Allen Chamberland has lived on disability for the past decade, but a startup that sells the work of disabled and homeless artists might just change that one day.
About three years ago, Chamberland began doing paper cuttings, intricate designs cut out of a single sheet of paper.
"At first, it started as a hobby to give me something to do," said the 49-year-old South End resident, who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which makes it difficult for him to breathe.
He never thought he'd be successful at it until a chance encounter last year with Liz Powers, who was looking for works by homeless and disabled artists for a show at Boston's Prudential Center. By the end of the show, a dozen of Chamberland's works had sold.
So last December, Powers and her brother, Spencer, started ArtLifting, a low-profit LLC with a website that initially featured the work of Chamberland and three other artists.
"It was very clear these artists would benefit from having a way to sell their work not just once a year but every day," Spencer Powers said. "And it was also clear that customers loved their work."
Within one month, the company sold $11,000 worth of work, with 55 percent of the profits going to the artists — compared to a typical gallery split of 50/50 — and the rest going toward overhead.
"That first month was a shocker to us," Spencer Powers said. "It showed we could build something great."
The company's first corporate client, Jay Connolly, bought more than two dozen for the commercial buildings his Beverly firm, Connolly Brothers, Inc., owns and manages.
"People have actually come down to our management office and asked what ArtLifting is," Connolly said. "Some of the people in our office even went and bought the original works once they saw the prints."
In May, ArtLifting was one of 128 finalists in the Boston startup accelerator and competition MassChallenge, entitling the company to free office space, mentoring and a chance at a share of $1.75 million in cash prizes. Its goal is to one day reach homeless and disabled artists across the country.
"A month or so ago, somebody saw my work on ArtLifting, and because of that, I'm having my first solo show in Cambridge in October," Chamberland said. "If things keep going like this, I won't have to live on disability anymore. And that feels great."
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