Crafts for a cause: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Robin Williams and the Sopranos give shirts off their backs for CRAFT BOSTON's Auction/Raffle

Art Business News, July, 2004 by Joe Jancsurak

BOSTON -- National and local celebrities literally donated the "shirts off their backs" as part of the recent special auction/raffle held in conjunction with the CRAFT-BOSTON show in May at Boston's World Trade Center.

The "Shirts Off Their Backs" campaign supports The Society of Arts and Crafts' (SAC) "YES! Fund" a program created to support craft programs for at-risk youth in New England. With the help of young artists from Artists for Humanity, Jamaica Plain fiber artist Claudia Mills wove the celebrity shirts into rag rugs, most of which were raffled off at the CRAFTBOSTON show, now in its third year. This year's show featured 175 artists.

Two of the rugs were auctioned off at www.craftboston.org (powered by EBAY). One rug featured the shirts of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, while the other was woven using shirts from cast members of HBO's The Sopranos, including Edi Falcon, Michael Imperioli and Jamie-Lyn Sigler. The Matt Damon/Ben Affleck rug went for $305, while The Sopranos rug fetched $200.

The other five rugs raffled off at the show resulted in the sale of more than 300 raffle tickets, and were made from the following:

* Robin Williams Rug. Made of shirts donated by the comedian/actor.

* New England Patriots Rug. Participating personnel included Patriots' Coach Bill Belichick; owner Robert Kraft and players Joe Andruzzi, Deion Branch and Mike Vabel.

* Red Sox Rug. Participating players included Derek Lowe.

* Boston Chefs Rug. Todd English and Ming Tsai.

* Notable New Englanders Rug. Author Alice Hoffman; Olympic Gold medalist Nancy Kerrigan; actress Kate Bosworth; former Boston College quarterback, now with the San Diego Chargers, Doug Flutie; actor Denis Leary and the Boston Bruins' Cam Neely.

Income from this year's event will be used to help its Boston-based Artists for Humanity's (AFH) effort to build a ceramics studio for its young artists. AFH offers opportunities to inner-city youths to learn creative arts and crafts skills. Its mission is to "bridge economic, racial and social division by providing at-risk youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts."

For more information on The Society of Arts and Crafts, visit www.societyofcrafts.org.

For more information on CRAFT-BOSTON, call (617) 266-1810, or visit www.craftboston.org