Simple Objects: Chairs

This group of drawings comes from a deeper layer of the Simple Objects series — a long-term project rooted in Tanya’s childhood home and the objects that have lived there with her for decades.

These particular chairs have been in her family home longer than she has. Over time they’ve broken, been mended, reupholstered, and pulled into the fabric of the space. As Tanya says, “They’re part of the ship” — a quiet reference to the line “part of the crew, part of the ship.”

Each drawing is made directly from life, without pre-sketching or construction lines. Tanya begins by placing her pencil at the edge of the form and drawing the full silhouette in one continuous gesture. Every correction, every second thought, remains visible on the page — sometimes softened with a white pencil, but never erased. These drawings evolve through attention rather than control.

They are restrained in material: soft, muted colors on toned pastel paper, built from colored pencil alone. The chairs are not decorative motifs— they are companions, held still through time and observation. What emerges is not a display of precision, but a conversation between looking and staying. These are portraits of presence, not furniture. They are the ones that stayed.