The 2015 annual BRONZE BUFFALO GALA at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art,
October 3, will feature oral and silent auctions, gourmet cuisine, spirits
and live jazz. Complementing the event is an exhibition of paintings from
the annual BRONZE BUFFALO EN PLEIN AIR PAINTOUT documenting Owensboro as it
appears in 2015.
The 6:30 to 8:30 Gala is sponsored by museum patrons Dr. and Mrs. R. Wathen
Medley, Jr. Co-sponsors include Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, Owensboro
Health Regional Hospital, Riverfront JAM, Ken-Tron Manufacturing and Kate
and Rusty Burton. The Gala will be highlighted by a gourmet buffet prepared
by Campbell Club Executive Chef Matt Weafer, featuring all locally-grown
produce and meats. The evening’s entertainment will include live jazz by the
Greg Walker Trio of Louisville. H. Dean Jones II will serve as Master of
Ceremonies.
Featured in the Gala’s oral auction is a 14K gold bezel set diamond necklace
with 101 round brilliant cut diamonds weighing 4.75 ctw, valued at $12,000.
Other auction items include antiques, original art, a weekend retreat in the
Smoky Mountains, University of Kentucky versus University of Louisville and
University of Tennessee football tickets, and silver and diamond earrings
from Lance and Co. Jewelers.
As a part of the Gala event, dozens of visiting artists from surrounding
states will visit Owensboro for the BRONZE BUFFALO EN PLEIN AIR PAINTOUT
prior to the Gala to render paintings of familiar local sites, its people
and special events. Four artists have been named Bronze Buffalo Artists and
invited to each donate a painting to be auctioned as a benefit for the
museum. These artists – Todd Derr, Katie Lowing, John A. Medley Jr. and Joe
Overby – will be introduced at the Gala.
The Paintout requires that artists complete paintings on site and out of
doors, producing a quickly executed impression of their subjects. All of
the paintings completed in the three-day competition will be presented in a
one-night exhibition and offered for sale at the Gala. Purchase and Merit
Awards totaling $3,000 will be distributed by the juror, noted painter Diane
Tesler of Kewanna, Ind.
Reservations are necessary, and admission is $50 per person. Friends of the
OMFA Foundation receive a discount, and their admission is $40 per person.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.omfa.us or by phoning the museum at
270-685-3181. Proceeds from the Gala will be designated to benefit the
museum’s continuing education and outreach programs in the community and
region.
The Buffalo theme for the Gala is based upon the museum’s two heroic-sized
bronze buffalo installed in its Ryan Park along Frederica Street. The
bronzes were commissioned to initiate the Bronze Buffalo Trace, a visual
arts documentation designed to celebrate the origins of Owensboro.
Present-day Frederica Street began as a buffalo trace through which settlers
made their way to the banks of the Ohio River to establish the settlement of
Yellow Banks.
The bronze buffalo, Into the Wind and Meadowlands Pair, were gifts to the
museum and the community from Mary Lou Steele and her late husband, Robert
Steele, and Mayor and Mrs. Ron Payne. The bronzes were created by the noted
American wildlife artist, T. D. Kelsey, of Texas.
The Owensboro Museum of Fine Art is located at the corner of 9th and
Frederica streets in Owensboro, Ky., and is open Tuesday through Thursday,
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and weekends, 1 to 4 p.m.
Admission is free but donations are encouraged.
For more information, visit
the museum’s website, www.omfa.us or phone 270-685-3181.
