Mary Pat Wager
Transforming discarded materials into form, memory and presence. Working from the Hudson Valley for over four decades.
“Every material carries a past life. My work is about listening to it.”
The Alchemy of Forgotten Things
INSIDE THE STUDIO
A short film about Mary Pat Wager's Hudson Valley studio — the reclaimed materials, the process and the quiet conviction that has driven four decades of practice.
THE PRACTICE
Mary Pat Wager is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, painting and assemblage.
For over four decades she has transformed discarded industrial materials into striking, poetic forms –
long before sustainability entered
the cultural conversation.
Selected Works
SCULPTURE · ASSEMBLAGE · INSTALLATION · CLAY – HUDSON VALLEY, UPSTATE NY
OPEN FACE, ASSEMBLAGE • Wood • 2010
BROKEN PROMISES, ASSEMBLAGE • Wood, Steel, Clay, Rocks, Wire, Painting, Beads, Vintage Barn Beam • 2025
ESSENCE, WALL SCULPTURE • Steel, Saw Blades, Vintage Seeder/Planting Machine • 1989
FAITH MILLS INSTALLATION • Sculpture of a Shaman, Vintage Sewing Machine, Bin, Stool, Wood Patterns, Metal Filings, Drift Wood, Stainless Steel • 2012-14
INNERMOST, WALL SCULPTURE • Stainless Steel, Industrial. Brushes, Welded Steel • 1993
NATURAL AFFAIR, WALL SCULPTURE • Welded Steel, Heating Pads from Laundry Industry, Paint Pallet Holders, Cast Stainless Steel • 2006
SELF PORTRAIT, ASSEMBLAGE • Molded Clay Face Relief, Rusty Steel, Glasses • 1988
CRANK IT, FREESTANDING • Crank Shaft, Cast Stainless Steel • 2021
DOMESTIC WITHDRAWAL, INSTALLATION • Vintage Metal Window Frame, Vintage Pots & Pans, Tea Kettle, Copper Sink, Modeled Clay Masks • 2010
MONUMENTS, FREESTANDING • Welded Steel, Cast Clay Faces • 2010
UNHINGED, WALL SCULPTURE • Drift Wood, Wood Patterns, Barn Door Hinges, Stones, Steel • 1999
FINAL DISTRIBUTION, WALL SCULPTURE • Metal Ladle, Cutter Bar Blades, Steel, Cast Stainless Steel • 1995
ASCENSION, FREESTANDING • Vintage Floor Jack, Cast Stainless Steel, Deconstructed Propane Tank, Plow Disc, Welded Steel • 2021
EXTRUDING SEQUENCE, WALL SCULPTURE • Cast Stainless Steel, Welded Steel • 1989
CRAZED, ASSEMBLAGE • Stainless Steel Coils, Rusty Steel, Copper, Cardboard, Paint, Commercial Glasses • 2021
DISCONNECT, WALL SCULPTURE • Copper, Cast Aluminum, Heating Element, Oven Heating Elements • 2006
TRICKLE DOWN, ASSEMBLAGE • Steel, wood, found objects • 2018
SPECIMEN, ASSEMBLAGE • Wood Pattern Pieces, Vintage Book Cover, Electrical Components, Canvas, Mat Board • 2014
HEIRLOOM, ASSEMBLAGE • Vintage Loom, Electrical Components, Brass Wire, Wood Frame, Boxes • 2014
VISIONARY BURST, WALL SCULPTURE • Welded Stainless Steel • 1987
DISPLACED PERSON, FREESTANDING • Cast Self Portrait Mask, Stainless Steel Coils, Brass Wings, Wood Spikes, Drift Wood, Vintage Wood Barrel, Mannequin, Steel Toe Boots, Deer Rib Bones, Vintage Glasses • 1990
NAVIGATOR, WALL SCULPTURE • Welded Steel, Cast Stainless Steel • 1995
AGRARIAN, FREESTANDING, OUTDOOR • Welded Salvaged Steel, Modeled Clay Face with Horse Shoe Nails • 1980
BOX TOWER, INSTALLATION • Stacked and Secured Vintage Wood Boxes, Vintage Tools, Drift Wood • 2012-14
FORESTER MASK, CLAY • Modeled Clay, Florist Picks, Paint • 1987
BLUE MOON MASK, CLAY • Modeled Clay, Brass Jewelry • 1987
JAW BONE MASK, CLAY • Found Deer Bones, Transistors, Beaded Necklace • 2005
SUSTAINABILITY40+
YEARS OF PRACTICE
60+
EXHIBITIONS & SHOWS
100%
RECLAIMED MATERIALS
∞
SECOND LIVES GIVEN
Long before sustainability became a movement,
Mary Pat Wager was pulling beauty from what the world had abandoned.
Forty years of studio practice rooted in one conviction: that discarded industrial materials carry latent form. That rust is not an ending. That the worn, the cast-off, the overlooked has something left to say.
A Half-Century of Making
STUDIO & ARCHIVE
In the Studio, 2024.
First Studio, 1970s.
Being interviewed, 2025.
Masters Exhibition, 1979.
As featured on PBS.
“It is my goal to make work that preserves history, evokes memories and communicates to the viewer.”
PBS Interview with Mary Pat Wager, “Breathing New Life Into Discarded Material”
“I deconstruct. I weld. I reassemble — forcing disparate objects into new relationships, new conversations they were never meant to have.
The process is a kind of translation: I am not imposing meaning onto these things.
I am listening for what they can say to each other when brought close enough to speak.
The resulting sculptures address what I cannot stop thinking about — environmental erosion, political fracture, personal loss, the daily labor of existing in this particular moment on Earth.”
For exhibition opportunities, acquisitions, curatorial inquiries, press requests, speaking invitations, or collaborations, please complete the inquiry form.
