Size: 10" x 15"
Medium: Pen, ink, markers
Artist: Gary Dumm
Inspired by: "My Cat is Fat" by Gabriela from Buhrer Dual Language Academy
Suggested Value: $300.00

"I like cats and thought the poem was fun & funny!"

Gary Dumm has loved cartoons and comics ever since he was a child. His mom taught him to read using comics as well as books.

And he learned that he could get attention from other kids in grade school by showing them his drawings. Later, in high school, he found that was also a way to draw attention from girls. The practice of drawing is who he is.

Combining words with pictures is a challenging but fun way to make a living. He has worked with a lot of talented writers, especially Harvey Pekar on his autobiographical comic series "American Splendor" and Scott MacGregor on our graphic novel "Fire On The Water." They've inspired him to hone his craft every day.

Telling a story with art is what he aims to do with every image he has created. More recently he has worked with his wife Laura on their series of large and colorful environmental and socio-political paintings. But he will forever continue to work on comics in glorious black-and-white.

Size: 20" x 20"
Medium: Acrylic
Artist: George Kocar
Inspired by: "My Cat is Fat" by Gabriela from Buhrer Dual Language Academy
Suggested Value: $500.00

"My wife and I have always had cats and are amazed by their different personalities. A few of our cats were fat."

George Kocar is a Bay Village resident. As well as being an artist and illustrator he was a adjunct faculty member of Ashland University. George has had over fifty solo shows. He has exhibited his work in over five hundred group shows across the United States, most notably numerous Butler Mid-year Shows in Youngstown, Ohio, and The Cleveland Museum of Art May Show. He has won numerous awards including a Jurors Award at the Butler Institute of Art in 1985 and 1998, and Best of Show at the Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus, Ohio in 1998. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art.
His illustrations have graced the pages of numerous newspapers and magazines including, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Esquire, Playboy, GQ, The New York Times and the Washington Post. His work has been included in several annuals, including AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION 2 and 3, and OUTSTANDING ILLUSTRATORS TODAY 2.

Size: 16" x 20"
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Artist: Laura Dumm
Inspired by: "Pet Adoption" by Robinson G. Jones 3rd - 5th grade Team
Suggested Value: $400.00

"I do art to make a difference and after a 4-year rest from painting, I was drawn to this fundraiser for kids! I also am a big pet lover with 7 rescued cats so it seemed like a message I wanted to do a painting for."

Self-taught, Laura has always been interested in art and making art. She married cartoonist/artist Gary Dumm in 1971. In 1986, after working for various publications, she made the decision to become a freelance graphic artist/illustrator.

As well as doing her own work she has collaborated with her husband, coloring his black & white cartoons and working with him on numerous comics, graphic novels, and books.

Now retired, and a full-time painter, she's used drawings by Gary to create a series of paintings dealing with social and environmental issues such as greed, GMO's, pollution, AI, climate change etc. done in a Pop-Art Surrealistic style.