The Culchair of Doncaster
“An artwork that celebrates the culture of today’s Doncaster and the next generation’s dream for its future”
Welcome to ‘The Culchair of Doncaster’
This artwork is 100% inspired by the many, many children of Doncaster I’ve spoken to about the culture of their city.
I asked them questions such as -
What words pop into your head when you think about people in Doncaster?
What is your favourite place?
What’s positive about Donny?
What would you add, take away, improve in Doncaster if you had millions and millions of pounds?
And a few other random questions, depending on where the conversation took us…
They were a lot of fun and very interesting to speak to.
Sadly - they have real concerns about the environment and the damage we’re doing to it.
They want to help the homeless and anyone else who is less fortunate than them, they want more places to hang out that are free and fun!
Also, this is something that I didn’t expect - I’d ask some of them - what would make Doncaster better for you right now?
Their answer surprised me - they want somewhere quiet to go to, the world including school can be overwhelming at times and they need somewhere they can chill and relax with their friends.
Naturally they have concerns about their future, but overall speak very positively about the city and it’s people!
I hope you enjoy listening to the children chat about Doncaster and their hopes for the future!!
I think you’ll find it hard not to smile whilst listening!
Take a look at the designs on the chair as they’re all inspired by the conversations we had :)
A HUGE thank you to all these people and groups who helped to create the work:
Atlas Primary Academy
The Bridge
Doncaster Children’s University
The Doncaster Youth Jazz Association
Epic
Friends and family
Girl Guiding South Yorkshire, Doncaster
Home schooled children and other children at Danum
Royal Air Force Cadets, Askern
Willow Primary School
5th Woodlands Scout Group
Here is a short video to share a little information about the chair, plus how you can arrange for it to be displayed at a venue near you.
Click on subtitles/ closed captions at the base of the video to view subtitles.
A massive thank you to Doncaster Council for commissioning the work through the UKSPF
You may have guessed…
each section of the chair represents a different part of the conversation I had with the children…
The words above the terrace houses on the side are some of the words they used to describe people from Donny.
The buildings you can see on the arms of the chair are their favourite places.
The large part of the chair is based on what they want to see in Doncaster’s future…
a healthy natural world
a water park
an aquarium
a strong community
spaceships and all that fun stuff!!
Y not? This side shows that we have to be open to ideas, listen to our children and what they have to say. they see SO much potential in Doncaster!
They want more art, music, places to go and want to be proud of their city!!
There were way too many ideas! I could have covered 10 chairs…so listen to the recording as well… enjoy!!
Also…
I believe that chairs tell stories, they hold memories, they can even represent a person.
How many times have you heard ‘that’s (insert name) chair, don’t sit there!!’
How many people do you know that has a favourite chair? maybe you have one too!
How much time do we spend sitting in chairs? A lot of time…did you know that there are more chairs than humans in the world?
You can look at a chair and you’re reminded of the person it belonged to and all the memories connected to them.
That’s what this chair is about, it’s absorbed the history, thoughts, feelings and ideas of the children of Doncaster and now wants to share them with you.
Take your time, look at the designs and listen to what it has to say :)
Culchair of Doncaster
Culchair of Doncaster
How it was done..
I found the chair outside a lovely lady’s house when I was out for a walk with a friend, she gave me 2 chairs for free!
The chair is covered with a mixture of old and new fabric.
The words and designs appeared in my head after talking to the children, I do a lot of prepping of ideas and techniques in my sketchbook before deciding on a final design.
The designs are drawn onto paper and then turned into hand cut stencils - a time consuming but very satisfying technique!
They are then screen printed onto the fabric by hand and made permanent by ironing the fabric for several minutes.
The line drawings of buildings that you can see on the arms of the chair are printed using a laser printer (Print Imperials cic in Doncaster helped with that).
If you’d love the chair to be displayed at a different venue, have a question about my work, a workshop or commission, then send me a message :)
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