JAR OF BUTTONS

Jar of Buttons is a window installation at The Store at MAD (Museum of Arts and Design) that celebrates how MAD Collection artist Beau McCall got his start working with clothing buttons. One day, Beau McCall became fascinated by the buttons his mother kept stored for years in a jar. Soon thereafter he began experimenting with the buttons and has since created a plethora of wearable and visual art using this everyday material. An example of McCall’s button wearable art is now on view in the MAD Museum exhibition, Craft Front & Center: Exploring the Permanent Collection.

Visually referencing that jar of buttons that inspired him long ago, are two large-sized mason jars filled with buttons in each end window. The buttons are spilling from the mason jars in a stream of buttons that form a puddle on the window ledge. Strands of buttons suspended in the air create a button rainfall. 

Included in the installation are the names of select donors who have gifted buttons to Beau throughout the years. A QR code links viewers to mini-oral history audio recordings of each donor discussing with Beau the significance of buttons in their personal lives. The featured donors include: Marie Brown, literary agent and publishing consultant, Marie Brown Associates; Sharon Burnett, social media influencer; Joyce Anne Judd, visual art, performing arts, and arts education specialist; Susan Sanders, craft collector; and Patricia Scarlett, TV producer and author, Media Business Institute.

In the center window is a mannequin dressed in a limited edition Store at MAD x Beau McCall Triple T-shirts collaboration and wearing button necklaces.

Jar of Buttons is a tribute to the buttons across households that serve as keepsakes and sources of inspiration. A large-scale version of this installation will be on view in 2024 in Beau’s first-ever retrospective titled, Beau McCall: Buttons On! at Fuller Craft Museum.

Curated by Souleo.

Photo credit: Lisa DuBois