• Is it art?
But it was to an unknown person, who complained to the council in February.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council, citing signage laws, asked her to move the nearly 3m-high Recliner Rex by sculptor Regan Gentry.
Ms Jones complied, pushing it less than 1m to the side of the balcony where it cannot be seen from the street or by any of her over-the-road neighbours.
The space the chair vacated is now filled by an ordinary table umbrella.
That the sculptor was Gentry, responsible for the controversial public installation Harbour Mouth Molars in Dunedin, was a coincidence, Ms Jones said.
"I haven't even told the artist. In fact, I haven't heard from him for ages."
Ms Jones agrees art in public spaces is as topical an issue in Wanaka as in Dunedin, but questions what right the public or council have to object to or impose rules about art in a private space.
And she also asks: How can Recliner Rex be a sign and in breach of sign rules? "We thought it was hysterical that it was referred to as a sign ...
"We have had many comments from people who enjoyed it from the roadside.
"It was really sad that it had to go," she said.
Ms Jones studied art at Mt Aspiring College and is a painter.
She worked at Gallery Thirty Three for about six years before taking up her present part-time role as project manager for the biennial Sculpture in Central Otago exhibition.
She bought Recliner Rex after last year's event at Rippon Vineyard ended, was not using it to promote next year's exhibition and had not attached words to it.
She conceded height might have been an issue, but it wasn't higher than the roof line and not much higher than the umbrella.
There was no objection to colour - for there are also rules about bright hues in some of Wanaka's neighbourhoods - so Ms Jones surmised it was purely a "view thing".
Although the matter was simply resolved, what had not been resolved was how the council addressed art, she said.
"It is really sad that you can't express yourself like that. It's an object you see every day.
"It is just a bit bigger. It is not like it is an offensive object . . .Only the QLDC calls it a sign.
"Maybe they don't know what else to call things like that . . .
"The law is only in the QLDC. It's not in Central Otago.
"I think it's about time they started to work together to define sculpture," Ms Jones said.
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