Label: In 1966, May Wilson—sixty years old and newly divorced—left a quiet life in suburban Baltimore for a studio apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Through her son, Bill, she became acquainted with a younger generation of artists in the city, including Ray Johnson and Nam June Paik, who were quickly enchanted by her iconoclastic sense of humor. Her series of bound dolls are characteristic of her practice. Assembled from household items that Wilson either scavenged from the streets or received from friends, her sculptures regularly commented on the uncomfortable constraints of social roles defined by gender, race, or age.
Exhibition label from "The Big 4-0: New Views of the Collection, Vol.2" 2025.
Exhibition History: Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections, Haggerty Museum of Art (08/20/2021 - 12/19/2022); Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (02/16/2022 - 05/22/2022)
The Big 4-0, Vol. 2: New Views of the Collection, Haggerty Museum of Art, 01/17/2025 - 05/24/2025
