W&L’s Staniar Gallery Presents ‘Mary Mattingly: Proposals’ The solo exhibition will run from Sept. 4 through Oct. 25 and kicks off the gallery’s fall season.

W&L News Office
August 11, 2023

Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery is pleased to present “Proposals,” a solo exhibition by artist Mary Mattingly. The exhibit will be on view from Sept. 4 through Oct. 25. Mattingly will also give a public artist’s talk on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m. in Wilson Hall’s Concert Hall, followed by a reception.

The exhibition and reception events are free and open to the public.

New York-based artist Mattingly works in various media to explore issues around sustainability, climate change and consumerism. She is best known for creating sculptural ecosystems such as “Swale,” a floating food forest that was open to the public as it traveled through the harbors of New York City. The New York Times has described Mattingly as creating “prescient environmental projects” that “grapple with potential calamities” and reflect a broader movement to reclaim landscapes and connect with local ecologies.

Mattingly’s exhibition in Staniar Gallery will present a series of photographs and sculptures from an ongoing series in which the artist wraps up collections of personal objects into dense bundles that comment on consumption, waste and the environment. She will also work closely with students in W&L assistant professor of studio art Sandy de Lissovoy’s class, giving them the unparalleled experience of working with an internationally renowned artist.

“In conjunction with Mattingly’s visit, students will respond to her artwork that critically engages the human impulse to accumulate material possessions,” de Lissovoy said. “Inspired by work on view in Staniar Gallery, students will make their own recipes for material bundles and sculptures to contain them.”

Mattingly’s work has been exhibited at institutions such as Socrates Sculpture Park, International Center of Photography, the Brooklyn Museum, Palais de Tokyo and Seoul Art Center. She has been profiled in various documentaries and publications, including Art21 and The New York Times. Mattingly is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of grants from the James L. Knight Foundation, the Harpo Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

For more information about the 2023-24 exhibition and programming schedule, visit Staniar Gallery’s website.

Staniar Gallery is located on the second floor of Wilson Hall, in Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. When the campus is open to the public, gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 540-458-8861.