Transformations: Contemporary Artists at Winterthur
Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library
June 2024 – January 2025
Art at Large, Inc. and Charles Mack Design, Inc. worked with Winterthur’s Exhibitions team and the Maker-Creator Research Fellowship program to design and produce a multi-sensory exhibit experience showcasing the artworks of contemporary artists inspired by their studies of Winterthur and its vast collection of decorative arts.
Art from the Onset
Visitors are introduced to the exhibit with a custom lenticular title graphic feature, displaying one of the shows included objects—a decoupage table—from one view, and the names of the included contemporary artists from the alternate view.
This piece along with illustrative graphics digitally collaged from Winterthur’s collection objects interplayed with bold shapes and patterns of color used throughout the show.
Art at Large, Inc.’s Sally Wern Comport designed these illustrative environments in collaboration with Charles Mack Design to provide a cohesive backdrop to integrate within the Artists’ installations.
Artists shown:
Kate Sekules
Jennifer Steverson
Rebecca Gilbert
Joey Quiñones
Jerome Bias
Custom Art Elements by Art at Large, Inc.
A Scrapbook in Motion
One of the driving motifs for the show Transformations was the notion of Winterthur as a doll house of physical assemblage. A Victorian-era scrapbook was displayed in the exhibit within a custom collage wallscape by Sally Wern Comport.
To display the full collection of the Library’s scrapbooks, a slideshow was projected on the wallscape with select spreads playfully animated by Lindsay Bolin Lowery.
“Plant the Radishes” Interactive & Display for The Radish Project
The Radish Project aimed to disrupt the manmade with nature, planting radishes along Winterthur’s Dairy Barn Road and within asphalt patches throughout the property in pattern shapes inspired by wallpaper samples from the collection. Our task was to design an interior display that captured the spirit of the exterior exhibit and complemented a VR experience designed by the project’s lead artist, Daniel Feinberg.
Daniel’s project drawings were adapted into dimensional radishes and a “soil” graphic that visitors could engage with to “plant the radishes” themselves. Documentation photos of the radish outdoor plantings were applied atop a stenciled pattern that mimicked the wallpaper patterns utilized by Daniel’s team.
Immersive Soundscape Room for The Winterthur Suite
Featured musicians Tommy Dougherty and Alexandra Cade composed a 20-minute piece during their Maker-Creator Residency inspired by objects within the collection, interspersed with their playing of Ruth’s Fugue written by Ruth Wales du Pont herself. The soundscape room was adorned with large graphic reproductions of the objects and a custom film by Lindsay of Art at Large accompanied the score. The visuals were an abstracted interpretation of a day in the life of Ruth Wales du Pont.
Sample clip from The Winterthur Suite, a 20 minute film to accompany the music of Alexandra Cade and Tommy Dougherty within an immersive soundscape room
Sample Storyboarding for The Winterthur Suite film
Activity Room with Custom Scrapbook Magnet Board
As a finale to the exhibition, visitors could put forth their own creativity to make assemblages and play with a magnet board. The interactive featured a custom background collaged by Sally Wern Comport utilizing the Winterthur scrapbooks as source material and magnets including artwork included in the show, imagery extracted from the scrapbooks, and objects from the Winterthur collection.
Transformations featured artists
Damon Smith • Kate Sekules • Bandbox Collective • Gregg Moore and Omar Tate • Jerome Bias • Lauren Frances Adams • Kirin Joya Makker • Joey Quiñones • The Chairmaker’s Toolbox • Ellie Richards • Kathryn Sullivan • Kelly Harris • Aspen Golann • Rebecca Gilbert • Jennifer Steverson • Alka Raman • Elaine K. Ng • Margaret O’Neil • Alexandra Cade and Tommy Dougherty • The Radish Project • Richard Saja • Samara Weaver • Heather Ossandon • Sharon Williams • Andrew Raftery • Stefania Urist • Michael Kalmbach and Creative Vision Factory • Elissa Edwards and Élan Ensemble • Kim Hall and Justin Hardison, Nottene
Fabrication by PM Exhibits. Graphics Printed by DUO Signage + Graphics and Bay Imagery.
Learn more about Winterthur’s Transformations project and the Maker-Creator Fellowship.