The official kick-off of CHAIRS for CHILDREN will be celebrated with a party in honor of our Sponsors and Artists at the Cape Ann’s Marina & Resort. This will be the first début of the completed chairs and an opportunity for Sponsors to meet the Artists who have created these wonderful pieces of art. The event has been made possible through the generosity of the Cape Ann Marina, donations from Woodman’s of Essex and Classic Cooks, and our fabulous Kick-off Party Committee.

The Display and Logistics committee has completed the task of matching Sponsors and Artists and assigning locations. Click here to see the list. This list will also appear in our Map Brochure of which 7,500 copies will be distributed over the summer. Images of all the chairs will be available on the web following the Kick-off Party.

It was no small project to have our 45 chairs clear- coated, but Scott Russell of Russell Architectural Finishing got the job done – donating their services and expertise. Scott worked closely with Pathways, taking into consideration the different materials used by all the artists. The clear-coating process is one of the most important steps to ensure that our artist’s hard work is protected from the elements and normal wear and tear. (Scott is pictured above on the left with his nephew, Shane Frontiero who also works at Russell Architectural Finishing)

“Rockport Summer” by Jeff Weaver, has been sponsored by the Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation, in honor of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival’s 25th season.

A Massachusetts native, Jeff Weaver moved to Gloucester in 1972, his first year as a student at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The following year Jeff had a sold-out, one man show of his woodcut prints and drawings at the Harvard Co-op Gallery, Cambridge. For over 30 years, weathered houses, packing plants, fishing boats, and the people who work them have served as subjects for his art. He has studied the way light defines the unique landscape, architecture, and life of Cape Ann, and has sought to render it in various mediums. His award winning paintings are shown at the Rockport Art Association, the North Shore Arts Association, and have hung in many galleries including the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport and the Marine Arts Gallery, Salem. His well known and loved murals are found throughout Cape Ann.

“Rockport Summer” will be on display at the Rockport Arts Association throughout the summer, and will be auctioned with the other chairs at the gala event on September 16, 2006.

In order to make this truly a community event, CHAIRS for CHILDREN committee members asked the Rose Baker Senior Center to paint a chair. Through Juni Van Dyke’s Art Program for Senior Citizens, they created “Pathways to the Sea”. For the beautiful chair rendering, Juni coordinated the efforts of over 15 seniors many of whom claimed “But I can’t draw a straight line!” Their lovely decorative work bears testimony to Juni’s beliefs that everyone has the ability to be creative. This wonderful chair will be auctioned off in September and 25% of the proceeds will go to Juni Van Dyke’s Art Program for Seniors to help support further projects.

Pathways for Children recently held their 2nd Annual School Age Talent Show and it was a huge success. There were over 50 performers. The children sang, danced and even performed comedy skits. There were acrobats and mimes. Three staff members even surprised the audience with a final dance routine. We had a full house, with a 150 plus people there was standing room only. The children were excited by the opportunity to show off their talents.

Visit our past editions of this E-newsletter below:

March 2006

April 12th, 2006

April 26th, 2006

May 19th, 2006