Memorable: Soirée benefits young Pollocks

Take a crisp evening on the Ides of October. Splash the hum of people laughing, drinking champagne, and eating shrimp appetizers against the canvas of the University of Virginia Art Museum. The resulting masterpiece? The Inaugural Rotary Beaux-Arts Ball: An Art Affair to Remember.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Charlottesville, the gala raised money for UVA's summer art program for local middle school kids.

Unlike Homer Simpson's Stone Cutters, with their dark robes and beer steins, spiffy Rotary members and guests sipped the bubbly while the CHS Orchestra's Melbourne Quartet provided background music.

Socializing, raffle drawings, and dinner added to the fun. But "Being Jackson Pollock," wherein partygoers in sharp tuxedos and snazzy gowns spattered ink on a large white canvas, was the sleeper hit of the evening.

AT $75 a pop, the 150 folks in attendance guaranteed some happy young artists in the coming year. Cheers!

Albemarle Magazine 's Alison Dickie

UVA 4th Year Amber Marcum volunteers as a docent at the Museum.

Dinner with a view

Docent Lizzy Hobgood helps out with paint selection.

The Melbourne Quartet rocks!

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