STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Kelly Corroon donated one of her designer bags stuffed with two pickleball rackets, and artist Sally King Benedict added her trademark swishes and happy dots with a palm tree creeping up the bag.

Jill Lear donated a large oak piece painted on Japanese paper, while James Prosek contributed a silkscreen ringed-necked pheasant; Heather Watkins, a linin silk thread; Devin Farrand, his interpretation of Mackay’s Big Lost River on yellow zinc metallic canvas; Frances Ashford, her river piece, and Cubby Spain West, an indigo piece of Billy’s Bridge.

Their mission: to support the Sun Valley Museum of Art’s art and educational programs.

The SVMoA held its first December silent auction party Tuesday night, pairing art featured in past exhibitions with premium wines provided by its Sun Valley Wine Auction vintners. And it added an array of silent auction items, such as a backcountry adventure and Boulder Yurt wine dinner with Sun Valley Guides; a Ski, Sip & Savor Red, White and Snow Getaway in Park City; a Couples’ Getaway and Wine Tasting at the Grassi Winery in Napa; a Painting & Pinot Party with Sally King Benedict and Inman Family Wines; a Challenger Season Pass from Sun Valley Resort and the opportunity to host a birthday party at SVMoA’s Hailey House Studio.

“It’s the first time we’ve had a silent auction like this in December,” said Eliza Young , who oversees the Sun Valley Wine Auction. “It’s a fun way of using some of the wine we have and to showcase some of the art that’s been donated by exhibition artists.”

“Our goal is to connect the community through art,” added Elizabeth Herrick, The Museum’s director of Advancement.

In fact, The Museum took art out into the community this fall when it sent two educators—Bridget Kapala and Kerry Brokaw--on a Mobile Museum Exhibition Tour, funded in part by Art Bridges. They took  a set of folding screens featuring reproductions of 12 photographs in SVMoA’s current exhibition “In Conversation: Will Wilson.”

They discussed the art work and ideas in the exhibition with the students, before guiding them through a hands-on project using Polaroid portraits and mat board frames that students designed to express the way they see themselves, said Courtney Gilbert, SVMoA’s artistic director.

The Mobile Museum visited schools in Mackay, Blackfoot, Fort Hall, Fairfield, Pocatello, Dietrich and Arco, as well as The Space in Hailey and Wood River Middle School. And it hopes to hit the road again next spring when winter weather fades away.

The Museum also hosted students from Sho-Ban High School at Fort Hall this fall. They checked out Will Wilson’s portraits of Native Americans, along with its accompanying “Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Past and Present” before creating their own Polaroid portraits and frames and touring the Wood River Museum of History and Culture.

It was particularly meaningful as many of the students are descendants of people Danish photographer Benedicte Wrensted photographed in the late 19^th century, and they recognized the people in contemporary photographs taken by the Sho-Ban news, said Gilbert.

“We’re always looking for creative ways to get community engaged and it’s so amazing to see it go beyond the Wood River Valley, Lots of schools don’t have art tours anymore, and this has been really well received.”

Nationally, arts educators have been apprehensive about the future.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently cut millions of dollars in state funds for the arts in Florida, including funds for organizations that fill in the gaps in arts education in the schools. And many fear that the next administration will cut arts education in the schools, noting that the incoming president threatened to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, which provides support for programs in public schools, during his first term.

The Sun Valley Museum of Arts, which takes art into classrooms to help students see math and other curricula through different lenses, is somewhat safeguarded because of its patronage. But organizations that give it grants to do what it does could be affected.

Proponents of arts in education stress that arts address human needs for expression and understanding. That message came through loud and clear in the Art Catcher that youngsters made during Tuesday’s celebration, working them by putting their thumbs and index fingers in the four pockets and opening in different directions.

The Art Catcher opened up to these suggestions:

• ART ASKS QUESTIONS, inviting you to ask “Why?” and discover new perspectives. Look at an object in your surroundings and draw a picture from a new perspective—perhaps, upside down or inside out.
• ART BRINGS CHANGE, challenging norms as it helps shape the future. Think of something you want to change and make a poster to remind yourself.
• ART HAS NO LIMIT, opening up a world of endless creativity. Make a sculpture with recycled materials.
• ART TOUCHES THE HEART, connecting us emotionally as it reminds us of our shared humanity. Think of someone you love and create a drawing, then send it to them by mail or text a picture of it.
• ART IGNITES IDEAS, leading to new ideas. Find a word on an envelope or a sign and use the word to create a poem.