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The Nature of Things

Sheri Simons

Maleng Regional Justice Center

Shadowboxes feature objects with ambiguous origins and connections.

Sheri Simons. The Nature of Things (detail), 1997. Mixed media assemblage. Maleng Regional Justice Center, Kent, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

Pencils, tiny bowling pins, a ball of string. On the first floor of the Maleng Regional Justice Center, a series of shadowboxes contain assemblages of objects. These 15 wall installations by Sheri Simons comprise The Nature of Things; grouped into five subtitled sets and surrounded by matching frames, they hold a mix of recognizable and unrecognizable items in a mostly neutral palette with many textures, inviting viewers to consider how the objects are related.

I am interested in sculpture as an instrument, broadly defined as something that aids in or causes an action or a reaction. –Sheri Simons

 


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Born in Detroit and based in California’s northern Sacramento Valley, Simons makes sculpture, drawings, installations, and public art. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States as well as in South America.

Sheri Simons. The Nature of Things (detail), 1997. Mixed media assemblage. Maleng Regional Justice Center, Kent, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Sheri Simons. The Nature of Things (detail), 1997. Mixed media assemblage. Maleng Regional Justice Center, Kent, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com
Sheri Simons. The Nature of Things (detail), 1997. Mixed media assemblage. Maleng Regional Justice Center, Kent, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

About the Location

Maleng Regional Justice Center

The Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, WA, contains one of the most significant collections of public artwork ever commissioned by King County for a single facility. The collection includes architecturally integrated and site-specific installations as well as many diverse portable artworks— drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints—created especially for the site by Northwest artists. Beginning…

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