"Chairs of Inclusion" Exhibit Opens at Wildflowers Too In Barnegat Light

“Chairs of Inclusion,” an innovative large-scale art exhibit created by eleven New Jersey artists in collaboration with adults with developmental disabilities, will open at Wildflowers Too in Barnegat Light on Thursday, July 10.

The exhibit, sub-titled “A Seat at the Table for Everyone,” was commissioned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled’s Wae Center, an alternative learning center in West Orange.

The show consists of eleven actual chairs, each conceived by an individual lead artist, then created by that artist in collaboration with a team of members from the Wae Center.

“These are high quality art,” says Mary Birmingham, curator of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in Summit, which showed the exhibit in June. “Some are so inviting you want to sit in them, others are more sculptural. But all are art objects, imbued with the humanity and the essence of the people who participated in their creation.”

These are unlike any chairs you have ever seen before. For instance, there is Livingston lead artist Ellen Hanauer’s “Love Seat,” constructed from 63 lucite boxes, each holding objects selected by one of the 63 Wae Center members as representing him or herself at an elemental level. Each box has a personality of its own, and when joined together with 62 other boxes to create a chair, what results is a powerful symbol of unity, diversity, and joy.

Morristown lead artist Dan Fenelon’s “When Chairs Fly,” is hands-down the most whimsical of the chairs on exhibit. To begin, Dan rescued a chair from a thrift store to repurpose as a chair of inclusion. He then facilitated a team of six Center artists whose enthusiastic ideas and collective energy transformed a simple chair into a fanciful and eye-popping throne worthy of the community that created it.

Other lead artists who participated in the project include Jennifer Levine, Yvette Lucas, and Susanna Baker of Montclair, Tim Folzenlogen of Verona, and Stephen Schwartz and the ArtShare Artists Collective of Livingston, Mansa Mussa and Onnie Strother of West Orange, Lisa Ficarelli-Halpern of Red Bank, and Gladys Barker Grauer of Newark.

The Wae Center – its name stands for Wellness, Arts & Enrichment – was founded on the belief that each individual possesses the potential for creating a meaningful life. Inclusion is implemented every single day by facilitators trained to bring people of diverse abilities together as equals.

The Chairs of Inclusion project seeks to shift perceptions of ability, art and community, and those who have visited this exhibit since its opening in late 2014 agree it has achieved that and more.

Cricket Luker, owner of Wildflowers Too and an artist herself learned of the exhibit about a year ago as it was nearing completion.

“Just hearing about this project, I was very interested to see it,” she said. ”But after experiencing it, I was so excited, I knew I would move heaven and earth to find a way to bring it to LBI. It is inspiring and uplifting, it is fun, and it is hugely important. For people who see it, it’s something they will simply never forget.”

Wildflowers Too is located at 506 Broadway in Barnegat Light. The opening reception is open to the public and will take place on Friday, July 10 from 4 – 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on display at the Gallery from July 10 through July 28. The Gallery is open from 10 a.m – 5 p.m every day. For further information, call (609) 361-1101