CHEERS
TO
CHAIRS

This exhibition explores the chair as both object and subject - an everyday form elevated through drawing, color and craft.

The idea began during Jenny Jing Zhang's artist residency in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy. The house where she stayed once belonged to architects Astra Zarina and Tony Heywood, who filled it with carefully chosen chairs collected early in their lives together. Their passion for these objects inspired Jenny to behin documenting them, first in the house, then throughout Civita, and later in Chicago.

The chairs featured in this series draw reference from Civita and three primary sources in Chicago: Design at 329, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Catalyst Ranch. Each sketch highlights what makes a chair distinctive - its material, texture, color, and geometry.

In collaboration with Hope Dye, the works extend beyond the page. Through her framing, Hope echoes the very qualities within each drawing - geometry, material, and color palette - so that the frames become part of the dialogue. Her craft allows each piece to speak more fully, uniting artwork and structure in a way that amplifies the presence of the chairs themselves.

Together, the drawings and their frames invite viewers to slow down and consider how design, history, and craft intersect in the most familiar of objects: the chair.