For the past seven years, the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) has participated in the “Gifted” Art Auction. Art teacher and NAHS advisor Michael Kunz has overseen the auction over the years.
The premise of the auction every year is for the NAHS to give back to its community. Funds raised from the auction are used to pay for Target gift cards that are then given to Lynbrook families in need to help them through this holiday season. Kunz noted how “this is a really important time of the year” for a lot of families, and he is grateful to be able to help people locally.
This year, the NAHS had a goal of raising $2,000 for the community. The online auction was set up on 32auctions.com and could be accessed through both Mr. Kunz’s Instagram Profile and NAHS’s account. However, Kunz decided to add another element to this year’s auction: “This is the first time we are doing the auction both online and in-person. The [paintings] are linked on the website, but they are also displayed in the gallery with QR codes so people can pick a painting they want to bid on and do it right in person. I am hoping that can help increase the [money] we raise.” Every month, the Bern Seiderman Art Gallery, located in the LHS cafeteria, has a new project theme hung up, and for the month of November, it is dedicated to the Gifted Auction.
This year’s theme was centered around autumn landscapes and the comforting colors and feelings that come with the fall season. Over 30 NAHS members expertly constructed their sceneries using acrylic paint. Various techniques were utilized and displayed to portray different items like leaves, tree trunks, and clouds. The pictures showcased in the auction range from countryside views and dirt paths to urban depictions of the changing of the seasons. Junior Nova Rozas created “Ford in the Fall,” a suburban landscape with a house and an old-fashioned truck. Rozas enjoys the Gifted auction and said, “We are given one theme to follow, but Mr. Kunz provides us with so many references that we can pick something that interests us the most… even if not everyone is excited by autumn landscapes, there are different elements of our paintings that make every single one so unique.”
The auction was available for all people to bid for paintings, or even just make a donation. Family, friends, and even teachers get in on the action every year, picking out paintings they love and hope to win. This way, the love spread by the auction is not only felt by the families receiving their generous gift cards for this holiday season, but also by the people who get to keep the carefully crafted paintings. The paintings finding a home in the gallery was started with the intent of more of this love being spread. Junior Payton Stalter crafted her piece, “Having a ‘Gourd’ Time” as her second piece participating in a Gifted auction. Shesaid, “It was really cool seeing our pieces up in the gallery this year because it is an event that is not always as recognized. Night of the Pumpkins is our biggest event, and this is one that is less known, so it feels good knowing that people are learning about this event too and how it is benefitting our community.”
In all seven years he has been doing this auction, Kunz was really impressed by this year’s submissions. He said, “This is the best quality of paintings I have seen in all of that time, and the hard work put in by our members truly shows.” Kunz reminded NAHS members that they are the “Finest Finest,” and he is glad to say that this year’s Gifted auction lived up to that sentiment.
