FARMINGTON – Timothy Berry ended his senior art project a bit shy of the 24-hour seesaw-a-thon he had planned.

With temperatures dropping to 15 degrees, with wind, Thursday morning in Farmington, Berry seesawed his way through the night but stopped at 8 a.m., said University of Maine at Farmington spokeswoman April Mulherin.

Dressed in a hunter-orange Marie Antoinette-style outfit, Berry planned to ride the seesaw from 1 p.m. Wednesday to 1 p.m. Thursday. What turned into a 19-hour spectacle was intended to make a difference in the community with collections for the local food closet and cash or pledges taken for Operation Keep ME Warm.

“He had a great response to the event,” Mulherin said. She did not know how much food Berry had collected or how much money he had raised, however, because Berry was asleep at midday Thursday.

The performance/endurance event was also designed to raise awareness of the arts. Berry dressed as the French queen Marie Antoinette because “she was a little over the top . . . like what I’m doing.” Her famous words, “Let them eat cake,” also seemed appropriate for an act to raise food for the food closet, he said Wednesday.

Classmates and friends stayed with him during the night to make sure he had warm clothing and food and drinks, Mulherin said. They stayed in two-hour shifts and Berry went into the Art Gallery for short breaks.

When he quit at 8 a.m. Thursday, paramedics gave him a clean bill of health, she said.