Jenny Grumbles Koziol is always looking for ways to share her passion for art with others. She spends much of her time searching for treasures to sell in her vintage home furnishing shop, Uptown Country Home, and her own impressionist paintings have been sold in galleries throughout the country.
On July 21, Koziol’s work will be featured alongside more than 30 local artists at Summer Colors, a silent art auction benefiting Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children’s mission of treating, researching, and pioneering pediatric orthopedic care.
Koziol and her husband, Loren, founded Summer Colors alongside Jill and Dupree Scovell in 2009 as a way to raise awareness about Scottish Rite Hospital and give local artists an opportunity to gain exposure. Since then, it has been a highly anticipated summer event for philanthropic and artistic Dallasites.
Local artists donate their stunning works to the cause, and attendees get to enjoy delicious hors d'oeuvre and cocktails while good-naturedly outbidding each other.
“We are blown away by the number of artists willing to create and give. And it's really spectacular to have repeat attendees and new friends of the hospital joining in on the fun every year,” Koziol says. “It definitely makes for a really great summer night.”
Some of the artists have an especially personal connection to the event. Desmond Blair, who was born without hands, first contributed one of his paintings to Summer Colors in 2011. It inspired the young man, who is now a project manager in the IT department at Scottish Rite Hospital, to become more serious about his art. Now attendees eagerly await his oil portraits each year.
“I am a big fan of [Desmond’s] work, and because he is a former patient, it makes it all more magical for me,” Koziol says. “Year after year he blows me away with what he comes up with.”
Since its founding eight years ago, Summer Colors has raised $66,000 for Scottish Rite Hospital.
“I think the growth is fantastic, and it shows just how big Dallas' heart is,” says Summer Colors chairwoman Nicole Morrow Davis. “I'm always moved by our community's belief in pulling together to support such a worthy cause.”
Event details:
Summer Colors — An Art Auction
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
Thursday, July 21, 6:30-8:30 pm
Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door
To purchase tickets: https://community.tsrhc.org/SummerColors
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children is one of the nation’s leading pediatric centers for the treatment of orthopedic conditions and sports injuries, as well as certain related arthritic and neurological disorders, and learning disorders, such as dyslexia. Patients receive treatment regardless of the family's ability to pay.
Now in its eighth year, Summer Colors 2016 will take place July 21.
