Bluffton Center for Entrepreneurs (BCE) will host a dinner and art auction Saturday, Nov. 7 at The Centre, 601 N. Main St., according to John Bauer, BCE executive director. The event is a fund raiser for BCE.

The event will begin with appetizers and a cash bar at 6:30 p.m. A dinner will be served at 7:15 p.m. The auction will be held immediately following dinner. All proceeds will go to BCE, Bluffton's non-profit small business incubator. Auctioneers of the event include several well-known Bluffton residents. They will be announced closer to the date of the event.

Dinner is $50 per person or $300 for a table of eight and is open to the public. To purchase tickets, RSVP by Friday, Oct. 30 to Bauer at 419-358-6400 or email [email protected]. Tickets may also be purchased from any BCE board member.

The auction will showcase artwork created by local artists and artwork donated by local benefactors.

Although the list of art works to be auctioned is still incomplete, as of Oct. 14, the following artists have contributed pieces. Some of the works have been donated by families of local artists who are no longer living:

Marianna Hoffer, Jon Stealy, Judy Herrin, Phil Sugden, Ann Reedy, Marla Brumbaugh, Dave Kent, Anita Lehman, Gregg Luginbuhl, Tamera Rooney, Darryl Moods, Diane Neal, Jim Fultz, Min Lindsey, Terri Mullenhour, Beverly Amstutz, Nancy Mistovich, Geneva Rammel, Richard Minck, John Sommer. In addition Charles Hilty of Reston, Va., has donated a guided tour of the Woodrow Wilson museum in Washington, D.C. (The museum has a Bluffton-made fireless cooker on exhibit.)

The Chagall work is a signed and number lithograph.

Here is a brief overview of some of the works:
o Chagall (1887-1985) was a prolific artist who was famous for his use of color and folkloric imagery. He preferred to be known as a Belarussian artist; however, following his exile from the Soviet Union in 1923 he was known as a major figure of the Ecole de Paris. Available at the auction will be a signed lithograph, "Le Roi David."
o Stealey, a fine art photographer, uses a mahogany and brass replica of a 1794 camera obscura that is currently on display at Monticello. Thus it is fitting that the auction image is a 5/4 panoramic of Monticello produced by mixing and using lamp-black-ink and the camera obscura.
o Sugden graduated from the New York School of Visual Arts and the Paris American Academie dex Beaux Arts in Paris. His works have been shown in over 130 exhibitions including in New York, London, and Paris. Currently his work is on exhibition at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. Sugden has donated an original oil etching that will be available at the auction.

Art contributions are still being accepted; donors will receive an in-kind contribution for tax donation purposes. For more information contact Bauer.