Platter by Clara Wainwright

Fancy benefits often include fancy hors d’oeuvres served on platters, but at the Spirit Awards Benefit honoring Clara Wainwright and Gideon Weisz, the platters are too beautiful to hide under cheese puffs and crab cakes. These platters are hand-painted by prominent Boston artists, and they are for sale online before the benefit or by silent auction during the event. Local artists were eager to take up their brushes to support Maud Morgan Arts, a community icon providing classes and workshops for artists of all ages, and the results are dazzling.

Several platters reinterpret the tradition of blue and white ceramics, evoking the recent MFA exhibition “New Blue and White” featuring variations on the ancient practice of decorating white clay with cobalt. Randal Thurston paints deep blue flowers, but instead of adorning the edges, the foliage springs from a central blue globule. Raul Gonzalez depicts an insect in a sombrero standing before a cactus, inviting layers of analysis. Gerry Bergstein sets white figures on a blue background, allowing spots of blue to shine through small holes in the amorphous white shapes, and Sophia Janowitz covers her angular blue lines with a pale green tint. Water is another popular motif: Both Heddi Siebel and Sara Wainwright fill their platters with fish; Mags Harries’ platter suggests a streambed with rocks and splashes of blue; Wendy Prellwitz hints at the pinks and yellows of sunrise over the ocean; and Joel Janowitz gives us a view from a bridge staring down into the shadows of a river.

Platter by Mags Harries

When the platters are displayed for the silent auction, the room will feel like a gallery exhibiting a who’s who in Boston’s art scene; in addition to the above-mentioned artists, Gail Boyajian, Mark Cooper, Julie Graham, Peter DeCamp Haines, Jill Hoy, Jon Imber, Boriana Kantcheva, Anne Lilly, Todd McKie, and Christopher Pullman all painted platters for the Spirit Awards. Even Spirit Awards Honoree Clara Wainwright contributes a whimsical aardvark whose body curves to fit between the three corners of the platter.

Platters will be available for purchase online starting August 13 at www.maudmorganarts.org.

Remaining platters will be available by silent auction at the Spirit Awards Benefit honoring Clara Wainwright and Gideon Weisz on Sunday, September 22, from 7:00-9:00 pm. Proceeds from the platter sales benefit the Maud Morgan Arts Scholarship Fund.