Tryon Fine Arts Center will hold its annual Evening of Excellence, a juried high school fine arts competition and fundraising event, on Friday, April 17, at 5:30 p.m. in the Mahler Room and Gallery I.  The Evening of Excellence celebrates the value of arts education in schools and encourages the talents of aspiring young artists.

The Evening of Excellence is the culmination of the month-long celebration of high school visual arts. Students from area high schools submitted 71 works of art, these were juried, and the winners announced at a special reception for students, teachers, families and the community on March 28 at Tryon Fine Arts Center.

The Evening of Excellence competition awarded the top 25 entries, as well as the top three in the following categories: drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. Some of the entries are available for silent auction and bids can be made in advance at TFAC.

The juror, art curator Nancy Holmes, said of the entries, “…all of the art shared an excitement and energy associated with the process of self-discovery — as well as reflected the high caliber of instruction the student artists are receiving in their respective schools. As I tackled the difficult job of picking prize winners, I remembered the well-known Hallmark Cards slogan, ‘When you care enough to send the very best.’  These artists are surely bringing their “very best” to this strong TFAC show for the enjoyment and enrichment of everyone who sees it.”

The pieces will be exhibited weekly from Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The top 25 paintings and drawings which are available for auction, were beautifully framed by framers in Tryon, Columbus, Inman and Spartanburg.

Two more awards are still available to the artists and can be voted on by the public.  “People’s Choice” votes are done by paper ballots collected at the exhibit. Online voting can be done for the “Facebook Favorite” by visiting the Tryon Fine Arts Center page on Facebook and perusing the Evening of Excellence photo album.

The Evening of Excellence supports TFAC’s “Be Inspired Grants” (B.I.G.) program that awards mini-grants of up to $500 each for arts related projects to area k-12 educators.  Last year, grants were given to 13 Polk County and District One schools. Projects chosen covered a wide range of uses and included books purchased for a classroom, a paper making system, professional Shakespearean actor in the classroom, and art supplies such as clay and markers.

The Evening of Excellence will be a catered event for adults serving heavy hors d’oeuvres 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 local framing companies. The live auction of pieces from the top 25 will be led by auctioneer Bill Jones. There will also be a silent auction for other student pieces donated to Tryon Fine Arts Center. Students who donated their artwork will receive 40 percent of the proceeds of the sale of their piece, with the remainder supporting TFAC’s B.I.G. Grants.  Bidding on the silent auction items is underway in the exhibit.

The Evening of Excellence and the B.I.G. Grants are sponsored by Timken Steel, TD Bank, Rotary Club of Tryon Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Tryon, Tryon Daily Bulletin, Gay and Scott Pleune, Nancy Holmes, Haynes Law Firm, Tryon IGA, Main Street Financial and McKinsey Printing.

Framing sponsors are The Frame House, Green River Gallery, Booth Framing Arts, Inc., Z. Art Group, Chris Bartol and Alan Peoples. Shelley Dayton, Chris Bartol and Mike Gron provided professional photographs of all the artwork and many artists, and video interviews were provided by Jeff Jenkins.

Tickets for the April 17 event can be purchased online at www.tryonarts.org or by calling Tryon Fine Arts Center at 828-859-8322.  For information, please call Tryon Fine Arts Center at 828-859-8322 or email marianne@tryonarts.org.

– Submitted by Susan Brady