The annual Rotary Charity Art Show in Civic received a boost this year when the defence forces pitched in with tents to house the exhibition, saving it $5000.
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In previous years, set-up costs included a marquee to keep the artwork safe and dry, but this year Defence provided about 35 tents which were joined to form an exhibition space.
Art lovers bought nearly 60 pieces over the nine days the show ran, raising more than $15,000 before expenses, which will go to Canberra and Queanbeyan charities.
Organisers were pulling the tents down in City Walk yesterday, ready to return to their owners.
Queanbeyan Art Society president and Rotary Queanbeyan West Club art director Barry Cranston said he had approached people he knew within Defence to see whether they had tents available for loan.
''I'm a pretty practical guy and I just thought, why not, it's one of those things there would be more of,'' he said.
Mr Cranston said while he was initially concerned the tents may be too dark to see the artwork properly, in the end they had worked out well, and he hoped to use them again next year.
''Next year we're going to get even more lighting,'' he said.
Mr Cranston said he had been told some of the tents might date back to the 1940s.
Between 80 and 90 artists showed in the exhibition with about 80 per cent of them members of the Queanbeyan Art Society.
But there were also works from artists as far away as Queensland and Victoria.
Mr Cranston estimated 300 people had viewed the exhibition on each day it was open to the public.