Art called Steampunk that has influenced everything from product design to fashion to fine art will be on display at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum this Spring. The Steampunk design movement features a neo-vintage twist on 19th century industrialized looks and Victorian decorative motifs. The new exhibit, titled "Steampunk: Nature & Machine", will open on April 25th with a reception from 6:00 -8:00 pm, and will run until June 15th. This is the first exhibit dedicated to Steampunk art in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
According to IBM's "Social Sentiment Index", which measures what's trending on social networks and blogs, 2013 is set to be the year Steampunk surges as a mass-market aesthetic. The Museum's exhibit will feature art by renowned Steampunk artists Bruce Rosenbaum, Leslie Mueller and Katie Shima and co-curated by Rosenbaum and Museum trustee Gail Ingis-Claus.
Rosenbaum describes the art this way, "Creating Steampunk art and design is about the combination and synthesis of opposites: past and present; form and function; art and science; male and female; nature and machine. I'm excited to help curate and exhibit with two incredible Steampunk artists – Katie Shima and Leslie Mueller. Our Steampunk exhibition brings together two opposites: nature and machine, then fuses them in ways to help you re-imagine our complex world."
Leslie Mueller speaks about her vision of Steampunk, saying, "In our technological society Steampunk art is both retro and futuristic in nature. My art combines my interest in mechanical workings with my love of natural objects. I take a pinch of Jules Verne and add a sprinkle of Mother Nature to create simple, sophisticated pieces of art."
About the Artists
Bruce Rosenbaum has been dubbed the Steampunk evangelist and guru by Wired Magazine. His artwork has been on exhibition consistently throughout the Northeastern United States, including the Charles River Museum of Industry, Wooster Street Social Club, The Mark Twain House and Shelburne Museum. Rosenbaum has collaborated with many well-known and emerging Steampunk artists and created the unofficial Steampunk artists guild Steampuffin. His design business and home, a retro-future refurbished house, have been featured in Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, CNN, Huffington Post, NPR and on MTV, A&E, Discovery and HGTV. Rosenbaum lives in Sharon, Massachusetts.
Katie Shima is an artist and architectural designer based in New York City. She has had exhibitions, installations, and performances at the Charles Bank Gallery, Bridge Gallery, Devotion Gallery, Clocktower Gallery, Barnard College, The Tank, SoHo 20, among others. Shima is a founding member of the electronic noise art group Loud Objects. Residencies with the Loud Objects include Art On Air in New York and Det Jyske Kunstakademi in Aarhus, Denmark. She is currently working as an architectural designer at Situ Studio. Shima received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College and a Master's in Architecture from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum's 2013 cultural and educational programs are made possible by generous funding from the LMMM Distinguished Benefactors: The Xerox Foundation, Klaff's, Mrs. Cynthia C. Brown and The Maurice Goodman Foundation. The Museum's Education Program is made possible in part by a generous donation from AT&T.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark located at 295 West Avenue in Norwalk. Tours for the museum and exhibit are offered Wednesdays through Sundays, at noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, and 3 pm. Admittance is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for children. Children under 8 are admitted free. For more information, visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.
*Photo courtesy of Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum