Coleman’s Chairs

With almost $63,000 raised, plans to place two bronze Adirondack chairs in the Farmers Market will come to city council on June 1. “I haven’t made the molds yet,” says Ann Arbor sculptor Tad McKillop. “After that June 1 meeting, then I’ll know exactly when I get to start.”

The chairs are a memorial to educator, woodworker, and Ann Arbor native Coleman Jewett, who sold his pine furniture at the market for forty-five years until his death in 2013. The chairs were his signature. He always kept two in his stall; he sat in one, while the other was occupied by an endless stream of friends. Bob Miller, chair of the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission, hopes future market shoppers will sit and converse in the bronze chairs just as Jewett and his visitors did.

Miller says he was stunned by how much time and hard work it takes to raise money for public art. “I was touched by the efforts of everyone,” he says. Marsha Chamberlin, art commissioner and champion for the project, says the Mosaic Foundation of Rita and Peter Heydon gave a nice donation. (The Heydons and the Jewetts lived near one another off Huron River Dr. for decades; Rita died last year, but Peter and Coleman’s widow, Maggie Jewett, remain neighbors.) The DDA gave $15,000, the city gave $5,000, and a state arts grant $4,000. The rest of the money came from 169 individuals.

McKillop says he’s been in touch with Coleman’s son, WEMU deejay Michael Jewett, who will “provide me with a chair that I can use as a pattern … take apart, and take the molds from. It’ll be very direct.” He’ll be paid $43,500 for the metalwork. “That’s the whole job … all the casting, all the materials, and the installation.” The rest of the money will go to site preparation and a fund for future maintenance.

How does that price compare to Jewett’s wooden originals? A “mini-child’s or doll’s chairs might be $25,” Maggie Jewett emails. ‘[T]he giant chair for very large people might be $60; if you ordered more than one, you might get a bargain he made on the spot; and if you were Bo Schembechler, you would get it for free!”