Upcoming Exhibitions
Selections from the Permanent Collection
June 26 - August 23
This show, comprised of four separate exhibitions, offers viewers an opportunity to experience rarely seen treasures from our extensive collection of historic and contemporary metalwork.
The first exhibition, titled Under Lock and Key, will showcase the Museum’s extensive collection of historic and handmade locks. From the intricate to the deceptively simple, both whimsical and practical, there's a lock for every taste, and a key for every lock. The J.G. Braun Collection of decorative ironwork will also be on display, along with sales catalogs and texts from our library that illuminate its historical and artistic significance. The third exhibition, titled Domesticity, will feature handmade household items from the utilitarian to the extraordinary, each displaying an exquisite marriage of form and function. Finally, our Dorothy Sturm Memorial Gallery will host our collection of Sturm's vibrant enamels.
Tributaries: Nathan Dube
June 5 - July 12
Nathan Dube received his BFA from the University of Texas and his M.F.A. n Jewelry/Metals/Enameling from Kent State University, Kent, OH. His early work explored the connections between memory and the body's senses. By using the body's senses, particularly the sense of smell, memories can be triggered allowing the viewer to reconnect with the past. His current work explores masculinity and the mid-life crisis. The work uses childhood pranks and toys reinterpreted as high-end adult toys. The appearance of each piece affords the object a level of authority, convincing the viewer that each piece is the result of years of industrial research and development for actual products. At the same time this authority is subverted by the absurdity of each piece's function. For instance, the piece entitled S.P.I.T., which functions as a spit-wad shooter, is extremely detailed, exquisitely crafted and constructed of precious materials. These eclectic toys are meant to comment on the absurd lengths men will sometimes go to in order to recapture their youth.
Tributaries: Sylvie Rosenthal
July 17 - August 23
Using familiar forms such as birds and animals, Rosenthal mines what she calls “she everydayness of the human condition” for evidence of the slow, continual process of personal transformation. Humor and quiet poetry are coupled with a devotion to fine craft to produce a body of work that is both engaging and beautiful.
About her work, the artist says “I am inspired by passing cars, hard times, good feelings, dish washers and other angels, tight rope walkers, and feelings that are so deep down that you are not sure if they are yours or if you are supposed to have them all.”
ELIZABETH BRIM: MASTER METALSMITH 09
August 28 - November 8, 2009
Elizabeth Brim is a prominent blacksmith as well as an instructor at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina. She is best known for feminine imagery in her ironwork. "I grew up in a strong female dominated society. My mother and grandmother made frilly dresses for my sister and me and told us fairy tales. The things I make are all about being female and the expectations of women of my generation. I'm just playing dress-up, making a little fun of myself and having a really good time.” As she moved from basic tool-making into more conceptual and personal pieces, Brim found her niche making feminine objects out of steel. She first made a pair of iron high-heeled shoes based on the fairy tale "Twelve Dancing Princesses" that won first prize at the 1988 Artist Blacksmith's Association of North America Southeastern Regional Conference in Madison, Georgia. She then continued on to make objects like aprons, handbags, pillows, tiaras, and high heels that gained recognition for their uniquely juxtaposed feminine imagery in the field of blacksmithing.
RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL
November 13, 2009 - January 31, 2010
The Metal Museum’s 30th Anniversary year ends with an invitational show that pairs metalsmiths with their favorite works from the permanent collection. Artists will be invited to create a new work that will be displayed next to the work that inspired it. Artists will include familiar friends of the Metal Museum, as well as a few new friends.
The Metal Museum is funded through the generosity of members and donors and through ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission.