![[ Take a Seat with Darth Maul ]](/community/news/charity/img/5_lucas_darth.jpg)
Art collectors and
Star Wars fans may have a chance to spruce up their homes with a one-of-a-kind
Darth Maul chair thanks to "Take a Seat for Habitot."
Twelve one-of-a-kind celebrity decorated child-size upholstered chairs will be auctioned on September 5 to benefit Habitot's Family Outreach Program. "Take a Seat for Habitot" is a Chairs That Care event presented by Ethan Allen Inc. and Habitot Children's Museum. Since its inception in 1999, the "Chairs That Care" program has raised more than ,000 for children's charities in cities across the country.
One of the chairs on the auction block was designed by Iain McCaig, lead concept artist in the Star Wars art department and a veteran of the Star Wars prequels: The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
"For the Star Wars chair, it seemed natural to cover the chair in a giant starfield [which is] always at the beginning of any Star Wars film. But I wanted to add something personal as well. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be involved in the creation of several of the main characters. Among them, Darth Maul has stood out as especially popular -- he was the best-selling Halloween costume in the U.S. in the year The Phantom Menace was released," McCaig explains.
"At the time that I volunteered to decorate this chair on behalf of Lucasfilm for Habitot Children's Museum, I was knee-deep in designs for Star Wars: Episode III. But since that film won't come out until 2005, the idea of doing something more immediate for Star Wars fans was irresistible -- and doubly so to support a children's museum. And, of course, ever since I can remember (and before, to my parents' horror), I've loved drawing on any available surface: paper, clothes, bodies, walls, etc. Something tells me that this is not my first chair," says McCaig.
Other celebrities participating in the event include actress Whoopi Goldberg, musician Chris Isaak, and actor Robin Williams.
For more information on the auction event, click here.