Sishi Wang and Jessica Mohl: "Poetics of Metal: Jewelry and Metalwork"
May 2, 2026 - August 2, 2026
McDonald Gallery
Artist Statements:
Jessica Mohl
My current body of work is a reflection on impermanence, from the acute abruptness of loss to the unexpected potential that can spark from nothingness. To express this increasingly meta-poetical view, non-metal materials have become an increasingly important aspect in my work. In many pieces, I incorporate meaningful found objects such as coal, fossils, cloth, sand, and seeds to enrich the metaphorical context and narrative.
I speak through metal. It is the medium that is the most natural extension of my hands and my thoughts. In my work, I consider the material and develop forms to be intimately familiar yet mysterious. The process of shaping and hammering metal mimics growth, and I become a catalyst enabling the creation of something new. Creating this illusion of growth, life, and decay in a medium as hard and inanimate as metal is a pursuit which reminds me that I’m alive.
Sishi Wang
I create objects that reflect on elements from everyday life through hand fabrication. My experiences in the United States and China inform my identity. They are a central inspiration for my practice, and I embed symbolism from Chinese culture and my understanding of the world into my work.
Unplaceable
2023
silver, gold plate
Moving over a dozen time for the past decade makes me extremely insecure to own large things. I keep objects that are small, practical, and as multi-functional as possible. The only item that I won't change is my comb, a gift from my dad, the man who had been loving me before I was born. He couldn't be there when I was born, so he wishes his missing and care will flow like a poetry to me at all time. And that's how he gave me my name EAt (Sishi), which means missing and poetry.
Sishi Wang
Featured Work
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Illusion of Loss
2026
sterling and fine silver, moonstones, carbon, marble
Carbon is the most fascinating element. It is the creator, the sustainer, and the destroyer. It is essential for all life, growth, and death. It entangles us in an ever-changing universe of unpredictable, potential-rich chaos and maintains an exquisite order where nothing is truly lost; it only changes form.
Jessica Mohl -
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Vessel series (1 of 11)
2024
copper, tea, dry flowers
I used copper sheet and wire, through basic metalsmithing techniques like sawing, soldering, and filing, to create this series.
They are not taken from my experience directly. Each viewer might have a different point of view and get a different feeling from it. They could be viewed as separate segments from one's life, or each vessel could be viewed as a different person's life, a possibility in the future. The dry flowers or tea are the encouragement that I wish to give the viewers. Hopefully, by smelling it and feeling it, it may comfort and inspire you in a way.
Sishi Wang -
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Broken & Ova
Broken
2019
copper, sterling and fine silver
The metal cocoons are a series of hanging vessels that once enclosed something mysterious and unknowable to all except that which was contained within. They are vestiges of an almost unseen metamorphosis. What emerges is all around and the cycle repeats itself.
Ova
2019
copper, Sterling and fine silver, rainbow moonstones
Jessica Mohl -
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Vessel series (5 of 11)
2024
copper, tea, dry flowers
Sishi Wang
