Sharon Arts is raffling an original Aponovich still life – A limited-edition giclée print comes with each raffle ticket.

Peterborough, NH – - - In conjunction with the current exhibition An Artists’ Circle (which opened on July 9th) Sharon Arts is offering an opportunity for a lucky person to own an original Aponovich oil painting, with a market value of $25,000, through a raffle drawing. Raffle tickets are available for purchase now through August 27th at the Sharon Arts Downtown Galleries. A limited-edition giclée print of the painting being raffled comes with each ticket purchased. The original oil painting is entitled “Panicale, Umbria: Basket of Fruit,” and measures 20”H x 16”W.

Only 250 tickets and prints will be available, at a price of $200 each (the prints themselves are valued at $700). All prints will be signed, dated, and numbered, and James Aponovich will be available at the Exhibition Gallery to personalize prints on several occasions during the exhibition, which runs from now through August 27th (please contact the Gallery for more information on when the artist will be available).

James Aponovich is a New Hampshire artist whose work has been exhibited nationally since the late 1970s. Aponovich specializes in idealized still life with landscaped backgrounds often inspired by Italy; his work is noted for its geometry, proportion, composition and light-filled atmosphere. An accomplished figure painter and portraitist, Aponovich turned to still life painting in the early 1980s after intensive study of Chinese landscape painting.

With a major retrospective at the Currier Museum of Art in 2005, Aponovich’s paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the Currier; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago Art Institute, and the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, among others. He served as the New Hampshire State Artist Laureate from 2006 to 2010.

Tickets and prints are available at the Sharon Arts Fine Craft Store and Gallery, and will be on sale through the Closing Reception held at the Exhibition Gallery on August 27th (5 – 7 pm), when the winning raffle ticket will be drawn, or until they are gone. For more information, please contact the Sharon Arts Fine Craft Store and Gallery at 924-2787. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Sharon Arts Center. For more information on An Artists’ Circle exhibition and related events, visit sharonarts.org or call 603.924.7676.

Tickets are also available by phone,(603)924-7676, mail, or even through the Currier Museum of Art’s Gift Shop in Manchester, NH.

(In addition to the print, Sharon Arts is able to offer, via J. E. Simpson Picture Framer, 20% off any *complete* custom frame (mat, mount, glazing, frame, fit) job, only on orders placed between September 20 – November 20, 2010.)

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About Sharon Arts

The mission of Sharon Arts Center, a non-profit organization, is to support and serve artists and craftspeople, to engage the community in the artistic process, and to foster the relationship between artists and the community through education, exhibitions, the promotion and sale of art and craft, as well as through special programs and events. The Downtown Galleries in Depot Square (Fine Craft Gallery & Store, Juried Artist Gallery and Exhibition Gallery) are open Sunday, 12-5 pm; Monday –Wednesday, 10am-6pm; Thursday – Friday, 10am-7pm; Saturday 10am-6pm (The Exhibition Gallery is open year round). The Sharon Arts School of Art & Craft in Sharon, NH, offers a wide variety of art classes and programs. The School offices are open Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm.

Sharon Arts Center is sponsored in part by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Charitable Foundation, and art lovers like you!