1 - Travis and Tammie Kendle visit last year's Starlight Art Exhibit at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts. (Submitted)

2 - This painting by artist Stacy Urban titled "Pretty Llama" will be featured in the silent auction this Saturday during Starlight Art Show. (Submitted)

3 -  This painting by artist Christie Gardner titled "Flamingo Beach" will be featured in the silent auction this Saturday during Starlight Art Show. (Submitted)

New Philadelphia, Ohio - Starlight Enterprises is teaming back up with the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts to showcase the creative talents of area artists with disabilities.

Starlight Community Connections Manager Tracy Aubihl says they will be displaying the work of artists in their creative arts program this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at the center on Robinson Avenue in New Philadelphia. She says this is something they do every year to promote the arts and raise awareness in the community.  

"The goal is to show the community and actually have the participation from the community coming to a community event. And it’s a cultural art event so that just increases awareness of the local artists here at Starlight and their abilities and talent that some may not be aware of," she says.

Aubihl says all of the artists featured in their show will be putting their artwork up for sale the during the event, while two of them will have their paintings featured in the silent auctions that start at 1:30 and 3 pm.

"We’ll have a silent auction, two of those, with Christie Gardner will have one piece of artwork in that, and her painting is called 'Flamingo Beach' and Stacy Urban will have a piece that will be auctioned off called ‘Pretty Llama,’” she says.

Aubihl says the auctions will also be streamed live on the Starlight Enterprises Facebook page to give people who can’t make it to the event a chance to place a bid on those paintings.

"So what that does is that enables the public who are unable to attend the actual event at the Center for the Arts to participate via Facebook live. They can make a phone call or they can actually put the post, they can post on Facebook if they want to place a bid on that piece of art," she says.

Aubihl says the majority of the money raised during the event will go back to the artists, while a small portion will be used to help Starlight sustain its art program.

"It’ll go toward purchasing additional canvas, sketch pads, pencils, paint, just different media that they will be able to learn and utilize and develop and show self-expression with," she explains.

Center for the Arts Director Jeannine Kennedy says it’s an honor to be able to showcase the amazing talent of these artists.

"The energy and the thought and the vision that comes from artists at Starlight is truly amazing, so it’s wonderful to be able to present those works to the community in the gallery," she says.

Aubihl says anything that doesn’t get sold during the event will go back up on display at their Art of High studio and retail shop in on East High Avenue in New Philadelphia. 

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV