Auction of Masks to Benefit Hospice

Putting a pleasant face on a serious matter, Hospice of Santa Barbara this week is hosting a charity auction of decorative masks designed and painted by celebrities from the fields of film, music, sports and art.

Bids are being accepted on eBay, the Internet auction site, for creations by stars such as John Travolta, Michael Jordan and country singer Clint Black.

A mask designed by members of the Ventura-based band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy recently sold for $500, while an original design by Amy McAvoy, a Ventura artist, went for $800.

Another McAvoy mask is featured as part of a special live auction Saturday night at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Tickets for the live auction are sold out, but sealed bids on that mask, as well as other original designs by Cindy Crawford, Jay Leno, and the late Payne Stewart, are being accepted by phone. The minimum bid on the McAvoy mask is $500. The winning bidder will also receive a $1,650 shopping spree at Santa Barbara’s Paseo Nuevo shopping center.

Proceeds from both the online and live auctions, which the hospice has dubbed the “Millennium Mask Project,” will benefit the residential care facility for patients in the final stages of a terminal illness. The hospice, the second-oldest in California, is nonprofit and depends on charitable contributions.

To place a sealed bid before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, call (805) 969-4295.