Don’t Take A Seat, Bid On One To Support Library

How does a common library chair become collectible and usable art? With the talents and imagination of local artists offering their help to the Pottstown Regional Public Library

POTTSTOWN PA – Twenty classic, wooden library chairs are currently being recycled into literary-themed works of art that will be silently auctioned beginning April 1 in a cleverly titled “CHAIR-ity” fund-raiser that benefits the Pottstown Regional Public Library, Executive Director Michelle Kehoe reported Monday (March 11, 2019).

A wide range of local artists are transforming the 55-year-old chairs (at top) – upon which generations of  library patrons comfortably sat while they read, worked, or studied – into artworks reflecting themes based on specific books, authors, literary genres, and other reading-related subjects.

The artists are as varied as the histories of the chairs themselves: from amateurs to professionals, from young to old, from students to teachers. They represent the talents of those in the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts; participating art organizations that include ArtFusion 19464, the Pottstown Area Artists Guild, and Pottstown Community Arts; and local professional art studios.

Expect the chairs to be as unique and different as their creators, Kehoe indicated. Their results will “extend to children’s books, adult mysteries, non-fiction, classics, and everything in between.”

They’ll be available for display April 1 through May 4 in the library. There anyone interested can enjoy viewing each masterpiece of seating, and if so inclined also place a bid to one own or more of them. Bids will be accepted through the end of a reception to honor the artists and fund-raiser sponsors, scheduled for May 4 (2019; Saturday) from 6-8 p.m. at the library, 500 E. High St. That’s also when the highest, winning bidders will be announced.

• This event has been added to The Post Publications calendar.

Tickets for the reception are available now at a cost of $10 per person at the library front desk, or by mail with a check payable to “PrPL, 500 E. High Street, Pottstown PA 19464.” Even if you don’t need, or are not in the market for, an artistic chair, “window-shopping that evening is OK, too,” Kehoe added happily.

Photos from the Pottstown Regional Public Library