FARMINGTON – A variety of art pieces will go on the block Friday when the Fairbanks School Neighborhood Association holds its first Fine Arts Auction.

The evening begins with a preview from 4 to 6 p.m. May 4 with refreshments, cash bar and music provided followed by the auction at 6 p.m. in the Bass Room at Franklin Memorial Hospital. Paul Mills will serve as auctioneer.

“We have 125 pieces of art to auction off,” said Cindy Kemble, an organizer of the event. The list of items from local artists is extensive and includes a Mitchell chair, a solid cherry sofa table, beaded work, a Windsor chair, prints, baskets, jewelry and fabric art, watercolors, burled wood bowls and goblets, pottery, sculpture, a quilted wall hanging, a three-piece tea set, photography and a couple collages where three photos are worked into one, she said.

The list continues with three old Sawyer prints, a couple mystery pieces of art that won’t be divulged until they are on the block, a gift certificate for a portrait seating and a signed child’s snowboard given by Seth Westcott.

“It’s just exciting and should be a fun night,” Kemble said. “The variety and pieces are wonderful.”

The event was planned by the association’s board and worked on by its Art Committee. Meredith Ranger supplied the idea from a sister in Ohio, Kemble said, where such events have been successful fundraisers.

Artists of all genres were invited to either donate or sell their work or both, she said. A reserve is placed on the piece, and if the artist is selling their piece they receive that amount but, of course, through the auction, the association will strive to obtain more than the reserve and they keep the profit. If a piece doesn’t sell, it’s returned to the artist, she said.

The event will benefit the association’s proposed commercial kitchen to be built at the Fairbanks School.

Tickets are available at Mickey’s Hallmark or Calico Patch or at the door.