If you go
› What: SmArt, an auction and benefit for the Southern Lit Alliance.› When: 6:30-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.› Where: Stratton Hall, 3146 Broad St.› Admission: $50› Phone: 267-1218
Among the participating artists
Daud Akhriev and Mary PoteraGay ArthurAnna CarllHarriet ChipleyTom CoryMyles FreemanAli KayCarylon KillebrewAnn NicholsDenton RidgeSteve TerlizzeMaggie VandewalleBonnie Vetterick
Like a lot of local artists, Ali Kay is asked often to donate pieces of her work for a charitable cause.
She likes to help when she can, but it gets expensive to simply give stuff away. That's one of the reasons she wanted to participate in the SmArt auction and benefit, which is produced each year by the Southern Lit Alliance.
"Last year [fellow artist], Miki Boni invited me to participate and she says it was an honor to be invited as they are selective about who they ask," Kay says. "I also like that it is all local artists and 50 percent of the sale goes to the event and the artist keeps 50 percent. It's a win-win and I think it is really smart."
Which is why it's not coincidence that SmArt is the name of the event. Alliance program director Rhett Reeves says the 50-50 split policy is a way to promote and support local visual artists.
"We really pride ourselves on this event in particular and that relationship with the artists," she says. "I think the thinking is that, in order to support the arts in Chattanooga as a whole, you have to support your artists, and I think they appreciate our arrangement so they want to participate year after year. It's a way to show our gratitude for them and a way to continue a relationship with visual artists for years to come."
Kay is one of 50 artists invited to participate, according to Reeves. The works cross several mediums, including pottery, found-art pieces and paintings of all sizes and themes. Kay's piece, for example, is acrylic with colored pencil on metallic plaster and "is a representative impressionistic style I typically work in." And, as its title suggests, "Lake View" is an outdoor scene with water and trees.
Reeves says the SmArt ties together several missions for Southern Lit Alliance, which was created in 1952 thanks to a Ford Foundation grant with a mission to celebrate Southern writers and readers. Money raised through the art auction and benefit will go toward funding the alliance's outreach programs, Reeves says.
"These are mostly in Hamilton County schools with things like our Theatre Express program, where we took 2,000 fourth-graders last year for a children's theater performance at the Tivoli," Reeves says. "And we do a creative writing workshop for teachers."
SmArt will include the silent art auction, of course, but also live music from the Booker T. Scruggs Ensemble, food provided by St. John's Restaurant and a full bar supplied by Chattanooga Whiskey, Chattanooga Brewing Co. and Riverside Wine & Spirits.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepreess.com or 423-757-6354.