February 19 - August 12, 2007

Back by popular demand! Artist Steve Gerberich will return to the Morris Museum with a new exhibition, celebrating 25 years of innovative art. Exhibition highlights include mechanical museum dioramas, labor saving devices, an ode to baseball and an altered species area. There will also be a replica of Gerberich’s studio in the gallery so that visitors can see the method to his creative process.

A painter and photographer by training, Gerberich cites Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder and Paul Klee as inspirations for his work. Looking at a simple teapot, he sees a face, ready for the addition  of two light bulbs as beaming eyes. In his hands, the hood of a bright red lawnmower becomes the body of a razor sea creature. By pushing buttons and turning cranks, Gerberich invites audiences to set his surprising works in motion.

His studio is his own treasure trove of machine parts, motors, fixtures, lampshades and armies of collectible figurines. He either looks through the packed shelves for inspirations, or he may already have a concept in mind and can search the neatly organized studio for just the right part.  Reaching into a bin, Gerberich pulls out the ornate leg from the base of an antique sewing machine. “Bones for a golfer!” he exclaims.

Gerberich’s sculptures have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NBC’s Today Show, the New Yorker and Art in America. They can be found in private collections in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London, Paris and are on permanent view at the ESPN Zone in both New York and Baltimore.

In 2004, the Morris Museum exhibited Springs, Sprockets and Pulleys: The Mechanical Sculpture of Steve Gerberich in the Main Gallery.