A lot of tennis fans now have 8-foot-tall souvenirs to remind them of the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Winston-Salem last weekend.

Because of that, Associated Artists of Winston-Salem and The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County will be sharing more than $10,000.

As part of the Davis Cup festivities, Associated Artists invited local artists and school children to turn 150 over-size tennis rackets made out of plywood into works of art to be displayed around Winston-Salem in the days leading up to the quarterfinals.

When it came time for the matches to begin, 88 rackets were taken to Joel Coliseum, where the Spanish and American teams competed, to be sold by silent auction.

People bought all 88. The highest price paid was $600 for Louise Pollard’s All the Dogs We’ve Loved Before. Around the head and handle, Pollard placed photographs that she took of 104 dogs. Some are dogs that she and her husband, Harold Pollard - who is a member of the Winston-Salem Organizing Committee - have owned over the years. Some belong to friends. Others are dogs she saw at the dog park at Washington Park or on the street and stopped to take a picture of.

"It was so much fun," Pollard said.

Thinking about how much dogs love to chase tennis balls gave her the idea, she said. She added a dog collar and custom-made giant dog tag to the racket’s handle.

Two rackets sold for $550 each - Tennis Star by Dennis Milsaps and Martha Harrington’s USA & Spain. A number of rackets, including ones by Gail Roberts and Sarah Simon, sold for $300 to $400.

Although many of the rackets are sticking around town, some are heading as far as California. Other new homes for the rackets include New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Kansas and Iowa.

"A lot of people said they were going to give them heavy coats of polyurethane and put them outside," said Sharon Nelson, Associated Artists’ executive director. So racket yard art will be springing up across the country.

Nelson asked Judi Russell, Milton Rhodes and Ramelle Pulitzer to pick out some of the rackets for special recognition in such categories as "Top Serve" and "Good Volley." Among the people given awards were Karen Niemczyk, Sarah Simon, Kathryn Hensley, Spencer Newberry, Jessica Spear, Charli Tedder, Hayden Tedder, Callan Ramirez, Phoebe Lewis, the art students at Glenn High School, students from Forsyth Country Day School, the Top Cats and Miss Bristow’s class at Forest Park Elementary School, students from Union Cross Elementary School, students from Wiley Middle School, members of the Pottery Shed Craft Club and the class at Donna Caulder’s Art Studio.

Twenty-five percent - about $2,500 - of the money raised will go to the Arts Council. Associated Artists will receive about $7,500.

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