|
Fine
Art Show and Silent Auction
This project created by...
|
Four women with very different backgrounds
were brought together by their love of
animals.
|
Teresa Cline, professional
artist
Jeanine Hecker,
property/rental manager for Soleil Management
Geri Golding Higgs, owner
of Gigi’s Fabulous Kids’ Fashions & Toys
Kathy Kemp, town center marketing
director of Rosemary Beach
We met for lunch at
Summer Kitchen
one day and came
away with an exciting concept: TRANSFORMATIONS, a fine art show and
silent auction to benefit Alaqua Animal Refuge to take place July
1-18 in Rosemary Beach, Florida.
Teresa came up with the unique
TRANSFORMATIONS concept. In her experience as an artist, she knew
all too well that often artists put their heart and soul into their
artworks, but still are frustrated in the end. As a result, many
closets are filled with rejected paintings, sculptures, and other
media that may never see the light of day again. Teresa wanted to
give those cast off pieces, which were once so full of promise, a
second chance…to "repurpose" them into something new and beautiful.
Taking this idea and translating into a way for other artists to do
the same thing was how the idea of Transformations Art Show came
about.
The artists will be taking a rejected
artwork and doing any number of things to it, adding new materials, cutting up the piece and
reconfiguring it, or just applying a new coat of paint…whatever it takes
to transform these previously thrown away pieces into something
beautiful and desirable to others. The idea runs parallel to what
Alaqua Animal Refuge does for rejected animals once they are placed
into their care. AAR works tirelessly to help cast off animals
become healthy and whole again and ultimately adoptable....
.......
A transformation occurs.
Jeanine loved the concept and knew right away
that her company had the perfect space available to house the art
show. The beautiful
"Soleil"
building is located in the heart of
Rosemary Beach
on Main Street, surrounded by shops and eateries. The
architecture is reminiscent of an ornate sandcastle with lots of
windows and doors to let natural light and sea breezes in.
Geri
offered ways for kids to be involved too. The success of last
summer’s lemonade stands held at
Gigi’s
to benefit Alaqua Animal
Refuge proved that kids also feel passionate about helping less
fortunate animals. This summer, in addition to recruiting kid
volunteers to run the lemonade stand on Saturdays, Gigi’s will
encourage kid artists to paint portraits of AAR’s adoptable animals.
The portraits will then be available for sale to the public for a
suggested donation of $10. This will be a great way for kids of all
ages to make a difference in an animal’s life.
Kathy used her marketing
expertise to get the ball rolling financially. She is in charge of
recruiting our wonderful sponsors to help make the event possible
and also getting press and advertising to make sure it’s a success.
The show’s logo was designed by
Geri. Inspired by the "repurposing" theme of TRANSFORMATIONS, she
photographed individual letters from a hodge podge of signs around
Rosemary Beach—including street signs, merchant signs, even license
plates—to assemble something artistic and whole.
Teresa has a website dedicated to
raising awareness for local animal rescue where she added a section
devoted to the TRANSFORMATIONS project. The auction’s artwork will
be featured on the website as well as links to the artist’s own
websites. Once the show has started, it will be possible to bid on
the art through the website as well as in person at the actual Main
Street gallery. Please visit www.goingtothedogsfl.com for more
information.
by Geri Golding Higgs
|
