NEW YORK, NY.- Storm King's 2012 Gala will pay tribute to artist Ursula von Rydingsvard, whose monumental cedar sculptures are on view at the Art Center and in collections and museums around the world, and distinguished philanthropist and long-time Storm King trustee Anne Sidamon-Eristoff.

Held at The Four Seasons Restaurant, the event will comprise a cocktail reception, dinner, and brief program saluting the honorees, and a live auction featuring works by Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, Alyson Shotz, Johnny Swing, and Stephen Talasnik, among others, as well as additional items to be announced. The auctioneer is David Redden, Vice Chairman and Worldwide Chairman of Books and Manuscripts, Sotheby's.

Some 300 guests drawn from the art, cultural, and philanthropic communities are anticipated, and all proceeds will benefit Storm King's exhibitions and programs.

HONOREES
Ms. von Rydingsvard's first major solo exhibition, which won an award from the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), was presented at Storm King twenty years ago. Included in that exhibition was For Paul, a large cedar sculpture that later became part of the Art Center's collection. In 2010, Storm King's representation of the artist's work was further enriched by Luba, a cedar-and-bronze work she made on the occasion of the Art Center's fiftieth-anniversary exhibition. Over the years, she has been the recipient of numerous other awards and grants, including two notable ones in 2011, when an acclaimed traveling exhibition of her work, organized by The Sculpture Center, in Long Island City, received an AICA Award, and she was awarded the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture.

Ms. Sidamon-Eristoff, along with her late husband Constantine, has been involved with Storm King for over three decades. A deeply committed philanthropist, she is additionally a trustee and chairwoman emerita of the American Museum of Natural History, director emerita of the World Wildlife Fund, and serves on the boards of the Black Rock Forest Consortium, God Bless America Foundation, and Highland Falls Public Library, among others.