The Chair

prints of the original oil painting by Ken Dahl The Chair December 2024There’s just something about a fire that makes us look. But why would anyone paint something like that? Be assured, no one was harmed in this personally historic scene from the mid 1970’s. It was an old, abandoned shack of a house in northern Minnesota that needed leveling. It was a backwards time of dusty, dirt roads, wind-up alarm clocks, a fiddle, and an out-of-tune upright piano. This humble little home never had electricity or running water. The heat from an old wood stove kept out the cold, while trusty kerosene lanterns dimly lit late evening conversations. No fans blowing during the hot summer weeks, just the sound of a bee trapped behind a screen door trying to find a way back outside – mixed with that click-cluck, click-cluck sound of that wind-up clock reverberating through a solid oak dresser. Sheer, white see-through curtains danced gently into the room from a west window. A small dirt-shelved cellar be