The Cellarbration! for Education planning committee has announced Kim Matthews Wheaton as the featured artist for the 2011 event scheduled for May 21.
Wheaton's oil painting Vineyards on the Columbia will be used in Cellarbration! promotion materials and posters. The original will be sold at the auction during the Big Bend Community College Foundation's biggest annual scholarship fundraiser in the Masto Conference Center.
Known for her distinctive landscape paintings of wide expanses and dramatic coulees of the Columbia Basin, Wheaton has lived and painted here since 1997.
She was born in New York City and grew up in San Francisco, Berkeley and parts of Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UC Berkeley.
Wheaton sometimes works from her car, racing against fading light, weather systems and the whims of nature to capture the hues in her work.
"I was honored to be invited to create a painting for the BBCC Foundation," Wheaton said, whose work already hangs in the entrance to the BBCC library.
Cellarbration! is a premium wine dinner and auction that has raised $610,000 in nine years for student scholarships. The event is known for pairing a five-course gourmet dinner with the finest Washington wines, combined with exceptional service and decor.
Back again this year is the "Bling" raffle for a one-carat diamond from Harrison's Diamonds and Designs. A new auction item is a one-week stay at an ocean-front time share in Hawaii. The event again includes another Leonetti wine item — a chance to bid on wines unavailable to those not on the winery's waiting list.
The wines for the dinner are sourced by Butch Milbrandt, of Milbrandt Vineyards — one of the state's largest wine grape producers. Wine commentary is provided by John Allen, of Vino! A Wine Shop in Spokane. The popular Chuck Yarbro Jr. is the auctioneer.
The committee is in the process of soliciting sponsorships and auction items for the event. Those who would like to be involved can contact the BBCC Foundation at 793-2006 for sponsorship forms, auction donation forms or to make reservations.
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