DALLAS (February 28, 2008) – Spire Realty Group will showcase a student sculpture exhibit entitled “Scrap Can Be Beautiful” at Bryan Tower to welcome students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) back to the school’s original Arts District neighborhood. The sculptures will be on display from February 28 through April.

Students have been temporarily relocated to the Nolan Estes Plaza in the neighborhood of Oak Cliff while an extensive renovation and expansion of the downtown school takes place.

The “Scrap Can Be Beautiful” sculpture exhibit is the third in a series hosted by Spire Realty Group to raise more awareness among tenants and visitors about the variety and quality of the arts available downtown. As a building owner and downtown tenant, Spire Realty Group lends its support to help the Arts District continue thriving.

 “We are pleased to welcome our neighbor, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, to its newly renovated downtown campus and to honor the talented students with this special sculpture exhibit,” said Caleb S. Smith, president and owner of Spire Realty Group, L.P. “Spire Realty Group looks forward to the students’ and faculty’s return to the Arts District.” 

The “scrap” in the student artwork comes from Commercial Metals Company, headquartered in Irving, Texas. For the past 30 years Commercial Metals Company, a world-wide metals recycling, manufacturing and distribution company, has sponsored the metals sculpture class at BTWHSPVA.  At the beginning of each school year, metal is selected from CMC’s scrap metal recycling plants located in Dallas at no cost to the students. These pieces of scrap metal are sculpted by students to form creative works of art.  Each year over 50 pieces are selected for CMC’s annual “Scrap Can Be Beautiful” contest which coincides with the company’s annual meeting of stockholders.  The selected pieces are juried by a panel of qualified judges and cash prizes are awarded to eight outstanding students at the conclusion of CMC’s annual meeting.

As the Visual Arts Instructor at BTWHSPVA, Patsy Eldridge coordinates the "Scrap Can Be Beautiful" exhibit and contest with Commercial Metals Co. every year.  Because of this unique relationship between the school and CMC, many sculpture students have chosen to work with steel.  Patsy has been the sculpture instructor at Booker T. Washington for the past 22 years. With her guidance, the students have won noteworthy awards and exhibited work at various high profile venues in the Dallas and Austin area. She is also an adjunct instructor at North Lake Community College where she teaches ceramics and sculpture.

About Spire Realty Group, LP

Spire Realty Group, LP is a privately held real estate investment and management company. With properties in Houston, Dallas and Austin, the company owns and manages office, residential and retail projects, as well as surface parking lots and garages. An affiliated company in Eastern Europe, Spire Baltic, is one of the largest private real estate firms in Latvia. Spire has also recently expanded its investment and management services into India including commercial, residential and land. For more information, visit www.spirerealty.com. 

About Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is located in the Arts District of Downtown Dallas. The high school is the only arts magnet school in the  Dallas Independent School District and draws students from DISD‘s 66 different zip codes. In addition to a core academic program, clusters focus on dance, music, theatre and the visual arts.  With a highly motivated student body, the school has an outstanding record of academic and artistic success. 

 

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