A New Traveling Exhibit from Seattle's Museum of History and Industry

SHEEN OF SILVER, WEIGHT OF AIR:  Aluminum in Art, History and Design
Tour:  July 1998 through December 2001

Aluminum, so commonplace in modern American life, was once valued more
highly than gold.

This exhibit of approximately 65 objects will include examples
of 19th-century European uses, such as luxury dressing table items by
Lalique and items fashioned for Napoleon III and his household.

SHEEN OF SILVER will include a replica of the aluminum pyramid that capped
the Washington Monument, and a collection of everyday items from the
turn-of-the-century which illustrate the Americanization of aluminum.
In the 1850s, aluminum was a rare and exotic material, found only in the
homes of European nobility; within fifty years, in the wake of Charles
Martin Hall's patent for the electrolytic reduction of aluminum, American
farmers could mail-order aluminum teakettles and milk pans from Sears and
Roebuck.

Curator Lloyd Herman, director emeritus of the Smithsonian's Renwick
Gallery, has chosen 40 examples of contemporary art and craft in aluminum
for Sheen of Silver. Selected from submissions by more than 200 American
artists, these objects range from jewelry to furniture, and demonstrate
the artist's interpretation of aluminum's physical properties -- its
lightness, ductility, conductivity.

There will be examples of high-tech industrial components, as well as a
1950s vignette of a corner of an aluminum-sided house with a patio,
aluminum lounge furniture, an aluminum Christmas tree, an aluminum
baseball bat, and so on.  From tinsel to flywheels to sculpture, Sheen of
Silver will interpret utilitarian and artistic uses of the most familiar
man-made material in modern life.

This exhibit will include a section which explores the early uses and
manufacturing processes of aluminum through photos and documentary
materials.  Another area of focus will address recycling, featuring
objects made from recycled aluminum, as well as the opportunity for each
exhibitor on tour to add educational literature from local and regional
recycling organizations.  We plan a video component for historic film
footage of aluminum processing and fabrication, as well as a video
documentary concerning artists and craftspeople who work in aluminum.

An illustrated catalog will be published, and we will provide hands-on
activities and the museum's educational materials and programming
suggestions, specially developed for this show.  This will be a turnkey
traveling exhibit, with casework included.

We expect to set a weekly rental fee for Sheen of Silver between $850 and
$950.  Please contact the Museum of History and Industry for a complete
information
packet, to be updated as the exhibit moves forward.  We appreciate your
interest.

Lorraine McConaghy is the project manager for this exhibit and you can
e-mail her at this address, or phone 206-324-1685 ext 16, or write her at
the Museum of History and Industry, 2700-24th Avenue, West, Seattle, WA
98112.