Charles Sands presents his artwork for the Chairs For Charit event..

Most people toss away the cap, cork, and wire cage after they pop open the champagne. Not artist Charles Sands. He fashions clever little champagne chairs out of the leftovers and sends them to charities for their use at auctions and fundraisers. Such is the case with a fundraiser coming up for a worthy charity – Magnet, the hub of health and socials for gay and bisexual men in the Castro. On Saturday, Jan. 20, from 7-9pm, Chairs for Charity will be offered at Magnet, located at 4122 18th and Castro Streets. The champagne will pour freely at the event, where you can pick up a gift that gives twice, or just find the perfect addition to your personal knickknack shelf. The chair art is an excellent conversation starter as you are popping your cork.

Diane Nutting is also a partner in crime in chair charities. “As a member of the EVPA I always have been interested in the artists of our neighborhood and I would like to help introduce people to one of our local talents, Charles Sands,” she says. Sands runs a small organization named Chairs for Charity. He is a fourth generation Californian, growing up in the Almaden Valley of San Jose and then Los Gatos. He moved to San Francisco 20 years ago. As a child prodigy in art, he drew entire three-dimensional cities since he was four years old. He was painting in oils since he turned 10 years old. He went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as an architecture major, and minored in electrical engineering, psychology, and graphic art. He worked for over 25 years in engineering - including the expansion of Bart to the airport, and the development of Mission Bay and several of the skyscrapers downtown, but always remained faithful to his hobbies, crafts, and art. His current art form is creating these fabulous miniature reclaimed champagne wire cage sculptural chairs. He has been making these champagne chairs for over a decade, having exhibited his work in New York City, Washington DC, Seattle, Atlanta, and of course his home city of San Francisco. He has had private exhibitions with American Express and The Kaiser Foundation and has donated his work to many organizations such as Art for AIDS with Bonham’s and Butterfields. He has many celebrity clients and works on private commissions on a frequent basis. All chairs that he makes are signed, catalogued, and numbered for provenance.

“You can send Mr. Sands a champagne cap from one of your celebratory life events -weddings, anniversaries, etc. and have him create a chair for you,” says Nutting. “He in turn will engrave any sentiments you wish and return the completed chair to you via mail or other arrangements upon your request.” Sands is one of the few people in the world to do this at this level of art form. Sands also makes Faberge ornaments and charcoal portraiture. He draws entire cities, and performs his songs and poetry at spoken word events such as GAWK (Gay Artists Writers Kollective) at Magnet.

Sands says he got started when he was at a friend’s wake. “I’ve always been one to fidget and need something to keep my hands and mind busy especially in uneasy social situations,” he says. “So a lady friend of my recently departed friend Carlos, Simone, showed me how to make a champagne chair by using her hands. My first attempt was like anyone else’s would be I imagine - fairly average. I used to make ornaments and sell them at the now long gone Dyansens Gallery that was across from Ghiradelli Square. So in making these ornaments, I had my trusty tools of needle nose pliers and wire cutters.” He says he then thought to himself that the use of these tools could enhance the creation of better chairs.

“People seemed to really like them, and so I kept making them, and now it seems as if I can’t quite keep up with the demand for them,” says Sands.

When asked how Chairs for Charity was born, he replies that idea also came to him at the same wake. “My friend Carlos’ aunt, who was familiar with my work on the Faberge style ornaments, came up to me and said, ‘Well, you’re an artist, so why don’t you make some artwork for charity?’” He adds, “Since my friend Carlos passed away from AIDS, I set my mind to donating chairs towards the cause of ending AIDS and HIV in our lifetime.” He says he has been positive for over 17 years and as part of his recommitment to the cause (25 years of HIV/AIDS) and his friend Carlos, he has been holding art shows to showcase his new Princess Diana Chairs.

“Since Princess Diana’s pet charities were for AIDS causes and mine removal, recently, during open studios, I donated half of my proceeds to benefit AIDS Emergency Fund, Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, Positive Resource Center, Rainbow World Fund, and UCSF AIDS Health Project. The Rainbow World Fund, run by his friend Jeff Cotter, supports international AIDS causes and works with mine removal. He claims the Positive Resource Center and AEF are two of the reasons he is “even still here today.” He adds, “The AIDS Health Project has been very instrumental in their research, and I cannot praise these organizations or thank any of them enough for what they’ve done for me.”

“We’d love to have everyone come to support this charity at Magnet and check out some art, and hopefully have a good time in doing so,” he concludes. “They are a great organization worthy of our community’s support. I have many friends who partake of their health services, and I felt a need to honor them.”

Sands can be reached at 819 14th Street #4, SF 94114. Email him at chssands@aol.com with “your champagne chairs” in the subject line. He can also be contacted by phone at (415) 552-9345. Pop that cork and give cheers for chairs!