Tryon Fine Arts Center will hold an Evening of Excellence, on Saturday, May 17 at 5:30 p.m.  The ticketed event is a benefit to support Arts in Education programming for 2014-2015.  Winners of the juried show will be exhibited for attendees and several of the pieces will be auctioned to the highest bidder at the event.  The Evening of Excellence is the final portion of the month-long celebration of High School visual arts.
Students from five area high schools submitted work to the Juried Exhibit.  The 67 works received were exhibited in Tryon Fine Arts Center’s Gallery with an opening reception for the artists on April 26. The artworks were juried by Greg McPherson of Western Carolina University who selected the top 25 submissions.  McPherson also gave first, second and third place awards in six divisions:  drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. Winning pieces were announced at a public reception on Tuesday, May 6.
Before submitting, students were given the option to donate their pieces to Tryon Fine Arts Center to raise funding for 2014-2015 arts in education programming in area schools.  TFAC provides a variety of educational programming including the Be Inspired Grants, mini-grants of up to $500 available to teachers in K-12, an educational theater tour which performs in local schools, an evening at a professional opera for high school students, outreach programs by professional performers in the Main Stage series, and Junior Appalachian Musician program beginning in Fall 2014.
The Evening of Excellence on May 17 will be a catered event for adults serving heavy hors d’oeuvres and wine with live music provided by classical guitarist Amy Brucksch.  Attendees can view videotaped interviews with students whose art will be sold that evening and read about the students in an event booklet prepared by the event committee.
Art for auction will be professionally framed with services donated by The Frame House in Inman and Booth Framing Arts, Inc.in Columbus.  The live auction will be led by Bill Jones.  There will also be a silent auction for student pieces donated to Tryon Fine Arts Center that were not selected for the top 25 pieces.  Students who donated their artwork will receive 40% of the proceeds of the sale of their piece, with the remainder supporting TFAC educational programming.
The Evening of Excellence program is the first of what is planned to be a biennial event.  This year’s competition is sponsored by Thompson Landscaping in Tryon.  Artwork can be viewed in Gallery I Tuesday through Friday, though some pieces will be taken down temporarily for framing.
Tickets for the May 17 event can be purchased online www.tryonarts.org or by calling Tryon Fine Arts Center at 828-859-8322.  For information, please call Marianne Carruth, Director of Marketing and Arts in Education.