Keep Items from Landfill With Recycled Art Contest

By Vanessa Wolf

This is what you can expect to be working with. Courtesy image.

The Makawao Union Church is hosting its second annual “Chair-ish Maui Recycled Art Contest” and artists, upcyclers and anyone in between is invited to participate.

Join the church in a fundraising project intended to keep functional items from adding to the landfill while creating  useful, decorative art.

Organizer Joy Webster explains, “The $15 entry fee includes the old rusty metal folding chair. I came up with this contest as a way to get rid of a whole bunch of pretty ugly chairs without throwing them in the landfill and to make a bit of money for the church at the same time. Cool, huh?”

Cool indeed.

Pick up your chair – don’t forget the $15 – at the Makawao Union Church any Sunday before March 31 from 11:30 a.m.to 12:30 p.m.

Go nuts:  paint, bead, hot glue, stencil, embellish, spray paint, upholster, blowtorch, what-have-you your way  to prizewinning glory, just make sure the chair can still fold and unfold when you’re done with it.

Last year’s winning entry – “Funny Kine Chair” – by Lisa Burke. Now you know what you’re up against. Courtesy image

Be sure to return the chair to the church on Sunday, April 6 for consideration in the contest. The top 10 winners receive prizes of merchandise and services donated by local companies such as Kula Botanical Gardens, Polli’s Mexican Restaurant, County of Maui Dept. of Environmental Management, Maui EKO Compost (we are now deadly curious what the last two might be offering) and Bag of Joy.

But wait — there’s more.

If you haven’t become too attached to your creation, you can name a price for your chair and possibly sell it during the event, as all chairs will remain on display until April 20. Please note that the church does request that a percentage of the sale price be donated to them, which seems pretty fair.

Still have questions?

Call 808-579-9261 or 808-572-6303 for the answers.