January 17, 2003

Harness Tracks of America, which has provided the harness racing industry with its primary source of quality, specialized art for more than a quarter of a century, is expanding the service with a worldwide HTA Online Art Gallery, opening Monday, January 27.

Like HTA’s annual art auction at the Red Mile in Lexington, the Online Art Gallery will be operated for the benefit of HTA’s College Scholarship Program, and will feature many of the artists whose work has become popular during the 27 years of the HTA auction. Initial offerings on view when the Gallery opens will include works by the superb horse and farm scene painter David Pavlak; watercolorist Susan Dorazio; sculptor Gerald Wempner; colorful oils by Nancy Glover; and the extremely popular paintings of Russian artist Svetlana Gadjieva. Work by HTA’s star Polish artist Zenon Aniszewski and the internationally known sculptress Lisa Perry are expected to be added shortly.

The Gallery, online at www.harnesstracks.com, will include oils, watercolors, bronzes, woodcarvings, papercuts and other media, and will be sold by HTA as agent for its artists and shipped immediately on purchase by UPS from HTA’s Tucson, Arizona, headquarters. All paintings will be sold and shipped unframed, giving the buyer the opportunity to choose frame color, style and matting. Unlike the HTA art auction, each piece will carry a price set by the artist.

Stan Bergstein, HTA’s executive vice president who introduced the association’s art auction in 1976 and has served as its auctioneer since that time, said the Online Gallery represents a major expansion of the art program.

"The Lexington auction has provided good harness racing art to hundreds of buyers over the years, but we expect that the Online Gallery will greatly widen the base of patronage, and will enable us to continue our $50,000 a year college scholarship assistance to outstanding students from harness racing families everywhere."

Present plans call for HTA’s Lexington Red Mile auction to continue during the Grand Circuit meeting and yearling sales in the fall, with the Online Gallery as a year-round adjunct marketplace.

To access the HTA Online Art Gallery from Jan. 27 on, simply go to www.harnesstracks.com and select the Art Gallery prompt. New work will be added continuously and removed from the gallery as it is sold. Procedures for purchasing will be included on the Web site,and inquiries concerning the artwork and Online Gallery can be e-mailed to info@harnesstrcks.com, or sent by mail to HTA, 4640 E. Sunrise Drive, Suite 200, Tucson, AZ 85718, phone 520-529-2525, fax 520-529-3235.