During this year’s Parents Weekend, ceramic bowls and salt and pepper shakers made by Art Survey students were up for a silent charity auction. Art Survey, an all-encompassing art course that helps students fulfill their arts requirement, has done similar auctions two years ago and four years ago, with great results.

The charities chosen this year were Heifer International, which, according to Ms. Lynch, “works with communities to increase income, improve child nutrition, care for the Earth, and ultimately end world hunger and poverty”, and water.org, which aims to provide people to free, sanitary water.

This year’s auction raised $625.25 for these charities. The artists behind the ceramics chose these foundations after careful research, paying special attention to the percentage of funds going directly to these organizations’ causes.

“I think one has to feel very good about purchasing a piece, knowing where the money’s going,” remarks Art Department Chair, Ms. Lynch.

The work auctioned was created by two Art Survey classes. In the spring of the 2017-2018 school year, students focused on making salt and pepper shakers, and most recently, during the Fall, students worked on bowls inspired by Coptic Egyptian pottery.

According to Ms. Lynch, she chose Coptic art, the work of Egypt’s largest Christian denomination, as the inspiration for the project because when people “think of Egypt they think of Islam, it’s a dominant voice, with so much beautiful art, but they don’t think about Coptic art, and it’s so beautiful.”

Ms. Lynch says that to “get the amount of work needed in order to raise a significant amount of money, it takes six classes… what we’re talking about is that we had a total of about 71-72 pieces”, thus involving many artists.

Many Kent students were involved in one facet or another with this auction, whether by making artwork, bidding on their peers’ work, or spending time monitoring the gallery. Thanks to both their hard work and the love of the people who purchased pieces, Kent has had yet another successful silent auction. It is always inspiring for students to see other people admiring their work enough to purchase it, and knowing that money is being donated to charities they picked, creating a lasting positive impact.