Over $2,000 Raised for FAMILY HAVEN on Valentines Day 2009

Local artists Peg Asensio and Tom Kochheiser headline an auction of 50 hand-painted plates at tonight's Save Room for Dessert fundraiser for the Family Haven group home in Bay Village. Lakewood's Local Girl Gallery has teamed with the Lakewood Is Art coalition to round up 50 artists to paint designs on opaque dessert dishes that could fetch as much as $400 each on the auction block.

"The artists can showcase their plates as canvasses to display their styles of artwork," says gallery owner Linda Goik. "We didn't want this to be a Valentine's Day plate display as much as an all-year-long expression of art." During the auction, bidders can also sample cakes, pies and pastries by local bakeries and restaurants. But the stars of the show will be the plates. "I don't know what they look like until the day before the auction, so I'm just as surprised as everybody," says Goik. "But when you look at them as a whole art installation and collection, it's a beautiful sight." Please insert your text here.