Metal Misfits

Metal Misfits is a series of non-functional, steel and aluminum furniture that makes correlations between traditional and contemporary decorative arts practices. Growing up in the East Village of New York City, Sophie was surrounded and enamored by sticker-bombing and graffiti, punks on St.Mark’s Place, and Y2K fashion trends, and was also immersed in the arts through frequent visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums and galleries. As she continued to study sculpture, metalworking, and furniture making, she started noticing similarities between furniture forms and traditional decorative elements, and the visual and material culture of her upbringing. Scrimshaw and graffiti’d school desks were made with similar intentions, a tilt-top table presented itself like a sticker-bombed street sign, and so on. With Metal Misfits, Sophie wants to bridge the gap between art that is considered “low-brow” versus that considered “high-brow”, and to further accentuate the belief that everyone deserves to see themselves in works of art and craft. Sophie Glenn (b.1989 in New York, NY) is a metalworker, furniture maker, and educator currently based in Reading, PA. She recreates classic furniture designs recreated out of steel to make correlations between traditional and contemporary art/craft practices, and she utilizes steel in the making of her work to explicitly expand upon the materials that are considered to be part of the fine furniture making/craft fields. Sophie received her MFA in Furniture Design and Woodworking from San Diego State University, and BFA in Sculpture and Drawing from SUNY Purchase College. She has exhibited her work across the country, including Blue Spiral 1 Gallery (NC), the Museum for Art in Wood (PA), and the Metal Museum (TN), and has been fortunate to receive several grants, fellowships, and residencies to help advance her career, including the John D. Mineck Fellowship in 2022. Sophie has taught workshops at several craft schools, including Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the Appalachian Center for Craft, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Read more Toggle Mixed media