NO PLACE LIKE HOME
MAY 1 – JUN. 2, 2024
image: Danielle Attoe, Dual Focus, 2021. Silver, brass. Courtesy of the Artist. Photo courtesy of Joseph Mougel.
Image: Keith Lewis, O Chão do Nosso Lar, 2010. Sterling Silver, 18K Gold, Limoges Enamel on Steel, Wood. Artwork and image courtesy of the artist.
“... be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.”
— SL. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Varied perspectives, techniques, and themes from queer artists in the metals community will remind the viewer of the complexity and contradictions behind Dorothy’s mantra, “there is no place like home.” Guest curator and artist, Andrew Thornton, continues the conversation begun by our recent exhibition, We Are Here: LGBTQIA+ Voices in the Contemporary Metals Community with this brief, month-long installation. Here, the viewer is encouraged to consider the concept of “home” in the queer community, and specifically in metalsmithing. Thornton explains that the exhibition offers, “an investigation of what home means to people with vastly different life experiences and how they feel like they fit into the world around them or don’t.” The materials employed in the exhibition, moreover, lend themselves to the questions raised by Thornton, as he sees metal “itself is so versatile. It can exist in so many different forms and shapes and is a vehicle for storytelling that illuminates internal discussions about the world we live in.”
FEATURED ARTISTS
Robin Andrews (he/she/they)
SULO BEE (they/them/ze)
Jo Bennett (they/them)
Morgan Calabrese (she/her)
GUEST CURATOR:
Andrew Thornton is a professional fine artist, trained at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He works in painting, collage, and metalsmithing. His work explores identity through magical realism and fantasy. Andrew is the Co-Owner of Allegory Gallery in Johnstown, PA and Star Cottage Studio in Ligonier, PA. Andrew also was elected to the Board of Directors of Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA.