ROOTED IN STEEL

Solo Exhibition
July 9 – August 2, 2026

Artist Reception Saturday July 11th, 2026 1-4 pm

Artist Talk 1:30 pm

‘I discovered my passion for working with steel after gifting myself a five-day welding class on my 50th birthday. After more than thirty years as an art therapist, I shifted my focus to full-time sculpture, working in a studio filled with metal fragments gathered from scrap yards, roadsides, and dismantled basements.

My connection to this medium is deeply personal. My father owned a large used machinery company, and childhood visits to his office embedded the smells, textures, and visual language of industrial spaces into my memory. Working with salvaged steel allows me to reconnect with his influence and the significance of our relationship.

I am drawn to both the form and the history of the objects I incorporate into my sculptures. I often wonder whose hands once held them, what purpose they served, where they were abandoned, and how time and nature continue to transform them.

Some narratives emerge intuitively, while others evolve through explorations of transformation, grief, time, industrialization, and the resilience of nature.’

- Mona Rutenberg