11th Creative Challenge - Saturday, March 23
Twenty years ago, in 2004, the Chester Historical Society held its first Creative Challenge, an opportunity for artists and creators to make pieces of art from antique artifacts. Nine more Challenges followed. There were Creative Challenges based on hooks from the Brooks factory, knitting gauges from the C.J. Bates factory, manicure sticks from the Bishop & Watrous factory, and even rusted pieces “unearthed” from the yard of one of Chester’s earliest houses. There was also a year when scraps of red velvet were cut from discarded Meeting House stage curtains to become a Challenge. (Read the story and see images of past Creative Challenges here.)
This spring’s item came to Chester as a donation from a Rhode Island antiques dealer who had heard the story of the Creative Challenge from a Society board member. When that dealer acquired an 1880s jeweler’s chest filled with hundreds of antique “crystals” or “glasses” for pocket watches, he gave them to the Society for a Challenge. Voila! The “Watch Out!” Challenge.
The “Watch Out!” Challenge will culminate in a Reception and Silent Auction at the Chester Meeting House on Saturday, March 23, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The cost is $30 per person. Tickets will be sold at the door. All proceeds will benefit the programs of the Chester Historical Society.
More information by calling Sosse Baker at 860-526-9822 or Cary Hull at 860-558-4701.
Our thanks to Overabove in Chester Center for their event creative development.
A sampling of the Challenge creations
