About the Artist

The Bigger Big Chair was done by Bellingham’s own David Ireland. He was born in Bellingham in the 1930’s. He even went to Western Washington University and moved down to California, specifically in the Bay Area. Ireland is a conceptual artist who works in big picture methods which try and give the audience a emotional and intellectual reaction. Ireland travelled the work for a large portion of his life until deciding to do art full time in the 1907’s. Ireland’s most famous work was the 500 Capp in San Fransisco, where the whole house became an exhibit for his audience to interact with. Ireland died in 2009.

About the Work

The piece itself stands on top of a hill behind some dorms. It is just off the path and over looks the school. It was constructed and created between 2004-2007. The chair is 12ft tall and 6ft wide. A possible influence for the work was the idea of the era that to succeed in life one would need a college degree. Thus the chair represents idea of education. It has a stark contrast with the area around it that it is a reminder to people that while education is a strong, unwithering fixture of society the chair is large and imposing as it looks over campus. While the nature that surrounds it is ever-changing and much more vast and unknown, while the chair sits above it and almost ‘judges it’.

My Experience

So, the chair is supposed to be this large, powerful, imposing object and represent education and knowledge. Which is very fitting as it sits overlooking the university. But does these ideas still hold true today? Do students treat this large imposing chair up by the woods? When I first saw the chair, i was walking home from Sehome High School about my sophomore year. I saw it and thought it was sad, it was so far from the rest of campus and the rest of the sculptures. As time went on I started to see the power and majesty, my cross country team and I would run there sometimes and my friends and I would sometimes have lunch there. As time went on I understand the ideas that Ireland had behind the chair with education and the power that it comes with. To get an idea of what goes along with education and life at a university and the use of the chair and where it is does a good job of this.

Created by Bridget Henry

Work Cited:
Western Gallaries. “Western Washington University.” WESTERN GALLERY. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2018. <https://westerngallery.wwu.edu/sculpture/bigger-big-chair>.

Muchnic, Suzanne. “David Ireland Dies at 78; Bay Area Conceptual Artist.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2009. Web. 07 Feb. 2018. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-me-david-ireland30-2009may30-story.html>.

Tsujimoto, Karen, David Ireland, and Jennifer R. Gross. The Art of David Ireland: The Way Things Are. Oakland, CA: Oakland Museum of California, 2003. Print.