Art show raises money for World Pediatric Project

The Bon Air Artists Association collaborated with and supported the cause of the World Pediatric Project in the Artful Healing show at the Jepson Alumni Center on March 23.

Joyce Satterwhite, a member of the Bon Air Artists Association, said about a thousand people attended, counting those who came to the reception the night before and those who came to the event Sunday, which was open to the public.

"It went very well," Satterwhite said. "A lot of young people came. I sold four large ones [paintings] and three small ones. We have raised, we figure, about $15,000 for the WPP."

The show featured artwork created through different media including oil, watercolor, acrylics and 3-D mosaics. Treva Thomas, director of development at WPP, said there were five artists who premiered their works.

Susan Stuller, an artist whose work was in the show, said she liked painting glass and was interested in still life. Stuller teaches workshops locally and nationally, and travels often. One of her pieces from Paris was on display.

"These are traditional transparent watercolor over watercolor," she said. "That one is watercolor on Yupo paper, which is a plastic paper, where the paint slides and does not stick. So you can paint, and if you don't like it, you can take a wet cloth and wipe it right back to nothing."

Stuller said she used Yupo paper when she did her glass pieces.

"It's frustrating but it is also forgiving," she said. "I have a friend whose father has a marble collection and she lets me borrow them. It's just the light that comes from the glass that's so spectacular."

The Bon Air Artist Association for the past 20 years has had an outdoor art show and there was always a local charity that they worked with, said Sally Lawson, a member of the association.

"This was like starting from scratch," Lawson said. "We haven't done this type of event at all but it has turned out great. We've had a wonderful turnout and a lot of good sales."

Thirty percent of the profits made on sales went to the World Pediatric Project. Some artists donated more, said Lawson. She was the one who had suggested WPP as the organization they would work with for this year's art fundraiser.

"We wanted it to be something local and I chose WPP since they do such a wonderful job," Lawson said. "We have been working with them for 15 months."

The World Pediatric Project is a non-profit organization, founded by Julian Metts in 2001 after he returned from a dental mission trip. The organization, based in Richmond, provides healthcare to children who do not have access to proper healthcare in developing countries in Central America and the Caribbean.

"The overwhelming need for children's health was just tremendous so we started taking teams," Metts said. "Most of them were medical teams and dental teams and in almost every trip we made, there were children who needed critical care."

Contact reporter Sabrina Islam at sabrina.islam@richmond.edu