| This
past weekend I drove to the Houston area for an event at The Woodlands
High School. I, along with 19 other artists had been selected as
finalists in the high school's program called "Palettes and Paintings"
which raises funds with the specific purpose of acquiring fine art for
the high school's permanent collection and is organized by The Woodlands High School Art Trust. Each student gets one vote towards the final selection. This was only the
event's third annual but the students seemed really enthusiastic--3600
votes were cast out of approximately 4000 potential voters. The student docents (who are responsible for selecting the finalists) display
the artworks in the high school's hallways in the weeks leading up to
the event so that the student body has a chance to look them over. And
each year the Trust purchases the art works which receive the most
votes...actually the top 5. Now, I get asked to participate in a lot of
fundraisers and I participate in many but this was unusual in that I
wasn't being asked to donate anything, and in fact, was instead
given a chance to expose my work to a new audience and given the chance
of actually selling it. I love that the goal is to surround these
students with art. The two previous years' acquisitions (10 pieces, so far) are prominently
displayed in the hallways so that the students will have the opportunity to
see them daily. I am pleased to say that my painting, Rio Frio, Opening Earth was one of the 5 chosen and will now reside in those same hallways. The evening was entirely charming, run by the students with much help from many devoted parents. This is a wonderful model. It's a learning experience for young artists and future curators and something many schools would do well to imitate. And for the artists it's a great opportunity. I will recommend this program to other artists as this collection will surely grow in variety and sophistication over the coming years. | |
|
|
|
