Glass artists organize a high-level fundraising auction to help one of their own

A family photo from the “Help Finn Win” benefit website to help raise money for leukemia treatment featuring Kate Thorbeck, Finn, and Paul Cunningham.    photo: russell johnson

Outstanding works donated by Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, Preston Singletary, Dante Marioni, Ben Moore for sale to generate funding. The latest Pilchuck benefit? Not this time. Taking a page from the successful benefit auctions by nonprofit arts organizations around the country, some of the top glass artists have handed over top-flight works to raise money for one of their own. Paul Cunningham, a fixture on the Seattle glass scene for three decades, and his wife, Kate Thorbeck, herself a glassblower for 10 years before starting a beauty products business, have a 2-year-old boy named Finn who was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2013. His treatment at one of the best children’s hospitals in the country, Seattle Children’s Hospital, is proceeding well, but the multiple visits per week and increased childcare demands have taken a toll on the family’s finances. In fact, Cunningham has put his glass career on hold for more steady income and health insurance as a carpenter. Witnessing the financial challenges cancer treatment can impose, the close-knit Seattle glass community has rallied around the family and come up with an extraordinary benefit called “Help Finn Win” that will be held at the Chihuly Boathouse on September 19th, with 100-percent of the proceeds going directly to the Cunningham/Thorbeck family.