The idea began simply enough with the most basic piece of furniture — a chair.
Julie-Anna Carlisle wanted artists and other creatives to “make, ‘funkafy’ or alter” chairs that she could showcase in a silent auction to raise money and awareness for Sanctuary Inc., the nonprofit agency in Hopkinsville that supports victims of personal violence.
But Carlisle had no way of knowing how many people would answer her call to help. Would she receive commitments from a dozen people to create a chair? Two dozen?
As it turned out, more than that. Many more.
Sixty-plus chairs for “The Chair Project: Elevating Art for Sanctuary Inc.” will be sold in a silent auction beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, April 18, at Carlisle’s business, Milkweed healthy & harmony emporium, 202 E. Ninth St. The event will include food and live music.
Carlisle said the project is based on the correlation she sees between the function of a chair and the work that Sanctuary Inc. does.
“A chair gives support and rest. It says, ‘I have your back.’ It says, ‘You have a seat at the table,’” said Carlisle. “That’s exactly what you need when you are trying to escape something as horrific as domestic violence or sexual assault.”
Several community members will serve as judges for The Chair Project, and prizes will be awarded — $300 for best in show, $150 for runner-up and $75 for honorable mention. A gift basket will be given to maker of the top-selling chair.
The judges are jeweler John Schrecker, downtown developer and HK Young Bourbon Co. owner Tyler Young, arts advocate Henrietta Kemp, Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County executive director Alissa Keller and Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library director Tiffany Luna.
Carlisle developed a friendship with Sanctuary Inc. some 20 years ago when she volunteered to lead art workshops for women staying in the shelter for victims of domestic violence. Later she opened her business in downtown Hopkinsville where Sanctuary had established its expanded headquarters at a renovated hotel in 2000. The agency was established in 1982.
“We are thrilled and overwhelmed with gratitude for Julie-Anna’s vision with The Chair Project,” Sanctuary executive director Heather Lancaster said in a press release. “We strive to craft partnerships with community members, businesses and organizations each day as we serve some of our region’s most vulnerable populations. This event will certainly fulfill that goal.”
Make verse for The Chair Project
Hoptown Chronicle invites community members to participate in a writing project in support of The Chair Project.
Write an original haiku poem about a chair and email it to us at editor@hoptownchronicle.org with your name and contact information by midnight Thursday, April 17.
We’ll award a $100 prize for the most creative haiku that we receive, and we will publish the best ones in Hoptown Chronicle.
A haiku is a three-line poem with 17 syllables — five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line and five syllables in the third line.
If you need some inspiration, here’s one that Julie-Anna Carlisle wrote for us:
My gazebo chair
at the end of a long day
fly me to the moon
And here’s one from Hoptown Chronicle editor Jennifer P. Brown:
Grandmother’s kitchen
take a seat and we will roll
Yahtzee dice for hours
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
