The Sky’s the Limit 

Women artists pioneered process-focused sculptures in the mid-twentieth century, and they continue to expand and redefine the sculpture medium with limitless creativity. 

Within the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ newly revitalized galleries—specially designed to accommodate large-scale and immersive artworks—bold contemporary sculptures dangle from the ceiling, spring outward from the walls, and extend beyond their footprints on the gallery floor. Made from intriguing found objects as well as evocative materials such as wool, wire, wax, and glass, each work tantalizes body and mind. 

The Sky’s the Limit shares never-before-exhibited works from the museum’s collection, distinctive sculptures from private collections, and creations sent to NMWA directly from artists’ studios. Each of the thirteen participating artists extends an invitation to visitors: move into, around, and sometimes under artworks to generate a new perspective on a range of themes. Delve into the complexity of nature, the intensity of commerce, the impact of shared histories, and the stirring power of making. 

From its opening in 1987, NMWA committed to collecting and exhibiting transformational sculpture. In celebration of the museum’s reopening, this exhibition manifests the renewed mission, proclaiming the impact and influence of women and nonbinary artists throughout history and into a bright future. 

The Sky’s the Limit is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. This exhibition is underwritten by Presenting Sponsor Denise Littlefield Sobel. 

Curatorial research funds were provided by Marcia Myers Carlucci. Additional support for the exhibition catalogue comes from the Deborah Buck Foundation. 

For exhibition-related resources, including label transcripts, visit nmwa.org/sky. 

Photography is encouraged. Share and tag us on social media: #NMWAnow @WomenInTheArts 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Semo’s interest in bells stems from their many uses: as tools of reflection, calls for community gathering, and signals of alarm. Ancient in form, bells are no longer as prevalent or necessary in contemporary life as they were historically, yet they remain relevant as signifying objects that draw individual and public attention. Semo creates her bells in varying sizes, shapes, and finishes. Her interventions into form affect the production of sound; aesthetic elements like holes, degraded surfaces, and asymmetry change the tone, influencing the objects’ purpose. 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Enmesh, 2021 

Polished and patinated cast bronze bell, patinated solid bronze clapper, hemp shibari rope, powder-coated stainless steel hardware, and powder-coated galvanized steel chain; Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Bloom, 2022 

Polished stainless steel bell, polished stainless steel and powder-coated stainless steel hardware, leather-wrapped patinated solid bronze clapper, hemp shibari rope, and powder-coated galvanized steel chain; Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Hummingbird, 2020  

Cast bronze bell, UV-protected two-stage catalyzed urethane automotive finish, whipped nylon line, patinated solid bronze clapper, leather cord, powder-coated chain, and hardware; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum purchase: Funds provided by San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA and Fred Levin in honor of Nancy Livingston 

Rina Banerjee 

b. 1963, Kolkata, India 

Make me a summary of the world! She was his guide and had travelled on camel, rhino, elephant and kangaroo, dedicated to dried plants, glass houses—for medical study, vegetable sexuality, self-pollination, and fertilization her reach pierced the woods country by country., 2014  

Wood rhino, Chinese umbrellas, sea sponges, linen, beads, pewter soldiers, grape vines, glass chandelier drops, acrylic horns, wire, nylon, and bead flower; Courtesy of the artist

Banerjee approaches both her art and the world through a maximal lens. The scale, unexpected materials, and poetically meandering titles of her works are unapologetically full, refusing to be simplified or shrunk. She begins each sculpture by selecting found objects (sourced from flea markets and eBay) that she uses to illustrate visual and conceptual ideas of ethnicity, migration, diasporic history, and commerce. Comprising materials produced across several continents, Make me a summary . . .  considers globalization, labor, and the supply chains that transport these objects outside their countries of origin.  

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Fetish, 2022   

Patinated cast bronze bell, PolyJet 30-printed opaque VeroWhite resin, leather-wrapped solid bronze clapper, hemp shibari rope, powder-coated stainless steel hardware, and powder-coated galvanized steel chain; Collection of Kaitlyn and Mike Krieger, San Francisco

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Luna, 2022    

Patinated cast bronze bell, pigment with acrylic binder sealed with acrylic lacquer and microcrystalline wax, polished bronze clapper, hemp shibari rope, polished bronze and powder-coated stainless steel hardware, and powder-coated galvanized steel chain; Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

Zephyr, 2019   

Cast bronze bell and clapper, UV-protected two-stage catalyzed urethane, powder-coated stainless steel hardware, hemp shibari rope, and powder-coated galvanized steel chain; Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco 

Davina Semo 

b. 1981, Washington, D.C. 

New Moon, 2021    

Patinated cast bronze bell, solid bronze clapper, hemp shibari rope, powder-coated stainless-steel hardware, and etched steel chain; Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Rina Banerjee 

b. 1963, Kolkata, India 

Lady of Commerce—wooden. Hers is a transparent beauty, her eager sounds, her infinite and clamorous land and river, ocean and island, earth and sky . . . all contained, bottled for delivery to an open hole, a commerce so deep while large her arms fool stretched too wide and her sulfurous halo—a ring of glass, metal, stone retire to a sun of fire., 2012   

Hand-painted, leaded glass chandelier, wood figurine, vintage glass bottles, chandelier ornaments, birdcage, steel, wood pedestal, lace, cowry shells, taxidermy deer paws, Indian marriage jewelry, ostrich eggshells, porcelain doll hands, silver leaf, gold leaf, wire, linen cord, and marble baby doll hands; Courtesy of the artist

In Lady of Commerce, Banerjee contemplates containment, commodity, and exchange. Combining natural and human-made materials into a haloed figure with outstretched arms, she links psychological desire to material goods. “Freedom is the most expensive commodity, nature the most dangerous beauty,” Banerjee says. “My work examines both. My art depicts a delicate world that is also aggressive, tangled, manipulated, fragile, and very, very, dense.” 

Shinique Smith 

b. 1971, Baltimore

Daisies up your butterfly, 2013

Clothing, fabric, ribbon, rope, and fashion accessories; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell and the Ohio Advisory Group 

To create her hanging bundles, Smith gathers garments from friends and from her own closet; this work incorporates her Kehinde Wiley-designed beach towel. She tightly binds the clothing—and the highly personal histories behind each item—with a ribbon. By suspending the work from the ceiling, Smith entices us to move around its edges, entering into the orbit of the richly textured sphere she has formed. The artist is also renowned for her large-scale paintings and her work with dance and movement. This sculpture shares its title with a 1990 song by the grunge-punk band The Cramps. 

Beatriz Milhazes 

b. 1960, Rio de Janeiro

Marola, 2015 

Acrylic, hand-painted enamel on aluminum, stainless steel, and polyester flowers; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Tony Podesta Collection 

This sculpture is titled with the Portuguese word for the ripples that follow a large wave. Milhazes is renowned for her vivid paintings in which she interlaces stripes, flowers, waves, and arabesques. In this sculpture, she translates her two-dimensional motifs into a harmony of bold shapes, weights, and volumes. Her hanging sculptures evolved from her stage designs as well as previous sculptures she made in partnership with samba schools in Rio de Janeiro. These organizations develop vibrant floats, costumes, and choreography for performances in parades during the festival of Carnival.

Yuriko Yamaguchi 

b. 1948, Osaka, Japan

Cloud #12, 2020  

Hand-cast resin and stainless steel wire; Courtesy of the artist and Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C.

The organic networks present in natural organisms inspire Yamaguchi’s delicately entangled wire sculptures. She first constructs single parts, which she calls “cells,” before connecting them intuitively, growing the works into amorphous forms resembling swarms, hives, and clouds. Cloud #12 invites us to peer inside, while a cluster of brightly hued resin pieces forms a protective barrier around the knotted wire interior.

Yuriko Yamaguchi 

b. 1948, Osaka, Japan

Catch, 2021  

Hand-cast resin, stainless steel wire, and driftwood; Courtesy of the artist and Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C.

Yuriko Yamaguchi 

b. 1948, Osaka, Japan

Nest, 2021   

Kozo paper pulp, stainless steel wire, and bird’s nest; Courtesy of the artist and Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C.

Yuriko Yamaguchi 

b. 1948, Osaka, Japan

Whisper #2, 2023    

Hand-cast resin, stainless steel wire, and kozo paper pulp; Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston

Yamaguchi creates harmonious tension in her work through dynamic opposing forces: abstract and tangible, interior and exterior, positive and negative. Her works often combine natural and artificial materials. Whisper #2 includes elements of fibrous kozo paper pulp (derived from bark) and cast synthetic resin, all suspended in shimmering stainless steel wire. Other works incorporate found organic objects like driftwood and discarded birds’ nests. 

Petah Coyne 

b. 1953, Oklahoma City

Untitled #1273 (The Age of Innocence), 2008   

Specially formulated wax, silk flowers, pigment, fabricated steel understructure, wire, cable, cable nuts, cable sleeves, turnbuckles, and quick-link shackles; Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

Coyne titled this sculpture after Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel of the same name, a story centered on a love triangle marked by intense longing, jealousy, and manipulation. The artist is moved by the polarities of experience within both fairy tales and the real world: light and dark, visible and invisible, heaven and earth, and life and death. Although she typically chooses either white or black as the main color of her sculptures, Coyne’s compositions bridge these dualities. The wax-dipped silk flowers in this work—emblems of love and beauty, but also grief—appear both attractive and forbidding.

Petah Coyne 

b. 1953, Oklahoma City

Untitled #1563 (The Bluest Eye), 2023    

Specially formulated wax, silk flowers, pigment, ribbon, wire, copper wire, silk/rayon velvet, cotton archival fabric, pearl-headed hat pins, tear-headed hat pins, thread, foam, and glass vitrine; Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

Petah Coyne 

b. 1953, Oklahoma City

Untitled #1458 (Marguerite Duras), 2019–20  

Glass globes, acrylic polymer, paint, chicken-wire fencing, wire, steel, cable, cable nuts, quick-link shackles, jaw-to-jaw swivel, 3/8-in. grade 30-proof coil chain, silk/rayon velvet, Velcro, thread, and plastic; Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

The cascading glass globes in this work, which the artist completed after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, resemble organisms clustered together or even bombs dropping. (The sculpture’s subtitle references the French author of the screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour [1959], a film set in post-war Japan.) Emitting no light and covered in black pigment, Untitled #1458 conjures the dark of night, the place of dreams and imaginings, some pleasant and others fearsome.

Ursula von Rydingsvard 

b. 1942, Deensen, Germany

Tak, 2015  

Cedar wood; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wilhelmina Cole Holladay

Ursula von Rydingsvard 

b. 1942, Deensen, Germany

Biennale, 2021  

Cedar wood and graphite; Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

Throughout her decades-long career, von Rydingsvard has worked in a variety of mediums, including bronze, textiles, handmade paper, and even animal parts, but she continually returns to cedar. To begin one of her signature wood sculptures, von Rydingsvard first draws a pencil outline onto her studio floor. The resulting shape forms the base for towering layers of cedar beams, cut intuitively with a circular saw. She finalizes this meticulous and repetitive process of slicing, shaping, and assembling by rubbing powdered graphite onto the surface, a touch that adds dark, gritty texture to the cedar. 

Ursula von Rydingsvard 

b. 1942, Deensen, Germany

Dóttir II, 2018­–19 

Cedar wood and graphite; Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

Dóttir II embodies two elements vital to von Rydingsvard’s art: imposing scale and emotional fragility. Evoking the grandeur of nature, the work balances solidity and weight with movement and fluidity. The sculpture rises totemically from the ground, engaging with its surroundings and beckoning a closer look. Though von Rydingsvard does not imbue direct meaning to her work, she embraces all potential associations created by their expressive forms. 

Ursula von Rydingsvard 

b. 1942, Deensen, Germany

Apron, 1997 

Cedar wood, stain, and graphite; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Tony Podesta Collection

Guided by feeling, von Rydingsvard fuses a labor-intensive process with personal reflection to construct evocative and monumental abstract works. The artist was born in Germany to Polish and Ukrainian parents, and she lived with her family in nine different displacement camps for Polish refugees following World War II. Though von Rydingsvard’s sculptures are not directly autobiographical, their subjects often arise from her life experiences. Her work often includes references to clothing and fabric, in abstracted forms related to collars, aprons, and lace. Carved from wood and marked with graphite, Apron conveys physical and emotional weight.  

Mariah Robertson 

b. 1975, Indianapolis

8, 2012  

Unique color print on metallic paper; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection

Mariah Robertson 

b. 1975, Indianapolis

9, 2012  

Unique photographic print on metallic paper; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection

Robertson’s boundary-pushing approach employs the processes and techniques of photography in the absence of the medium’s key tool—a camera. Instead, the abstract forms and captivating colors result from the artist’s experiments dousing the surfaces of her prints with photographic developer, fixer, water, and light at various concentrations and temperatures. “There are so many tiny chemical reactions, chance things that are coming together that can never be replicated,” Robertson says. 9, printed on a more than 100-foot-long roll of light-sensitive metallic paper, can be displayed in a variety of configurations.

Cornelia Parker 

b. 1956, Cheshire, England

Thirty Pieces of Silver (exhaled) Sugar Bowl, 2003  

Thirty silver-plated items crushed by 250-ton industrial press, and metal wire; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of the UK Friends of NMWA

Driven by a curiosity about violent processes like explosion and compression, Parker transforms recognizable objects through extreme force. She sources silver pieces from markets, auctions, and even friends’ donated wedding gifts and crushes them with a 250-ton industrial press. Cutlery, serving platters, and sugar bowls contort into surreally flattened versions of themselves, severed from their original utilitarian purposes. “Silver is commemorative, the objects are landmarks in people’s lives. I wanted to change their meaning, their visibility, their worth. That is why I flattened them, consigning them all to the same fate,” Parker says. 

Johanna Unzueta 

b. 1974, Santiago, Chile

My Tears Started the Rain/The Darkness of the Sea Opened My Eyes No. 2, 2019 

Indigo-dyed natural felt, thread, burnt wood beams, and wood dowels; Courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, New York, and Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City 

These meticulously cut and sewn plumbing pipes depict architecture’s working elements, which are usually hidden behind walls. Within her drawings, murals, films, and sculptures, Unzueta develops shapes based on her own physical gestures and actions. The twin spigots extending from these pipes suggest the flow of water, including tears that might fall from a pair of eyes. This sculpture’s title clarifies the artist’s intense connection to the landscape and history of spaces she cherishes, particularly communities in Latin America. 

Johanna Unzueta 

b. 1974, Santiago, Chile

Blue Hinge, 2011  

Felt, thread, and wood pole; Courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, New York, and Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City 

Johanna Unzueta 

b. 1974, Santiago, Chile

Another kind of center piece, 2019   

Felt and wood spools; Courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, New York, and Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City 

Unzueta’s wood and hand-stitched felt sculptures activate architecture by disrupting the idea of a solid “white cube” gallery space. Her oversized hinges positioned at the corners of walls playfully suggest that they might be moveable. This outsized roller chain glides down the wall and creates its own base on the floor through a stack of links. With a witty touch and common materials, Unzueta reflects on the ideal, communal purposes of making and building: to solve life’s challenges through openness, ingenuity, and commitment. 

Johanna Unzueta 

b. 1974, Santiago, Chile

Little Horses, 2019    

Felt and wood pole; Courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, New York, and Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City 

Sonya Clark 

b. 1967, Washington, D.C.

Curls, 2005    

Plastic combs; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum purchase: Members’ Acquisition Fund and Belinda de Gaudemar Acquisition Fund 

Material is an important element of Clark’s mixed-media works. By combining simple objects such as combs, beads, thread, and human hair, Clark creates visually and emotionally layered sculptures that address complex themes of history, Blackness, visibility, and ancestry. In Curls, she fastens hundreds of fine-tooth plastic pocket combs—which Clark associates with smooth, straight hair textures—into colossal, cascading, tightly wound coils.  

Alison Saar 

b. 1956, Los Angeles

Undone, 2012     

Cast fiberglass, polyester dress, cast aluminum branches, cotton rags, found chair, and bottles; On loan from Tia Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico

From high above, this seated figure gazes outward and holds the edges of her long gown, which covers a root descending from her body. Glass bottles tied to the root signify ideas or dreams that the woman holds within. Saar reclaimed both the bottles and the figure’s wooden seat. She embraces the idea that recovered objects carry their own histories and memories, which are infused into the artwork she creates. The deep blue color of the woman’s body reflects Saar’s interest in indigo dye, a crop brought from Africa to the Americas in the eighteenth century.