Spring Art Bazaar and April Silent Art Auction

Spring Art Bazaar
Location: Powell Campus Center, all three floors
When: Friday, April 3rd 11-5pm

This is a great opportunity to earn money for the rest of the semester and for the beginning of summer! The art bazaar will be widely publicized throughout the village and local towns within Allegheny county.

$5 per table; tables are large and can be shared
go to the art office on the 2nd floor of Harder Hall to reserve. (across the hall from Moka Joka)

Tables 1-12 are stationary inside tables. First come first serve: you can choose a table, and opt to be outside if you wish if weather permits, but have dibs on that spot inside (if you show up on time)
13-32 will be placed in other negotiable places on the three floors, and/or in the knight club, or outside, if permitting

You must set up your own table. It will be plan, white or beige, and most likely plastic. Bring some decorations maybe.
There will be either a pile or tables or they will be stacked up against the wall on one of the floors.

You will also be required to take down your table, and will be responsible to make sure it ends up back where you got it, or where it is designated to go.
(This applies doubly for any of the nice, fancy tables that MIGHT be available from the lounge on the 2nd floor!)

Please do not abandon your table!















April Silent Art Auction for Charity
Location: Harder Hall Lobby, 3rd Floor, Academic Alley
When: April 21st - 25th
Closing reception 4:30pm. bidding ends 5pm

NOW ACCEPTING DONATIONS
In the art office: 2nd floor of Harder Hall across the hall from Moka Joka

Donations of all kinds are accepted.
Please make sure your name is attached to your piece!
(This is a great thing to put on your resume!)

All proceeds will go to the Alfred Food Pantry

It is important within a privileged setting such as ours to be aware of the position we are in, and to give back to the community within which we operate, as well as the global community at large. Art Union has hosted two silent art auctions in the past two years, the first being for a local community member, accumulating nearly $7,000. Last semester we reached out as a community to people across the world who are suffering from adverse living conditions, hunger, and severe poverty, such as we do not see in the United States.

Because of our national economic situation, the Student Art Union has decided to pick a charity that is as local as we can get, so we have decided upon the Alfred Food Pantry for this spring's auction money recipient. This gives us an opportunity to aid our immediate community in a substantial way, while also being provided an outlet for the surplus of art objects we create here within our curriculum.

Remember: learning is about trial and error, so it makes sense to create objects, which, even from the beginning, one might know they will not keep. However, it is a completely different thing when these objects then go to the landfill, and the energy and money that it took to bring that art object into being are essentially wasted. It is an injustice to those around us and around the world who are struggling to get their next meal to allow resources to be dwindled in other areas because we are put into positions of privilege.

The bottom line: Art Union encourages students to donate any and all art objects to the Silent Art Auction as a method to raise the most amount of money possible for the cause. If you were going to throw it away, wouldn't it be better for someone to be helping out a charity monetarily while also acquiring a handmade piece of art work by a student in their community? And if they only spent a dollar on it, it is a dollar towards a good cause, rather than crumbled up paper or shards of ceramic in a dumpster.

We will be accepting donations until the auction date, at which point there will be a limited number of empty bidsheets, which you will have the opportunity of using to add your piece to the auction once it has been set up. We have found this to be an effective method of keeping the auction open and allowing students to add to the collection continuously. The only stipulation is that students are requested not to move other art objects already set up, as Art Unioners will be the ones to handle the display of art work at the auction.

November Silent Art Auction for Charity

What: Silent Art Auction for Charity to benefit underprivileged children of the untouchables caste of India. Followed by a Bollywood dance performance by the Middle Eastern Dance Team.

When: November 5th, 6th, and 7th. Friday, Nov. 7th: reception at 4pm, bidding ends promptly at 4:30pm. Dance performance at 5pm.

Where: Harder Hall Lobby on the Alfred U campus, and Holmes Auditorium (for the performance).

WHAT TO DO: Find at least one piece of artwork that you could donate for this charity initiative, bring it to the Art Office until the end of October.


During the first week of November, Art Union will be showcasing work donated from students, faculty, and local artists for the benefit of severely impoverished children in the village of Orchha, India. These children are part of the dalits caste, which literally means the "untouchables." People born into this caste within the still very prevalent Indian social caste system are condemned by society as being "dirty." They can only do "dirty" jobs such as cleaning dead animals off the street, cleaning toilets, or begging.

One day, a Finnish woman named Eeva Schult, who was travelling in the village of Orchha, passed by a smally colony of impoverished families, part of the outcasts of society forced to live outside the main area of the village, and was struck by the image of young children, unclothed, dirty and covered in mud, putting cow feces into their hungry mouths.

Eeva decided to do something for these people in need, only a few of the millions of people living and struggling to survive through hard times in India. She set up a school in Orchha, free of charge, for the dalits caste children. Through the generosity of donors and sponsors, she is able to fully fund education for these children. Not only that, but she also provides them with food and clothing, something which their families cannot provide for them.

Here is a video/picture slideshow (approx. 4 mins) which will show you a short glimpse of the streets of India, in which you will notice the "untouchables" crouching on the side of the road, their shacks, and the general feed of a country in perilous times. I have included some still photographs of the school and children in their classes, as well as of the plot of land where Eeva is planning to construct a larger school. Then a minute or so of the children in class, learning the ABCs and doing math.




Art Union is asking for your generous donation of art work and participation for this charity initiative. We understand that people are often hesitant to do things overseas because one doesn't always know where one's money is really headed. But this is exactly the reason why this charity was chosen for this fall's auction: because this is a very concrete, tangible way to see how your artwork and effort has legitimately and significantly helped someone in desperate need.

All proceeds of the auction and the admission fee of the dance performance will go to the Maya Free School. We will take the sum of money and divide it by $140, which is how much it costs to sponsor one child for an entire year, providing that child with food, clothing, books and supplies, and education, thus giving them a real opportunity to break away from the adverse lifestyle they are currently struggling through. Think about it: that is less than $12/month, we spent more than that in a month on coffee alone!

Once the school receives the money, we will in return receive the names and pictures of the children who we have sponsored in the name of our school. The children who receive sponsorship know about their sponsors who often will receive pictures or letters that their children draw and write for them.

So please, throughout the month of October, bring your donations to the Art Office (2nd floor of Harder Hall near the Moka Joka), M-F 8:30am-4:30pm.

The work will be set up in the Harder Hall lobby for three days. We will have a closing reception on Friday, November 7th at 4pm. There will be food! The silent bidding will end promptly at 4:30pm. Directly after in Holmes Auditorium, the Middle Eastern Dance Team will have a Bollywood performance in honor for the charity. The admission fee (yet to be determined) will also go to the Maya Free School.

October 29th, in Nevins Theater at 4:30pm, Gia Michael will be showing this video footage and talking about her experience at the Orchha school this summer. It will also be an open time for questions and discussion.


link to the Maya Free School

Call for Entries - Juried Art Show

Alfred University Art Union is holding a Juried Art Competition – The Union Show

The show will be held at Gallery 17 on Main st. April 21st to the 27th. There will be a reception Friday April 25th at the gallery 6-8pm, where we will have food and announce the awards.

To enter, please submit the following information by email to unionshow@gmail.com
Final day for submission and entry fee payment is Thursday April 10th.

Please put your Alfred University email address or your FML initials in the subject box.

Name
School and classman status
Title, year, medium, dimensions, and starting bid for each piece

Please number your work descriptions. We will accept JPEG images; name the files with your initials and according to the corresponding piece's number, separated by an underscore. Example: abc_1a.jpg for the first image of the first piece.


ELIGIBILITY
1) Alfred State College and Alfred University students, undergraduate and graduate.
2) Artists may enter up to three works which are broadly based in the idea of "union."
3) Art must be properly prepared and presented for display. Accepted pieces which require special set up or take down procedures must be handled by the artist.
4) Accepted work which differs significantly from the image will be disqualified (obviously)
5) No accepted entry may be withdrawn prior to the close of the exhibition.
6) This is an open jurying, and all digital images are viewed by the jurors in an anonymous manner.


ENTRIES
1) A maximum of three entries per artist may be submitted.
2) Up to three images may be submitted per work entered.
3) Digital images must be submitted by email. They should be at least a resolution of 300 dpi.
4) The competition reserves the right to photograph works for publicity purposes.

ENTRY FEES
Non-refundable entry fee of $5 per student. All artists must go to the Alfred University Art Office, located on the second floor of Harder Hall, to pay. Please have your student ID ready to verify that you are a student of either the college or university. Payment of the entry fee signifies the artists understanding and acceptance of the rules and conditions of the competition.

Directions to the Art Office:
From Academic Alley:
Enter the main entrance of Harder Hall through the lobby off of Academic Alley, then take the staircases located to the left down 1 floor. Next make a left then a right into a narrow hall. The Art office is the first door on the left of this hall

From main street:
At the light on main street make a right (if coming from town) and enter at the small front faculty/staff parking lot (on the right). Once through the entrance go straight to the the door that opens to a stairwell where the sign for the NYS College of Ceramics is located. Go straight into the stairwell (there are animals painted on the walls) and go up one floor (to get to the second floor). Go through the door on the left which will open up to a hall, take another left and walk through the hallway with windows at your right. Take a right and you will then pass the Moka Joka on your left. Go past the elevator and into the narrow hallway. The Art office is the first door on the left.

ACCEPTED WORKS

Artists whose works are accepted will receive notification by April 8^th. They will be required to bring their pieces to Gallery 17 at designated hours between April 18th and 20th.

Final day for submission and entry fee payment is Monday, March 31^st.

SALES
We suggest that all works be for sale, however it is optional (change as of 10pm March 20th). Works which are for sale must be up for bidding (but why wouldn't you want them to anyway?) The artist may include a reasonable starting bid for their work. The money will go back to the artist, however 15% of all sales will go to Alfred Art Union.