Local Art Seen: Chairs By Kris -- Art You Can "Chair-ish"

"Not Made In China"

The photo is of herself wehn she was four. This is a painting.

Ad man James Webb Young, in his book A Technique for Producing Ideas, defines an idea as "a new combination of old elements." This is the heart of what Kris Nelson has done. The elements are art and chairs. The skill with which she executes the art is what makes the concept a certifiably cool one.

Variety is the spice of life.

Her mother was Catholic, her father atheist. Kris says she never heard them fight.
This "Love Seat" is for couples who face different directions.
They can still see eye to eye and talk face to face.

As Rod Stewart once sang, "Every Picture Tells A Story." In the same manner every chair has a story, and yesterday I had the privilege of getting a tour of her home studio and the collection she has there.

A retired art teacher, Kris Nelson has been dealt hand long on imagination. You can see it in the wide variety of themes and in the titles of her pieces.

It was in 2004 that she began producing chairs with social or political statements. Here chair depicting the variety of ways states carry out the death penalty is quite powerful. Her "Loch Mess Monster" which was made with discarded litter she found on her morning walks, is a statement about how we take care of our planet.

This "Boozer" chair features a win bottle "half in the bag"
among other symbols of excess.

"Death of a Marriage" is a statement about divorce.
(Kris is happily re-married 20 years to a pilot.)

Titled "Family Ties" the seat being her fathers interwoven ties. 

Her aim is to paint a thousand chairs before she retires to that great art studio in the sky. The photos here depict the variety of directions her imagination has run.

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"Loch Mess Monster"

"Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned" includes her prayer book and a Nun.

The artist at work. No ordinary art, not an "ordinary" easel.

Her home and studio on Big Lake is itself a course of inspiration. Kris says there are at least a half dozen other artists on the lake or in the vicinity, including Karen Savage Blue.

A roomful of chairs, each patiently waiting in the wings.

Related Links
More Chairs By Kris: The Magic of Imagination
https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2018/01/more-chairs-by-kris-magic-of-imagination.html
Kris Nelson's Website: Chairs By Kris