What could be more fun and rewarding than being given the opportunity to create art objects for such a worthy organization as the Salvation Army?
I was asked by the Salvation Army in Riverside (via of two sweet friends Patti and Mona) to participate in a charity event in November. The charity/art auction event is titled "Transformation Treasures". The title was to be reflected in the art pieces created by the artists, also representative in the many ways the Salvation Army is dedicated to changing, or transforming, the lives of many individuals in our communities.
I was asked by the Salvation Army in Riverside (via of two sweet friends Patti and Mona) to participate in a charity event in November. The charity/art auction event is titled "Transformation Treasures". The title was to be reflected in the art pieces created by the artists, also representative in the many ways the Salvation Army is dedicated to changing, or transforming, the lives of many individuals in our communities.
Each artist was given a $100.00 voucher to be spent in a Salvation Thrift store in Riverside County. We were to purchase items at the thrift store that we could transform into pieces of art that would then be auctioned at their event in November.
The wooden faux leather chair presented the biggest challenge. It was a sturdy chair but the seat had lost its support. The design was not typical of the type of chair I usually would have selected, but having to spend the voucher in one store on a particular day presented a creative challenge that was actually fun. I saw the chair in two ways, as a "movie director's" type, but for some reason a "cowboy's" chair won the argument in my head. In sanding the glossy white paint that had been applied years ago, I began to see "cow print" elements emerge and decided not to repaint, but leave it distressed. There wasn't time in my busy schedule to do an original painting on the seat as I have done over the years to other chairs. I rebuilt the seat support and luckily found a cowboy painting (stagecoach and horses) at a local thrift store and upholstered it to the seat of the chair.
An old horseshoe finished the look. The piece is artistic as well as functional. You can actually sit on the chair!
The brass swan coffee table was a cool piece ( it had a large round glass table top, not pictured). After inspecting the table in the store, I saw that each swan was individually screwed to the brass base and could be used along with the brass lamp (see photo below) to stack into a one-of-kind eclectic yet functional art object.
Transformation of swans and lamp....headed to the art auction!
It will be exciting to see if they do well for the Salvation Army. I happen to love how the "before" transformed into the "after".....very much how life works!
