{"id":833579,"date":"2026-07-30T14:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833579\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:20:10","slug":"penticton-gallery-faces-backlash-after-donated-art-ends-up-at-value-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833579\/","title":{"rendered":"Penticton gallery faces backlash after donated art ends up at Value Village"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

When Penticton artist Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega found out that art he had donated to the Penticton Art Gallery was being sold at a local thrift store, he was shocked.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing, to me, is insulting,\u201d he said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

His friend went to recover one of his pieces at Value Village, and found it sitting on the shelf of Value Village, priced at $11. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t even cover the cost of materials, this is wrong,\u201d Rodriguez de la Vega said. <\/p>\n

He is just one of many artists and community members crying foul over the gallery\u2019s decision to discard art pieces donated by artists for fundraising purposes.<\/p>\n

\"ASome of the art on display at Value Village in Penticton was donated from the Penticton Art Gallery’s fundraiser collection. (Submitted by Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n

The Penticton Art Gallery says it made an error in its decision to drop off dozens of local art pieces at Value Village.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe came across hundreds of works of art that we could not account for, and by that I mean they did not have any documentation with them and they were not stored in a way that meets museum standards,\u201d said Penticton Art Gallery board president Leslie Whatmough.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Whatmough said the gallery was put in a challenging spot \u2014 they didn’t know who received tax receipts for their donations. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t give the art back to the person who has donated the art if you have given them a tax receipt because that is considered tax fraud,\u201d Whatmough told CBC’s Daybreak South.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

She said holding a fundraiser featuring the work would require additional space and time from staff, but she didn\u2019t think it would bring in much revenue for the gallery. <\/p>\n

Many in the local art community have expressed anger over the gallery\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

Former Penticton Art Gallery curator Paul Crawford, who is currently embroiled in a lawsuit claiming wrongful dismissal from the gallery, said there was a lack of transparency, and that this move will impact not only the gallery itself moving forward, but other arts organizations as well. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"AA painting by Penticton artist Yvonne Antoinette Morrish on sale at Value Village. (Submitted by Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n

Crawford said many of the discarded works of art were not just from Penticton artists, but from known artists throughout B.C and the country.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not artists that did not have some significant role in the art history or the cultural history of our country, these are notable people.\u201d he said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The discarded pieces included work from artists Helen May Duke, Sophie Atkinson and William Alexander.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the guy that taught Bob Ross everything he knows and handed the brush over to him,\u201d Crawford said. \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n

The art gallery said they are working to rebuild trust with the community, and they hope people understand that care for art “extends beyond words.” <\/p>\n

“When you take art in, it has to be done responsibly, you have to say I have the space and I have the resources to deal with this effectively, and the situation we inherited was not that,” Whatmough said. <\/p>\n

She added the gallery still has dozens of pieces to go through and are opening it up to suggestions as to how to best handle the magnitude of art work.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love to do it better,\u201d Whatmough said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-833579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}