SILER CITY, N.C. — Free art is now hidden in plain sight all around Siler City — and anyone who finds the art can take it home and enter a contest to win a gift card for a popular coffee shop downtown.

Chatham Rabbit Quest is a free art giveaway and educational project celebrating local history and some of the world’s greatest artists. Jordan-Matthews High School artists have created rabbit paintings on wood — all inspired by a legendary artist they selected — and are releasing them into the wild. Some are outdoors, others are indoors, but they’re in locations all over Siler City.

If you find one, it’s yours to keep — and there’s a QR code on the back of each painting so you can learn all about your rabbit. But that’s not all. Take a selfie or two with your rabbit for social media — so we can share it with the community — and we’ll also enter you in a prize drawing. The drawing held on June 15 will award one $50 gift card for The Chatham Rabbit coffee shop.

Art teacher Laura Newman said the idea came from community leader Jane Andrews, who offered to donate wood canvases for the project. “I thought it would be an interesting project to help students develop their artistic skills and learn more about the art world,” she said. “And it does even more. It gets art out into the community, gives something back to people who have helped support us and celebrates a fascinating part of our local history.”

Chatham Rabbits were huge, wild rabbits found all over Chatham County for decades around the turn of the 20th century. There were so many, in fact, that they became famous. People came from everywhere to harvest Chatham Rabbits for cheap food and they were even shipped to restaurants as far away as New York City and Boston.

The entire scene became so odd that media coverage was everywhere. Jokes were told. Legends were born. Eventually, predators and overhunting ended this intriguing chapter of local history. But Chatham Rabbits are not forgotten; even today, they’re remembered as the names of a touring musical group and the local coffee shop.

Details about the Chatham Rabbit Quest, including information about each painting, are now online at jmarts.org/rabbits.

To see who finds each one, follow JMArts on Facebook, Instagram or Threads at @JMHSarts and use the hashtag #JMArabbits. Chatham Rabbits will be hiding in plain sight until each one is found and adopted into a good home, but photos will be posted as they’re available.

The Chatham Rabbit Quest is being conducted by Jordan-Matthews High School art classes with assistance from JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, a nonprofit created to provide what student actors, artists, dancers and musicians need to excel. Anyone interested in making educational activities like these possible can contribute to JMArts at jmarts.org. Contributions can be made online by Venmo, Cash App or PayPal or mailed to JMArts, PO Box 395, Siler City, NC, 27344.

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