The smooth, round toes of Blundstone boots are pretty recognizable, but I found them near incognito... covered under layers of paint, surrounded by fish, and obscured by add-ons at Blundstone Canada's sixth annual Boot It UP! Fundraiser for SKETCH.

Tim Stacey, sales and brand manager of the Australian Boot Company Canada, first looked for a charity to support in honour of the company's ten-year anniversary five years ago. And how did they choose SKETCH, the non-profit that offers art-making space for at-risk youth?

"When we walked in there, people were actually doing things," says Stacey. "It was the only place where people were actually really doing anything!"

The people arting up the Blundstones included some of the city's best creative agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi going to work on the live-auction pieces, with the silent auction pieces contributed by local artists like Katherine Morley and Andy DeCola.

Some of the cooler pieces included the Dr. Seuss-themed creation from Sapient Canada that went for a whopping $2,000, the cement-filled "Swimming With the Fishes" boots sunk in a fish tank by Grey Canada, and Saatchi & Saatchi's Home Sweet Boot mini-cottage. Early estimates put the take for SKETCH at $15,000.

"We like it because there are no parameters for the artists, so the fundraiser is always evolving and each pair is always different," according to Stacey. "Because you're starting with a pretty basic boot, it's a good canvas to work with, whether you deconstruct it or just work with what's in front of you."

Photos by Mitch Orsatti.