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St. Louis art piece is designed to make you 'Sit Down & Listen'

The piece from Carolyn Lewis is currently on display at Clementine's on South Hampton, but it is travelling around St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS — There's a new offering at Clementine's on Southampton, but it's not on the menu... it's on the patio.

Carolyn Lewis' art installation titled "Sit Down & Listen" occupies a corner of Macklind Avenue, inspired by the events of recent weeks.

"I have never painted furniture, so I did all this research to find out how to paint furniture that could be indoors and outdoors,” Lewis said of her initial plan to create something for her personal use. “But then the world shifted.”

A couple of weeks ago, she decided to pull the old couch that had been sitting unoccupied in her basement for the better part of a decade. Before that, it spent 22 years in her parents’ Alabama home.

Watching events unfold around her, she needed an outlet for her own frustration and knew others would, too.

“It was a physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally exhausting project, but I sat with all of those really hard feelings that are happening right now in our country,” she said.

"Sit Down & Listen" is a love seat where you can spread the love, whether it be with old friends or a stranger. And already, Lewis said she sees people’s emotional reaction to it, saying some "just walk by and touch it, which is a beautiful thing to witness."

Credit: Tony Chambers

“I'm very proud of it," she added. “But I am more proud that the community has been so receptive to it.”

The couch will be at Clementine’s through Sunday, June 14, but she will move the installation around the St. Louis area, so others can sit down and listen.

Contact reporter Sara Machi on Facebook and Twitter.

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