The artful side of home decor

By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH LIMA -- Sheely's Furniture is bringing back a popular customer freebie, the store's company calendar, but this time it's a collaborative project with The Butler Institute of American Art.
The theme for the North Lima store's 2004 calendar is "The Art of Staying at Home," and it features Sheely's products placed in scenes with artwork from the Butler's permanent collection.
"Our 2002 anniversary calendar was such a huge hit for Sheely's. We had so many customers asking 'Are you going to do a 2003?' and we didn't," said sales manager Sherry Sheely. "We certainly didn't want to disappoint our customers for 2004."
The 2004 calendar also celebrates the 85th anniversary of the Youngstown museum.
Design discussion
Sheely discussed the project with two executives from Prodigal Media Co. -- John Partridge, associate art director, and John Battaglia, senior designer. Sheely wanted to do something even more unusual than the previous calendar they had created for the business.
"During the creative process, we were thinking of furniture and appliances in terms of art. To an extent, they're works of art in themselves, visually. We wanted to present them as art," Battaglia said.
Planners began the thought process for the project by taking a new approach to the way they looked at everyday objects. For example, Sheely said, they compared an artist's blank canvas to an empty room without furniture or appliances.
"Let's get everyone out of that box that we all live in. How can we expand and create spaces that are unique to each of us?" she said.
Furniture moving
Prodigal Media brought furniture into the museum to be photographed with the masterpieces, but some calendar photos required the use of state-of-the-art digital technology.
Each month's page features a painting or sculpture from the museum juxtaposed with the furniture or appliances. Information about the artist and painting and a view of the original artwork are also presented in the calendar.
Although the project ran smoothly, there were challenges.
"The challenge was actually making the month match with the artwork and the products," said Partridge.
Battaglia agreed. "You had to find the proper piece of art that fit the product. Then that piece of art also had to fit the season that was being represented in the calendar," he said.
"Most of the artwork was spring and summer landscapes. You couldn't use something like that for January/February or December. So we were limited as far as the winter months."
Eventually, the creative team found some museum pieces appropriate for winter.
December features a 1931 Arthur C. Dove painting, "Ice and Cloud," with leather Lane furniture. Except for January, the furniture used in the calendar is purposely from American vendors to coincide with the American masterpieces.
Pleasing collaboration
Although the calendar is a Sheely's project, Dr. Louis Zona, executive director of The Butler Institute of American Art, was pleased by the collaboration between the museum and Sheely's Furniture.
"It's a wonderful way for us to promote the Butler and to promote the fact that we have been around here for 85 years, thanks to a visionary named Butler," Zona said.