TABRIZ

Here's to a successful 24th, if you please

Biennial Arts Center fundraiser exceeds participation expectations

The early line on the 24th Tabriz fundraiser for the Arkansas Arts Center was that it was going to be toned down from the last, two years earlier, but the finale had dash and flair and seemed to end sometime early Sunday morning. (In truth, the live auction wrapped up and the curtain came down about 11 p.m.)

Guests walked a short red carpet to the big revolving door into the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium. There, some silent auction items set up on pedestals included a Paul Signac needlepoint backgammon board designed and stitched by the famous Countess Sheila de Rochambeau for the private collection of Jim Dyke and Helen Porter. It went for $1,700.

Folks mingled for quite a while -- nearly two hours -- before making their way into the Townsend Wolfe Gallery cum dining room for dinner.

Tabriz comes around in off-election years, and so this is a great time for newly elected officials like Gov. Asa Hutchinson and U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-Little Rock) to mingle with old pols like Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, and say hello to some dear donors.

Donors to the Arts Center, that is.

Board chairman Chucki Bradbury and president Mary Ellen Irons tried to greet everyone who came through the door.

The affair was the first for the new governor and first lady Susan Hutchinson, but not for their daughter, Sarah Wengel, who was at the last one helping model jewelry with Stacey Sebree.

The highlight of the night, if not the tangerine sorbet intermezzo with candied orange zest (Loblolly Creamery), must have been the performances by Broadway players Michael Rice and Will Trice and local singer-actress (and lawyer) Kathryn Pryor.

Arts Center director Todd Herman and curator Brian Lang, along with staff members, hung 37 paintings bought using Tabriz proceeds throughout the years.

The biennial event, begun in 1958 as the Beaux Arts Ball (last year that was the name of the off-year fundraiser), was the first fundraising art auction in the state. Most of this year's transactions took place March 12 at the $50-a-head "Bazaar." The greatest share of the more than $800,000 raised goes toward acquisitions and educational programming at the center.

-- Story and photos by Bobby Ampezzan

High Profile on 03/22/2015

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