Share-a-Chair comes to ORGANISM @ Empty Room - Leave Words/Retrieve Words

In conjunction with my collaborative project, ORGANISM: A Festival of Words & Building, I've created a series of unique interactive opportunities. The first is called "Leave Words/Retrieve Words." This Monday thru next Sunday when you visit the Empty Room, you can leave a note, letter, poem or other message for your best friend, mother, significant other or even a sworn nemesis! There are a series of 60 numbered, hand-stamped envelopes (see giant photo above) waiting at Empty Room. Your job is to leave a message in one of the envelopes and we'll generate an email or Twitter @ reply inviting the recipient to retrieve it from the space. Simply fill out the front with the appropriate contact information (Name, Twitter or Email address), seal the envelope (no licking required!), and hang it from the hook underneath the seat. 


I'll continue adding new chairs and other small pieces of furniture to the space as the month progresses. Most of these items will be for sale, and as my first foray into social entrepreneurship, I'm donating 50% of the proceeds of all the pieces I sell to the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts.


The Bellows Studio has been operating out of the Bemis Center for a year or so now. Their space is adjacent to the one I'm lucky enough to have as a workshop. Though I didn't initially pay much attention to my new neighbors, I gradually grew interested in the organization when I started seeing the student work displayed outside their door and crawling through the hallway. I also noticed they'd scored some dedicated, enthusiastic artist mentors to match their small staff. I was very lucky to have parents, friends and teachers who were supportive of my creative interests when I was younger. Some have even become mentors to me. It would be easy to think our budgets for the arts - particularly school-based programs - have become victims of our lean economy. But funds for the arts were thin even when the economy was healthy.


Over the course of the next two Saturdays, I'll have an opportunity to provide a couple workshops for Bellows students. We're going to explore structures and space as filtered through chair design. I think this is my way to continue exploring the Share-a-Chair idea. 


Oh, an you can feel free to sit in the chairs at the Empty Room too. After all, that's what they're for.