TAG plans chair auction

The Tiffin Art Guild (TAG) is inviting art supporters to take a seat this November. A Painted Chair Auction involving TAG artists and community sponsors will take place Nov. 8, said event chair Marybeth Fuller. Fuller said TAG recently welcomed a couple of new members, and the group brainstormed creative fundraising ideas. TAG's 2005 "Parade of Squirrels" event was mentioned, she said, and members "just got excited to try to do something like that again." TAG is planning an event "to allow us to continue to offer an outlet for creativity, education, and a place for artists to display and sell their work in our community," a press release states. "The idea took off," Fuller said. Sponsorships are being sought for the auction, she said, which will include working with a TAG artist on the creation of a painted chair for the November event. "Your $300 sponsorship will fund a chair, the paint supplies, and advertising your name throughout the community as an art sponsor," the release states. A sponsorship also provides admission for two to the auction, which will include food and two drinks. A sponsor can choose to contribute to a chair's design, Fuller said, or work in tandem with their artist to help plan the project. TAG artists "have been excited about starting," Fuller said. Chairs for the project, Fuller said, are provided by TAG, and have been discovered at auctions, garage sales, giveaways, and other sources. Each chair comes primed for artists, she said, and ready for painting. When a chair is completed, according to the release, a sponsor will benefit by choosing a place for the piece to be displayed for a month before the auction. That visibility, it states, "will allow the public to view it before the event and will promote your business's generosity as an art sponsor." In addition, sponsors will be promoted in newspaper and blog articles, on the radio, on social media, and on community calendars, and be featured in a pre-auction scavenger hunt and on the auction's signage and event program. A business's name will also be on a permanent label on the chair they sponsor. The Nov. 8 event, according to the press release, will be "an evening of art, artists, a silent auction of original art, and items generously donated by local businesses, and a 50/50 raffle." The chair auction will be the highlight of the event, taking place after the evening. The Painted Chair Auction will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 8, at The Chandelier, 151 S. Washington St., Tiffin. To purchase tickets, sponsor a chair, make a donation, and for other details about the event, visit tiffinartguild.org or email TAG at tiffinartguild@att.net.