After being hosted virtually because of COVID-19, the art department’s annual Holiday Art Auction will be held in person in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery on Friday, Nov. 11.

More than 100 donated works of art from students, faculty and the larger community will be on sale at the event. The evening will include a live auction, a silent auction and a table for $5 artworks.

Drinks will be served for guests 21 and over from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The live auction will begin at 7 p.m. All proceeds will fund student scholarships and the visiting artist program in the Department of Art and Design.

Amanda Kaler, an accounting clerk in the Art and Design offices, said the auction is a great experience for students.

“Even if their work isn’t in the live auction, they get very excited because typically the people that buy their work really, really, really love it,” Kaler said. “It’s good for students to see that even something they did as a skill-level exercise, someone thinks it really speaks to them.”

Because the event will be held in person, Art and Design administrative assistant Ann Flowers Gosser said she is trying to remind students about the fun of seeing their work in a live auction.

“It’s fun to see your work get bid on,” Flowers Gosser said. “I’ve had pieces as a student be in the live auction, so to see that was really exciting.”

Cintia Segovia Figueroa, assistant professor and this year’s featured artist, said the auction is a fun event that brings the community together.

“We don’t have an art world in Murray, Kentucky, so it’s an opportunity for them [students] to spread their wings and see what it would be like when they graduate,” Segovia Figueroa said.

Artists are encouraged to set their own market value based on their experience, the time taken to make the work and the materials used. Since students must submit artwork to access the scholarships the proceeds will fund, Segovia Figueroa said the event is an exercise in work ethic.

“Even if you can contribute with $5, that would go to scholarships,” Segovia Figueroa said. “It’s our biggest event of the year and our main funding other than what the University gives. We hope that we get a lot of good funds for the students.”

Segovia Figueroa specializes in photography. She said most of her work focuses on her identity as a person from Mexico living in the United States.

“For people in the States, I don’t look Mexican enough, and for people in Mexico, I have an accent now,” Segovia Figueroa said. “I live in this space in between.”

She said the two countries are often merged in her imagination, which shows in her work.

“I also like to talk about inequality in Mexico and in the U.S. because it is very related,” Segovia Figueroa said. “We have the same problems on both sides, and we are both sides on one coin.”

In her series that will be sold at the auction, Segovia Figueroa said she wanted to focus on beauty.

“I started this series in 2020 during the pandemic, when I did not have access to a printer anymore,” Segovia Figueroa said. “We were in lockdown in Los Angeles, so I wanted to focus on things that actually made me happy and did not make me think about how dark and uncertain the world felt.”

Though the series will be auctioned as individual pieces, Segovia Figueroa said the works could also go together. One piece, a collage made using oil pastels, was inspired by María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, the first Indigenous Mexican woman to run for Mexico’s presidency.

“She, as an Indigenous person, was not associated with any of the political parties because she was tired of the corruption,” Segovia Figueroa said. “She was tired of seeing her country being in poverty and for Indigenous people to be set aside all the time, basically. We have a lot of racism in Mexico toward Indigenous people.”

Since Indigenous groups are typically skeptical about the political system, Segovia Figueroa said it was “unheard of” that Patricio garnered significant support.

“As an independent candidate, for her to have the backup of other groups was amazing,” Segovia Figueroa said. “For her to become legally a presidential candidate, she needed to collect signatures electronically. There is no Internet in some areas, especially where people like her come from.”

Though Patricio was unable to collect enough signatures, Segovia Figueroa wanted to pay homage to the candidate in her work.

“We need more action,” Segovia Figueroa said. “That’s why I love this piece more than the others.”

The Clara M. Eagle Gallery, where the Annual Holiday Art Auction will take place, is on the sixth floor of the Price Doyle Fine Arts Building. For more information about the event, call 270-809-3784.