LAKEPORT – This Friday, artist Gail Salituri will preview artwork offered in a special fundraiser to benefit the effort to build a domestic violence shelter.

On April 1, Salituri began selling raffle tickets and taking bids in a silent auction for artwork offered as part of the Barbara LaForge Memorial Fund, as Lake County News reported in March.

Barbara LaForge was murdered in her frame shop in October of 2002. Salituri formed the memorial fund both to honor her friend and to benefit Lake Family Resource Center's domestic violence shelter fundraising campaign, which will receive all the proceeds from the fundraiser.

Salituri and businesswoman Kathy Fowler, a member of the Lake Family Resource Center board, will be at the Lake County Arts Council's First Friday Fling this week to show an original Salituri oil, “Lake County Hills Spring Bloom,” which will be offered in the silent auction. They'll also show a lithograph of watercolor artist John Clarke's painting, “Golden Gate,” which is offered in the raffle.

The First Friday Fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St.

The auction and raffle will end on June 1, said Salituri. On that date, Fowler will draw the winning raffle ticket at Salituri's Inspirations Gallery, 165 N. Main St.

Tickets for the raffle will be available at Inspirations Gallery, 165 N. Main St., Lakeport; Lake Family Resource Center, 896 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport; and the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce, 875 Lakeport Blvd.

Those interested in the fund also can visit Salituri's Web page, www.gailsalituri.com/Memorial.html.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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