Transforming a familiar object into a work of art

May 23, 2019

A bunch of old chairs: each with four feet, a seat, a back, some maybe with armrests. They enjoyed a long life, until the day when they seemed to be worn out

But is this really the end, or can it be the start of a new life and a new purpose? That’s what is being explored in this artistic project with the children of a local school in the Basque valley of Oztibarre.

Consider it is "participatory art", focusing on the themes of collaboration and recovery. The idea is to give a new life to old chairs by transforming them into "objets d'art". Thanks to the imagination of the children, these chairs will be reborn as elements in a multi-coloured installation.

As a first step, the children's families were asked to see if they had any old chairs in their attics that could be used for the project. Then the chairs were brought the school, where the children learned to appreciate their form and function. Using plaster strips and paints made from pigments mixed with water and egg yolk, they painted the chairs to give them a new fresh and cheerful look.

Once this process is finished, the chairs will be stacked on top of each other to form a colourful pyramid. It will be "the metamorphosis of the chair".