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Friday, September 25, 2009

Chris Cooley Art Show

UPDATE: THE SHOW HAS BEEN CHANGED TO NOV 30TH

Chris Cooley made a profound educational investment of both his time and money in 2008 by launching the Chris Cooley Education Fund. Through this fun, Cooley visited eight area high schools in a span of three days to speak to the student body about the importance of education in both his and their lives. At each school, Cooley made a $5,000.00 donation to the school’s academic programs and announced the establishment of the college scholarships through the Chris Cooley Scholarship Fund. The college scholarships provided eight high-potential, low-income high school seniors (one from each school Cooley visited) with a $25,000.00 college scholarship.

As a result of the Chris Cooley Scholarship Fund, eight students now have the opportunity to attend college and pursue a future that may not have otherwise been possible. Now, as a direct result of the Chris Cooley Art Show, even more students will have the opportunity to receive a college scholarship and a chance to create their future.

The Art Show will feature nearly 50 pieces of art, most of which have been created by Washington Redskins All-Pro Tight End Chris Cooley himself. In addition, the art show will showcase works of art by local artists including area high school students, some of which may one day be the beneficiary of a Chris Cooley Scholarship Fund.

The evening will run from approximately 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm and will feature great works of art in combination with heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. The event will allow local art enthusiasts as well as football fans the opportunity to bid on one-of-a-kind works of art as well as mingle with a variety of Washington Redskins players and gain insight into both the athletic and artistic endeavors of their favorite players.

All proceeds from the Chris Cooley Art Show will benefit the Chris Cooley Education Fund, which provides $25,000.00 college scholarships to high-potential, low-income students in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Location:
Ritz-CarltonTysons Corner
Old Dominion Room
1700 Tysons Boulevard
McLean, VA 22102

Cost:
$300.00/ticket (VIP reception)
$100.00/ticket (general admission)

Please print off the registration form, fill it out, and mail/fax it back to the address/fax on the bottom of the form. If you are paying by check, please include the check with your registration form. The purchase of these tickets is tax deductible.

October 20th Art Show

UPDATE: THE SHOW HAS BEEN CHANGED TO NOV 30TH

Finally, I have gotten enough balls to show my stuff and have combined that with the right people to put together a Chris Cooley art show. Over the last six months I have been spending a lot of my spare time to painting, drawing and throwing pots. The collection in my house is now over 15 finished paintings and somewhere between two and three hundred clay pots. I also have about 25 different sketches I will put out. I have now become Serious Sam about this project, I mean, I'm talking about my own hard wired kiln in the back of my house serious.To backtrack about a couple things - this spring I spent a couple weeks visiting schools speaking on behalf of education. I discussed with high school kids the importance of an education and what it has meant in my life. I then donated 5,000 dollars to eight different schools as well as eight 25,000 dollar scholarships to seniors attending those schools. This is a project that I really enjoyed and would love to continue in the future, but it takes a large amount of money. Thus the art show.

Now, I don't want art to jump out as something completely off the wall so I will briefly explain. I could have put together a golf tournament or luncheon, but how unoriginal would that be? And damn if I want to do something lame for charity, so I figured art would be awesome. I was an art major in college and I thought doing something I love and am interested would be so much more real for the public.

Every single dollar raised from selling my art will be donated to back to the Redskins Charitable Foundation, subsequently going into my education fund and scholarships to underprivileged kids. The event will be Oct. 20th which is a Tuesday night. We will begin to sell tickets on my site as well as the Redskins site sometime this week at 100 dollars a ticket. The night will include hanging out with my friends at the Ritz in Tysons Corner, eating and drinking all night for free and hopefully taking home some of my art. We will also have an auction run by the players for autographed items. This really means a lot to me so please help out.

Also, I would really like to thank the Ritz Carlton. They have been unbelievably accommodating and completely cut the charge of the room. The only cost is an 8,000 dollar charge for food and drink. (Again, if you buy the 100 dollar ticket it's open bar.) If any business would like to partner with us on this and sponsor some or all of this cost we would really appreciate it. Please contact us through our email. (cooleyfans@gmail.com)