Celebrities to auction off artwork

Alex Coolman

The fiery reds and summery yellows of Southwest art are lighting up

Newport Dunes today as a fund-raising event for foster children brings a

bit of New Mexico to the edge of the ocean.

Today’s art auction, to benefit Taos-based Child-Rite, Inc., a nonprofit

agency that strives to find foster homes for special needs children, will

feature work from more than 100 Southwest artists, said Ruth Lathrop,

executive director for the organization.

The exhibits, from artists like Miguel Martinez, John Crosby and R.C.

Gorman, will be available for purchase, with prices ranging from the

relatively accessible -- around $100 -- to the more consequential.

Several of the works sport five-digit price tags.

A few celebrities are expected to show up at the auction, including

Kelsey Grammer and Jane Leeves (Frasier and Daphne of the television show

‘Frasier’), Rodney Grant (‘Dances With Wolves’), and Leeza Gibbons of

‘Leeza.’

Lathrop said the event is crucial for Child-Rite because it provides a

significant part of the organization’s operating budget.

‘We don’t charge any fees to our [adoptive] families, so we depend on

fund-raising,’ she said. Proceeds from the auction make up what she

called ‘a good chunk of our budget.’

The auction had previously been held in Taos, but has been moving around

in recent years in search of an audience sufficiently art-friendly to

make the event successful. An invitation from Honorary Event Chairman and

Newport Beach Councilwoman Jan Debay brought the auction here this year.

Lathrop is pleased about the move.

‘This is an area where people would be really interested,’ she said.

‘There’s a population base that’s interested in art and would be

financially able to buy it.’

The auction is tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at Newport Dunes Resort, 1131

Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach. For more information call (800) 279-0879.