WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Art fair raises scholarship funds
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LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW) -- People had the chance to browse through works of art at Art Fair on the Green.
The event ran Saturday and Sunday.
It featured around 100 artists.
One new artist to the fair is Nick Smolen, who adds a new form of art to the fair. Smolen works with metal and forges it into different pieces of art, from lawn decorations to tables.
"I just look through magazines, look at different things in nature. I kind of get inspiration from that, lines and patterns. I just try to duplicate some things in the forge," Smolen says.
Also new this year was artwork displayed by area high school students.
The American Association of University Women, or AAUW, has hosted Art Fair on the Green for the past 52 years.
Proceeds from the fair benefit the AAUW, which in turn, helps provide scholarships to students.
For Stacie Coggen, receiving an AAUW scholarship is a big deal.
"It's made it possible for me to go to school, in order to actually achieve what I want to become which is a band director some day," Coggen says.
Now a college junior, Stacie's received a scholarship from AAUW for three years in a row, totaling around $2,800.
For the first time, she's helping at the event that helped send her to school.
"It's really weird that all these people around that give to the raffle and buy concessions here just pay for and help put into the scholarships that are given to many other people as well as myself," Stacie says.
Jane Ingersoll is one of those supporters.
She enjoys seeing the art and how it changes each year.
"It's nice. You can do some Christmas shopping or gift shopping, and it's unusual. It isn't anything anybody back home can have," Jane says.
The AAUW is a national organization that advocates for women on all fronts.
In the La Crosse chapter, the art fair is one avenue taken to accomplish that mission.
"It makes their education much easier to pay for when they don't have to take out as many loans. It's harder for students to find jobs now. The students are very appreciative when they receive one of our scholarships," says Pat Staupe, art fair chair.
"If it wasn't for the scholarship, I don't know where I would be," Stacie says.
For the AAUW, the fair empowers women to succeed one work of art at a time.
Since 1958, Art Fair on the Green has provided more than $350,000 in scholarships to area students.
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