On Friday night, at the end of a quiet street in this rainy town high up in the mountains, a party will be alive with bindis and bangles and saris, samosas, swirling images of goddesses and the sound of sitar music.

The Ah Haa School of Arts 16th Annual Auction this year is devoted to the country of Hindu deities and glitzy Bollywood stars, the Taj Mahal and fragrant curries, monkeys and wise, wrinkled yogis.

But as always, the auction, entitled “Passport to India,” will be much more than just an auction. It will be a colorful celebration of local art and the community art center where much of it is conceived. An important fundraiser. And a pretty fun party.

“I think we’re very lucky to have an arts center in this town,” said Jennifer Heflin, Ah Haa’s marketing director. “We need money to stay.”

Plus, she said, “it’s going to be so much fun.”

This year’s auction will take place under a big tent at the end of Townsend Street.
Doors open at 5 p.m., and the action really gets going with the live auction, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, and attendees are encouraged to come dressed in vivid, India-inspired garb.

The Ah Haa School was founded in 1990 by local bookmaker Daniel Tucker. Last year, the school made a big transition, moving into the turn-of-the-century depot building at 300 S. Townsend. Today, the beautiful old building is home to gallery space, a ceramics studio, indoor and outdoor classrooms, kitchen space and more.

The bustling school offers classes to people of all ages in painting and cooking, photography, jewelry-making, dancing, fiber-arts, wine pairing and more.

The Ah Haa Auction raises about a third of the annual operational budget for the Ah Haa School, Heflin said. The money helps pay for scholarships, visiting artists and teacher wages.

But aside from being a vital fundraiser, Heflin said, the event allows Ah Haa to show off the work of local artists and throw a fun party.

“It’s an opportunity to showcase Ah Haa and kind of what we can do,” she said. “We go above and beyond to make this fundraiser fun to go to.”

The event will feature more than 200 pieces of art as well as services, trips and other goodies in both a silent and live auction.

The silent auction has a huge amount of local art, like photography by Ben Knight, metal sculptures by Chuck Kroger, fabric art by Kathy Green and paintings by Roger Mason, Judy Kohin and Robert Weatherford.

Other silent auction items up for bid include tickets to all of Telluride’s major festivals, fine dining in Telluride, golf in Montrose, packages for car service, house maintenance and pet care, a Silverton Ski Weekend, and a one-week stay in Pauko on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The live auction will be hosted by the lively Suzan Beraza and Suzanne Cheavens. It features the art of 12 artists as well as seven special items.

“The lineup this year is amazing,” Heflin said as she looked over a Nicole Finger painting of African women dancing in blues and pinks.

There’s an immaculately-crafted wood and glass hanging mirror by local woodworker Matt Downer. A large, gauzy blown-glass vase with lush purple patterns by Andrew Martin. An black and white aerial photograph of Bear Creek by Bill Ellzey. And a painting of the Coffee Cowboy scene by this year’s Plein Art Quick Draw winner Meredith Nemirov.

There’s art by Geodele Fahnestock, Kent Harris, Julee Hutchison, Tim O’Brien, Robert Sandidge, Rob Schultheis and Anjali Sawant.

In addition, there’s a weekend trip in Denver, a gorgeous Azadi rug woven in Agra, India, a Taste of India catered dinner (Anjali Sawant will come to the lucky winner’s home to whip up samosas and her mom’s shrimp curry, lamb korma, sag pander and more), silk saris, a hand-made Indian tapestry and an Essence of India Package that includes spices and Bollywood movies, jewelry, slippers, incense and a 2009 Telluride Yoga Festival pass.

And all attendees can buy a $5 ticket for a chance to win a vintage Telluride rickshaw.
Heflin said this year’s theme came about after several staff members, instructors or friends of Ah Haa came back from the country with rich stories of experiences, places, food and more.

“The buzz was in the air,” she said.

And with art, food, decorations and music inspired by India, participants of the auction will have no problem identifying the theme, she said.

“We want to make people feel like they have actually been transported to India,” Heflin said.

The silent and live auction art may be previewed at www.ahhaa.org. Absentee bids for live auction items will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Friday. Download a bid form from the web site above.