MANSFIELD, PA— The Mansfield University Art and Design Guild will host its first annual “Voiceless Auction” to benefit the Animal Care Sanctuary on Saturday, April 9, 7-9 p.m. at Night and Day Café in Mansfield, PA.
Students from the Art and Design Guild have refurbished wooden chairs from old classrooms of students from the past, sculpting and painting them into functional art, which will be auctioned off.
Assistant Professor Martha Campbell and Associate Professor Michelle Schlegel serve as co-advisors to the Guild and have consistently reminded guild members about their obligation to perform community service.
“Nothing has clicked until recently” Schlegel said.
Campbell suggested working with a Mansfield alumna, Sara Hamburger, who is the Director of Enrichment and Behavior with the Animal Care Sanctuary in East Smithfield.
“I can’t believe the amount of service that they have already completed and what they have planned for the future,” Campbell said. “We are both so proud of them.”
Guild members decided to host a Silent Auction with all proceeds to benefit the sanctuary.
“When old Allen Hall was torn down wooden classroom chairs were salvaged, painted and auctioned to raise money for art scholarships, “Guild President Julie Brossman said. “The silent auction is a way to recycle these chairs into new works of art that are both decorative and functional for a different cause.”
“The arts can be a powerful thing,” Sarah Smeltz, Guild vice president, said. “We are using the arts to bring awareness to a serious topic. The Animal Care Sanctuary is a place where they believe in second chances, where they have hope for the hopeless. The Voiceless Auction is an opportunity for us to bring awareness to this topic and do it in a way that we know best, through art. So let’s raise money, raise awareness and give a second chance to those that deserve it the most.”
Night and Day Café is providing the venue and MU graduate Ryan Fox will be the featured musician for the evening. There also will be also refreshments, beverages and 50/50 raffles.