The Big Green Chair
O
n
Saturday, November 2, 2002 Green Chair II rose in the park. The first
chair fell victim to untreated materials and was removed July 2. As with
the first, Joel Sisson built the Chair with the assistance of neighbors and
helpers. This Chair is built of treated wood, weighs
approximately 2,500 pounds and is constructed of sections of architectural
glue lam beam built in layers of laminated California yellow pine.
The first Chair was installed October 1, 1995.
The decision to add it to the park was made by a group of neighbors September
9 as a publicity piece for the Green Chair Project. The sculpture was on
exhibit at the Walker Art Center before being moved and re-assembled in our
park. There were four of the over-sized chairs in various parts of the Twin
Cities.
The first construction took approximately three
hours for the team of thirteen inner city youth and staff of the Green
Chair Project and Two or More program to re-assemble the
chair.
This St. Paul landmark occupies a prominent
location on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. Often one finds children of
all ages climbing up and over. The chair, in its setting of crab apple trees
is a photo opportunity, inviting senior citizens and high school seniors to
climb into its warm and memorable embrace to capture celebratory moments.
The Green Chair Project was begun in 1991 by
Jonathan Sisson, Director, and Chris Hand.
The stretch of Pleasant Avenue, Minneapolis, on which they lived was known as
a crack street, a haven for crime, filled with young people with nothing to do
but get into trouble. Sisson and Hand put many of these young people to work
building 90 Adirondack Chairs which they gave away to everyone in the
neighborhood.
The Green Chair Project has given inner city
youth the opportunity to learn responsible work habits, leadership, and
business skills through making and marketing these chairs each summer.
They teamed up with Two or More, a North
Minneapolis program that helps young people develop leadership and work skills
to create positive, productive lives for themselves. The group which
re-assembled the chair in the park consisted of four youth of African, and
seven youth of Asian, descent. A foundation of sand was installed underneath
to soften "falls".
Portions digested from Habstritt, Mary, Community Reporter,
December 1995, volume 23, No 12, St. Paul, MN page 1.
