Dear Members,

Our 5^th Annual Gala was a huge success.  We doubled our funds from last year and everything went smoothly.  The weather cooperated until the very last, as we moved the live auction inside. The storm that ensured was record-breaking, so we lucked out.

The Sunday Afternoon was a departure from the Saturday evening we had done before, and it was a hit.  Sherry Ikeda did monotype demonstrations, and we had a wonderful poetry reading by Stuart Hall.  The raffle and live auction items this year were fantastic and pulled a lot of players into the fun.  We sold more paintings this year, than in years past through the silent and live auction.

The following artist paintings sold:

                                                         Louise Cassleman                       Harriette Tsosie – 2 paintings

                                                          Evelyne Boren                               Ellen Auchter

                                                          Kate Palmo                                    Barbara Michener

                                                           Sherry Ikeda                                  John Schaeffer

                                                           Marilyn Peretti                             Fionna Buck

                                                           Cherry Whitener Rohe               Jennifer Pretzeus

                                                           Anne Smidt                                    Angel Wynn

                                                                                             Russell Thurston

Thanks to everyone who donated paintings, and gifts to raffle.

Thanks to the Gala team: Nancy Gott, Sherry Ikeda, Fionna Buck and Adrienne Mehrens.  Their efforts in organizing and cooking and helping with set-up and clean-up and everything else in between are appreciated beyond measure.

Thanks to Body and Soul Jazz Trio for volunteering to play for the festivities year after year.  And thanks to all the friends and family of local members who also volunteered to make this the most successful Gala yet.

The funds from the Gala will help continue to improve marketing of EAI, and help to expand our mission of exposing encaustic/wax medium to the public.  Thanks to Richard Crombie for being designated photographer for the Gala and supplying the photos for the slideshow above. Click on image to Stop Slideshow.  To Start again, Click Middle Arrow in upper right.

With deep appreciation,

Douglas Mehrens

CEO/EAI