KINGSTON, R.I. –September 28, 2007— The University of Rhode Island Honors Program will host its second silent art auction Thursday, Oct. 11 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the University Club, 95 Upper College Road, Kingston campus. Admission is free and open to the public.
More than 35 pieces of art in various mediums and styles will be auctioned, including works by URI art faculty members Barbara Pagh who is widely recognized for her imaginative printmaking, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, a photographer and one of three Rhode Island visual artists to receive a $25,000 MacColl Johnson Fellowship this year, and Bill Lette, professor emeritus who has donated a matted print. Photographer Lisa Lahr, a 2005 alumna and former honors student, has donated two of her photographs taken during her visits to the Republic of Georgia. Connecticut artist John Kuchle has donated framed photographs.
The auction benefits the Galen A. Johnson Honors Program Scholarship Fund. “The funds will be used to support honors students preparing for their senior projects,” says Ric McIntrye who directs URI’s Honor Program. “This includes support for research, travel, and/or for students with financial need.”
The scholarship fund is named for McIntyre’s predecessor, Galen Johnson, Under Johnson’s creative guidance, the honors program expanded its enrollment and classes and increased the visibility of its Honors Colloquium.
The silent auction will work this way: Each piece will be assigned a minimum bid and an adjacent notebook. Participants will write their bids into the notebook. If someone then wants to bid higher, he or she crosses out the last bid and writes the higher figure and so on.
URI musicians will provide music, and hors d’oeuvres will be served.