Chairs make the canvas

Teaching K-12 art is a continually creative act. You must imagine projects for kids of various ages, acquire materials on a tight budget, and help as many as 30 kids per classroom fashion distinctive artworks. For Kris Nelson, the newest featured artist at the Pine Knot gallery, a classroom project morphed into a second career.

After completing her art degree at the University of Minnesota, Nelson taught in Robbinsdale and Forest Lake schools, then Carlton, followed by 21 years at Wrenshall. A high-energy person, she also coached the school's one-act play and worked with the dance program. "I was pretty worn out by the end of the day." she shared in a recent interview.

Nelson's current artwork emerged out of a student project.

"In 1996, I found some old chairs in the basement. I asked the kids to paint them and we auctioned them off. I painted one as an example. It clicked for me - I like doing this." After retiring in 2007, she began hunting chairs and painting them, on average 30 chairs a year. People liked the chairs and asked for more.

Envisioning a story, activity or place on a three-dimensional chair is quite a challenge. "Whenever I do a commissioned chair," Nelson says, "I do research. For instance, someone wanted a chair for her granddaughter's graduation from high school. I interviewed her about the granddaughter, who had been on a safari to Africa and is a dancer and a violinist." She then figures out which parts of the chair she'll use to convey the elements of the story.

Some of Nelson's paintings are social commentaries.

On one chair in our Pine Knot exhibit, Nelson critically portrays the Wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. She's created a love seat - based on her parents - in which a Catholic and an atheist confront each other and search for common ground.

Nelson tries to be creative every day. "I'm doing research, or priming, or sanding. I have to find the chairs and fix them up. And painting."

Her goal is 1,000 artwork chairs by the time she is 100 years old. Currently, she's working on No. 470. "I love it," she shares. "It's my passion. I'm never going back to painting on a two-dimensional surface."

It's quite a challenge to cover such a structure with painted images wrapped around every surface. Even figuring out whether the chair must be upended or can be painted from underneath is a challenge.

"Does the chair drive the art, or the art drive the chair?" asked Pine Knot employee Ivan Hohnstadt, listening to our interview. Kris explained that people sometimes bring in a chair and have an idea of what they'd like on it. Other times, she starts with an idea, or a theme, and chooses an appropriate chair from her huge stash. Sometimes she just chooses a chair and then ponders it: "Sometimes, the back will speak to me."

Like any self-employed person, building a business selling art chairs requires a lot of learning and legwork. Nelson hunts for and invests in chairs in addition to painting. She spends considerable time creating each original work. Initially, she approached as many as 18 galleries in the Duluth area. Over time, she's landed exhibits at Lizzard's, Lakeside Gallery, Art on the Planet in Superior, Common Ground Coffee Bar, Zeitgeist Arts, and an Oldenburg House festival. Some sell her work on an ongoing basis.

My favorite chair in our exhibit is Kris' yoga chair. She uses the shapely back inset of the chair as the yogena's torso, with the feet up on the chair's back and her forearms encircling her head in a headstand. The piece is not for sale, but most of the other pieces in our Pine Knot exhibit are.

Nelson's "Cherish" exhibit will remain on display through June at the Pine Knot gallery at 122 Avenue C, Cloquet, during regular office hours. Give yourself a little extra time for a visit, as many of the chairs require reading and viewing of all sides - just like the issues they tackle.

Ann Markusen is an economist and professor emerita at the University of Minnesota. A Pine Knot board member, she lives in Red Clover Township north of Cromwell with her husband, Rod Walli.