Kindred Spirits: Margaret Wharton and Betsy Odom

Opening Reception: Friday, July 3 from 5-8 PM CT

Curator Gallery Talk: Saturday, July 11 at 11:30 AM CT

Curated by Whitney Bradshaw, Kindred Spirits brings together Margaret Wharton and Betsy Odom, two celebrated Chicago sculptors separated by nearly forty years yet strikingly aligned in spirit. Born in Virginia and Mississippi respectively, both artists arrived in Chicago carrying sensibilities shaped by Southern histories of making, repair and resourcefulness. Across generations, they share a fascination with everyday objects — chairs, sporting equipment, shoes — and with the gendered meanings attached to them. Through humor, exaggeration and meticulous craft, Wharton and Odom render the familiar delightfully unusable, transforming sculpture into a space where labor becomes play and expectations around gender, sexuality and function are pointedly, comically and wittingly undone. Joy, care and material intelligence anchor both practices.

Margaret Wharton (1943–2014), born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, emerged at a moment when sculptural seriousness often favored austerity. Frequently associated with the Chicago Imagists, Wharton employed humor, wit and comical figuration. She deconstructed and reassembled everyday objects acquired from thrift stores, alleys and flea markets — most notably chairs — turning them into whimsical and often anthropomorphic forms. Never fully relinquishing their original identities, these often flattened, wall-hung works oscillate between function and absurdity, domestic familiarity and animated presence. Humble objects become sites of personal projection, where earnest labor is infused with mischievous intelligence, frequently through Wharton’s use of the pun. Her work stands as a vital feminist practice of the 1970s, recasting domestic objects as vehicles for formal invention, cultural critique and expressive freedom.

Betsy Odom born in Amory, Mississippi in 1980 extends these concerns into a distinctly contemporary, feminist and queer vernacular. Working through what she has termed “Butchcraft,” Odom employs labor-intensive practices, including leather tooling, woodworking and hand carving, techniques often coded as masculine, redirecting them toward lesbian identity with affection and humor. Her sculptures, at first glance, appear functional but are deliberately “off.” Deflated sports gear becomes lovingly useless, while athletic wear transforms into rigid forms made of wood, leather or cork. Humor operates structurally rather than decoratively, allowing Odom to deploy camp as both strategy and critique. Careful attention to craftsmanship is devotional rather than ironic, underscoring the intelligence of skilled labor while resisting hierarchies between fine art and craft.

Special thank you to Indiana Arts Commission, NiSource Charitable Foundation, NIPSCO and South Shore Arts.