Kate Dodd: You’re Invited!

A resident of Orange, NJ, Kate Dodd (b. 1960) is well known for her many public art commissions throughout the Garden State and elsewhere. You're Invited is an immersive site-specific installation in the Laurie Art Stairway, made primarily of excess printed Montclair Art Museum materials, that fully engages viewers in a sculptural experience that they can walk through. Conceptually, the work invites the viewer to contemplate the role of museums as stewards of art. By using repurposed materials, Dodd also encourages visitors to think about waste, environmental degradation, and our consumer culture.

The installation is constructed from thousands of paper strips assembled into a web of quilt-like patterns draped over an arched structure, which encloses the length of the stairway and then curves upwards again to spread across multiple windows. By emphasizing the stairs’ processional flow, the abundance of light, the transparency of the enclosure, and the monumental scale of the interior, the architectural attributes of the Museum’s extension are fully celebrated.