Heavy Metal:

Metal sculpture from the collection spans more than a century, illustrating different techniques in production such as works cast in bronze or aluminum, welded and painted steel, and other forms of assemblage that incorporate various media. Bronze works in the exhibition include examples of Charles Cary Rumsey’s Beaux-Arts style portraiture and animal sculpture, Mary Metcalf Langs’ metaphoric figure, and organic abstraction by John V. House. Brightly painted constructions of found materials by Katrin Jurati and Alan Van Every and whimsical assemblages by Arthur Doster and Wes Olmsted are meant to amuse the eye and mind. Also using humor, Christy Rupp critiqued American agriculture in the 1980s in her cartoonish painted steel car and plants, while Jack Drummer’s mixed media work conjures up an uncomfortable statement about human apathy. George Smith explored his heritage by referencing the aesthetics of the Dogon people in Mali, West Africa in his black painted steel abstraction. An intriguing marriage of blown glass and steel by Alex Bernstein fools the eye into thinking the work is entirely oxidized metal.  Daniel McNamara’s mixed media piece is engineered to float in perfect balance.