One and Many Chairs

A cradle to grave exhibition with remakes of retired UB Libraries study chairs, created by members of the University at Buffalo and greater Buffalo community. In the Department of Art Lower Gallery Center For the Arts, Room B45 On View: September 1 - October 17, 2026 Reception: Thursday, September 3, 5-8PM Artists in the Round, Gallery Conversation, October 15, 6-8PM Bryce Baker, Strata. Chair, leather, Walnut, Oak, Maple, Koto, and Ebony Veneers, paint Madeline Bartley, Rooted in Existence. Chair, hand printed textiles, woodblock print, appliqué, collage, machine embrpoidery, fabric, paint Brian Millspaw & Sarah Brown, b#. Chair, Ash wood, upholstery fabric Brian Millspaw & Sarah Brown Brian Tulowiecki & Mary Kay Omara Office of Enrollment Management: Clayton Cobb, Michael Conroy, Holly Evert, Katie Fox, Jessica Kane, Kristin Lowe, Brent Zimmerman Nirmiti (Nini) Pandit and Mathieu V. Liu UB Sustainability Community Is an old chair still a useful chair? Is it junk, lumber, an art supply, an opportunity? One and Many Chairs is an evaluation of what can be created when we look at a pile of old library chairs marked for disposal, and ask many creative people to take stab (or saw, or paintbrush, or blow torch, or needle, or whatever the creator chooses) at them, to make a new art object. The aesthetics and concepts that now shout from the chairs not only perform the artistic voices of their makers, but also explore lifecycles and economics of contemporary life and amenities, across institutional, domestic, and studio types of spaces. Investigating and perhaps re-pathing the lifecycles of particular objects is the “cradle to grave” process. In a world full of choices within and beyond our control, what we decide is “for disposal” and what is for keeping, even if just for a little while longer, is a question that can be asked at any moment and with any thing. Right now, we explore and celebrate one manageable and cool little drop in the bucket, one chair. A tree is born of a seed of its parent. It grows in a forest for a time, and It might be destined or eventually designated To be felled for furniture and no longer climb. Metal is mined and smelted, and Fashioned for staples, screws, Rivets, and nails, and flat little feet-- Things that a builder will use. Cotton is planted and harvested, Picked, spun, felted, or strung Or woven and melted to polymers-- A million purposes near and far-flung. A chair is born of its industrial producer, Who used to have a storefront in NYC After give or take 50 years To what ends they’ll see it be. In the landfill or a pyre? Do we put it in its grave? A sculpture is born of its artist Functional or just for fun It seems to be newly destined For an adventure, now just begun. For the Open Call announcement see here. One and Many Chairs is curated by Whitney Kehl Chamberlain, Art Resource Manager for the Department of Art. "Old chairs get new life-- a cradle to grave exhibition Open Call", announcement on UB Department of Art News roll, April 1, 2026 "Old Lockwood chairs find new life in exhibition", article by Grace Boylan, UBNow, April 14, 2026 "From trash to treasure to art" article by Kaden Zhong", The Spectrum, Sept. 9, 2026