A Successful and Enjoyable Fundraiser

UPDATE, OCTOBER 15, 2021 – Slightly over $3,200 was raised for the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery at the October 9, auction held at Belita Space during Jacksonville’s Art Walk. Our sincere appreciation and gratitude to Chris Anderson for creating his beautiful and artistic bowls and for supporting our organization. Thank you to Chris’s wife Brenda for all her efforts in organizing the event and to Belita Palu-ay for hosting the auction and for her generous raffle with proceeds going to the Friends. Finally, thank you to all who attended and those who were successful in purchasing one of Chris’s special pieces. We hope you enjoy them for many years.

An Extremely Generous Gesture

Chris Anderson and his wife, Brenda, are relatively new residents of Jacksonville after moving here in August 2020. Southern Oregon is not new territory to Chris—he was born in Texas and raised in Ashland, and after living in San Francisco, Seattle and Beijing, is once again calling Southern Oregon home.

Chris’s hobby is woodworking—in particular, turning wood on a lathe and turning it into beautiful pieces of art, large and small bowls and other decorative pieces. He recently approached me about the availability of wood in the cemetery from fallen trees and if it would be possible to have some. He explained that he wanted to make some bowls and sell them as a means to fund the work of the Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery.

On September 11, Chris brought a number of pieces with him to History Saturday and shared them with our large audience. Everyone was very impressed with his work using different wood and the various styles including some with a living (live) edge. Chris signs each bowl and also notes that the wood came from the Jacksonville Cemetery. His work can be viewed on ETSY www.etsy.com/shop/woodbowlsbychris.

The first of the bowls created by Chris to support the FOJHC will be available for sale during the Saturday, October 9 Art Walk in Jacksonville. A silent auction will be held at Belita Space, located on S. Third Street in the former historic Milo Caton home, next door to South Stage Cellars. Following the silent auction, Chris’s pieces made from wood from the cemetery will be available on his site on ETSY. We are working on other possible locations and updates and further information will be available at www.friendsjvillecemetery.org.

We sincerely thank Chris for being so generous and for supporting our organization. I would also like to thank Belita Palu-ay for promoting Chris’s work hosting the silent auction.