Sitting on a new beginning

Needham -

Some were wicker, a few plastic, others finished wood. The chairs that once beautifully adorned the homes of Needham sat worn, nicked, perhaps wobbly before their rescue by Savoy Road resident Lucy Nims-LaFleche.

With these chairs, Nims-LaFleche and her colleagues at the New England Art Therapy Association hope to create a new beginning, not just for the furniture, but also for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The association put together an exhibit and sale of revamped chairs at Lesley University in Cambridge to benefit arts therapy programs in Louisiana and Mississippi called “Chairs for Charity.” The exhibit went up Dec. 18 at the Morran Gallery.

“A lot of really wonderful things can come out of the dump,” Nims-LaFleche said.

LaFleche, an art therapist by profession, collected the refuse at the Needham Recycling Transfer Station, tossed them in her trunk and hauled them to her home. Then, through a network of association members, Lesley University students and fellow artists, she found takers to transform them into something new.

“Art therapy really helps you deal with anger you can’t get out in words,” said Adina Troen-Krasnow, fellow association board member and Enslin Road resident. “All the feelings you can’t get out, really.”

Art Therapy Association President Denise Malis agreed, saying the practice integrates many aspects of life and therapy. She called it “life affirming.”

Many of the participating artists, who hail from throughout the Northeast, kept to that theme. The chairs were decked with vestiges of natural life — painted trees and leaves, puffy-paint butterflies and ladybugs, felt fish, dangling sea animals, nests.

But each artist, who spent the summer working on his or her chair, had distinct ideas as to what their projects signified.

To one Lesley University alumna, Jennifer Hart, the chair itself symbolized transition. Originally purchased to furnish her and her boyfriend’s new home together, it was repainted during another life transition.

“My hope is that it brings a new beginning to its next owner,” Hart said.

When local art therapist Jenny Basa thought of New Orleans, she envisioned the long, arduous process of recreating what the storm destroyed.

“I thought of how much “rebuilding,” not only of buildings and houses, but of lives, cultures and identities were taking place,” Basa wrote in her artist’s statement. “As I thought of this, I was inspired to ‘rebuild’ my chair.”

After visiting New Orleans in November for a convention, the board of the association realized the problem wasn’t just about lost homes, but also lost connections, an idea they call “disrupted attachment.”

Malis said the loss of neighborhoods, religious groups and daily habits hit Gulf residents hard.

“The art therapy helps them deal with feelings they don’t even know are there yet,” Troen-Krasnow said. “And having a licensed therapist there is different from just having someone tell them to draw something.”

Nonetheless, the association didn’t want to merely send items or money without a specific reason. While most groups working with disaster victims have focused on physical health, and homes, few have focused funding on therapy.

Celebrities such as Hilary Clinton, who popularized art therapy after 9/11, and Rosie O’Donnell, who footed the bill for art therapy sessions in New Orleans, helped bring the need to the forefront, but there’s still more to do, the women said.

The therapists asked the Louisiana Association of Art Therapists what its most pressing needs were. That turned out to be assistance for victims’ caregivers, often victims themselves.

The funding from the closing night sale, raffles and silent auctions will go toward art therapy support groups and workshops for the caregivers, costing, on average, $200 a session for the therapist’s stipend and the supplies.

“We’re not just addressing the building, but we’re dealing with the emotional side,” Nims-LaFleche.

Visit neataweb.org to learn more about the possibilities for purchasing a chair, participating in the raffle or bidding in the silent auctions.

The exhibit closes with a celebration on Jan. 19 between 4 and 8 p.m.

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