Avery in the News

James Avery Hosts BGCA National Fine Art Exhibit "Best in Show" Winners

KERRVILLE, TEXAS--(August 10, 2010)—On Friday, August 6th, James Avery, national sponsor of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) 2010 National Fine Arts Exhibit, hosted a creative tour for the three “best in show” finalists at the James Avery campus in Kerrville.  The creative tour took each finalist and a chaperone through James Avery’s in-house jewelry design studios, graphics department, woodwork shop, and architectural area.  James Avery hosted a lunch for the National Fine Arts Exhibit winners at Rails, where an Engraved Sterling Silver Bookmark with an Artist Palette charm was presented to each winner along with a James Avery gift card to commemorate their achievement and their trip to the Texas Hill Country.

Although 37 art pieces were chosen out of thousands of entries to tour the nation for the 2010 exhibit, three “best in show” finalists were selected to travel to Kerrville to tour the James Avery campus to experience creativity and art in real-life careers.  The “best in show” finalists in attendance were: Alison Sunklad, age 15 of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan; Andrea Grantham, age 13, USAG Hohenfels Youth Center in Germany; and Dylan Kantsevowsky, age 17, Boys & Girls Clubs of Venice, California.  Executive Vice President Paul Avery and members from the marketing, graphics and design teams were also present.

Paul Avery comments: “It was a pleasure spending the day with these young artists and seeing how the BGCA has positively influenced their lives.  We are proud to support the National Fine Arts Exhibit and the enrichment that it has brought to so many youth across the nation.”

As the sponsor of this nationwide program, James Avery helped to promote creativity and art within 1,500 participating Clubs and to approximately 70,000 young adults across the United States.  Participants in this program submitted artwork from four age divisions and 10 mediums which went through a series of local, regional and national judging and exhibitions, resting finally in a virtual gallery on BGCA’s public Web site.  The national judging was held in Atlanta, Georgia this past June where Mitch Mikeska, James Avery’s VP of Design, was on the panel of judges for the national competition.  For more information about James Avery’s involvement in Boys & Girls Clubs of America, please visit www.jamesavery.com/bgca.

About James Avery

Established in 1954, James Avery is a family-owned jeweler that offers high quality, hand-crafted jewelry in sterling silver, gold and gemstones.  From a one man endeavor in his mother-in-law’s garage, James Avery has grown into a team of 1,400 designers, craftsmen, sales associates and support staff offering unique designs to customers throughout the nation.  James Avery maintains over 1,000 designs in the active product line.  Each design is originated by skilled men and women in the James Avery design studio and then finely crafted and produced by artisans predominantly in the Texas Hill Country.  James Avery currently operates a total of 56 stores across Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.  James Avery jewelry is available at retail stores and online at www.jamesavery.com.