Little Acorns Into Mighty Oaks

Awhile back, I mentioned that I was hard at work on a few pieces for a silent auction fundraiser for a friend of mine. Ken is a good friend from college, and he is a teacher in the theater department of the Rochester School of the Arts in my hometown of Rochester, NY. Ken is a fabulously talented artist and designer, and a gifted teacher. When we were in college, Ken was often responsible for beautiful lighting and scene design on stages I performed on, and I am thrilled to now have the chance to support his work with my art.

A little background on this worthy cause...

The theater department at SOTA was selected to perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland this summer, as part of the 2011 American High School Theater Festival. if you know anything about theater or about the Fringe Festival, you know this is a major honor. The school was chosen to be one of 75 schools to attend and perform at the festival, out of over 2,200 applicants.

If you've traveled overseas (or anywhere!), you know this is not an inexpensive undertaking. They have a goal to raise $125,000 to finance this trip for students and teachers, and represent their school and their district in Scotland. One of the fundraising efforts is a benefit concert this weekend in Rochester, and along with the concert, a silent auction. I created a necklace and earring set for the group to offer in their silent auction this Saturday.

'Little Acorns Into Mighty Oaks'

These pieces are entirely copper, with my own lampworked glass beads. I think I showed you the etched leaves in an unfinished state a while back, but here they are, looking MUCH better now!

I'm so incredibly proud of this work, I could just burst! I think these are my favorite of all the pieces I have done recently, and although I never repeat work, I might just have to make a pair of earrings like this for myself. The oak leaves are really fantastic, and now I have a million designs all clamoring for attention in my head. Oh, and can I just say how much I adore using my Lortone tumbler on finished work?? How did I ever get along without it? Everything comes out SO shiny and beautiful, and work-hardened (a blessing if you make copper earwires with 20ga!)!

But I digress....

So, if you happen to be in the Rochester, NY area on Saturday, and you want to hear some live music and support a fantastic cause, then you should go to the Go Plaid or Go Mad benefit concert and check out the silent auction. It looks to be a great time, and if I were going to be anywhere near NY this weekend, I'd totally go!

And if you CAN'T go to the benefit concert, you can still help out by making a donation to support the group. Go here to make your donation.

Thanks!