Art by Design

This exhibition showcases three artists with exceptional mastery in both design and execution of their craft: Margaret Jacobs, Moe Lalonde, and Joyce Melander.

Jacobs, a Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) metalsmith, creates fabricated steel sculptures and powdercoated jewelry that explore kinship with botanicals, medicine plants, and the natural world. Lalonde brings a refined sensitivity to woodworking, emphasizing material, form, and the enduring traditions of the craft. Melander, a multimedia fiber artist, works across materials and techniques, expanding the boundaries of fiber art through thoughtful design and layered, tactile compositions.

Please join us for our Summer Opening reception on Friday, May 22nd, from 4-6 PM. The Reception will be held in conjunction with the opening of Masters of Design and is free and open to the public.

Artist Statements:

Margaret Jacobs-

I am a Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) metalsmith who creates fabricated steel sculpture and powdercoated jewelry that showcases and explores kinship to botanicals, medicine plants and the natural world as well as values systems that we hold as humans. My work explores the lines of contemporary craft and art objects alongside Indigenous narratives as well as historical and personal narratives so layers of storytelling develop in my work.

My work begins with relationships—with land, plant kin, and the ecological knowledge carried through Kanien’kehá:ka culture. It references culturally important plant forms, not as symbols, but as relatives embedded in memory, history, and care. Metalworking has long existed within Kanien’kehá:ka communities, and my practice extends this lineage. As a maker, I remain open and curious about new methods, tools, and techniques. The act of learning is inseparable from the work itself. In each piece, I strive to honor the precision, care, and cultural grounding embedded in Kanien’kehá:ka craft while exploring how metal can hold Indigenous knowledge, presence, and sovereignty in contemporary form.

All of my works explore ways of reclaiming and relearning Indigenous knowledge systems to establish paths toward self-sustainability and decolonization. By creating physical objects that can visually help us to learn and remember by depicting eastern botanicals which are used medicinally, culturally, and/or nutritionally, I can have the viewer examine their own relationship to plants, the land and their own personal value systems.

Moe Lalonde-

I want the viewer of my work to light up at the natural beauty of wood. They should be drawn to touch it and question it. To find awe in the color, grain, and texture unique to every piece.

Living at the foothills of the Adirondacks has me surrounded by some of the best hardwoods anywhere. Most wood I use comes from trees that have reached the end of their natural life. The story each tree has to tell unfolds as it is sawn, dried, and transformed into another form of art. It is an act of respect when I make a piece that allows a tree to live on.

I am drawn to creating pieces that are both beautiful and technically challenging. To envision a new technique and work many iterations of it, to troubleshoot failures until they become successes, is where the great satisfaction comes from.

Joyce Melander-

I began my artistic career as a painter, working in a photorealistic style that
juxtaposed three-dimensional subjects with a flattened background. That flatness
served to isolate my subject matter, allowing me to focus on formal qualities rather
than representational ones. Eventually, that emphasis on form alone became
paramount for me, and I started experimenting with additional materials: fiber,
beads, and wood. I had always admired the backs of my canvases, considering
them beautiful textiles. Ultimately, I stitched through the canvas and recognized it
was a warp. Through these experiments, I discovered I wasn’t confined to a loom; I
could make the work go in any direction I desired.

This break from realism provided a welcome chance to incorporate elements of
sculpture and three-dimensionality into my work, serving as a vehicle for exploring
different colors and textures. I live and work in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a place
where the desert landscape and crisp, bright colors inevitably find their way into
the palette and forms of my work.

Over the years, my curiosity has driven me to explore various media and
techniques, ranging from paint to wool, from drawing to beading. Each medium has
posed its own challenges. My commitment remains to examine each one with
respect for the artisans and artists who have perfected their use in the past. The
project becomes to integrate them all in a new and unique way.

The fine, delicate materials I work with help me grapple with life’s magnitude by
examining its minutiae. By paying attention to everything, to the details, I can
extrapolate some wisdom that might apply to life’s greater questions. Every gesture
of the brush, every stitch, every inch of the canvas, every bead in the strand, every
voice, every stroke of the pen—everything remembered and everything forgotten.