Who: Artists and art gamblers, plus a bearded lady and gypsies
What: Art Perchance?
Where: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
When: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Why: To win prizes, for art's sake

Would you like some art per chaaaaance? I know I do!

That’s why on Thursday, those who covet art played games and entered their chance to win amazing artwork by local artists at the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Perchance, a benefit for the museum.

The party was a piece of work with circus overtones. Would we have a stroke of luck tonight?

The heart of the action was the courtyard, AKA the “midway,” set up with a series of art-inspired carnival games for kitschy prizes. A tambourine-shimmering gypsy, a bearded lady, a ringmaster, and other circus freaks egged us on. I won some plastic peace glasses at the ArtCentration tent and a cactus shot glass from the Wheel of Dada. How surreal; I never win anything! Marcel Duchamp had my back. As if these two items won’t come in handy soon.

Inside, we gawked at a gallery of about 85 pieces of art from local artists, dropping our names in buckets below our favorites for the drawing later in the evening. When asked which ones our friends hoped to win, one gal remained mum to up her chances. “I’m not telling you!”

High strokes were the chances to mingle with the artists and put a face to the name and the canvas. When we asked one local artist if it was hard to part with the work, Mai Vang replied,” It took me about a month to figure out which piece to give away. They’re like my babies . . . but it’s for a good cause.”