Arts & Entertainment
Farmington Artist Auctions Painting to Benefit Fresh Start
Bid to own a Kate Emery original, and support creative employment for homeless and struggling individuals.
As a fresh new year dawns, Farmington-based fine artist Kate Emery is raising awareness and funds for Fresh Start Pallet Products, a Hartford-based nonprofit that upcycles wood pallets into furniture while providing meaningful employment for individuals seeking to rebuild their lives. Emery will donate 75 percent of proceeds from the auction of her original oil painting, River Glimpses, to Fresh Start, and bids may be placed online at KateEmery.com/auctions through 8 p.m. on January 31, 2021.
“Fresh Start is a win-win-win proposition, providing jobs for homeless people and turning reclaimed wood pallets into home décor items for customers who appreciate beautiful, locally crafted products created to maximize community contribution,” says Emery. Founded by volunteers in the backyard of Grace Lutheran Church in 2015, the organization now builds chairs, benches, light fixtures, tables, planters and other furnishings in a fully intentioned manufacturing space in Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood. “I toured the facility, and you can just feel the hope and creativity that goes into the work they do,” Emery says.
A second-career artist who works full-time from her studio in Farmington, Emery partners with nonprofits so that each of her works sold benefits a community cause. “I want my work to have a positive impact on people in need,” says the entrepreneur and founder of The Walker Group, a Farmington-based professional technology services social enterprise. Emery also founded reSET, a Hartford-based nonprofit that seeks to advance the social enterprise sector in the state.
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River Glimpses, a framed 16x20-inch landscape painting of an inviting path that leads the eye toward a lush, green riverside, will brighten the winning bidder’s home or office space, while the funds raised will support homeless, refugee and other individuals in desperate need of a road back to becoming productive and contributing members of society. It can be viewed on the artist’s website (KateEmery.com) and is valued at $800.