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Recycled Art Sold for Schools: A Silent Auction to Benefit Public Schools and a Program That Provides Educational Materials Will Be Held May 25 at the Sonesta Beach Resort

Posted on: Sunday, 14 May 2006, 06:09 CDT

By David Smiley, The Miami Herald

May 14--Oil paintings by internationally-acclaimed artists such as Jasper Johns and Frank Stella hang from the walls of philanthropist Kirk Landon's Coral Gables office.

Yet amid his high-class art, close to his desk, is a two-foot-high carousel and an abstract sculpture of a city -- both made by Miami-Dade public school students from scrap materials.

Landon, former CEO of American Bankers and advisor to the nonprofit Education Fund, bought his student pieces over the years at an annual silent auction hosted by the Education Fund called The Art of Found Objects.

The event, now entering its ninth year, showcases the artwork of students and teachers and will be held May 25 at the Sonesta Beach Resort on Key Biscayne.

All artwork to be sold was created from materials found at the Ocean Bank Center for Educational Materials, a warehouse co-founded by the Education Fund and the bank that stores businesses' scrap materials for use by Miami-Dade teachers. All donations are tax deductible.

Landon typically bids after the award-winning pieces, which he says come cheap.

"The pricing is such a bargain if compared to what you'd normally pay for art," Landon said.

Students and teachers alike sell at the auction, and the money raised goes directly back into their classrooms.

Money from pieces donated by local artists and ticket and gift package proceeds benefit the Ocean Bank Warehouse, which recently moved from its home in Doral to a new location with higher rent at 6890 NW 76th St. in Medley.

Teachers of all subjects can visit the warehouse twice a year for unlimited free materials, or more frequently if they commit to volunteering.

The auction serves as the main fundraiser for the warehouse, which Renaissance Charter School art teacher Sara Alfaro calls irreplaceable.

"I don't know what I'd do without the Education Fund because I depend on them," said Alfaro, who noted that she saves almost half of her budget by going to the warehouse.

Alfaro, a Miami-Dade County teacher for more than eight years, said she and other teachers sometimes meet for coffee and then go on a spree at the warehouse.

Elena Rodriguez, an art teacher at the Opa-locka school Rainbow Park Elementary, said materials from the warehouse allow her students to be more creative.

This year, her fourth-grade students built a 15-foot snake from boxes, string, stickers and puffy paint.

The cardboard serpent currently hangs from the second floor of the Ocean Bank in Coral Gables, exhibited along with other pieces.

Rodriguez's student, 10-year-old Robin McFarlane, enjoyed making a snake.

"It makes me happy because I worked together with my friends," Robin said. "I'm happy because I did something special."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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