ArtLifting has found another way to give artists who are homeless or have disabilities a spotlight through a new partnership with national retailer West Elm.
The partnership, which will have a launch party on Saturday at West Elm's Fenway store, will have the retailer sell prints of artwork made by six artists who work with ArtLifting, a Boston-based startup that mainly helps artists sell their work to other businesses, including Microsoft, Google and Harvard University.
Scott Benner, one of the participating artists, will speak at the Saturday event at 3 p.m. about how he went from homelessness to finding housing. Benner previously talked to BostInno in December 2015 about how ArtLifting helped him make money and snapped him out of the dark haze he entered when he first became homeless.
“Selling my art means I can be independent, I can live where I want. It’s a great feeling to know that something I made means so much to someone that they want it to be a part of their life," Benner said in a statement.
The other participating artists are David McCauley, Grace Goad, Tim Strouss, Mia Brown, and Clifton Hayes. Their work is being sold as part of West Elm's LOCAL program.
