A Twist on “Take a Seat Exhibit and Charity Auction”

I was honored to be asked to be photographed with one of the many chairs created for the “Take a Seat Exhibit and Charity Auction” hosted by the Philly chapter of The International Furnishings and Design Association to benefit Project Home.

But the photo shoot didn’t go quite as planned.  When I arrived at the Witherspoon Building, I was told by photographer Mike Irby that he had found some beautiful bronze doors on the backside of the building along Walnut Street… only problem, he found them Monday- this was Tuesday morning and the entire block was line with, well, port-o-potties- no lie! Ok, can-do attitude, here we go.  Mike said he could  move two out of the way and keep them out of the shot.  And so there we were, along Walnut Street, in front of really extraordinary bronze doors, with an up-cycled chair creatively redesigned by Andrea Mihalik of Wild Chairy.

Positioned in between port-o-potties—with people driving by and staring. I shouted: “Only in Philly” thinking to myself this experience is worthy of the hashtag, #PopeinPhilly.  But it’s not just the “crowded” sidewalk that connected our shoot to the Pope in Philly.  The founder of Project Home (in case you don’t know) is  Sister Mary Scullion, someone who really models the compassion toward the poor and homeless that the Pope talks about and wants us all to demonstrate.  

So even after the Pope has long departed the City of Brotherly Love, I’m hoping we can continue to support the work of Project Home… and what a creative way to raise much needed funds. 

By the way, the chairs will be on display around Center City starting October 2, prior to the event itself at the National Constitution center on October 16^th.