long-time connection to Jasper.

“She loves to come here and that comes across in her work, I think,” said Wacko. McCarthy is famous for her ability to capture the beauty of Canadian nature and her pieces done around Jasper fully back up that claim, Wacko said.

The auction will also be parting with several quilts sewn by noted local artist Sheila Vuksanovich. She came to Jasper in the early 1950s to work as the first secular nurse in the hospital in town after working as a cryptographer for the allies in World War Two (she knew of D-Day and the Battle of Britain before they occurred, said Prowse).

“Look at the stitching on these quilts, that’s all hand-done. It’s quality you just can’t find everywhere,” said Wacko while inspecting the quilts.

The auction will also be selling a print of a photograph of Edith Cavell, the British humanitarian and rescuer of Allied troops in Belgium from the Germans during World War One, whose name adorns one of Jasper’s most spectacular peaks. Prowse said that there were very few photographs taken of Cavell before her execution in 1915 by the Germans, and the print on hand is particularly rare. It would be an esteemed pickup for any history buff.

Art from noted artists Jane Ash Poitras, Kath Moors and Cathryn Jenkins, along with a wide variety of other Canadian artists, is on hand at the auction.

Art at the auction has been donated to the church from Mountain Galleries, which Wacko owns. Wacko said that she’s happy to help the church out.

“Whenever there’s trouble or some sort of a need in your life, it’s usually the church who steps up first,” said Wacko, who knows this from first hand experience. When she moved her sick mother out to Jasper, the church stepped forward and helped Wacko and her mother out. Wacko, who says she’s a member of the church although hardly a seriously committed one, said that she was incredibly impressed with the altruistic help she received. Now, she’s paying back.

The auction will be running until August 15, every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. A silent auction, interested buyers can come into the Anglican church and tell the staffer on hand their bid. Any matching bids will be resolved after 7 p.m. on the 15th when the competing bidders will submit envelopes with their maximum bids. The highest bidder in those final hours will take home the art.

“There’s always a few highlights at the end, it can get a little tight,” said Wacko with a smile.