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PHOTO BY LYNN DI NINO

FUNDRAISER BUST. Tacoma concrete artist Lynn Di Nino created this bust of a gorilla’s head for a fundraising raffle to benefit Sixth Avenue Business District Association, but it was broken during Art on the Ave ’07. Now, creative ideas are being tossed around for what to do with the broken piece.

Broken art yields opportunities for unique fundraising ideas

By Matt Nagle

Talk about a “breaking” news story.

Back in 2007, the Sixth Avenue Business District Association commissioned Tacoma concrete artist Lynn Di Nino to construct a gorilla’s head gargoyle that would be raffled off as a fundraiser for the association during Art on the Ave that summer. She created a charming piece of art, and raffle ticket sales were off to a brisk start.

However, things quickly took an unexpected turn for the worse when a small child accidentally knocked the piece over while it was on display at Art on the Ave 2007, and it broke into about a dozen pieces.

The artist, who possesses a great sense of humor, said it just goes to show that no matter how pure one’s intentions are to help out her community, “No good deed goes unpunished,” she said with a hearty laugh. This applies to the association as well, which had all the best intentions to support a local artist and local arts in general by commissioning Di Nino to create the piece in the first place.

Despite best efforts, gluing the broken head back together just did not work, leaving it looking like “King Kong” meets “Bride of Frankenstein.” “There’s no way I can make it look like an intact piece,” Di Nino said. “I’m an artist, not a magician.”

Those who purchased raffle tickets can get a refund by contacting Bill Connolly of the Sixth Avenue Business District Association at (253) 272-2924. Ticket stubs must be presented as proof of purchase.

Nevertheless, this leaves the association still in possession of the broken artwork they have already paid for, and still in need of recouping their financial loss from the failed raffle. With the association, and Di Nino, left asking “now what?” ideas began emerging on how to make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.

“One person said that maybe we could sell raffle tickets to people to bust it apart again,” Di Nino offered. “There’s merit in this idea.” She recalled that years ago, a group of artists in Seattle did this as a fundraiser with a Dale Chihuly glass art piece on the chopping block.

Another idea Di Nino has is to break the head apart again, hide the pieces in someplace like Wright Park, and sell tickets for a sort of scavenger hunt/archeological expedition.

The association continues to consider ideas on how to best utilize Di Nino’s artwork, and members are hoping the community will come forward with suggestions. Those with ideas are encouraged to contact the association through their website at www.on6thave.com.

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