Professor Sean Derry from the Department of Art and Design will join the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, Rachel Delphia, for a public dialogue about his new work. The conversation will take place on Saturday, September 12 at 1:00 p.m. at Concept Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, where Derry’s solo exhibition, titled Thingum, is on display from August 1 to September 12, 2026.
The work in Thingum combines Derry’s expertise in digital fabrication technology with traditional modes of making. Laser-cut steel and CNC-milled wood are expertly merged into furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects in combination with found materials.
Derry’s work in Thingum explores ideas of domesticity, colonization, masculinity, and remediation. Derry transforms humble materials, such as spruce bark or bean cans, into expertly crafted objects with layers of meaning. He will discuss the ideas and processes behind his work with curator Rachel Delphia for the culminating event for Thingum.
