More On The Chair Project

The Chair Project will culminate in a ticketed evening auction on May 5, starting at 7.30 pm at the Salle Alec Gerard Pelletier in Sutton. Tickets on sale at the Salle Alex and Gérard Pelletier, 450 538.0486 , tickets are $25.00

We recently invited Cécile Gelinas and Sarah Boucher, Director and Curator respectively of the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke to select the twelve (for the year 2012!) chairs for the final auction. They chose blind, as it were, since no artists name appeared during the selection process. The list is as follows: John Ballantyne, Susan Briscoe,  Don Davidson, Liz Davidson / Michele Plomer, Constance De Kinder, Jennifer Jonas, Denise Lamy- Newman, Eve Love, Catherine Panchaud, Daniela Pellis, Suzanne Pellerin, Sanders Pinault.

Chair # 24, John Ballantyne

Chair # 24, John Ballantyne

Galerie chaise / Opening / Silent Auction

It is with great excitement and anticipation that we invite you all to the opening of Galerie chaise and the beginning of the Silent auction, our fund raising initiative for Salle Alec & Gérard Pelletier. Maurice Ferland, (web-site) an artist and designer, has done of magnificent job of turning the gallery into a magical space, a forest of chairs. We open at 1 pm and it would be a pleasure to see you all.

Invitation

3 More Chairs

Yesterday we loaded all the chairs into cars and a van and after several trips got them to the gallery safely. Big sigh of relief. But I had forgotten there were 3 more chairs that we are using as a raffle on May 5. I am beginning to think this house has a fatal attraction for chairs, I swear these ones just appeared. They have been moving about the kitchen, having little parties here and there on their way down to the studio to have their very discreet logos applied to their backs. A chair tattoo.

Waiting for their tattoos

A Limited Edition

This Chair Project has been a great way to meet new people and make new friends. The artists have come up with wonderful, fun and innovative ways to "paint " the chairs and everybody is so supportive of the project. One of the ideas suggested was a T- shirt, and with great thanks to Liz and Mike and Julie at 12 ounce, [the company is called 12 ounce for the weight of the cotton] here it is. Hot off the press, well it's actually silk screened with just a touch of green. I love it and I think  John makes a very fine model. Love the muscle man pose. The tees will be for sale at the vernissage and at the gallery, Galerie chaise, 10 Depot St, April 21, 1-5 pm . Another great way to support the project and Salle Alec & Gérard Pelletier, the heart of the village.

The Chair Project T-shirt

A Mad Rush

I'm up early on a mad dash to clean the house, set up the chairs in the studio, set the table and generally get ready for the arrival of the director, Cécile Gélinas, and curator, Sarah Boucher, from the Musée des beaux-Arts in Sherbrooke, who have very kindly agreed to visit the collection and select the chairs for the auction on May 5. We are so very grateful for the generosity of these art experts. All the chairs will be in the exhibition at Galerie chaise opening on April 21. If you're in the area please come. The chairs are wonderful. WOW is what we are hearing. And if you check out the Chair Projects blog [link here] you will find photos of the chairs, short bios of all the artists, links to their web sites and all the information about the project. Each day we add another chair. Off to clean, tidy and whatever....

Snowdrops and Chairs

Yesterday was all glorious sun and warm. The first snowdrops poked up their heads, their flower pods ready to open. It's one of the miracles of spring. One day all is white, the next, tender green emerges.

And the chairs are coming in for The Chair Project. The work is amazing, funny, rude, tender, beautiful, funky; a variety of moods and personalities. Here is a sneak preview. From the left Denise Lamy, Louise-Andrée Roberge, Isobel Williams with her son Jack Weston [that's Jack in the picture], Jean Gaudet and David Griffin. To see more of these artists check out their links on The Chair project Blog [link here].

The 1st snowdrops

The Chair Project

Sneak Preview

My darling, John Ballantyne, is also doing a chair for The Chair Project. There has been a lot of teasing about the size of the chair and when it might be finished, as he is not known for working quickly. [I have been known to put paint rollers in his Christmas stocking...hint, hint]. Most paintings take 3 months or more, so that when he announced on the week-end that he had started I looked at the calender and started to pray. Well something happened. The guy is going full blast; I have never seen him paint like this. The paint goes on and stays on. Haven't heard the sander yet. That sound tells me I need to leave home for a while. So here is a sneak preview of his unfinished chair. To see more of John's work click here.

John Ballantyne, in the process of painting his chair

The Chair Project / Elizabeth Tsuk

We received another chair for the Chair Project [link here]  Elizabet Tsuk's work has been among my favourites since I first saw an exhibition at Arts Sutton of her work and Esther Williams in 2004. I love the whimsy of the work; these tiny, odd, or perhaps usual is a better word, chairs with their step ladder backs. It is as if to sit in them you are transported to another place. They had made a huge impression on me and it was a great pleasure to revisit one of them. Unfortunately Elizabeth does not have a web site for you to see more, but here are a few shots to enjoy. The shadows are wonderful.

Chair by Elizabeth Tsuk

Detail of Chair by Elizabeth Tsuk 

Shadows of  chair, Elizabeth Tsuk

The Chair Project

There is a gala in town this Saturday night to celebrate the re-opening of the Coeur du Village  [The heart of the Village] also known as Salle André et Gérard Pelletier. For the past month, teams of people have been involved in a big renovation project. New stage and lighting, moving things around and generally making much better use of the space. It's an amazing place, music of all kinds, theater, dance, movies; their programming is terrific. Something for everyone. Which is where the Chair project comes in. They are replacing the old wooden chairs with comfortable PADDED ones and so a group of us decided to take the old chairs and find, coerce, beg, whatever, 50 artists, writers, poets, musicians to paint a chair which will be auctioned off next May to raise money for the hall. To start the project, Michael Hynes, a musician, and I collaborated on the first chair to be auctioned at Saturday nights gala. Now Michael is a composer as well as a pianist so he gave me his unfinished score of a work called Apophenia. I had to look that word up in the dictionary and it is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. My part was to take the score, which I might add was about 30 pages, not numbered, of lots of squiggles and dots, and some words, and fashion it into a chair. I must admit I was hoping to be able to make enough sense of the score to play even a part and get an idea of the music. No such luck. So I scanned and tore, glued and coloured, and generally played until the chair was Unfinished.  Michael and I will do another chair for next May with his finished work Apophenia and I will Finish another chair.

Unfinished, Liz Davidson and Michael Hynes