​​The Beloit Art Center is excited to announce the 2022 FISH FRENZY FUNDRAISER to benefit the Beloit area community! Community members are invited to show their creativity and decorate a fish with their choice of materials and donate it to the Beloit Art Center. The decorated fish will be auctioned, and the proceeds will be used to offer free art classes at the Beloit Art Center for those in our community that are undergoing cancer treatment.

Cancer survivor and FISH Project Coordinator Nancy Mayhew explains the motivation behind the fundraising event. “Creating art gives us more than what one might expect.  It keeps us in the moment, gives us happiness, and reduces negative emotions like worry, stress, anxiety, and fear. In 2012, while she was undergoing cancer treatment, I taught my sister how to make garden mosaics.  I saw the joy it brought her and how, for a while she was able to forget about her worries and fears. In 2018 it was my turn to go through cancer treatment.  I turned to my art to get me through.  I was able to let go of all the negative emotions that accompany cancer diagnosis and treatment, and I felt that even if I did not survive, there would be something of me left in this world. The Fish Fundraising Project came out of my knowing the difference creating art can make for a cancer patient.”

For members of the community that would like to create and donate art to help raise funds, the blank 24 inch wood fish cutouts can be purchased for $15 and are available at the Beloit Art Center, The Villager Gallery, and Walnut Creek Awards & Promotions. Be sure to get your fish soon because there are only 50 available and they are going fast! The completed fish should be delivered to the Beloit Art Center. Deadline to submit the fish artwork is the May 14th.

The FISH can be decorated in any manner an individual chooses, but for individuals that would like to decorate their fish using mosaic art, a Free Demonstration Mosaic Fish Class will be held by mosaic instructor Nancy Mayhew. The demonstration will be on Saturday, April 9th at 10:00 at the Beloit Art Center. Students who attend the demonstration will be given written instructions for completing their fish using mosaic art. Suggested materials include paint, costume jewelry, shells, sea glass, metal, stained glass, broken china, or similar materials. For those interested in a class setting to complete their mosaic fish, the art center offers Mosaic Art Classes on Tuesday mornings from 10:00-12:00 at the Beloit Art Center; class cost is $20.
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The fish will be mounted and displayed in the gardens across from the First National Bank and in multiple business windows throughout downtown Beloit starting June 1. To support the project, bid on each of your favorite fish. Beloit Auction & Realty, Inc. will be partnering with the Beloit Art Center to auction off the fish using their online auction platform. Community members will be able to help cancer patients and “win” their favorite fish by bidding online at the Beloit Auction website or using the Beloit Auction app.