Placed proudly presents its second exhibition of 2023, SKY BIG SKY, a site-specific collection of furniture and ceramics from Darren and Candice Romanelli. Artists, husband and wife, and longtime friends of Placed curator Coryander Friend, the Romanellis were interested in making a contextual collection inspired by Montana, whose landscape has so often drawn those seeking out the possibilities of wide open spaces. In their collection for Placed, the Romanellis took inspiration from the camping and outdoor recreation culture endemic to this region.

Darren’s signature upcycled patchwork lounge chair and ottoman have been his silhouette for an impressive range of collections, drawing from vintage materials and nostalgic pop-cultural iconography. For this body of work, Darren sourced outdoor gear ranging from the 1960s through the 1990s from local collector Spencer Stewart of Bozeman Vintage, which he has masterfully reconstructed into astounding functional art objects.

Candice, a self-taught ceramicist, turned her attention to the textiles sourced for Darren’s chairs and brought the intricacies of their patterns into her vessels—the grid of down quilting, the imprint of thick vintage zippers and drawstring collars—in a delightfully direct study of the design and material.

SKY BIG SKY nods to a very contemporary sentimental longing to escape the Internet in favor of the pursuits and ideals of a simpler time. This collection, made from an historic grouping of salvaged apparel, commemorates the sartorial history of outdoor recreation while extolling the human need to ramble away from the pressures and distractions of 21st-century life. They testify to an engagement with nature that is by definition extrinsic but that remains, essentially, a form of introspection. 

Happy Trails….

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