Cindy Bolduc has figured out the perfect way to turn her love for creating art and crafts into benefitting her other passion — helping animals in need.

A lifelong artist and crafter, Bolduc, 72, of Mercer has created many pieces of not only abstract framed art, but also jewelry, miniature polymer clay animals, painted rocks and needle-felted art crafted with dyed wool. She has so many smaller pieces that she started placing them in a cabinet at the end of her driveway with a note saying people may take what they want, free of charge.

But she added another note, saying if the spirit moves them, they may also leave a donation, and all the proceeds will go to the Somerset Humane Society. Donors may also prefer to scan a QR code on a flyer next to the cabinet that connects people directly to the shelter.

“I just put up the sign two weeks ago, and people donated $202,” Bolduc said Tuesday. “I was very surprised at how many people stopped because I didn’t advertise it. I just put a sign out by the road.”

Bolduc and her husband, Danny, live at 832 Rome Road in Mercer, in a tall, post-and-beam house he built decades ago. It is an idyllic setting, with ponds, trees and a winding driveway leading to a barn where Cindy’s 19-year-old thoroughbred horse Davy can be found when he is not trotting through a large field surrounded by a white gate. Cindy rescued the chestnut-colored horse when he was 3 and couldn’t race because of foot and hoof issues.

“He’s a grandson to Secretariat,” she said. “There are thousands of Secretariat grandchildren because he was such a prolific stud.”

Having owned and ridden horses all her life, Cindy taught dressage for many years. She also was a teacher’s aid in the library at Lawrence middle and junior high schools. A Clinton native, she graduated from Lawrence High School in 1971 and earned a bachelor’s in history from University of Maine in Orono.

“I majored in art the first 1 1/2 years and then switched to history because I didn’t think I was good enough to be in the art program,” she said. “I just liked to draw pictures. As I grew into adulthood, I started liking doing crafts.”

Shirley Welch, her mother, taught art in Clinton, which likely influenced Cindy’s passion for art and crafting. Her love for animals came from her grandfather.

“He was a jockey in France around the time of World War II,” she said. “He grew up in England. He used to talk about it. I just always wanted a horse. Every time my parents asked me what I wanted, I said I want a horse and they finally gave in and got me one. I got my mother hooked. She started riding too.”

Cindy has a studio on the third floor loft of the couple’s house, which doubles as Danny’s workshop for his profession as a fishing guide. In the studio, the couple’s two elderly cats, A.J., who’s orange and white, and Billy Bob, who is orange, like to stretch out and nap on a nearby futon. Both were rescue cats.

Downstairs on the sofa lay Chester, a sleek brownish bengal cat with green eyes and several spots and stripes.

“It showed up here a couple of years ago,” Cindy said. “I was sitting at my table and saw a beautiful cat walking across my lawn. I went out and I kind of meowed at him, and he came right over to me.”

She searched for a possible owner and took the cat to the veterinarian who deemed it to be about 5 months old. The vet checked for an identifying chip but with no success, so Chester became part of the family.

That family includes Cinnamon, a old brown rescue dog known as a red heeler, or Australian cattle dog.

“She likes to herd everything,” Cindy said. “She tries to herd the cats, but they don’t like it. She tries to herd the horse. She tries to herd office chairs on wheels.”

On Wednesday, Cindy was heading to the Somerset Humane Society in Skowhegan to turn over the $202 she gleaned from generous donors. She stopped at the cabinet of crafts at the end of her driveway where a sign by the road says, “Free Little Gallery in the Woods.”

Under a lean-to which shelters the cabinet from the weather lies a 7-foot-long orange mountain lion with a white bib that Cindy carved in pine and named “Big Kitty.” She created it from one large log about 10 years ago that some loggers left behind from a job.

“People used to stop and back up and their kids would climb on it and they’d take pictures,” she said.

She invites people to stop, take an item they like and perhaps leave something for the animal shelter.

“If they don’t have any money, well, I want them to take it,” she said. “Enjoy it. I hope they will.”

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 37 years. Her columns appear here Sundays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at [email protected]. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com.