The pop-rock cover band Kudmani will entertain at Uncommon Cause.
Columbus painter Peter Thomas will turn Harrison Lake Country Club into an oversized art studio Aug. 5 when he creates a work while the community’s biggest arts fundraiser unfolds there in Columbus.
The 89-year-old successful, longtime artist is hoping to frame his night with plenty of inspiration and energy beforehand.
“I’ve never done this ever before,” he said of the piece that will be sold at the end of the night. “And I’ll probably never do it again. But it’s for a really good cause.”
The Uncommon Cause, in fact — otherwise known as the community’s food-and-auction extravaganza that helps the nonprofit Columbus Area Arts Council carry out its mission of “strengthening the community through arts and culture,” as its website reads at artsincolumbus.org.
A crowd of about 250 to 300 people is expected.
Last year’s event generated a record gross total of $227,300, according to organizers.
Thomas understands a bit of fundraising. His paintings at an exhibition at the Workshop locally last year sold for a collective total of more than $60,000. He’s been painting in some fashion since the age of 5, and the arts council is using the gathering titled “Flourishing Through Art” to honor him.
“I’m certainly humbled by that,” Thomas said. “And I’m humbled by the fact that I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of different things.”
For example, Thomas served as the art director of a federal agency in Washington, D.C., the dean of the Corcoran School of Art in the same city, and chairman of the painting departments at state universities in New York and Tennessee, where he also taught.
His charcoal and acrylic finish work during the fundraiser will be inspired by promotional Japanese kabuki art. He included a similar piece in his Workshop exhibition.
Brooke Hawkins, arts council executive director, mentioned that the evening’s theme of flourishing will extend to encouraged fashion among attendees, since organizers will present awards for both a high-end fashion look and also the most creative. Food will include chef Alomar Garcia’s dishes stationed throughout the country club.
Though the event got its name from its original location in the original Commons, it has been held at the more versatile Harrison Lake Country Club for several years.
“We feel like Harrison Lake is a really ideal spot for this event,” Hawkins said. “It allows people who otherwise might not have access to experience the space. The layout is just perfect for all of the activities that we have planned throughout the night.”
Kudmani, a pop-rock cover band from Louisville, Kentucky, will provide the music.
Fund a Need, the event’s auction that is separate from its major, grand-items auction, will focus on new arts programming to enhance mental health.
“As we’ve gone into the schools and talked with students, and as we have talked elsewhere with adults and older adults, we have really been impacted by the way in which people have highlighted mental health, and especially how they’re struggling with the issue,” Hawkins said.
“And as artists and other creatives certainly understand the impact that making art can have on positive mental health.”
About the event
What: “Flourishing Through Art,” the annual Uncommon Cause arts auction fundraiser.
When: 7 to 11 p.m. Aug. 5.
Where: Harrison Lake Country Club, 588 S. Country Club Road, Columbus
Information and tickets: artsincolumbus.org
