Lint Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

Angels and Other Creatures at the Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2002-February 2003.

The first exhibition of human-sized figures created from the lint of households around the country was featured in this downtown Pittsburgh gallery. This critically noted exhibition included five figures and seven angels in the overhead space and served to counter-balance the a concurrent exhibit at Duds 'N Suds Laundromat.

"Angels in the Laundromat" at Duds 'N Suds, Pittsburgh, PA, November 2002-April 2003.

A second season of interactive community art-making at this working Pittsburgh laundromat included an exhibition of over 100 tiny angels flying in the overhead space. The opening party featured the performance "Laundry Conversations" in which performers collected stories and ideas from party-goers while doing laundry in real time. The Closing party featured an excerpt from the upcoming musical "Colorfast" written by Kellee Van Aken with music by Doug Levine.

"Letters of Lint" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA, July-August 2002.

Letters of Lint is the first public exhibition of my collection of notes from individuals about their dryer lint. This post-it note, email and rag-tag collection of correspondence most clearly indicates the differing layers of delight and meaning individual participants find in the work.

"Likeness of Lint" at Duds 'N Suds Laundromat, Pittsburgh, PA, July-August 2002.

Likeness of Lint was a series of site-specific paintings that compliment Letters of Lint. All of my critical inquiries into the core of contemporary art-making lead me to believe that painting is dead as a viable form of expression and yet, I am totally drawn to the medium. Being a painter in the year 2002 takes a huge leap of faith. For this reason, I regularly set up “studio exercises” for myself that fulfill my desire to partake in this sumptuous process while acknowledging the futility of the effort. The images at Duds ‘N Suds are the result of one of my “exercises” that I chose to make public. Each painted portrait of a favorite sculpture has been coated with a variety of slow-drying oils to capture the lint in the air of the space during the course of the show and thus complete the painting. In addition to completing the paintings in a way that feels connected to the space, the work also highlights a very real concern: This stuff collects in our lungs in the same way it collects on the paintings. Again, the work is humorous, sometimes beautiful and meaningful in a variety of ways.

"Lint in the Laundromat"at Duds 'N Suds Laundry, Pittsburgh, PA through April 2002.

Thanks to a PA Partners in the Arts Grant and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Community Artist Fellowship, the Lint Guys have a new home through the Spring. Anyone is invited to drop off a load of their best lint in the drop-off box on the front windowsill. All donated lint that is accompanied by a name and title will be sculpted, exhibited in the laundromat and returned to you free of charge at the final Party in the Laundromat on Saturday, April 13, 2002.

"Dog and Pony Show" Beaux Arts Ball at Garfield Artworks, Pittsburgh, PA, November 2001.

A group show at Garfield Artworks included Lint Guys Rock, twelve sculptures on rocking chairs. Funny Stuff.

"Lint in the Locker Room" at Aliquippa Embraces Art, Aliquippa, PA, August 2001.

This event, now in its ninth year, showcases the work of installation artists from around the country. LINT was installed in an old, dirty locker room with tiny, jewel-like worlds built in each locker. Also showcased were recent letters and artwork about lint written by participants.

"Portraits of Essence" at Horizons Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2000.

20 Pittsburgh artists explored the boundaries of portraiture at this brand new gallery in Pittsburgh. 25 portraits in lint were created for an installation entitled "Lint Guys Rock." Each portrait of a launderer sat in a tiny rocking chair mixed in among dirty laundry, laundry products and laundry baskets.

"Lint Guy Hunt & Find"at FLUX #1 sponsored by Ground Zero/Celebrate Pittsburgh, September 2000 and "LINT in the Freezer" at FLUX #3, March 2001

Lint installations on location were included in these community showcases of artists in Pittsburgh. FLUX events always occur in building undergoing renovation or change. The first one was in Friendship at the Glassworks building (pre-renovation), the second was at Level downtown.

"Lint Guy Lounge" at the Winchester Thurston Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, May 2000.

For this exhibition, over 50 members of the Winchester Thurston Community, including faculty, staff and students from this private, independent school, donated their dryer lint. Lint Guys were sculpted from each lint donation. These Guys became the inspiration for paintings documenting the dreams of individual Lint Guys and led to more advanced lint sculptures. Each of the five installations included 10 Lint Guys, an oil painting, a dryer to serve as sculpture stand and a "hidden" lint sculpture inside each dryer that further informed the painting. At the end of the show, each donator received his or her Guy and was asked to do a creative response to the sculpture.

"Looking for Lint Guys" at the Dark Night Cabaret, Pittsburgh, PA, February 2000.

The Dark Night Cabaret is a forum to highlight new work in the arts in Pittsburgh, PA, and is held at the Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre, part of Pittsburgh's City Theatre. Held in a theatre space, this cabaret typically focuses on various performing artists rather than visual art. For this exhibition, 48 Lint Guys hid themselves in miniature installations all over the theatre and audience members became the performers as they were sent "Looking for Lint Guys" armed with a treasure map. The scary highlight of the evening was the kidnapping of "Orange Towel Lint"! (Don't worry, the little guy was safely returned.)

"From Foundation to Ornamentation" at the Lancaster Museum of Art, January 2000 and at ARC Gallery in Chicago, September 1998.

The Lint Ladies in Lingerie were part of a group show that included about 50 artists from around the country exploring the bra as a work of art. This traveling show, curated by Cindi Morrison and Kathryn Talcott, included bra-inspired art made from metal, fiber, paint, glass, paper, wood and, of course, LINT!

"Off the Walls" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Gallery, December 1998. 1999, 2000, 2001.

This eclectic exhibition, an annual fundraiser for the PCA Gallery, highlights the work of many Pittsburgh artists. This year the show included: Mother-in-Law Lint, Orange Towel Lint, Little Girl Lint, Academic Cat Lint, and Dog Blanket Lint. All the Guys did as they were told and SOLD!

"The Doll Show" at the Garfield Artworks in Pittsburgh, September 1999.

"The Doll Show" was another group show, curate by Emily Lambert, including various Pittsburgh artist's renditions and inspirations from dolls. 28 people from around the United States heeded the "Call for Lint" sent out in August and were included in the show. For the exhibition, the Guys formed three miniature installations, Memory meets the Lint Guys at a Dinner Party, Memory Meets the Lint Guys at a Slumber Party, and Memory Meets the Lint Guys at Play Time, all of which displayed the Lint Guys interacting among furniture from my childhood doll house.

"Lint Guys in my Living Room" at Gallery 304, Penn State University, March 1995.

This exhibition marked the first public display of the Lint Guys since their conception a year before and included 8-10 Guys as well as drawings of the sculptures out in the world. Most of the Guys from this show were sold at a yard sale the following summer and have disappeared from the Lint Guy Roster. If you have one of these Guys, let me know so I can put you on the National Lint Roster.