Longboat Key church wants your unwanted art

All Angels Episcopal Church collects donations of art for its annual New to You Art Sale, which supports the nonprofit Turning Points.

By Petra Rivera
| 5:00 a.m. January 24, 2024

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Redecorating your house and want to switch out your art?

All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church has the solution.

All Angels is asking Longboaters to donate any old art collecting dust for the All Angels' annual “New to You” art sale.

Starting Feb. 5, the church will be selling the artwork with all proceeds going to Turning Points in Bradenton. Donations can include art pieces, paintings, sculptures and knick-knacks.

The art can be dropped off at the All Angels office, Monday through Thursday. Currently, the church has collected around 200 pieces.

The Rev. David Marshall and Office Director Linn Torres started the sale four years ago when they didn’t have a monthly artist for the All Angels gallery. Torres thought it was a good time to fill the gallery with the art that people didn’t want anymore and donate the proceeds to a local charity.

Marshall said that people from Longboat communities and organizations have been donating art. Many of those same people, along with people from the surrounding area, will come to the sale and buy other "new to them" artwork. Last year, the New to You Art Sale raised over $4,000.

“I love meeting all the new people that come and visit us,” said Torres. “We have our regulars. I have a couple antique dealers that come, just a lot of different people come.”

All Angels is partnering with its next-door neighbors, Temple Beth Israel, to run the sale. The Temple’s Social Action Committee also fundraises for Turning Points. Each day, members from either congregation will be docents for the sale staying in the gallery as people buy the art during the month of February.

The kick-off event will be the annual Wine and Cheese party featuring the art and a special presentation from Turning Points. The party will be on Feb. 8 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The sale will run through Feb. 29.

“My favorite part is actually the wine party,” said Marshall. “There is, of course, wine and appetizers. We'll have somebody from Turning Points to talk to folks about what they do. It's the perfect place to see people who I know and people who I don’t and them coming together for this one particular purpose.”

author

Petra Rivera

Petra Rivera is the Longboat community reporter. She holds a bachelor’s degree of journalism with an emphasis on reporting and writing from the University of Missouri. Previously, she was a food and drink writer for Vox magazine as well as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian.