Urbana Auction Items

Please contact Peter to put a bid on an item, starting at least 50% of the item’s stated value. We can deliver the item(s) to you in Champaign-Urbana!


Ann McDowell Handmade Holiday Houses
(one set of two)

Two hand painted ornaments
crafted by Ann McDowell.

Valued at $35 each.

Ann McDowell, sister of Peter McDowell, lives in Champaign, Illinois, where she received a degree from the University of Illinois in graphic design. She paints the landscape and subjects in nature with which she feels a strong connection. Her choice of water media is gouache, but she also paints with casein and transparent watercolor.

Ann studied with Don Lake at Parkland College for many years and now works in her own studio as well as with a group of fellow artists.

Ann’s paintings have been shown locally and sold to private collections. She has won prizes in both local and regional shows and has had her work published in American Artist magazine



Cinema gallery ceramic pot by victor feldman

6″high x 8″diam cermaic pot with lid
by artist Victor Feldman, couresty of Cinema Gallery

Valued at $75

A longtime Champaign-Urbana ophthalmologist who passed away last May, Dr. Feldman began taking Parkland Ceramics classes after his retirement, discovering a new skill he enjoyed for many years thereafter.

At the University of Illinois Medical School, where Dr. Feldman taught, he won two Golden Apple Awards as outstanding teacher of the year. He also served on the board of the Busey Trust Company for 30 years. He was known for his philanthropy, serving as a Rotarian and volunteering his services to community nursing homes.



cinema gallery ceramic pot by ron kovatch

6″ high x 7″ diam ceramic pot with lid
by artist Ron Kovatch, courtesy of Cinema Gallery

Valued at $100

Ceramics by definition is a process combining earth, water, fire, and human intervention to create an object. Every known culture has made some contribution to its history. Historically and currently, ceramics includes vessels and pottery both useful and decorative, both functional (bricks, chimney pots, electrical fixtures, etc) and non-functional objects (sculpture, figurines, statuary, nick -nacks, ritual objects, etc.). This primal material possesses characteristics that allow it to be precious and fragile, yet durable; it is able to mimic other materials like stone, wood, steel, or teeth. Ceramics has its own inherent qualities or styles that appear organic or precisely produced.” —Ron Kovatch



cinema gallery print by Helen Rundell

30″ w x 22″ h print titled “In the Garden”
by Helen Rundell, courtesy of Cinema Gallery

Valued at $50

Born in Baldwin, Long Island in 1935, Helen Rundell is now famous for her beautifully serene nature scenes that are reminiscent of the work of Andrew Wyeth and bring to mind the prose of Henry David Thoreau. Her paintings often incorporate barns, beaches, fields, and farms, but nature is always at the forefront.



Krannert Center: In the Grain Creations
Pendant Necklace

Pendant necklace from the
Promenade Gift Shop & Showcase at Krannert Center

Valued at $50

Nature’s all my craft, it’s all based from nature. Each tree has this story that it wants to tell, it speaks to the life that the tree lived. So the best thing about woodworking is you get to take something that was once living for hundreds of years and then you get to use it and repurpose it into something else. Lasting work is incredibly important to me.



Folk and Roots Package: Winter Weekend Tickets

Two Winter Weekend tickets (January 31-Feb 2),
courtesy of the Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival.
2 tickets which are usually $20 in advance $30 at the door.

Valued at 〜$40-$60

The Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival is an all-volunteer-run, grassroots festival that brings together national, regional and local artists and folk organizations for over 80 high-quality folk performances and participatory activities throughout downtown Urbana. The festival includes performances, dances, instructional sessions, jams, song-circles, family activities, storytelling, instrument-making and much, much more! The festival has a particular interest in evolving and unique forms of folk music and art, especially forms that break down barriers between audience and performers, while also providing the occasion to preserve local traditions and histories.



Dan Savage Package  SOLD! 

Get two Dan Savage books,
plus two tickets to the annual Chicago Hump Fest!

Valued at $50 SOLD

Win copies of two of his books: American Savage and It Gets Better. Plus two tickets for his annual Hump Fest in Chicago.

Dan Savage is a writer, TV personality, and activist best known for his political and social commentary, as well as his honest approach to sex, love and relationships. Savage’s sex advice column, “Savage Love,” is syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the Editorial Director of The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative newspaper and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and The Colbert Report, This American Life, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Real Time with Bill Maher, and 20/20. In September 2010, Savage created a YouTube video with his husband Terry Miller in response to a number of LGBTQA students taking their own lives. Today, the It Gets Better Project has become a global movement.

The HUMP! Film Festival has been bringing audiences a new kind of porn since 2005. The festival features short dirty movies—each less than five minutes—all created by people who aren’t porn stars but want to be one for a weekend. The filmmakers and stars show us what they think is hot and sexy, creative and kinky, their ultimate turn-ons and their craziest fantasies. Our carefully curated program is a cornucopia of body types, shapes, ages, colors, sexualities, genders, kinks, and fetishes—all united by a shared spirit of sex-positivity. HUMP! is a celebration of creative sexual expression. HUMP!’s main mission is to change the way America sees—and makes and shares—porn.



CAMBODIAN QUILT

Courtesy of Nancy Olson, “Patches of Hope”

Valued at $200

Queen-sized quilt handmade in the early 2000’s by a co-op of Cambodian women called “Patches of Hope” suffering from HIV/AIDS. Quilt features a multi-colored “flying geese” pattern on a purple background. “In addition to providing income, the quilt project gives people a chance to be with others who are HIV+, offering a place for friendship and support. . . the quilters have become a family for each other, helping one another when they are sick or when one in the family dies.”



Original framed ink drawing by Sasha Rubel

Original framed ink drawing Bursts “Ribbon” by Urbana artist Sasha Rubel

Valued at $90


Please contact Peter to put a bid on an item, starting at least 50% of the item’s stated value.