Art free to a good home

You know the drill. A piece of artwork makes you catch your breath. You gaze at it and wish it could brighten your bedroom wall. Or your kitchen. Or your otherwise-dull work space. Permanently.

Then your eye wanders to the price tag.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could just say you loved that piece and wanted it and the artist would say, “It’s yours”?

Then you could promise to cherish it and give it a good home and maybe you and the artist would both cry a little …

OK, the scenario won’t play out exactly like that next week. But you will have the chance to take home a piece of art from the Paper Kite Gallery on Main Street in Kingston as part of its “The Best Things in Life Are Free” one-year anniversary celebration.

“We’re expecting a very busy night here,” said Jennifer Kaucher-Hill, who owns the gallery with her partner, Dan Waber. “We’ve asked all the artists who’ve had works displayed here, or who would like to have works displayed here in the future, to donate something.

“It was Dan’s idea. The long-standing joke is that he’s just an idea factory.”

This is how it will work: On Aug. 15 from 6 to 8:15 p.m., art lovers are welcome to visit the gallery for a reception that will be held in conjunction with the local Third Friday Art Walk.

Perhaps a quirky piece by Francesca Carr will remind you of Mr. Snuffleupagus on “Sesame Street.”

Maybe Curtis Salonick’s moody image of a tiny figure and swirling clouds will haunt you.

Or Skip Sensbach’s ceramic wine goblets on wooden stems might speak to you. (Yes, you can drink from them, the artist says. Just don’t put them in the dishwasher.)

If a piece captures your fancy, Kaucher-Hill said, you should return during regular gallery hours from noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 17. The staff will allow one guest to enter at a time and place a sticker on the piece he or she wants – first come, first served.

“I hope they end up with a long line going down the road,” said Sensbach, the potter. “I’m really excited about what they’re doing there.”

Sensbach also donated pieces to an earlier Paper Kite event that raised money for Project Heifer, an organization that supplies farm animals to people in developing countries so they can support themselves.

“We raised enough for a cow, two goats and some bees,” said Kaucher-Hill, for whom “giving back” is important.

The Paper Kite Gallery regularly hosts poetry readings and open-mic nights and, occasionally, intimate theater productions.

Kaucher-Hill sees the effort as a bright spot on Main Street that she hopes will lead to other bright spots. “This is my community,” she said. “I live right up the hill.”

If you go