Streets Alive! is pleased to announce the launch of our newest street-art theme and the title of the 2012 Orillia Streets Alive! project:

Leacock Chairs

Celebrating 100 years of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
A public outdoor art exhibit presented by Streets Alive! Orillia

 Orillia’s Streets Alive! presents an innovative outdoor public art exhibit called Leacock Chairs. The “gallery” will be Orillia’s city streets during the summer of 2012.

$20,000 in People’s Choice prize money
Artist Honorarium: $200 per artist

Artists will be working with incredible hand-crafted chair sculptures modelled after an actual chair that Stephen Leacock owned and sat in to relax, read and probably dream up novels. This original chair is in the Leacock Museum in Orillia.

Artists will transform the chairs into original works of art, which will be unveiled to the public at the Streets Alive! 2012 kickoff event on June 23. People’s Choice voting will open and continue until July 28, when winners will be announced as part of Downtown Orillia’s Leacock Sidewalk Sale event.

The chairs will be displayed in downtown Orillia from June 23 to late October. The exhibit will be supported with a guide featuring a map, a profile of each chair and artist, and sponsor information. At the end of the exhibit, several of the chairs will be sold through online auction. Proceeds will support Orillia’s Streets Alive! program in its ongoing work to promote Orillia as a premiere destination for outdoor art.

The sponsor of each chair has ownership rights to their chair. Group-sponsored chairs become the property of Orillia’s Streets Alive! program.