"The Wilde Stavey Chair" by E.A. Wilde Cryderman

Chair location: ACWL-Nuveen
 
Artist E.A. Wilde Cryderman has this to say about the piece: "Three and a half months after my parents, a clothing designer, and an inventor, immigrated from the Valley of the Seven Dwarf Mountains and the Pied Piper Town of Hameln, I was born in Detroit, Michigan, home to decades of R&B, Gospel and Jazz music.
 
My mother had left her violin behind, but my father accompanied their songs and stories on his harmonica, which he joked was so much better than carrying a piano in his shirt pocket. We – five children – eventually were brought up on an eclectic mix of music from live performances, radio, and records. We were educated in the music of opera, folk music, and the symphony. We loved the Fiddler on the Roof at the Fisher Theatre, and danced to Ellie Pop, Motown, and jazz bands at the Metropolitan Beach Pavilion.
 
As an artist and educator, I love to open doors for understanding and to make connections. With degrees in Biology, Art, and Special Education, I have written music, won grants, and illustrated national curriculum projects, books and magazines. I like to learn how things work and see surprises in people and nature, so most of my larger artworks have been drawn from observation and/or created en plein air. I have experienced garage bands, marching bands, and the greatest singing in the streets. I have heard 800 automobiles play “Smoke on the Water” on their car horns. I have heard days and nights of jazz along the Detroit River. This artwork is made in celebration of my hometown’s gift of music to all of us, and to our children and grandchildren."