Student artists at General Beadle Elementary in Rapid City will get the professional treatment with an art auction. The money raised will go towards supporting after school programs for students.
Artwork to be auctioned come from the schools’ students, staff and families, as well as a few donated pieces from professional artists.
Jonni Hertel is a third-grade teacher at General Beadle helping to organize the auction. She said this auction will support a wide range of organizations.
“An art club, archery club, Lakota flute club, hand games, drum group, Lakota language club, Lego club, and we also want to have a school/community wacipi, which is a pow wow in December, to invite the community to attend as well as our teaching staff,” Hertel said.
Hertel said it won’t just be art at this event.
“We actually have a family voice in the conference room from four to five, we have cultural activities in the gymnasium," Hertel said. "We have indigenous groups in there, we got together with the School of Mines and we have a lot of their cultural groups coming in – a Scandinavia table, a Great Britain table, I believe a Nepal table, and possibly India.”
Hertel said the goal is to avoid reliance on grant dollars.
“The one thing I want to say is that our wakaneja, our children, need a safe place to be who they are and know that they’re celebrated," Hertel said. "These kids are making these art pieces for their school community. So, stop on down and see what they’ve created. We hope to establish this for the future, so we don’t have to continue looking for grants or different funding.”
The art auction will be held at General Beadle Elementary in Rapid City from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Thursday November 17th.