08/17/2026
Our first exhibition of the new school year opens next week! The 2026 Borgeson Artist in Residence exhibition, Sidewise by Maggie K. Barrett will be open August 24–September 25. On September 25, Barrett will deliver an artist talk about her exhibition at 5:30 pm in Cook Auditorium here in De Pree Art Center, followed by a reception to celebrate the show.
In the eight weeks of the Borgeson residency, Barrett handmade each component of the show—from the paper for the prints, to the felted sheep’s wool that wraps the tunnel, and the welded metal of its structure. She’s curious about the weight of materials and the labor it takes to fabricate a mundane object, like a sports net. Through her work, she learns about the resources (time, money, skill, material) it takes to bring a thing into the world. It doesn’t matter that she hasn’t made something out of felt before; she can learn how to make it through weeks or months of research and practice. The exhibition explores ideas of permeability and access. While the title Net Fence implies sports, the piece functions as a barrier to movement. Agility Tunnel—inspired by the cross-species communication of the sheep, shepherd, and sheep dog—allows for passage, transformation, and/or a space to rest. In this installation, Barrett implicates her own body and the viewer's, calling attention to movement and offering an invitation to look up, crawl through, walk slowly, and touch.
The Borgeson Artist in Residence program was inaugurated in 2016 through the generosity and enthusiasm of Hope alumni Clarke ’72 and Nancy Rayner ’72 Borgeson.
