Artists, Yaffa and Jeff Todd (Photo by Mary Vogel)
TRAC Benefit Auction Set for July 9
The 39th annual Benefit Auction, hosted by the Toe River Arts Council (TRAC), will take place on Saturday, July 9, at the Spruce Pine Gallery, 269 Oak Avenue in downtown Spruce Pine. (The silent auction bidding is already underway and will continue through 6 p.m. on that Saturday.)
The festivities get underway at 7 p.m. upstairs in the Spruce Pine Gallery’s Arts Resource Center. A “down home” dinner is being provided by Wayne Jackson, the 2015 Spruce Pine BBQ Festival winner, and there will be live music by guitarist Jared McQueen and keyboardist Bill Gerhardt. Tickets are $40.
The live auction—with auctioneer Jeff Goodman—will start at 7:30 p.m. It will include works from some of the finest artists in the region and from across the country. Proceeds will help support TRAC and the many school and community programs it sponsors.
Each year, TRAC features one signature piece. This year it’s Yaffa and Jeff Todd’s “Red Lily.” Yaffa was born in Israel and received her MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. She has also taught at Penland School of Crafts. Jeff, from Philadelphia, majored in jewelry and glass at Southern Illinois University. They met in 1980, when Yaffa was building her studio and Jeff stopped by to see if he could help. Within a few months, they were working together, and a few years later they married and now make their home and studio in Celo.
The Toe River Arts Council is a nonprofit organization that promotes the creative arts in Mitchell and Yancey Counties. For more information, visit toeriverarts.org or call 828.682.7215.
