The Art Galleries at TCU proudly present Overlooked, featuring the work of artists Ana M. Lopez and Natalie Macellaio, in Moudy Gallery September 18 – October 16, 2025. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 18th from 5-7pm. Brief artist talks will be given during the reception at 5:15 pm. 

In Overlooked, Lopez and Macellaio turn their attention to the mundane, the peripheral, and the ignored elements of our built environment–materials and forms so ubiquitous they often escape notice. From construction barriers to rooftop ductwork, each artist reimagines the visual language of infrastructure through meticulous, labor-intensive craft processes that challenge our perceptions of utility, value, and visibility.

Macellaio draws from the transitional chaos of construction sites, translating temporary safety structures into wearable forms and sculptural installations. Her hand-fabricated jewelry and wall pieces highlight the material poetics of chain-link fences, signposts, and rebar–objects that exist on the margins of daily experience. Lopez, meanwhile, engages with industrial air conditioning systems, referencing their aesthetic invisibility and environmental impact. Her enameled metal garnitures and vent sculptures conflate decorative arts traditions with the engineered reality of climate control, inviting critical reflection on comfort, class, and atmospheric colonization. Together, their work recasts the overlooked into objects of contemplation, curiosity, and critique, reminding us that the invisible infrastructure of modern life is anything but neutral.

About the Artists
Ana M. Lopez is a metalsmith, educator and decorative arts scholar. Her creative work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including 2018 solo shows at the Brookline Art Center in Boston, Mass., and the Delaplaine Art Center in Frederick, Maryland. She was selected for a 2019 Maker-Creator Fellowship at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Winterthur, Delaware. Ana is the author of the reference book "Metalworking Through History: An Encyclopedia," published by Greenwood Press and numerous other scholarly articles. She was a speaker at the Looking Forward: A Contemporary Blacksmithing and Metal Design Symposium at Bryn Athyn College, Athyn, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2019. Lopez served as a juror for the Greater Denton Art Council's 2015 Materials Hard and Soft national craft exhibition and has lectured extensively on her work, including as a presenter at the 2015 East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, Material Topics Symposium, the 2017 Society of North American Goldsmiths conference and the 2019 College Art Association Conference. Lopez served on the Fulbright Specialist Roster through December 2020. www.anamlopez.com

Natalie Macellaio grew up in the Chicago area and moved to Texas to receive her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. She is the Professor of Art at Dallas College. Her work has been featured in galleries across the country. She is the co-creator of The Mother Load, with Lesli Roberston, this international project which includes over 100 artists in 8 countries was exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art in fall 2014 and the Hannah MacLure Centre in Dundee, Scotland in February 2016. She currently has a two-person exhibition with Ana Lopez, at the National Ornamental Metals Museum in Memphis, TN. This summer she will have work exhibited in Texas Sculps-II at the Plano Arts Center, Plano, TX. Natalie currently resides in Plano, TX with her husband and twins. www.nataliemacellaio.com

Moudy Gallery is located on the TCU campus at 2805 S. University Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76129. Regular opening hours are Monday to Friday 11am – 4pm, Saturdays 1-4pm, and by appointment. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. For more information about this exhibition, images for press, or details about other activities of The Art Galleries at TCU please visit the Galleries website www.theartgalleries.tcu.edu, email theartgalleries@tcu.edu, or call 817-257-2588.

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