“Starry Night,” “Happy Hippie,” “Truth” and “Hands of Clay” are the titles of some of the colorful new chairs in a community art and “creative place-making” project involving 40 Adirondack chairs built by Hunterdon County Polytech students and painted by local artists. The chairs are located at 17 sites in Flemington’s historic borough, including the Historic Courthouse, the post office, Flemington Free Public Library, the Stangl Factory, Lone Eagle Brewing and several restaurants, stores and galleries.
Art & Expression
Begun in April 2018 with approximately 1,640 pieces of pressure-treated southern yellow pine, the finished chairs are part of the “Let’s Sit Together, Flemington” program by Flemington Community Partnership to build community spirit and enhance visitor enjoyment of the area. In addition to providing a pop of color around town, the chairs also offer messages ranging from inspirational to whimsical, such as: “Make someone smile today; Be happy; Choose kindness; Namaste”; and along culinary lines, “Mint julep; Taters; Grits and gravy.” And for something a little different, there’s a chair designed for husbands to take a break while on a shopping trip with a spouse, called “The Unhappy Husband Chair.”
Board member Nicole Maniez, owner of Jersey Community Acupuncture, is also an artist and worked throughout the project with the following artists: Samantha Matthews, Jessica Wallace, Kevin Von Holtermann, James Kelewae, John Fulwood, Jorge A Sánchez, Billie Herzer, Stephanie Claus, Catherine Lent, Safe Harbor volunteers, Rita Koch, Christopher Muller, Val Sivilli, Hunterdon Developmental Center residential artists, Inna Dzhanibekova, Ava Liszt, Sami Rymsza, Rose Taylor, Ally Sorge, Barbara Clarin, Regina Mushrock, Wendy Richardson, Ken Stryker, Susan A. Lang, Lauren Karpinski, Eileen Rafferty, Corrie Lyons, Jasper Stieve, Julianne Oberman, Tony Anderson, Maddie Riley and Grace Meredith.