The Chair
The team at Juniper Place, decided to add a big blue chair to the office so that the educators could have a comfortable chair to relax in during their breaks and when they need to meet one on one.
The chair is located beside the good-bye window where the children get to say good-bye and see their loved ones (Mommy and/or Daddy) go out of the gate when they start their day inside.
So what do we see? …. A comfortable chair for the educators?
Well, it has become more than that….
It has become a chair to sit on when some children arrive with big feelings, where friends and siblings come together to share a book, look out into the yard, or to support each other.
The chair has welcomed the children into the office, making it a welcoming place just like all the other rooms at Juniper Place. The chair offers all kinds of invitations to show love, share empathy and explore the unknown. It also offers time to share stories with the educators, creating conversations that have come to develop a stronger relationship among the educators and the children at Juniper Place.
As I reflect on this, I have been wondering whether those insects, birds, squirrels, deer and other non-humans in our neighboring community would also have a certain tree, branch, rock, lamp post or a spot in the forest to sit on and what feelings it might bring them.
So go ahead, sit on the chair, enjoy the moment!
It’s interesting to me how these transitional spaces become so unexpectedly inviting at times. Resonating this feeling of ‘staying’ as a way to cope with the comings and goings.
I am currently having similar feelings about our Atrium space, as it also represents a place of movement. How do we stay in such spaces?
Reflecting on my work “The Chair” I came across a quote from Sylvia Kind
“Materials live in the world in multiple ways. They can evoke memories, narrate stories, invite actions and communicate meanings. Materials and objects create meeting places.”
As I sit here writing what my thought comes about “the Chair” I am wondering if perhaps the children experience the same at home. Do they have a space to go to and watch a parent leave? Do they have a comfy couch or chair to perhaps facetime a parent when away. Does this chair give them the same comfort of home and know mom and dad will be back? Or does this chair give them comfort of sitting like home in mom or dads space while they work? What ever we feel, we all want that comfort of home away from home.
In regards to your reflection: Here at Sitka Place, we often watch through our fence a female deer (or maybe it’s more than one?) sitting at the exact same spot in Haro Woods. I’ve been wondering myself about the deer’s feelings about that spot, what made her choose it, and what is our role (if any) in her sense of belonging to that environment.
Thank you for sharing your reflections and questions.
It is certainly beautiful to be apart of such special moments alongside the children as they have created a strong relationship between their feelings, the chair, window, space, educators and more than human others. I am moved by your excitement and investment.
“Listening as time. When you really listen, you get into the time of dialogue and interior reflection, an interior time that is made up of the present but also past and future time and is, therefore, outside of chronological time. it is time full of silences.” (Rinaldi, 2001).
I am interested in the agency of the chair – how do we think alongside chair? How does the chair complexify our time alongside the chair? are we able to acknowledge the chair as a protagonist in our learning? I appreciate your quote from Sylvia – how important it is to see the life of this material (chair).
I am curious to think alongside the ideas that have emerged in the interactions between chair and body? what questions does the chair have for us?
I look forward to continue working with Juniper Place to think deeply about the invitation the chair continues to offer us.