State of the Sky was a two-year exhibition by Luke Stettner at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, developed through a series of nine collaborations. Centered on Pittsburgh’s histories of resource extraction, industrial production, environmental contamination, astronomy, and the standardization of time, the project brought together archival research, sculpture, photography, installation, and a functional solar darkroom. Michael Stickrod participated as one of the project’s collaborating artists, contributing to the development and fabrication of works throughout the exhibition.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
Back view showing the attachment and suspension of the pipes before they continue through the floor to the level below. Milkweed floss rests across the carved wooden support, creating a material link to Life Vest elsewhere in the exhibition.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
Michael Stickrod.
Dried stinging nettles hang above a photogram depicting buttocks partially obscured by nettle leaves.
Michael Stickrod.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
A suspended carved-wood form based on the adjustable hooks used over traditional irori hearths. A cast-iron teapot is set into the sculpture.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
View showing the cast-iron teapot set into the carved-wood form.
Michael Stickrod.
Copper, vintage life jacket, milkweed floss, plaster, found materials, and steel. The copper framework is based on a heated towel rack made by Stickrod’s father. An old-style life jacket is filled with milkweed floss, linking the work to the milkweed used in Untitled (Wind Chimes) nearby. A white plaster cast of a disposable water bottle is incorporated into the structure, which is mounted on a thick steel plate.
Michael Stickrod.
Detail showing the copper framework, milkweed-filled vintage life jacket, and plaster cast of a disposable water bottle mounted to a steel plate.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
Laser-cut wood panels inset with green welding and torch-helmet glass. Reinforcing steel and concrete on the exterior-facing side weatherproof the installation while allowing colored light to pass through the embedded glass.
Michael Stickrod and Luke Stettner.
Sunlight passing through the welding glass projects green and white fragments of light across the room.
A red-lit passage leads to Michael Stickrod’s video Night Battles, developed from nighttime recording sessions made by Stickrod and Stettner prior to the exhibition across Stickrod’s 25-acre wooded land.
Michael Stickrod.
Video, 11:21. Filmed over several nights across Stickrod’s 25-acre wooded land, Night Battles moves through dense vegetation illuminated against near-total darkness. Directed light catches leaves, stems, insects, and shifting forms at the edge of visibility, transforming familiar woods and overgrowth into an unstable nocturnal landscape.
Click image to view video.