In “What We Make of This World,” artists Melissa Shaak and Sylvia Vander Sluis transform the stuff of their lives into invented worlds in video and sculpture. Shaak, in her videos, personifies a “seeker” who responds to puzzling situations in the landscape with improvisational movement—reaching for the sky, touching the earth, and entertaining the birds along the way. Vander Sluis’s sculpture, with its unpredictable mix of insulation board, decorative eggs, weaving and feathers, presents “home” as a stage for our lives that reflects cycles of creation, decline, grief, and peace.

The exhibition is full of circles and circling, totems and towers, spirals and spheres. It is both playful and sober. In reflecting the artists’ explorations, how they make meaning, and important parts of their respective life journeys, it offers a window into artists’ place in the world. The exhibition includes audio of the artists’ voices, emanating from Vander Sluis’s sculpture of giant, inedible candies and Shaak’s assemblage of objects from her videos. The audio tracks were conceived and produced by guest audio creator Katie Semro.