Dryer lint becomes art at Be Galleries in Lawrenceville
One person’s trash is Cheryl Capezzuti’s treasure.
The artist from Brighton Heights turns dryer lint into life-sized sculptures. Seriously.
She began recycling the waste into art in 2000. Her first solo show in over a decade marks a return to this work
“Discarded: Sculptural Work and Puppetry from Dryer Lint and other American Discards” runs through Feb. 14 (and most likely longer) at Be Galleries in Lawrenceville.
“I make art out of our American discards to challenge viewers to ponder our daily debris, invite people into a collaborative experience, explore the role of art in contemporary life and find delight in the effort,” said Capezzuti, who is also known at Pittsburgh’s giant puppet maker for the city’s annual First Night parade every New Year’s Eve.
Capezzuti’s national lint project not only draws attention throughout the city but was featured on The Ellen Degeneres Show in 2005.
She went on to fashion those life-sized puppets for First Night and is the creator of a giant puppet lending library at the Braddock Carnegie Free Library.
At Be Galleries, visitors will see two separate installations.
The first gallery features puppets and masks made from unwanted materials at the Pittsburgh International Airport this past summer. Travelers were asked to donate debris, which was then used to make a series of giant puppets. The project culminated with a Giant Puppet Dance Club experience in the airport’s center core.
The second gallery features work made from the lint collections from households around the country that were donated to the artist and formed into figurative sculptures in many sizes.
“I think it is museum-worthy art,” said gallery owner Joy Borelli-Edwards from Hampton. “I want her to go places. It’s the quality of the texture. It is so engaging … the softness of it … you want to touch it.”
Borelli-Edwards said she is impressed with how Capezzuti was able to stabilize the pieces and use the lint colors without adding any hues.
Capezzuti’s commitment to staging a public installation in a laundromat concurrent with her gallery work, a practice she started years ago, continues here. A secret, pop-up installation in a local laundromat will take place during the course of the show.
The pieces are for sale.
“These sculptures engage you, even those that don’t have a face,” she said. “It is domesticity turned into an aesthetic, and it’s all created out of recyclable material. There are so many stories behind the lint from the clothing that was worn to create it. There is humanity in the lint.”
Be Galleries is at 3583 Butler St. in Lawrenceville.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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