There is an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco written in 1952 called ‘Les Chaises’. An elderly couple are setting out chairs in a municipal hall in anticipation of a celebrity showing up to deliver an important speech. Like, ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett, no one ever shows up!
There was a worrying foreboding that the dramatic outcome of those two plays would play out in the Phil Arber Park in Vankleek Hill during the May Show Festival on Sunday, May 18 when five local artists arranged a dozen ‘Art Chairs’ in a welcoming horseshoe under a 14′ x 14′ pop-up canopy, swiftly erected to shelter the exhibits and curious from the relentless seasonal rain that settled stubbornly over Eastern Ontario.
Unlike Ionesco and Beckett’s Dramatic works, when nobody showed up for the ‘big event’, this bespoke and original exhibit nestled in that cozy and sheltered corner of Vankleek Hill, did, despite non-stop rain, garner a steady stream of enthusiastic and animated visitors.
So, what did they see?
They saw an eclectic and inspirational assortment of various chairs re-envisaged as original works of Art:
They saw, ‘The Pope Joan Chair’ by Marion McGill Hodge, conceived with tongue in cheek, visual satirical comment that humorously flirts with the sacrilegious.
They saw two zany and colourful submissions by our local Artist ‘The Crone of the Hill’ Susan Jephcot as she reinvented two aging easy chairs with timely, current punditry and insightful wit.
They would have marveled at a number of exquisitely detailed and thought-provoking pieces by another celebrated regional artist, Jill Crosby. One of Jill’s exhibit’s is a finely crafted wooden framed dining chair with a beautifully painted black crow delicately suspending a miniature vintage oil lamp pinched in its sharp beak, and, on the chair back, a full buttery moon in all her magnetic mystique.
Lesley Macaulay brought her love of cats to her two clever submissions, firstly, a three-dimensional felted ginger cat flat out in deep feline slumber on the seat of a decorative balloon backed chair provoking a ‘do not disturb’ response.
Lesley’s second matching chair deals with an altogether more mischievous feline. Lesley presents a mesmerizing tromp l’oeil painted tabby on the cushion taking frenzied delight in shredding the seat back, colourful threads pulled taught are seemingly ripped from the balloon back by the recumbent cat lying flat on its back with destructive intent on unraveling the annoying tapestry which succumbs to its tenacious claws.
This whole exhibit reveals the inventive eye of the Artist, to take an everyday domestic piece of furniture and create an alternate and thought-provoking message.
Particularly and poetically poignant was Maggi Macaulay’s chair, titled:
‘Rest and be Thankful, a Chair of Remembrance ‘
In the troubled times we live in, with conflict rampant in too many corners of our planet, how sobering this chair is with its simple reminder of the futility of war. The stark balloon black dining chair has its back replaced with a beautifully conceived Stained Glass inset:
We see the Battlefields of WWI; we see bright, red-faced poppies reaching for the clear blue skies far above the waterlogged and muddy fields below, we see an upholstered seat of black, browns and reds that reminds us of bloodshed and loss, we see sharp barbed wire entanglement threateningly circumventing the chair back so full of promise and hope, and we read an iconic line from the celebrated Canadian poem ‘ In Flanders Field’ by John McCrae in a beautiful calligraphed oval surround.
Who ever said that Remembrance Day was reserved for November 11th.
Macaulay’s chair reminds us all, to count our blessings each and every day, ‘Never to Forget’
Congratulations to all the Chair Artists of Vankleek Hill.
Bravo and we look to the May Show 2026…more chairs please!
Addendum: If you missed these chairs at The May Show you will have from July 1 to The Labour Day weekend to view them at Le Chenail in Hawkesbury where they will be exhibited under the banner; ‘Chair the Love’.
Submitted photos
