A broken toy, a bit of hardware, the housing from a dead appliance. Rhode Island sculptor Krzysztof Mathews has spent more than thirty years seeing what the rest of us throw away and finding creatures inside it.

Mathews is a sculptor, illustrator and educator whose science fiction and mythology themed assemblage work has won numerous awards. In this illustrated talk he opens up his whole process: how he harvests and sorts discarded material, the tools and safety practices behind the work, techniques for joining and shaping, and how surface treatment turns scrap into something with a face and a personality. Along the way he'll show a gallery of his own characters, masks and animal sculptures.

As he puts it, the work is an active dialogue with the pieces themselves. Talk will be followed by a Q&A.

Thursday, October 15, 6:30 pm. Free to attend with suggested donation of $5, no one turned away.

The gallery opens at 5:30pm so guests can view the 40th Annual Rhode Island Open before the talk.

Warwick Center for the Arts, 3259 Post Road, Warwick. Parking behind the building at 3273 Post Road.

Artist Talk: Found Object Assemblage with Krzysztof Mathews