The OU School of Art is holding its first holiday sale today and
Friday to raise money to bring local artists to campus next
year.

Proceeds will be used to begin a visiting artist lecture series
and to fund special exhibition projects in the school.

The event was coordinated by Jonathan Hils, assistant professor
of sculpture. Hils said he hopes to raise enough money to bring at
least one or two artists to OU next year, but that he has no idea
what to expect from his first fund-raising event for the School of
Art. Hils said the sale would need to raise about $500 to
accomplish that goal.

The sale was coordinated to replace funds lost due to budget
cutbacks made by the university. Hils said that when the school had
more money, they used to bring in more artists.

“This is the first time we are doing something like
this.” Hils said. “We’re just trying to get
something started.”

He said he has received a lot of good feedback from people about
the sale, and if everything goes well, he will plan on making this
an annual event.

Hils said that along with his own work, about 25 students
donated items for the sale. Students also volunteered to work the
booth with Hils and answer questions about the art being sold.

A variety of items, such as ceramics, prints, crafts, metalwork
and sculptures, will be on sale and display. Hils said the works
have more of a holiday rather than fine arts theme, and will make
good gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

“We have a wide variety of interesting things,” Hils
said.

Elise Deringer, art junior, is donating homemade bags. Deringer
said she has seen other pieces such as homemade hats, shirts, and
welded pieces and she was impressed with what she saw.

“There are some really cool, high quality things,”
Deringer said.

Deringer said she thinks the fund raiser is a good idea because
the funds will be used to bring artists selected by the students to
OU. Art students will be able to view slides of potential artists
and then use the funds from the holiday sale to sponsor their
visits to OU.

“We’ll be so much more involved with the
process,” Deringer said.

Hils said the event is a good way for students to showcase their
work to the OU community and for the community to show its support
for the art students.

“We want to show a breath of talent in the school of
art.” Hils said.

The booth will be set up from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first
floor of Oklahoma Memorial Union in the lobby near The Wire and
Wendy’s.
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