Story by Jessica Bostick, Assistant News Editor
Department of Art & Design raises more than $9,000 for student scholarships.
Murray State’s Department of Art and Design hosted its annual art auction on Friday. All proceeds from the auction will go toward scholarships for students in the Department of Art and Design.
Student volunteers from the art and design department carried the pieces up for auction around the room as they were announced to allow the audience a better view. One of these students was studio art major Savannah Young, junior from Cadiz, Kentucky.
“The art auction is an annual fundraiser that we put on in order to make scholarships possible for students in need in our department,” Young said. “Every little bit helps when you are paying for materials on top of regular school costs.”
The art auction was held in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery on the sixth floor of the Price Doyle Fine Arts Building.
Free hor d’oeuvres, drinks and other refreshments were available for guests to munch on as they browsed the 190 artworks that were up for both the live and silent auction portions of the night while live acoustic music played softly in the background.
The left side of the gallery held several rows of tables with pieces that were being sold in the silent auction portion.
Attendees could participate in the silent auction by bidding on smaller items on paper.
The right side of the gallery displayed all of the pieces that were featured in the live auction. The pieces ranged from jewelry to pottery to paintings.
The center of the room held a semi-circle of chairs facing a podium for the auctioneer to stand at and a projection screen that displayed the pieces as they went up for auction.
“My favorite aspect of the auction is that the vast majority of students and teachers in the art department come together to donate their work and volunteer their time in order to help their peers,” Young said. “It really gives a sense of family.”
All pieces were created by students, faculty, alumni and friends of the program.
Bids on the pieces ranged from $50 to $400. Around $9,500 was raised for art scholarships from both the live and silent auctions.
One student who donated a piece of work to the auction was Justine Riley, senior from Mayfield, Kentucky. Riley donated a ceramic cream and sugar set on wooden pedestals that was purchased by President Bob Davies.
“I love using handmade pots,” Riley said. “I love the process of making pots. Having pots in my life and in my kitchen make my life more wholesome, and my hope is that my pots might do the same for others.”
Faculty and students alike put time and effort into making this auction possible.
“[The art auction] is a great social event for artists and a chance to see faculty’s artwork and other artwork,” Riley said.