
A Celebration of the Career of International Artist Shelly Rasche
Join us in celebrating the remarkable career of internationally-published commercial artist Shelly Rasche this summer, July 29-August 14.
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Shelly's warm, whimsical artwork has been published worldwide on hundreds of commercial products, from greeting cards, yard flags, and puzzles to Bounty paper towels, children's books, fabric, and religious giftware. When the movie "The Grinch" was released in 2000 , Shelly was the artist who was hired to design hundreds of different gift items sold nationwide in mass market chains (such as Walmart, K-Mart, Walgreens, etc.).
There is much more to learn about her remarkable 38 years quietly creating artwork for the world from her studio in the Midwest. This special celebration will feature:
• A comprehensive lifetime display of Shelly's paintings, drawings, and pottery, along with “Stories from behind the scenes.” FREE admission. See daily Celebration Schedule below.
• A rare opportunity to purchase Shelly's original artwork, as well as product samples (figurines, greeting cards, children's books, yard flags, counted cross stitch kits, etc.). These were sample products sent to Shelly as a courtesy by the companies who created their products using her designs.
• A Silent Auction of some of Shelly’s unique items to create a "Shelly Rasche Scholarship" for area art students. Those items are seen below. *** (Bids shown online may not be most recent. See auction rules below.)
• Several rare opportunities to tour the Rasche residence at Windsong Acres, which Jeff calls "Shelly's work of art." (All voluntary donations at the door benefit the "Shelly Rasche Scholarship.")
• Saturday night Candlelit dinners with a special program by advance reservation (now sold out--waiting list available).


* Current bid: $200 (Claire C.)
Silent Auction Item #1
Deluxe 109-page book, "Shelly Rasche Artist, Our Journey Behind the Scenes"
This beautiful hardbound book with lay flat deluxe pages features hundreds of photos of Shelly's artwork through the years along with the stories "behind the scenes" written by Jeff. A limited number of smaller "economy" versions will be available at the show, but this is Shutterfly's largest and thickest book (11" x 14" and over 1" thick). At a cost of more than $250, only family members currently have copies, but this special keepsake is now offered to the highest bidder!
Silent Auction Item #2: "Love is the Spirit of Christmas" Blanket & matching small pillow
We love this beautiful and warm Christmas blanket as well as the message on it! We only received two product samples from the company of this blanket! So, we are keeping the one pictured, and putting the one that is still in the original plastic packaging up for auction. Now a rare item...if you win this, we hope you will use it to keep you and your loved ones warm during the winter months!

* Current bid: $500 (Carol L.)

Silent Auction Item #3:
Canvas Print of Shelly's "Love Cats"
This is a large canvas print (21" x 28"), wrapped around a wood frame about 1 1/2" deep, featuring one of Shelly's more popular designs, and currently sold on Walmart.com. So, yes, you could buy this same item there...or you can bid on it here, which also helps us "pay it forward" by creating a scholarship for local students! To make this a little more unique, Shelly will add her initials under the artist's signature upon the auction winner's request.
* Current bid: $100 (Hutter)
Silent Auction #4: "Peace Angel" Counted Cross-Stitch Kit
This is Shelly's most recently-received product sample. It is fascinating that this counted cross stitch kit featuring Shelly's "Peace Angel" design comes from a London company, and is manufactured in Moldova (a small country that is now free, but was once part of the former Soviet Union). Marketed in both the United State and Europe, the directions for this product are written in both Russian and English! (Shelly's name appears on the cover in English!) Anyway, let's hope this "Peace Angel" works her charms in the hearts and minds of everyone around the world...the kit comes with 32 colors of thread and the finished piece will be approximately 9" x 11". If you win this, please send us a photo when you complete the project!
* Current bid: $100 (Laurie S.)

Silent Auction Item #5:
Framed "Barncats" Print
Shelly's "Barncats" was originally designed for a puzzle company in Vermont who asked her to create a "find a cat" type of puzzle. It sports more cats than you can count, and all of them are having a great time in this fun, whimsical piece that may be Shelly's illustrative masterpiece. Professionally framed and original size, the frame dimensions are 25" x 29".
* Current bid: $500 (Becky P.)


Silent Auction Item #6:
Danbury Mint Cardinals Santa
This is a rare collectible figurine approximately 9" tall. Shelly designed the Santa Claus (and a matching Mrs. Claus that is not part of this listing). Then Danbury mint dressed her Santa in all the different professional baseball and football team uniforms and marketed them across the nation.
* Current bid: $350 (Claire C.)

Silent Auction Item #7:
Danbury Mint Cubs Santa
This is a rare collectible figurine approximately 9" tall. Shelly designed the Santa Claus (and a matching Mrs. Claus that is not part of this listing). Then Danbury mint dressed her Santa in all the different professional baseball and football team uniforms and marketed them across the nation.
* Current bid: $325 (Becky P.)

Silent Auction Item #8:
Rare Grinch Color Sketch plus Five Grinch Ornaments
When the movie "The Grinch" starring Jim Carrey was released, Shelly had the exciting opportunity to design all of the Grinch merchandise for the mass market (Walmart, K-Mart, Costco, Walgreens, etc.). She generated over 1000 designs in less than 8 months, and more than 300 of them eventually became Grinch merchandise, from key chains to elaborate water globes like the one in this color sketch. This set of five ornaments goes with it...all designed by Shelly, and all yours if you are the high bidder for this rare opportunity!
* Current bid: $100 (Perry C.)

Silent Auction Item #9:
Barncats Puzzle
The "Barncats" design is one of the most fun, detailed pieces of Shelly's freelance career. It was originally designed for Stave Puzzles in Vermont, which creates extremely expensive wooden puzzles, each piece cut out by craftsmen, for as much as $10,000 for a 1000 piece puzzle. So we don't have one of those! BUT, we were able to get a typical cardboard puzzle made at Shutterfly for this auction! This one has 520 pieces. Just think of the hours of fun (and frustration!) you could have if you just win this item! :-)
* Current bid: $175 (Becky P.)

Silent Auction Item #10:
Story of Windsong Acres Book
This is a hardbound Shutterfly book filled with photos and stories about the renovation of the barns and house, as well as the documenting the process of building of the Gazebo and ponds. Beautiful photos; great keepsake for couples who get married here!
* Current bid: $100 (Claire C.)
SILENT AUCTION RULES AND HOW TO BID
* All proceeds of this silent auction will be used for a "Shelly Rasche Scholarship" fund which will be awarded to area college-bound students with a preference but not limited to students planning to go into the arts. All funds will be administered by the Panther Pride Foundation according to their rules and procedures.
1. Only written bids submitted between July 29th at 8:00 a.m. and August 13th at midnight will be considered.
2. A valid written bid can be submitted in one of three ways: 1) written at the Windsong Acres show on the official bid sheet or 2) emailed to JeffR@adams.net or 3) sent by text message to 217-257-9940.
3. A valid bid must indicate the item number or a clear description of which item you are bidding on.
4. A valid bid must indicate the dollar amount you are offering for the item, and the date/time you are placing the bid.
5. A valid bid must indicate the name and contact info for the person offering the bid. (This information will not be put on the Internet without your consent.)
6. A bidder may increase their offer at any time with a new bid. However, if a bidder wishes to decrease or withdraw their bid, the next highest bidder may be given first option to purchase the item.
7. The person with the highest valid bid at midnight on August 13 will be considered the winner of that item, and will be contacted on Sunday, August 14th. We will not attempt to contact those whose bids were unsuccessful, but we will be glad to answer questions after the auction.
8. In the event that two or more people have offered the same amount for an item by midnight on August 13, the person who placed their bid first will be considered the winner of the auction (thus the importance of indicating when you place your bid).
9. In the event of items that fall significantly short of the value of an item, or in the case of any other dispute or question, the Rasches reserve the right to make a final determination as to the winner, or to offer another item as they see fit, or withdraw an item from the auction without a winner at their sole discretion.
10. The latest bid amounts for each item indicated on this page will be periodically updated between July 29-August 13, but we cannot guarantee that the latest bid shown is in fact the highest bid offered. For specific questions during the sale, please email JeffR@adams.net or text 217-257-9940 (please include your name if you text).
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