DUMMERSTON — The River Gallery School (RGS) of Brattleboro will present its 25th annual benefit auction and fundraiser on Saturday, May 16, at the Scott Farm Orchard on Kipling Road in Dummerston.
The $25 admission includes a paddle with number, appetizers, music, coffee and dessert. A cash bar will be open all evening.
The doors open at 5 p.m., when a silent auction begins for local gift certificates for products, goods, and services ranging from massages and haircuts, to trees and plants, to assorted artwork and pottery.
The main auction will take place between 7 and 8 p.m., with coffee and dessert to follow. Some of items in the live auction include vacations in Tuscany, Antigua, and Key West, Fla., a language course at SIT, a chance to model for photographer Christine Triebert as part of an upcoming portrait exhibition, cooking lessons, and a murder-mystery dinner for eight at Naulakha,
Back in 1976, when Ric Campman and Barbara Merfeld Campman founded RGS, there were afterschool art classes for children. Now the nonprofit school annually serves more than 300 adults and children from age 3 to senior citizens. There is an active outreach program and collaborations with other area organizations.
The school says its underlying teaching philosophy is a simple one, that “each person “is innately creative and that creativity, when nurtured, will find unique and valuable expression,” and everyone “from absolute beginner to experienced artist, is accepted as they are.”
From this, the dialogue between student and teacher around art-making develops.
The studios are at 32 Main St.