Nearly $35,000 was raised for the Guelph Jazz Festival during the eighth annual “Sounds Provocative Jazz Art Auction April 21.

University of Guelph faculty, staff and alumni were among the artists whose work was auctioned. Robert Enright, a University research professor and one of Canada’s best-known cultural journalists and art critics, emceed the event.

The auction featured works by some of Canada’s finest emerging and established artists, including Prof. John Kissick, director of the School of Fine Art and Music, and fine art professors Will Gorlitz and Susan Dobson. Dobson’s digital photograph End of the Line from her “Dislocation” series commanded the highest price, selling for $5,000.

The show, held at the Holiday Inn and Conference Centre, also featured works by many U of G alumni, including Eileen MacArthur, Jessica Masters, Christian McLeod, Linda O’Neill, Don Russell and Annette Twist. Ron Sherbrook, a former SOFAM director, and Tom King, a retired U of G English professor, also took part. The exhibit’s curator was Renann Isaacs Contemporary Art.

The art auction is the largest annual fundraiser for the Guelph Jazz Festival, begun in 1994 by U of G English professor Ajay Heble.

The festival, which will be held Sept. 4 to 8, offers jazz performance and education and is considered among the most visionary musical events in Canada. It has received the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for the Arts and the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.