Gallery Talk for A Usable Past: Reflections on a Nation and Its Inheritance

Gallery Talk for A Usable Past: Reflections on a Nation and Its Inheritance | Sat. Nov. 8, 2025 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET | In-person

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Join us for the gallery talk for A Usable Past: Reflections on a Nation and Its Inheritance. The exhibition brings together sculpture by twelve artists who reckon with America’s layered histories. From family lineages and ancestral myths to rooted or shifting values, the ideas that drive these works probe how the nation’s past continues to shape these artists and their experience of the present. Drawing from the metaphorical power inherent in the material of wood, these artists translate inheritance into form, giving “shape and substance to national identity.”

Artists who will be joining us for the Saturday morning discussion:
Damien Davis, Raual De Lara, Terry Holzgreen, James Maurelle, Ato Ribeiro, David Wilson, Kimberly Winkle

Exhibition Artists:
Vivian Chiu, Damien Davis, Michael De Forest, Raul De Lara, Aspen Golann, Terry Holzgreen, James Maurelle, Jordan Nassar, Ato Ribeiro, Gina Siepel, David J. Wilson, Kimberly Winkle

This event is free to the public. The Museum for Art in Wood interprets, nurtures, and champions creative engagement and expansion of art, craft, and design in wood to enhance the public’s understanding and appreciation of it. A suggested donation of $5 per person enables us to provide programs and exhibitions throughout the year.

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Questions? Please contact Katie Sorenson, Director of Outreach and Communications at [email protected].

A Usable Past is generously supported by the Cambium Giving Society of the Museum for Art in Wood, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Bresler Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and Windgate Foundation.