The Art Button Show held at Gallery Arts Guild

By mark liebergallSpecial to The Millerton NewsMILLERTON — “Art Buttons are seeds,” wrote Joel Schapira, the mastermind behind The Art Button Show, which was held Saturday and Sunday, June 21 and 22, at the Gallery Arts Guild. The buttons (think of peace buttons) were made from original art created by more than 90 artists around the country, and even two from France. Schapira and his wife, Diane Schapira, as well as several friends, spent a few months making 1,400 art buttons to be available for people at the event. The way the show worked was that people chose as many buttons they liked and wore them. While at the gallery, they walked around and showed other people their choices and admired other peoples’ buttons. When they left, they pinned their buttons to a huge canvas, which hung on the wall, and took their favorite one with them. Over the course of hours the button wall grew and grew and by the second day of the show, it started looking and feeling really good. Many people came in and appreciated the array of buttons hanging on the wall. In addition to the buttons themselves, other button-related items were displayed — the “Badge a Minit” button machine, notes and letters from artists which had accompanied the submitted work, scraps left from harvesting the button art from the submitted pieces and a large canvas with an essay Schapira wrote explaining what art buttons are. A special note from a young man named Spencer was prominently shown, along with one of his buttons. Schapira met Spencer at a crafts fair in Lakeville, Conn., last year, where Spencer was allowing people to make buttons on his machine. Schapira loved the button-making process and saw it as an opportunity to make art in a new way. Spencer really provided the idea for the show.Where the art buttons will go from here is, as of yet, unknown. Go to The Art Button Show on Facebook for photos, videos and more information.Mark Liebergall is a local artist who resides in Millerton.