{"id":174996,"date":"2025-09-22T23:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174996\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T23:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:48:09","slug":"award-winning-artwork-disappears-on-way-to-capitol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/174996\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-Winning Artwork Disappears on Way to Capitol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio<\/a>, is hoping someone can help locate a young female constituent\u2019s missing artwork. Hayley Chambers\u2019 winning entry for the Congressional Art Competition was mailed via UPS from Jordan\u2019s district office but failed to reach its destination of the U.S. Capitol. Instead, it was lost and somehow ended up sold at a yard sale in Pulaski County, Kentucky.<\/p>\n

How did the artwork get from Ohio<\/a> to Kentucky? After mysteriously vanishing on its way to Washington, the painting made its way to an online auction before being sold at the popular East 80 Yard Sale.<\/p>\n

In speaking with The Daily Signal, Jordan referred to Hayley as a \u201creal champion,\u201d and her mother, Traci Chambers, as a \u201cmom on a mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a copy of the artwork has been displayed in the tunnel between the Cannon House building and the Capitol, Jordan is hopeful that the original will be found. He emphasized the importance of getting the painting back for Hayley, given how \u201ctough\u201d it is for such a young woman to lose something so important to her. He hopes raising awareness will make the difference needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe painting doesn\u2019t mean anything to anyone but Hayley,\u201d Chambers told The Daily Signal, explaining how her daughter entered her winning entry during her senior year, the third time she entered the competition.<\/p>\n

The painting, \u201cAll That Jazz,\u201d was inspired from a trip her marching band at Lima Catholic Central took to St. Louis in April 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cHayley, who played alto saxophone in the marching band and pep band, was also in the school\u2019s jazz band playing the tenor saxophone. She painted this with her love of jazz and her love of art,\u201d her mother explained. \u201cThe painting and winning was the highlight of her senior year. The night she won she already had people asking to purchase the painting once it was back from being displayed in the Cannon tunnel at the U.S. Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her other accomplishments include being named by their local art gallery, Art Space Lima, as one of Art Space\u2019s 11 Women to Watch in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Hayley is now at Ohio Northern University, majoring in art education. She has also started her own face-painting business with a friend.<\/p>\n

Chambers credits her friend for doing reverse image searches on the painting, which on Aug. 30 turned up a match at the Gallery 27 auction house in Burnside, Kentucky. Unfortunately, they were too late. The piece was no longer at the auction house. \u201cWe were so close to getting the painting back, we just were a few weeks too late,\u201d she shared. <\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Journal explained earlier this month<\/a> how the artwork came to be sold by the auction house:<\/p>\n

So how did the artwork come to be in Burnside? \u2018We get truckloads of liquidation items,\u2019 said Gallery 27 owner Nick Meece, who noted that such items could come from something like UPS if the item was not effectively delivered.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was placed in an online auction and it didn\u2019t receive any bids,\u2019 added Meece. \u2018So it was then lotted with a bunch of other stuff that doesn\u2019t receive bids. \u2026 That way, we try to avoid throwing away as much as possible, of course. Then you usually have buyers who buy in larger bulk, and they bought the item.\u2019<\/p>\n

The buyer was a Randy Allen, a Pulaski resident along Ky. 1247 near Campground Road, who bought the lot around August 10 and placed the item up for purchase in a yard sale \u2026 where it sold for a dollar to a man and woman couple the first weekend of September. The price wasn\u2019t a reflection of the painting\u2019s perceived value; rather, Allen says he prices all of the items he sells for only a dollar to simplify things.<\/p>\n

Although the search continues for the original, Hayley was able to go to the Capitol and show off the copy of her artwork. Her outstanding achievement award was signed by Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a>, R-La.; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a>, D-N.Y.; as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa. and C. Scott Franklin, R-Fla.<\/p>\n

Chambers said Jordan\u2019s office \u201chas been wonderful with all the help they have been doing.\u201d Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.<\/a>, whose district includes Pulaski County, has also been helpful in trying to locate the painting.<\/p>\n

Chambers is offering a $200 reward and is asking that those with information contact Jordan or Rogers\u2019 offices. She can also be contacted via her home phone number at 419-222-1607, her cellphone number at 419-235-2229, or her email at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Daily Signal also reached out to UPS about the missing artwork. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is hoping someone can help locate a young female constituent\u2019s missing artwork. Hayley Chambers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,1340,229,88,90527,569,6454,59066],"class_list":{"0":"post-174996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-congress","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-jim-jordan","15":"tag-kentucky","16":"tag-ohio","17":"tag-ohio-newsletter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}