IT WAS A SUCCESS!

As most of you know, I'm heavily involved at my kid's school, in particular it's yearly fundraiser. Rather than going door-to-door soliciting for money to supplement "extras" the school needs, the school hold an annual art auction.


This year's auction was held on Friday, May 2nd at the Davis Conference Center. For the past 6 months, the auction committee and I have been very busy. Our theme is Vivan Los Libros or Celebrating Literacy Through Art. Though this is our yearly theme, we mix it up a bit by focusing on a particular author, series, subject matter or illustrator. Last year, Dr. Seuss was our inspiration for our marketing and promotional campaign. This year, we chose the author and illustrator, Eric Carle. The items auctioned off at the event include donated business products, class baskets, class art projects and teacher time.


This year I oversaw all the design and marketing as well as three class art projects. I was able to help in both Liv and Jake's classes. Liv and her 1st grade class made a decorative mosaic tile mirror. Their inspiration for the art piece was Patrica Pollaco's The Keeping Quilt. Each kid designed their own tile square with their own chose of color and pattern. I then took all the tiles and assembled them around a mirror. Jake's 3rd grade class decided to focus on the famous Austrian artist (and a fav of mine!), Gustav Klimt. I found a book called Klimt and His Cat, which helped me introduce this artist to the kids. I also spent about a month discussing Klimt's life, his art, his inspirations, and his country to the kids, so they could better understand this artist. We then did an artist reproduction. We chose Klimt's Stoclet Frieze and reinterpreted it onto canvas. Each kid painted a section of the canvas. I then did some touch-up work and added finer details. And the last project I did, was with a 2nd grade class. We took all three of David Shannon's No, David! books and made block prints inspired by images from the three books.









verall, it took me about 2 months to get all these projects done in the classrooms, but longer trying to finish them up at home. In the end, it was a very successful event. We raised a lot of money, which will go directly to the school for upgrades in technology and library resources.


The Klimt painting sold for $425.00; the tile mirror went for $250.00; and the No, David! went for around $400.00.


You gotta know, it's hard not to join in the bidding. Just ask my mom. It can get a bit ruthless at times. I was able to get this "industrial" print in the silent auction and the "Birdies and Blossoms" original mixed-media piece in the live auction. My friend, Megan and her sister create these whimsical images. You can buy a giclee print of their artwork at Pottery Barn Kids. Pretty excited about both purchases.