Celebrating a student's life and raising money for future art endeavors, that's the theme for an art show at Texas High School in a week.
On Friday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Texas High School Art Department hosts a one-night exhibit in honor of Grace Comer, a longtime Texarkana Independent School District student who died in August from car accident injuries.
In the foyer of the Sullivan Performing Arts Center, an eclectic mix of artwork will be for sale, including dozens of them through a silent auction. Prices for other artworks will vary.
"We're going to be featuring artwork from many different professional, local artists as well as student artists. We have over 70 pieces of original artwork from local artists and artisans. We'll also have a student section, which will have everything from elementary work to high school work," said Shea Phillips, THS art teacher.
"We wanted to showcase art from all the schools that Grace went to since she's been in the district since first grade. She went to Wake Village Elementary, so we'll have a section of art from those kiddos," she said. THS and Texas Middle School students will also contribute.
People can visit and bid on the professional-level art. They'll have minimum bids with incremental bids available.
No matter the size of an attendee's funds, they should find something with a nice price. "There is something for every price range, so I don't want to scare anybody off," Phillips said. "We'll have stuff as low as $5." That said, the professional work will fetch more.
Grace intended to study art at the University of North Texas after graduating this May, so the art show will raise money for the Grace Comer Memorial Scholarship fund at THS. Organizers hope to raise $5,000, enough for $1,000-a-year scholarship for five years. Recipients will be THS seniors who aim to study art in college.
"She wanted to major in art at UNT, and she didn't get the chance to," Phillips said. "So we want to keep that memory alive and give the chance to someone else."
School choir performances and teacher performances will add to the occasion. The THS Culinary Arts Program will provide refreshments and hors d'oeuvres.
"The main inspiration behind this was, well, Grace was very special to all of us. She was one of those art kids that just loved art so much. She took every single class that she could possibly take. She was active in the art club and National Art Honor Society. Her dream was to become an art professor and professional artist," Phillips said. "After she passed, we just kind of immediately had the thought to do this."
This is just one of a few projects undertaken in Grace's honor. There's also a mural at Hospice of Texarkana. "That'll be finished up here probably in a couple of weeks," Phillips said, noting students have worked hard to get art for this exhibit.
She encourages the community to attend. "If you just want to come and look at the art just to see what's going on, this is going to take the place of a Texas High art show," Phillips said.
(Admission is free. The Sullivan Performing Arts Center is located at 3941 Summerhill Road in Texarkana, Texas. More info: call Shea Phillips at 903-794-3891 or email [email protected].)