Permanently MAD: Revealing the Collection

September 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

Permanently MAD: Revealing the Collection presents approximately 250 works from the Museum of Arts and Design’s permanent collection. For the first time in the Museum’s 52-year history, dedicated collections galleries introduce visitors to the phenomenal ceramic, glass, wood, metal, fiber, and mixed media works in the Museum’s collections. Many of the pieces are on view for the first time.

Permanently MAD offers new ways of looking at artworks, outside of traditional hierarchies of art, craft, and design. Exhibition sections allow viewers to draw connections between works of all media, presenting fresh insights for those familiar with the Museum and for those visiting for the first time. In “Description: Seeing the Object,” viewers are encouraged to explore artworks visually, through the language of form, color, and surface patterning. In “Intention: The Artist Speaks,” each object reflects a specific world view, emotion, or imaginative viewpoint of the artist. Finally, “Reflection: Objects in Context” explores the ways in which the objects are influenced by the environment—physical, historical, or social–-in which they were created.

The artists in the show demonstrate a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Sam Maloof is considered one of the leading figures of the Studio Craft Movement, helping to bring back an emphasis on hand-crafting wood furniture. His signature rocker is celebrated as a hallmark of classic design.

An emphasis on the handmade is also a concern for Harumi Nakashima and Myra Mimlitsch-Gray. Nakashima builds coiled domes and then cuts them open, to reveal the interiors and to manipulate the shapes. Mimlitsch-Gray integrates humor and irony in her teapot, by raising a sheet of pure silver with a hammer and anvil to echo the liquid appearance of melting metal.

Judith Schaechter’s stained glass offers a whimsical, fantastical look at a parade of creatures. She uses traditional stained-glass techniques, while relying on computer technology to help her sketch and design the composition. Jeweler and metalworker Boris Bally uses exceptional craftsmanship for his geometric silverware set.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, 250-page catalogue with 200 highlights from the collection. Organized alphabetically by artist, the catalogue includes beautiful new photography, as well as a curator’s statement for each object. The catalogue features a timeline of the Museum’s history, along with an index by material. It functions as a guidebook to the collection and to the Museum, both for casual readers and scholars.

The exhibition is graciously sponsored by the Collectors Circle.