EATON — The Preble County Art Association hosted the second annual “Bad Art, Good Folk” gala on Saturday, April 2, at The Grange in Eaton, and the works auctioned off brought in more money than ever.
All totaled, the pieces created brought in $24,830, about $10,000 more than last year.
Good Art, Bad Folk, involved local residents creating a personal piece of art, which was then auctioned off during the BAGF event.
According to PCAA Executive Director Vicky Fanberg, many of the participants have never ventured into the artistic world before this competition. They were guided by their instructors throughout the process, and had several weeks to construct their works of art.
“For the past few years we’ve really been working hard to grow art in Preble County and we’ve done a lot of programming and community events and stuff that have really been able to help integrate art into our community,” Fanberg said. “There’s a lot that I’m proud of.”
Each artist was put on one of three teams. The team with the largest cumulative earnings, wins the BAGF Team Prize.
The instructors/team leaders this year were Patty Emerson, Peggy Schuning and Robert Coveney – all professional artists and instructors at the Preble County Visual Art Center.
The participants in this year’s competition included Team Patty: Kyle Hamilton, Lisa Wise and Sheriff Mike Simpson; Team Peggy: Steve Maggard, Dr. Earl House and Rev. Dan Denlinger and Team Robert: Becky Morin, Commissioner Rodney Creech, and Debbie Kramer.
Team Robert earned the honor as the top team, while Kyle Hamilton was the individual winner.
The participating “folks” trying to raise votes for their individual creations. Anyone could vote, and each vote cost $1. The artists attempted to raise as many votes as possible to support the PCAA and their education and outreach programs.
“They started working on this in January. They’ve put a lot of time and deserve a lot of recognition for what they’ve done,” Fanberg said of the “Good Folk.”
The proceeds of this year’s Bad Art, Good Folk competition, go to the PCAA, to aid in funding future community programs.
“I want to thank everybody for showing such great support. We definitely blew last year out of the water,” Fanberg said. “Great job. Thank you everybody. It’s amazing. It’s really, truly amazing the support that we’ve really gained from the community in being able to support the art center.”
