Doing my part for Friends of Art

I've been donating one or two pieces each year to the SIUE Friends of Art Auction for the last ten years beginning when I entered grad school.  Three years ago I was invited to join the board of directors for FOA which organizes the auction.  Since 1980 proceeds from art donations have funded the visiting artist program bringing scores of local, national and international artists to the campus in every area of art.  The money has also gone to fund an art scholarship, prize money for undergrad and grad shows, a high school art competition and the auction competition, the Lovejoy Library fund, conferences, travel stipends, student art organizations, the Mexica project, and ARTEAST.  

Grad school was a fantastic experience for me, coming after 25 years of teaching art at the high school level.  The experience was greatly enhanced by the incredible number of visiting artists I got to meet so I will gladly donate to support the cause.   

I'm donating the piece pictured above.  I've also posted the image under the event calendar for the auction at the right.  The piece is called Sunfish (c 2008)  It measures 77" long by 45" wide.  Hanging brackets allow the silk to float away from the wall about 4".   The blue comes from elderberries, the other colors and design were made with the rust process.

BTW, students, alumni and friends of SIUE Art & Design and artists in the community are encouraged to donate. Original art donations are juried the day of the auction.  Students can compete for 5 prizes totaling $1250 and non-students have a chance to win a $200 prize!   
The entire auction catalog will be online sometime after March 28 at www.siueFriendsOfArt.com.  I'll post the updated link when it is up and running for 2010. You can also view the donations at the 6 PM preview the night of the auction.  The live auction will start at 7 PM.