Birdhouses Created For A Cause

In one way or another, every participant in the annual “Artist Birdhouse Auction” has been affected by breast cancer. Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman is no exception to the rule.

Twenty years ago, his mother lost her fight against the all-too-common disease—a cancer that one in eight women are diagnosed with.

“This is an issue that hits close to home, you know?” Mr. Schneiderman said during a telephone interview last week. “It’s something that I certainly want to help find a cure for, and this auction is just one way I can do that.”

All proceeds from the seventh annual auction, which will be held at 4 North Main Gallery in Southampton on Saturday, October 15, will benefit the Coalition for Women’s Cancer at Southampton Hospital—a new, supportive volunteer group for female sufferers of all cancers, not just breast cancer, explained Birdhouse Auction founder and East End artist Karyn Mannix. In previous years, proceeds were donated to the hospital’s Ellen Hermanson Breast Center, she said.

“It’s a way of giving back,” the breast cancer survivor said during a telephone interview last week. “Simple as that.”

All 65 participating artists—including Eric Ernst, Mary Abbott, architect Preston T. Phillips and honorary chair, fashion designer Betsey Johnson—are given a small, wooden birdhouse to start with. But many go their own ways, Ms. Mannix said. For instance, last year, Mr. Ernst crafted a birdhouse-themed nightlight, which Ms. Mannix said she now proudly owns.

The charity auction draws some pretty big names, including movie star and East Hampton resident Renée Zellweger, who is this year’s honorary co-chair, as she was last year. Ms. Johnson, also an East Hampton resident, is another returning honorary chairperson.

“Renée Zellweger isn’t doing one this year because she’s busy filming, but we have Betsey’s already,” Ms. Mannix said. “Roses. It’s always roses and birds,” she said of Ms. Johnson’s design.

Many of the birdhouses are fully functional, but others are constructed just for the sake of art, according to Ms. Mannix. The concept of affordable art is of primary concern, she said, adding that the silent and live auctions begin at $35 and $100, respectively, and the admission price has been lowered from $40 to $25 this year.

“We’re off-season, so we basically make it for the locals. That’s why it’s so inexpensive and not over-the-top,” she explained. “We try to make every single birdhouse sell. And every year, we’ve never had a birdhouse left behind.”

Mr. Schneiderman, who has participated in the auction since its inception, said buyers usually snag his birdhouses for a couple hundred dollars, and he hopes his newest creation will do just as well.

Like many of his counterparts, the legislator ditched the provided birdhouse—which he said he does every year—and created one of his own from wood, plaster, metal and fiberglass. The result is a 2½-foot-tall egg that can be placed indoors or outdoors as a working birdhouse, he said.

“If you came upon it in the lawn, you’d think a dinosaur laid this egg,” he said. “It would be really funny to see birds going in and out. It’s like coming home for a bird. It would be a hoot.”

When Mr. Schneiderman isn’t using “toxic materials” in the construction of his birdhouses, he said he allows his daughter, Madga, to help. In years past, they’ve even entered jointly-made birdhouses.

“She’s 12 years old and loves art. She wants to be an artist,” he said. “She has a really good sense about color and design. She can’t enter by herself because it’s only for adults, but she’s got another piece she’s working on and we’re trying to find a way to enter it, as well.”

Though just shy of reaching her teen years, the young artist also has a direct connection to the auction’s charity. She shares the name of Mr. Schneiderman’s late mother, for whom he and his daughter are involved.

“She feels like she should be able to contribute, even though she’s a kid,” Mr. Schneiderman said of his daughter. “She really believes in the cause, too.”

The seventh annual “Artist Birdhouse Auction” to benefit the Coalition for Women’s Cancer at Southampton Hospital will be held on Saturday, October 15, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 4 North Main Gallery in Southampton. Tickets are $25. All birdhouses will be on view at karynmannixcontemporary.com. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 726-8715. To place an absentee bid, call 329-2811.