Education Foundation’s February 24 Benefit To Auction Top 25 Student Art Works

17^th Annual Evening of Excellence

Over 400 guests in will gather at Michael’s On East on Friday evening, when the Education Foundation of Sarasota County’s Evening of Excellence kicks off with a reception at 6:00 p.m.  

Party-goers will enjoy an elegant dinner followed by a live auction of 25 pieces of original student art work, led by auctioneer Jimmy Dean. 

Awards of $500 to $2,000 will be presented to each of the 25 winning students. Combining the generosity of art award sponsors with proceeds from the event, over $40,000 in monetary and in-kind donations will be awarded to the student artists, art teachers and high school art departments. 

Evening of Excellence is not only an innovative art program but also an established Sarasota social gathering that raises substantial funds each year, benefitting 41,000 students in the public schools through the work of the Education Foundation. 

Since 1996, the program has raised more than $2 million for Sarasota County’s public schools while raising awareness about the powerful role the arts can play in learning.  Last year’s event grossed over $252,630 in cash and in-kind gifts, including a live auction total of nearly $30,000. 

This year's theme is See the Ordinary. Create the Extraordinary., taking inspiration from the student whose award-winning 2011 work was adapted for the event invitation. Chris Cremer and Meg Mahoney are chairwomen of this year’s volunteer event committee.

Masterpiece Sponsors are Al Weis & Bob Harris of Advanced Network & Services and the Herald-Tribune Media Group.  Maestro Sponsors are Bank of America and Mills Gilbane.

Connoisseur Sponsors include Fawley|Bryant, Jeff and Cindy Kaiser, Jon F. Swift, Inc. and The Swift Family Foundation, McIntyre Elwell & Strammer General Contractors, Inc., Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP, Tandem Construction, Lakewood Ranch and Willis A. Smith Construction, Inc. 

Virtuoso Sponsors are Engineering Matrix, Inc., Norton Hammersley Lopez & Skokos, P.A., Ringling College of Art and Design and SchenkelShultz Architecture. 

Artiste Sponsors include Advanced Masonry Systems, Bruce and Lisa Beckstein / Gene and Anne Beckstein, Florida Power & Light, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Harvard Jolly Architecture, Helios Education Foundation, Matthews Eastmore, H. Gladstone and Betty Pritchard McKeon Charitable Trust, George W. McGonagill, Scott Pinkerton of Pinkerton Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, SCENE Magazine, TOTeMS Architecture, Inc. and WilsonMiller–Stantec. 

U.S. Trust sponsored the Juried Art Show Reception at Ringling College in January, when the top 25 winners were announced.  IDS – Interior Design Society of Sarasota sponsored invitations.

Student art awards include the Advanced Network & Services Best in Show Award, presented to the overall top-scoring student from the juried competition.  Rachael Tuffland, a Phoenix Academy freshman, captured the 2012 Best of Show title for her electronic media piece, Chicken Comb-Over. 

The Omar Y. Cooper Artistic Achievement Award goes to a high school junior who also receives a year-long mentorship with an arts professional.  Merit awards to top-scoring students will be presented by Bank of America, Sherry and Tom Koski, ME3 Consulting Engineers, Dr. Ken and Chris Pfahler and Tervis.

Clyde Butcher’s Venice Gallery and Studio will present its student art award for achievement in photography.  Other awards include the Caldwell Trust Company Art Award for a Venice student, the Chris Cremer and Meg Mahoney Student Art Award, the Freeman Orthodontics Art Award, and the Hees & Associates Art Award. 

Gerald S. Kaplan sponsors the Nancy Kaplan Art for Today Award in honor of his wife, an artist.  The Caroline and Michael Zucker Free Spirit Art Award encourages a young artist to explore new horizons in his or her imagination.   

Other prizes go to young artists who explore a variety of artistic media to express what inspires them the most:  the Helen C. Martin Extraordinary Creativity Award and Art Awards from The Morin Family, Susan and Philip Morris, The Palm Avenue Wealth Advisory Group @ UBS, Taylor Tollerton Collins/Professional Benefits Inc., Sabal Trust Company, Southwest Construction Services, Inc., Sutter Roofing Co. of Florida and TRC Worldwide Engineering.

Five students receive Honorable Mention Awards of $100 each this year.

The student artists donate their winning art works, which are then elaborately framed by local galleries that donate their time, materials, and talent.  Participating framers are Art & Frame of Sarasota, Collectors’ Gallery and Framery, Final Touch Frame and Gallery, Frame It Up & Gallery, Gulf Breeze Art & Framing, Gulf Gate Frame Center, Jessica's Picture Framing, Julie London Picture Framing, Kennedy Studios Graphics and Framing, Soicher Marin of Florida, Uptown Framers/Framers of the Arts, and William Hartman Gallery.

The Evening of Excellence volunteer committee headed by Chris Cremer and Meg Mahoney includes Cathi Bell, Sherry Burd, Taylor T. Collins, Jackie Cutrone, Chellie Gardiner, Jenny Hime, Iris Kleiber, Alina Klein, Helen Martin, Shelley McDaniel, Leanne McIntire, Peg McKinley, Alix Morin, Lisa Moore, Carol Noah, Hartley O'Brien, Janice Piedra, Yen Reed, Becky Rives, Elizabeth Rose, Stephanie Shaw, Dotti Sechrist, Janey Swift, Catherine Swift-Verly, Anita Zimmerman and Caroline Zucker.  Lindsay Letts is the program director. 

Individual tickets are $200, $250 for patrons.  For more information, call the Education Foundation at 941-927-0965 or see the web site at www.EdFoundation.net.