The John H. Milde Gallery at the Goldmark Cultural Center is pleased to present Noticing, a two-person exhibition featuring new work by artists Natalie Macellaio and Ana M. Lopez. On view from August 17 through September 18, 2026, the exhibition explores overlooked aspects of the built environment and encourages viewers to look more closely at the structures and systems that shape everyday life. A reception with the artists will be held on Saturday, August 22, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.
About the Exhibition
Through sculpture, drawings, jewelry, and enameled panels, Macellaio and Lopez transform familiar but often ignored elements of contemporary infrastructure into objects of careful observation. Together, their work reveals the visual complexity, hidden labor, and unexpected beauty embedded within the constructed world.
Natalie Macellaio’s work investigates the construction and deconstruction of the urban landscape. Drawing inspiration from highways, bridges, temporary fencing, and structural frameworks, she examines the systems that enable movement while often encouraging us to overlook our surroundings. Through drawing, 3D printing, casting, laser cutting, and traditional metalsmithing techniques, Macellaio reconstructs these monumental structures at new scales. Her work captures the fleeting presence of construction sites and the geometric order hidden within their apparent chaos.
Ana M. Lopez presents a series of intimate enameled steel panels depicting rooftops—overlooked spaces where functional infrastructure becomes an unexpected form of ornament. Air conditioning units, vents, ductwork, and utility enclosures form intricate arrangements of intersecting lines and geometric shapes. Influenced by Japanese woodblock prints and informed by her fascination with ventilation systems, Lopez combines vitreous enameling with experimental printmaking techniques to create compositions that balance representation and abstraction. These works function as portraits rather than landscapes; the mechanical systems crowning each structure reveal traces of the people, labor, and activities taking place within the buildings below.
By translating rooftop infrastructure into carefully crafted enameled images, Lopez invites viewers to consider the industrial networks that quietly shape daily experience.
Together, the artists encourage a heightened awareness of the visual environment. By focusing attention on infrastructure, construction, maintenance, and utility systems, Noticing reveals how ordinary elements of the built world can become subjects of curiosity, reflection, and aesthetic appreciation.