GROOMING

July 2nd - August 15th, 2026

 Opening Reception: First Thursday, July 2, 5-8PM
*Artist Walkthrough of the Exhibition: Monday, July 6, 2-4PM
Second Reception: First Thursday, August 6, 5-8PM
Gallery Hours: By Appointment on Saturdays, 12-3PM

Specialist Gallery presents GROOMING, new sculptures by Madison Donnelly.

Horse hooves are perpetually growing, like human fingernails. When horses are able to run freely, the friction against the earth keeps the hooves trimmed naturally. Domestication interrupted this natural process with the use of horse shoes, now requiring horses to receive further human intervention with specialized trimming and maintenance. Donnelly sees the bathroom as a site of our own domestication and interrupted natural processes. Like the interrupting maintenance of a horse hoof, Donnelly is interested in the triangulation between the tenant, maintenance person, and property owner of a rented property. The bathroom molds, it’s caulked over, then it molds again. Haunted by profit and neglect, the rented apartment bathroom is an overgrown, mildew-smeared garden grotto whose mold and scum is in constant need of temporary fixes.

Madison Donnelly is a sculptor exploring themes of artifice, domestication, ideology, and private property. Her practice examines the psychic impact of systemic neglect: the unkempt human body, rented properties, and animal and planetary neglect. She holds an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University '23 where she was awarded the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize. She has been an artist in residence at Fountainhead in Miami, Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA, SOMA Mexico in Tlaxcala, MX, and UMOCA in Salt Lake City. Madison has shown her work at ACUD Galerie in Berlin, Helena Anrather in NYC, the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, CT, and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art.

*In addition to our regularly scheduled first Thursday receptions, we will hold an Artist Walkthrough on Monday, July 6, from 2-4pm. This time slot coincides with the last FIFA game and other Pioneer Square Gallery Openings. Madison Donnelly will be in the gallery from 2-4pm to give small group walkthroughs of the exhibition. This is a great opportunity to see the work and speak to the artist outside of the high volume of first Thursdays. Email specialist.gallery@gmail.com with any questions.

GROOMING was funded by the 2026 Open 4Culture grant