Sarah Montagnoli

Sarah Montagnoli’s Catch of the Day – Holy Ghost – MP operates as a suspended sculpture that embodies the artist’s signature approach to pillowed metal forms as vessels for encapsulating personal fragments.

Fabricated from copper, brass, sterling silver, powder coat, cotton, and lame, the work presents a densely articulated, cloud-like silhouette that hovers between relic and toy. Suspended from a polished hook, its irregular perimeter is punctuated by star-like points and scalloped edges that act as houses for multiple embedded mesh inserts reminiscent of domestic strainers or sieves. These perforated voids disrupt surface continuity, permitting light and air to traverse the volume. Polished metallic surfaces contrast with powder-coated sections and subtle fabric accents, while teardrop pendants on delicate chains introduce kinetic movement and reflective play. The overall composition feels accumulative: each element appears added in dialogue with the last, yielding a structure that is simultaneously robust and precariously balanced.

Physically, the piece foregrounds tactile and visual contrasts central to Montagnoli’s metalsmithing practice. Hydraulic pressing and hand fabrication techniques produce the soft, pillowed contours that characterize much of her output, transforming rigid sheet metal into forms that invite touch yet remain visually contained. The mesh panels function as literal filters, while the dangling teardrops evoke both liquidity and weight, their gentle motion activating the sculpture’s spatial presence. Material choices such as industrial mesh alongside lustrous silver and soft textiles bridge the utilitarian and the intimate, echoing the artist’s broader exploration of adornment and bodily experience.

Symbolically and conceptually, the work resonates deeply with Montagnoli’s artist statement about creating objects that rewrite childhood moments marked by shame, guilt, and the condemnation of innocent pleasure. Here, the title’s juxtaposition of commercial “catch of the day” with the Holy Ghost invokes themes of capture, spirituality, and elusive grace. The mesh sieves suggest attempts to retain what might otherwise slip away: memories, desires, and sensations. While the teardrop forms allude to emotional release and the “crying heart” motifs present elsewhere in her oeuvre. The pillowed, toy-like structure serves as a site of control and restraint: an adult reconstruction of lost childhood pleasures, where denial and desire become sources of comfort through deliberate refabrication.

Montagnoli’s practice transforms shame into agency. By commanding these hybrid organic cloud forms fused with mechanical hardware, she prevents personal fragments from “dissolving into nothing.” The sculpture thus becomes a devotional yet ironic object: a holy ghost caught in a net of memory, a vessel that both contains and filters affective experience. Meaning remains distributed across its surfaces, deferring singular interpretation in favor of ongoing negotiation between guilt and pleasure.

This layered object exemplifies Montagnoli’s contribution as a jeweler, metalsmith, and educator. It invites viewers to consider how tactile, wearable, or sculptural forms can reclaim narrative authority over the past.

Sources

Montagnoli, S. (n.d.). Sarah Montagnoli [Artist website]. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://sarahmontagnoli.com/

InLiquid. (n.d.). Sarah Montagnoli [Artist profile]. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.inliquid.org/artist/montagnoli

Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Temple University. (n.d.). Sarah Montagnoli [Faculty directory]. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://tyler.temple.edu/directory/sarah-montagnoli

Stella Online. (n.d.). Sarah Montagnoli [Artist profile]. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.stellaonline.art/sarah-montagnoli-1

IWRising. (n.d.). The Crying Heart Brooch (Black & Silver) [Product page]. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.iwrising.org/product-page/the-crying-heart-brooch-black-silver