Treasure of Memory
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Like a modern Jonathan Swift, Michael Petry opens our eyes to a world in which a familiar object is no longer on a human scale and we must confront the preconceptions, both personal and cultural, that prevent us from “seeing” it for all it can be. Treasure of Memory Michael Petry’s colossal necklace of thirty-two colorful blown glass beads, both humbles and empowers us as it brings us face to face with our limitations and powers.
Treasure of Memory was inspired by a glass-bead necklace that was buried with its owner in a tomb in Norway one thousand years ago. This ancient Iron Age necklace was one of the community’s finest treasures, reflecting its spiritual beliefs and embodying its relationship with the divine and the eternal. In tribute to its hallowed ancestry, Treasure of Memory was first shown at the Hå Art Center outside of Stavanger, Norway, an area noted for burial grounds dating back thousands of years. Yet even when removed from its conceptual birthplace, Michael Petry’s work stands as a metaphor for individual and cultural memory. Larger than life, it lives on, speaking of what a necklace is. Treasure of Memory has been shown at Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, USA 2010 Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi 2009 Glasswear, Museum of Arts and Design, New York 2009 Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile Alabama 2009 Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester 2009 Treasure of Memory in Glasswear, Toledo Museum of Art 2007 Hå Gamle Prestegard, Norway 2007 The Treasure of Memory, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston 2006 and Treasure of Memory, Ha Game Prestegard 2000 |
Museum of Art and Design, NYC
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem
Art Museum of South Texas
Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston
Hå Gamle Prestegard, Norway
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