Students in art classes at Museo on the Plateau have been hard at work all year, learning about other artists and new techniques, dreaming and creating.

Tonight is the year-end exhibition for all the classes from preschool level to adult, and organizers decided to use an art auction format to benefit the charity “Art With Heart.”

Each student was asked to select one piece to display, and groups of students also created special projects that will be auctioned off. Students will also be dressed up as “art stars.”

“The art show is not only an opportunity for us to acknowledge all the hard work our students have done, but also a time to celebrate,” said owner and director Marci Knutsen, a Sammamish resident.

Museo started out as a mobile business called Plateau Academy of Fine Art, which was made up of a team of instructors who would travel to various locations and hold workshops and classes. About a year and a half ago, Knutsen opened the Museo location in the Klahanie Center. The business now offers classes, workshops, art supplies, parties, and also hosts a gallery that features local artists who are rotated out every other month.

“It’s a great source of inspiration for the students,” Knutsen said.

Student Christy Oh said she loves the classes because the instructors teach in a manner that’s easy to understand and “treat them like their own kids.”

“The art projects are fun, very fun,” Christy wrote in an e-mail. “I have learned a lot of art techniques, so I am very happy.”

In addition to displaying student artwork and the pieces up for auction, tonight’s event also will include “creation stations” set up throughout the studio where anyone who attends can work on a painting, sculpt something or create a piece of art.

All of the evening’s proceeds will benefit Art With Heart, a nonprofit based in Seattle that helps children facing illness or trauma through therapeutic books and “artistic healing programs,” according to their Web site.

“It’s evolved into this great organization,” Knutsen said. “We’re really, really excited to support them.”

The auction is from 6 to 8 p.m. at Museo, 4550 Klahanie Drive S.E.

Wendy Giroux can be reached at wgiroux@reporternewspapers.com or 391-0363, ext. 5050.