Group Exhibitions

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40 for 40
Rockwell Museum of Art
Corning, New York 2016

Video Courtesy of the Rockwell Museum

In 2014, The Rockwell Museum invited us to do something we’d never done before: curate an exhibition using objects from their permanent collection. It was their 40th anniversary, and they asked us to bring our perspective as artists to reflect on what “the American experience” meant to us.

We spent hours digging through storage and exploring the collection—everything from Navajo textiles and Civil War rifles to ceramic jugs and landscape paintings. Some pieces jumped out right away. Others slowly revealed themselves. We weren’t looking for perfection or even for the most “important” works—we were looking for connections. Little sparks. Stories. Clues.

We selected 40 objects and paired them together in unexpected ways, creating themes like “Childhood,” “Home,” and “Ceremony.” Then we added some of our own work to the mix—pieces that came from our lives, our memories, our own idea of what America feels like. We wanted people to look at familiar things differently, to trust their gut instead of relying only on labels or historical context. The goal wasn’t to teach—it was to invite people in.

We also created a new work for the exhibition titled Cowboys and Indians (2016). It’s a sculptural piece made of a 3-by-3 grid of boxes that can close into a single tower or open into a grid to reveal a landscape within. The work was inspired by childhood memories of running through our neighborhood, playing cowboys and Indians—games rooted in old Westerns our grandfather would watch and the little toy guns passed down from our parents.

As kids, we didn’t yet understand the broader societal context or the painful history surrounding Native communities in America. It was about fantasy and play. But as we explored The Rockwell’s collection—its guns, its imagery of Native Americans—those early associations deepened. Cowboys and Indians includes intricately beaded pine trees, a bed of scrolls, tiny folded paper teepees and tents, and a blown glass camp fire. It’s a work about memory, innocence, and the stories we grow up with.

For The Rockwell, this exhibition marked something new. It was the first time they had handed the curatorial reins to outside artists. For us, it was a chance to tell a story—our story—through someone else’s collection. We were honored to be part of it.