Ball State University students and faculty are invited to honor the memory of Purdue University freshman Wade Steffey by submitting original artwork to be sold at a silent art auction beginning Monday. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Wade Steffey Memorial Fund.
Steffey, a 19-year-old from Bloomington, had been missing from Purdue since Jan. 13 until his body was found in a residence hall's high-voltage utility room Tuesday. Officials said he tripped and was electrocuted by a transformer.
The auction was originally organized by the Bloomington art community as a reward fund to aid search efforts for Steffey, Miah Michaelsen, executive director of the Bloomington Area Arts Council, said. The Fourth Street Arts Festival of the Arts and Crafts and the Bloomington Area Arts Council are partnering to sponsor the event. Steffey's parents, Dawn Adams and Dale Steffey, are fuse glass artists and active members of the Bloomington art community, Michaelsen said.
"[Participating in the auction] is a way of showing and expressing that we're a community and we're supporting each other," an emotional Martina Celerin, vice president of the Fourth Street Arts Festival, said Wednesday. "It's an incredibly positive feeling. There's so little that we can do personally to help the situation and so many of us are not able to be physically part of it; this is a way of at least doing something concrete for the situation."
About 150 artists from all over the country have donated work so far, Celerin said. It is preferred that artwork donations are received by Saturday at 3 p.m. because of the scale of the auction. However, Celerin said, event planners will try to work around exceptions. The auction is accepting all kinds of artwork, including paintings, jewelry, photographs and ceramics, she said.
Although she did not know Wade Steffey personally, Celerin said she has heard amazing stories about him and that many people are going to miss him.
"[The event] is in honor of a student with great promise and two parents that have handled a situation that is so tragic with such grace and composure and to support them at this time of need," Michaelsen said.
Jennie Bailey, a Steffey family friend, said getting involved in the auction is a chance for everyone to celebrate Wade Steffey's memory and to show his parents how much they are loved and respected in their community and how much their strength is appreciated.
The auction is scheduled to begin Monday at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington with an opening reception from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Bidding will end at 3 p.m. on March 31, Bailey said.
Help outTo make an art donation, contact Miah Michaelsen at (812) 334-3100 or at info@artlives.org. Art work should be received at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington by 3 p.m. Saturday.
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