On view June 13 – September 8, 2025
On view June 13 – September 8, 2025
Opening Reception
Thursday, June 12 from 5 – 7 PM
in our Bendel Mansion Museum Galleries
This event is free to attend with RSVP. Ages 14+ only, please.
Tools as Art: Work and Play
Tools as Art: Work and Play celebrates the creative transformation of everyday hand tools and hardware into extraordinary works of art.
Featuring 68 prints, paintings and works of sculpture from the Hechinger Collection, the exhibition explores three interrelated themes: tools as icons of labor, labor as a component of creativity, and creativity as a form of play.
This dynamic and whimsical exhibition stirs the imagination while honoring the value of labor and the creativity of builders, artists, hobbyists and self-reliant DIYers.
Featured artists include Berenice Abbott, Georgia Deal, Jim Dine, Ke Francis, Jacob Lawrence, James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Estes and Wayne Thiebaud.
About the Hechinger Collection
Founded in 1911, Hechinger's was once ubiquitous in the Mid-Atlantic United States as the destination for hardware and tools.
When John Hechinger moved the company into new corporate headquarters in 1978, he found the building efficient yet sterile to both employees and visitors. A good hardware store should inspire creativity and imagination for those with a passion to work with their hands, he felt, so he set about filling the corridors and meeting rooms with art.
Experience the Exhibition
- Opening Reception: June 12, 5–7 pm
- Curator's Tour — Thursdays, 1pm
- Painting with Tools Adult+ Child Program: Wed, June 25, 2:30 – 3:30 pm
- Coming Soon: Nights Out | Woodworking: Charcuterie Board
Wood and metal, 22” x 25” x 8” Image courtesy of IA&A, © Richard Bronk.
Color screenprint on wove paper. Photograph by IA&A, © Jacob Lawrence / ARS, New York.
Each drawing, print, and sculpture is a celebration of the tools used to create it.
The Collection's drawings use graphite, lead, charcoal, ink and pastels. Prints involve carving into smooth metal or stone, paintings require oils, brushes, canvas stretched over a wood frame. Sculpture requires wood, glass, carving knives, fasteners, and a myriad of small tools and hardware to create its shape.
