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It’s not unusual for a museum that caters to children to add 65 little chairs to its furnishings. But these new rocking chairs at the Maine Discovery Museum aren’t for children to sit on. Well, at least not yet.
Instead, these 65 rockers, which have been created by artists throughout Maine, will go up for bid at “Sitting Pretty,” the museum’s benefit gala dinner auction on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Chateau Ballroom of Norumbega Hall in downtown Bangor.
The chairs will be divided between a silent auction (accompanied by hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar) set for 5 p.m. and a live auction planned for 8 p.m. (Those wishing to attend the live auction are asked to make a $15 donation. Those who aren’t present for either auction can submit absentee bids at the museum’s Web site, www.mainediscoverymuseum.org.)
At 6:30 p.m. is dinner supplied by Montes International Catering, which costs $35. On the menu is mixed greens topped with roasted vegetables and dressing, homemade corn bread and whipped butter, vegetable-stuffed chicken breast with sage cream sauce or baked salmon with honey Dijon sauce, wild rice blend, fresh vegetable medley with herb butter sauce and tea cookies and chocolates. (Reservations must be made by Friday, Nov. 7.)
Why rocking chairs? It just seemed right, according to Susan Carlisle, who headed up the gala organizing committee (or chairwoman, if you will).
“We were looking at something like the cows in Chicago or the bears in Belfast,” Carlisle recalled. “The idea of a piece of children’s furniture came up. Then the idea of rocking chairs just struck a chord.”
The artists were receptive to the idea as well.
“They liked that they were painting something that was going to be used, instead of [something ornamental such as] bears,” said Layne Dixon, chairwoman of the museum’s board of directors.
One of the artists who contributed a chair is Ashley Bryan, the revered illustrator, author, poet and teacher from Little Cranberry Island.
Bryan decided to help out with the event because “I’m part of the community, and I do things that support the community and its outreach, especially to young people.”
His rocker features brightly colored spokes, a stylized owl on the back crosspiece, a design on the seat that resembles stained glass and stars all over.
“It led out of illustrations for a book I was working on,” Bryan explained. “I thought it would be perfect to continue that pattern on the chair.”
It took the 80-year-old, whose travels frequently keep him on the road, several months to finish his chair. He enjoyed working with such an unusual canvas.
“You’re working on a new form and with an idea, while making sure that they work harmoniously together,” he said. “That’s always exciting to an artist.”
Also involved is June Grey of Enfield, an artist whose landscapes have been featured at galleries throughout the state, including the Clark House Gallery in Bangor.
“I liked the whole idea of it,” Grey explained. “I liked the fact that it was a chair, not a painting. That made you think differently about how you approach the piece. I liked that it was for the museum, and that people would walk away with an item rather than just making a donation.”
Grey’s final design was inspired by Little Long Pond on Mount Desert Island.
“It was much more difficult than I ever thought it would be,” she said. “It was very challenging to me. It evolved through quite a few different things. Finally, I based it on a place I really liked, a comfortable place where I like to sit and think.”
Stefan Pastuhov’s children are all grown, and he admits that he’s never been to the museum. Still he wanted to be part of the project.
“I support education,” the Stockton Springs artist said. “I thought that it would be a good thing.”
His chair shows a lobster boat as it heads out to sea, with an “underwater” chain leading to a small trap on the rocker. He added a lighthouse to the back of the chair.
“I’d been out to Beals Island when I got the invitation,” Pastuhov recalled. “I tried to make it three dimensional. It took a lot of time, a lot longer than a painting. I didn’t know what I was getting into; there were a lot of square inches to cover. But I really enjoyed doing it.”
All told, a call went out to 350 Maine artists in April, with the first 65 who responded selected to participate. Thirty of the rockers will end up in the live auction, with 35 in the silent one. There will be a minimum bid, but that amount has not been fixed yet.
There will be time for previews before both auctions. But the chairs have actually been on display for months, in windows of businesses throughout Bangor. The museum even offers a listing of where each artist’s chair has been placed.
“[Those working at] downtown businesses said the chairs attracted more people to their windows,” Carlisle said.
The chairs first came out for a couple of weeks in August, around the time of the National Folk Festival.
The rockers were then collected, then brought back out in mid-October. They will be out until Veteran’s Day, when the pieces will be rounded up for the auction.
“When you carry a chair in, it’s like carrying in this bit of good cheer,” said Andrea Stark, the museum’s executive director.
Even as preparations for this year’s auction are winding down, organizers are looking ahead to next year, when a different type of furniture will be featured.
“It’s really been a fun project,” Carlisle said.
For a cyber-preview of the rocking chairs to be auctioned, access www.mainediscoverymuseum.org, and click on the Sitting Pretty icon. Chairs are listed alphabetically by artist’s name. For dinner reservations, call 262-7200 by Friday, Nov. 7.
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