Design Calendar: Where to Go and What to See in September
Works from a Pop Art icon, vibrant textiles, intricately crafted bamboo objects and designer dollhouses are on display this month
Summer might be coming to a close, but design world events are still going strong. Two retrospectives look at the lives, work and legacies of a Pop Art icon and a legendary architect. Colorful African textiles and intricate Asian bamboo carvings put a spotlight on fine craftsmanship. And a collection of historical dollhouses will have you feeling like a kid again. There’s plenty to see around the globe in September 2016 and beyond.
Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans are among his most celebrated works. When Warhol painted the well-known red and white cans, he referred to a product list supplied by the Campbell Soup Co., checking off each type of soup as it was completed. When first exhibited in 1962, the 32 canvases of Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans were displayed together on shelves as if in a grocery aisle. Here, the series has been reproduced on a series of skateboards in a playful marriage of pop-cultural references. More info ♦︎
Thom Browne Selects
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Cooper Hewitt, New York City
When: Through Oct. 23
Cost: $5
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most stylish of them all? In this installment of the Cooper Hewitt’s Selects series, fashion designer Thom Browne explores the concepts of individuality and reflection. The installation includes more than 50 historic and contemporary mirrors and frames from the museum’s permanent collection.
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Cooper Hewitt, New York City
When: Through Oct. 23
Cost: $5
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most stylish of them all? In this installment of the Cooper Hewitt’s Selects series, fashion designer Thom Browne explores the concepts of individuality and reflection. The installation includes more than 50 historic and contemporary mirrors and frames from the museum’s permanent collection.
Nickel-plated shoes, a chrome desk and holographic foil wallpaper are among the items on display in the glamorous-looking exhibition.
Browne selected items for the show. More info ♦︎
Zaha Hadid exhibition at the Palazzo Franchetti
What: Architect retrospective
Where: Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, Italy
When: Through Nov. 27
Cost: About $11 (10 euros)
For its 15th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice hosts the first major posthumous retrospective dedicated to Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid. Inside the magnificent 16th-century Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal, visitors can view paintings, drawings and models of her designs, along with photographs and films.
What: Architect retrospective
Where: Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, Italy
When: Through Nov. 27
Cost: About $11 (10 euros)
For its 15th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice hosts the first major posthumous retrospective dedicated to Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid. Inside the magnificent 16th-century Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal, visitors can view paintings, drawings and models of her designs, along with photographs and films.
The 10-room exhibition offers an overview of Hadid’s decades-long career, including completed buildings, unrealized projects — including this 1985 painting of a plan to transform Trafalgar Square in London — and works in progress due to be completed in the coming year. More info ♦︎
Depth and Detail: Carved Bamboo From China, Japan and Korea
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Denver Art Museum, Denver
When: Through Jan. 15
Cost: $13
This exhibition showcasing carved, cut, incised and etched bamboo objects is a hot ticket for lovers of intricate carved wood sculptures and accessories. Items are carved with images of people, animals, birds, insects, plants and landscapes. One example is this decorative ornament from the early 1800s that features a crab, a frog and a lotus flower.
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Denver Art Museum, Denver
When: Through Jan. 15
Cost: $13
This exhibition showcasing carved, cut, incised and etched bamboo objects is a hot ticket for lovers of intricate carved wood sculptures and accessories. Items are carved with images of people, animals, birds, insects, plants and landscapes. One example is this decorative ornament from the early 1800s that features a crab, a frog and a lotus flower.
This carved eagle made out of bamboo is perched on a tree stump. The piece was made in Japan during the late 1800s. More info ♦︎
Marianne Lettieri: Reflections
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco
When: Through Jan. 22
Cost: $8
Using common yet overlooked relics of domestic life, artist Marianne Lettieri’s Reflections focuses on how the ritual of repetitive acts and the accumulation of objects in the domestic sphere create a physical reminder of the passage of time. Vintage and Victorian tools have been configured to show the interconnectedness of life and communities through time.
Here, vintage crochet work has been wrapped around a birch frame in a 2013 piece titled Concupiscence.
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco
When: Through Jan. 22
Cost: $8
Using common yet overlooked relics of domestic life, artist Marianne Lettieri’s Reflections focuses on how the ritual of repetitive acts and the accumulation of objects in the domestic sphere create a physical reminder of the passage of time. Vintage and Victorian tools have been configured to show the interconnectedness of life and communities through time.
Here, vintage crochet work has been wrapped around a birch frame in a 2013 piece titled Concupiscence.
Lettieri created a grid of 24 vintage rolling pins wrapped in aprons for her 2014 Sisters of Biscuits and Pies. More info ♦︎
Small Stories: At Home in a Doll House
What: Museum exhibition
Where: The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
When: Through Jan. 22
Cost: $16
The stories behind some of the best-loved dollhouses at London’s V&A Museum of Childhood are revealed in this traveling exhibition, which has an exclusive U.S. engagement at the National Building Museum. The show takes the viewer on a journey through the history of the home, everyday lives and changing family relationships. The dollhouses show developments in architecture and design, and include country mansions, Georgian town houses, suburban villas, council estates and high-rise apartments.
This contemporary Kaleidoscope House dollhouse was designed by artist Laurie Simmons and architect Peter Wheelwright.
What: Museum exhibition
Where: The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
When: Through Jan. 22
Cost: $16
The stories behind some of the best-loved dollhouses at London’s V&A Museum of Childhood are revealed in this traveling exhibition, which has an exclusive U.S. engagement at the National Building Museum. The show takes the viewer on a journey through the history of the home, everyday lives and changing family relationships. The dollhouses show developments in architecture and design, and include country mansions, Georgian town houses, suburban villas, council estates and high-rise apartments.
This contemporary Kaleidoscope House dollhouse was designed by artist Laurie Simmons and architect Peter Wheelwright.
This Box Back Terrace dollhouse was mass-produced in the 1890s and features a decorated front and plain sides. Inside, a fictional Mrs. Reynolds runs a lodging house, complete with a fireplace for boarders to enjoy.
The Peggy Lines’ House dollhouse was built to look like a turn-of-the-century country home in Surrey, England. More info ♦︎
Brick by Brick: Ceramics Applied to Architecture
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Barcelona Design Museum, Barcelona
When: Sept. 16 through Jan. 29
Cost: About $5 (4.40 euros)
Architect Pedro Azara curates this show exploring the uses and continuing application of clay, especially in bricks and tiles. The show features more than 300 ceramic works and spans 12,000 years of tradition and innovation.
The tile workshop Cerámica Cumella, founded in 1880, used graphic stoneware tile to cover the roof of Barcelona’s Santa Caterina market, pictured. It mimics the colors of a fruit stall. More info ♦︎
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Barcelona Design Museum, Barcelona
When: Sept. 16 through Jan. 29
Cost: About $5 (4.40 euros)
Architect Pedro Azara curates this show exploring the uses and continuing application of clay, especially in bricks and tiles. The show features more than 300 ceramic works and spans 12,000 years of tradition and innovation.
The tile workshop Cerámica Cumella, founded in 1880, used graphic stoneware tile to cover the roof of Barcelona’s Santa Caterina market, pictured. It mimics the colors of a fruit stall. More info ♦︎
Threads of Tradition
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
When: Through Jan. 31
Cost: $20
The time-honored techniques used to create the patterns in central and West African textiles are the focus of this exhibition in Philadelphia. Pieces on view include strip-woven kente cloth made by the Asante and Ewe tribes of Ghana, and raffia skirts created by the Kuba of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pictured is a strip-woven woman’s cloth in two section from Ghana.
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
When: Through Jan. 31
Cost: $20
The time-honored techniques used to create the patterns in central and West African textiles are the focus of this exhibition in Philadelphia. Pieces on view include strip-woven kente cloth made by the Asante and Ewe tribes of Ghana, and raffia skirts created by the Kuba of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pictured is a strip-woven woman’s cloth in two section from Ghana.
Deep cultural meanings often are woven into the complex and vibrant textile patterns. In addition to signifying the status of those who wear them, African textiles highlight the technical skill and creativity of the makers. This blanket, with its rich indigo blue dye, takes its inspiration from the celestial sky. More info ♦︎
Also
Charles and Ray Eames
What: An exhibition featuring photography, film, architecture, furniture and products created by this famous midcentury design duo.
Where: Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden
When: Through Sept. 4
Cost: Free
Superstudio 50
What: A retrospective about one of the most influential architecture firms focused on Italian radical design
Where: Maxxi: National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome
When: Through Sept. 4
Cost: About $12 (11 euros)
Design Episodes: The Modern Chair
What: An ode to a piece of furniture that has captivated the popular imagination like no other: the modern chair
Where: The Art Institute of Chicago
When: Through Sept. 11
Cost: $25
Chihuly in the Garden
What: Acclaimed glass artist Dale Chihuly’s latest exhibition includes 20 installations set amid a garden’s natural beauty.
Where: Atlanta Botanical Garden
When: Through Oct. 30
Cost: $21.95
Engineering Season
What: An annual celebration of the latest and greatest in innovative engineering
Where: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
When: Through Nov. 6
Cost: Free
Biennale Architettura 2016
What: Considered by many to be the world’s most renowned annual international architecture exhibition
Where: Venice, Italy
When: Through Nov. 27
Cost: About $28 (25 euros)
Dennis Oppenheim: Terrestrial Studio
What: A collection of the artist’s whimsical outdoor sculptures on display on 500 pristine acres
Where: Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New York
When: Through Nov. 30
Cost: $15 for adults
Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden
What: A landscape installation composed of 1,300 floating steel spheres drifting on a pond next to architect Philip Johnson’s famous Glass House
Where: The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut
When: Through Nov. 30
Cost: $25
W. Women in Italian Design
What: A celebration of Italian design and the creative women behind it
Where: Triennale Design Museum, Milan
When: Through Feb. 19
Cost: About $17 (15 euros)
Also
Charles and Ray Eames
What: An exhibition featuring photography, film, architecture, furniture and products created by this famous midcentury design duo.
Where: Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden
When: Through Sept. 4
Cost: Free
Superstudio 50
What: A retrospective about one of the most influential architecture firms focused on Italian radical design
Where: Maxxi: National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome
When: Through Sept. 4
Cost: About $12 (11 euros)
Design Episodes: The Modern Chair
What: An ode to a piece of furniture that has captivated the popular imagination like no other: the modern chair
Where: The Art Institute of Chicago
When: Through Sept. 11
Cost: $25
Chihuly in the Garden
What: Acclaimed glass artist Dale Chihuly’s latest exhibition includes 20 installations set amid a garden’s natural beauty.
Where: Atlanta Botanical Garden
When: Through Oct. 30
Cost: $21.95
Engineering Season
What: An annual celebration of the latest and greatest in innovative engineering
Where: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
When: Through Nov. 6
Cost: Free
Biennale Architettura 2016
What: Considered by many to be the world’s most renowned annual international architecture exhibition
Where: Venice, Italy
When: Through Nov. 27
Cost: About $28 (25 euros)
Dennis Oppenheim: Terrestrial Studio
What: A collection of the artist’s whimsical outdoor sculptures on display on 500 pristine acres
Where: Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New York
When: Through Nov. 30
Cost: $15 for adults
Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden
What: A landscape installation composed of 1,300 floating steel spheres drifting on a pond next to architect Philip Johnson’s famous Glass House
Where: The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut
When: Through Nov. 30
Cost: $25
W. Women in Italian Design
What: A celebration of Italian design and the creative women behind it
Where: Triennale Design Museum, Milan
When: Through Feb. 19
Cost: About $17 (15 euros)
What: Museum exhibition
Where: Artipelag, Stockholm
When: Through Sept. 25
Cost: About $18 (150 kronor)
Nearly 30 years after his death, Andy Warhol’s influence in the art world is still being felt. Swedish art museum Artipelag pays homage to one of Pop Art’s biggest stars with this show that includes 40 of Warhol’s drawings from the 1950s. The focus is on Warhol’s legacy and continued influence on the art world, modern lifestyles and commercialization.