In this exhibition, the phrase “A Usable Past” describes how we draw meaning from history to navigate the present. “A Usable Past” will bring together sculpture reckoning with America’s layered histories. From family lineages and ancestral myths rooted or shifting values, probing how the nation’ss past continues to shapeour experience of the present. Drawing from the metaphorical power inherent in the material of wood, this exhibition translates inheritance into form, giving “shape and substance to national identity.” Wood holds its memories in its fibers—growth rings that record time, witness events, and adapt to environmental change. Like families, like nations, trees inherit traits that strengthen and sustain them. In the artists’ hands, this living archive becomes a site for reflection on what is passed down: liberty and revolution, labor and belonging, resilience and repair. On view at the Museum for Art in Wood Main Gallery from November 7, 2025 – February 15, 2026
