Pittsburgh Glass Center’s $110,000 raised at annual Art on Fire gala down slightly from 2009

Selling for $8,700, this 40-inch-tall work by Davide Salvadore entitled Temitope brought in the highest bid during the live auction.

Down by $5,000 over last year’s auction results, the Pittsburgh Glass Center’s annual gala fund raising event still brought in a very respectable $110,000 on Friday, October 15th. Held again at the American Eagle Outfitters headquarters, the event was titled “Art on Fire 10 Celebration & Auction” in honor of the glass nonprofit’s 10th anniversary. A crowd of 400 art collectors, artists, and area philanthropists joined event chair and independent curator Sarah Nichols (formerly the curator of decorative arts at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art) for an evening filled with art and martinis. Four artists — Robert Mickelsen, Richard Jolley, Susan Taylor Glasgow and Jon Kuhn — served as honorary chairs, each one representing one of the four techniques of glass available at Pittsburgh Glass Center.