'The variety is stunning': Art from the Attic sale brings art lovers to St. Vital Centre

Art lovers were down at St. Vital Centre Sunday afternoon hunting for some new pieces to hang up at home.

It was the annual Art from the Attic sale organized by Grands n' More Winnipeg. The event took place at St. Vital Centre for the first time. Co-coordinator Jean Altemeyer said she's happy with the venue.

"Being here is very public, a lot of people coming into the centre (who) would not have been coming for the sale," she said.

Previous sales had taken place at community clubs. The organization collects donated art, then restores and re-sells it to raise money for the Steven Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.

"So it's Canadian grandmothers in support of African grandmothers in 15 sub-Saharan African countries who are finding themselves having to care for children whose parents died of AIDS," said Altemeyer.

Nearly 2,000 pieces of art were on display in a variety of styles including prints, water colours, oil paintings, and needlepoint, most of them priced between $15 and $50 dollars.

"This seemed to be the 'year of the big' - we got a lot of big pictures," said Altemeyer, "The variety is stunning."

However Altemeyer says not everyone is there looking for art, "Sometimes people come and they're really shopping for the frame and the matte and the glass, because we all know how expensive that is to do," she said.

More information about Grands n' More Winnipeg can be found online.