Collector's Choice on Display at GRACE

The Collector's Choice exhibit opens Tuesday at Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE).

Collector's Choice is an annual GRACE event that is an opportunity for art lovers to purchase an original artwork while benefiting GRACE's education and outreach programs.

Works from over 100 artists in a variety of mediums are donated to GRACE. Patrons purchase a ticket for $150 to the Sept. 19 raffle held outdoors in front of GRACE at Reston Town Center. A limited number of tickets are sold, so everyone attending the raffle goes home with an artwork. Obviously, the sooner your number is called, the more choices there are. Current GRACE members receive a 10 percent discount on tickets purchased by Sept. 1.

"It is one ticket. one treasure," Erica Harrison, GRACE gallery manager, says of the raffle. "People can go online or visit the gallery to make a wish list of items they want. When your number is called at the raffle, you yell out the number of the item you want."

The Collector's Choice offerings this year are from some well-known local and regional artists, says Harrison. Some works have values of many, many times the price of the ticket, so it is a unique opportunity for aspiring collectors to build a collection.

"There are some new artists too," she says. "But some of the more well known artists include Brenda Belfield and sculpture David Petlowany."

GRACE will also host a reception and silent auction Sept. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Collectors can fill out a Collector's Choice wish list and drop it off at GRACE by Sept. 15. The wish list is a way to keep track of the pieces patrons want on the day of the raffle.

GRACE advisers say nearly everyone gets something off their list. Harrison says it is important to stop by the gallery to see the works in person because you never know if you are going to like something - or like its dimensions - until you see it.

A sampling of Collector's Choice works can be found here. For the full collection and links to artists' web sites, visit GRACE's Collector's Choice Preview.