FARMINGTON - A handmade Shaker chair will be one of more than 60 objects on the block at a fine-arts auction May 31 at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

The chair was created by Jim Desjardins of Fairbanks village in Farmington, who works up to 40 hours on each chair. He developed his craft over the past seven or eight years, he said. Starting with wood from his property on South Strong Road, Desjardins looks for trees with no knots or curves.

There are no premade pieces in the chairs because just about everything is done by hand, he said.

The chair he set aside for the auction has a pine seat, maple legs and oak back spindles. The roundness of the back is made from a steam bending process, he said.

Besides the Shaker chair, the auction will feature oil and watercolor paintings, glass, jewelry, photography, fiber art, pottery and baskets.

It will be the second annual auction to raise money for the Fairbanks School Neighborhood Association. The group is building a meetinghouse on the site of the former school, which burned in 1998, 100 years after it was built.

Money raised at this year's auction will go toward landscaping, a parking lot, offices, a commercial kitchen, a brick facade and kitchen appliances.

The auction allows artists to sell or donate works. If they choose to sell, they set a reserve price and auctioning begins at 15 percent above it, said Meredith Ranger, co-chairwoman of the event.

The auction will include a celebrity and a mystery piece of art. Bids are placed on a covered piece, creating a mystery, Ranger said. A total of 31 door prizes will be awarded and a 50/50 raffle will be held.

Tickets are available at the Calico Patch and Mickey's Hallmark in downtown Farmington at $15 per person, $25 for a couple and $90 for a table of eight, Ranger said.