Chair auction to raise funds

Money to support art gallery for adults with developmental disabilities

Local artists and many downtown businesses are working together with Transition Services Inc. to help bring a unique kind of art studio to downtown Las Vegas.

Transition Services Inc. is an organization that gives adults who have developmental disabilities meaningful work and activities to do. In one program, clients learn to make paper, soap, gift cards and other craft items for sale.

By opening a studio downtown, executive director Sally Rothfuss said she hopes to give her clients even more.

The future location of Studio 8 Ten is 810 Las Vegas Blvd., near Gass Avenue in the former space of the Heavenly Bliss Wedding Chapel. The location was chosen for its proximity to the Arts District. Rothfuss said she hopes to build a bridge between the artists of Transition Services Inc. and the rest of the Arts District community.

"We knew our guys wanted to be out more in the community," she said.

Rothfuss said she envisions it as "a truly community setting" with a studio open to the public adjoining a craft boutique staffed by clients.

"This will be for all intents and purposes a store with an artist studio," she said.

To strengthen the connection between the community and her organization, Rothfuss said the studio might offer free art classes to senior or foster children.

She is aware of art galleries that mainly show the work of developmentally disabled artists, but she knows of no program exactly like the one planned for Studio 8 Ten.

"I'm positive we're the first of our kind in Nevada," she said.

Remodeling costs have been higher than expected, but the project is nearing completion and the studio is scheduled to open in December.

To help offset the cost of the project, Rothfuss and another co-ordinator, Angela Esler-Whelan, came up with a plan for a fundraiser almost by accident. While shopping at a used restaurant supply store for fixtures for the studios, the pair found a set of 32 inexpensive wooden chairs and snapped them up. An interior designer friend identified them as vintage Thonet chairs -- making them highly collectible. That's when they had the idea to invite local artists, including some clients in Transition Services Inc. programs, to paint the chairs and make them into one-of-a-kind items for a silent auction to be hosted at shops all over town.

Of the 32 participating artists in the Extreme Palate Project, as it is called, some of the names like Mark Zeilman, Dirk Vermin and Michael Wardle, may be familiar. Some of the locations, such as the Funkhouse, The Arts Factory and Modify downtown and Las Vegas Harley Davidson and Dead Poet Books are high profile, as well.

Wardle's untitled chair is on display in his own gallery in the Arts Factory. He heard about the project from fellow artist and participant Brian Swanson, whose gallery also is in the Arts Factory.

Wardle said he has already gained from the exchange.

"I realized what this organization is and does and what they do. I was impressed with what they do," Wardle said.

Bidding starts at $200. The auction ends Dec. 3, but those chairs that are not sold may be available at a live auction during the grand opening of Studio 8 Ten.

Transition Services Inc. was founded in 1998 at a time when the state of Nevada had no place for the more severely developmentally disabled. It is funded by Nevada, United Way and other grants and donations. There is also a senior program with no work component that focuses on nutrition, health and activities such as art. The program now has four locations.

Other programs of Transition Services Inc. include yard and indoor cleaning crews and a group rolling silverware at Bahama Breeze restaurant. One group even sells the craft items at art fairs and farmers markets. All clients are paid a small hourly or piece rate wage for the work they do, except for the group that volunteers at Assistance League Thrift Store.

"We believe our guys should be active," Rothfuss said.

Rothfuss said stimulation and social interaction are the real fruit of her clients' labor. She spoke of one client who is blind as well as developmentally disabled who must work closely with an assistant to complete her tasks -- but that isn't the point.

"It's sensory. She can feel it; she can smell it," Rothfuss said.

For more information on the Extreme Palate Project and Transition Services Inc., go to www.tsilasvegas.com.