Cole Gallery Artists Donate $4,525 for Providence Hospital’s ‘100 Million Mask Challenge’

“Together with my artists, Cole Gallery just finished a month-long fundraiser to commit 25 percent of all art sales for Providence Hospital’s ‘100 Million Mask Challenge.'”

The fundraising idea came from one of Cole Gallery’s most popular artists, Andy Eccleshall. Yes, that artist, the one responsible for downtown Edmonds’ most iconic murals, “Window in Time,” on an alleyway wall off 4^th Ave. N., near where San Kai Sushi is.

In late March, the Edmonds artist reached out to Cole Gallery owner, Denise Cole, with the idea of teaming up and pledging a 25 percent donation of his April painting sales to Providence Hospital’s “100 Million Mask Challenge.” The Challenge sought the public’s help in providing enough PPPs for hospital staff.

“I was so excited about the idea that I presented this opportunity to give back to all 50 of our artists at the gallery,” Cole said. “The response back was a resounding yes!  We all wanted to do something together that could make a big difference, even though art sales had been dramatically down since early March.”

Cole Gallery artists were able to sell $18,000 in paintings in the month-long effort, donating a total of $4,525 for the Challenge. Cole said she sent the donation to Providence online Sunday. (The hospital is only accepting online credit card payments.)

“We had the capability to get art images out to our collectors and spread the news quickly. Within the first week of April, we had customers from not only our region, but from as far as Florida and even Denmark!” she added. With the aid of social media and email, word spread very quickly and art fans jumped in to do their part, while acquiring precious art for their collections.

“When we started out with this concept, we had no idea the response our supporters would bring!  We want to thank all of our wonderful art collectors and I want to thank our artists, who even when everyone’s income was down, they agreed to share in the commitment with incredible generosity!”

Cole Gallery is an artist’s hub, situated in the middle of destination downtown Edmonds on 107 5^th Ave. S.