As the Metal Museum prepares to open its new location in Overton Park, “What We Surround Ourselves With” offers a fitting last exhibit at the museum’s original location on the bluff. On view through July 31st in the Keeler and Gasparrini Galleries, the exhibition draws from the personal collection of longtime metalsmith and Director of Metal Studios Jim Masterson, presenting 83 objects that celebrate both extraordinary craftsmanship and the community that sustains it.
Masterson began collecting works during the Museum’s Repair Days auctions, acquiring pieces he believed belonged in the museum’s orbit and that spoke to him personally. “If I don’t like it, I’m not going to buy it,” he says. The result is a collection spanning decades, from jewelry and sculpture to playful objects such as a mid-century Slinky, each chosen for its artistry and ability to inspire daily reflection.
Exhibitions Manager Thais Lloyd notes that the show reveals the values that have guided Masterson’s 26 years at the museum: technical excellence, generosity, and an abiding love for the field. Many featured artists are former apprentices, metalsmiths, staff members, or friends whose paths have crossed with the museum’s. Some works were even created with Masterson himself in mind, a testament to the relationships forged in the studios.
Among the exhibition’s highlights is Masterson’s own Hummingbird Necklace, made for his mother when he was an undergraduate. The piece points to his beginnings in fine metals and to the intimate, family-centered stories that run throughout the galleries. Nearby, kinetic sculptures, forged steel forms, and whimsical treasures invite visitors to reconsider metal as a medium capable of grace, warmth, and surprise.
Installed to evoke the rich visual tapestry of Masterson’s home, the exhibition encourages viewers to ask enduring questions: What makes an object art? How do the things we live with shape us? Above all, “What We Surround Ourselves With” honors the artists, mentors, and friendships that built the Metal Museum on the bluff and that will carry its spirit into the future.
“WHAT WE SURROUND OURSELVES WITH,” METAL MUSEUM, 374 METAL MUSEUM DRIVE, THROUGH JULY 31.
