Best Buddies, The Art of Friendship, 2010

"figurative masquerade" mixed media, collaborative artwork (c) 2010

Last night I participated in the 5th annual “Art of Friendship” to benefit the Best Buddies Indiana organization. I have participated each year in this program and it is always one of the highlights of my year! Artists are paired up with Buddies and create collaborative works of art that are auctioned off at this event to raise money for Best Buddies. My buddies this year were Ben & Kristi, who both live in my community and participate in the Best Buddy program at the local high school. They were a fun, energetic pair and we had a great evening!  This year’s art project was a mixed media wall sculpture. I gave them a selection of objects & shapes to choose from (in a variety of materials) and they spent quite a while arranging the pieces and deciding the texture, color and finish of each one. Once the piece was tentatively composed they got to work sanding wooden pieces, applying sand & aluminum for texture and adding paint and ink for color. They were wonderful collaborators with lots of interesting ideas!
The pieces were all left to dry and later I finished the edges, did a little touch up and then did the final assembly of the piece. They titled it “Figurative Masquerade” and I love the way that it turned out! I attached multiple hangers on the piece so it could be hung in several different directions, depending on the purchasers preference. It was sold for $250 at a live auction during the event, which was held at the Mansion at Oak Hill in Carmel, Indiana. It’s awesome to help out such a great organization and I had a fabulous time working with Ben & Kristi this year!

ben & kristi before the auction