Chairs by Aphra Cheesman

Chain / Conceptual OnBody

On Body

Like jewellery, chairs are made for the body and exist in close proximity to it. Chairs can act as a stand-in for people – an empty chair can hold the presence of a person who once occupied it. When chairs sit in a group there is a suggestion of multiple people together; conversations, collaborations, community. As artists and jewellers, we often spend time sitting and making in our workshops. For this project, I was interested to get to know the workshop chairs of my fellow HS6ers. I considered how our workshop chairs could offer an insight into every day and perhaps overlooked aspect of each maker’s practice. Each section of this neckpiece is made in response to an individual maker’s chair from HANDSHAKE 6. The final two sections, at each end of the necklace, respond to the chair of the artist whose work it is then connected to in CHAINreaction.