MFTA Presents 'All Night I Hear the Nose of Water Sobbing,' A New Exhibition by MFTA Artist-in-Residence Mary Mattingly

For Immediate Release: March 12, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS "ALL THE NIGHT I HEAR THE NOISE OF WATER SOBBING," A NEW EXHIBITION BY MFTA ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE MARY MATTINGLY

"All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing" will be on view in the Materials for the Arts Gallery from March 19 through June 12, 2026, beginning with a free public opening on March 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

MFTA Artist-in-Residence Mary Mattingly connecting her installation through a water irrigation system in her studio. Photo courtesy of MFTA.

Photos of the artist's work are available here .

Queens, NY - Materials for the Arts (MFTA) presents "All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing," a solo exhibition featuring recent work by MFTA Artist-in-Residence Mary Mattingly. As MFTA's Artist-in-Residence, Mattingly has had unlimited access to MFTA's warehouse of donated supplies, where she has upcycled found objects to create the installations featured in her solo exhibition. Her life-long fascination for water permeates through "All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing," swallowing the MFTA Gallery whole and leaving its visitors to meditate on the element's simultaneous capacity to corrode and restore our physical and internal worlds.

"Mary's work is so aligned with our mission, having her join as our MFTA Artist-in-Residence was not only a natural fit but a dream come true for us," said MFTA Executive Director Tara Sansone. "What's been transformative to see is how our warehouse has shaped her creative practice. Instead of going out into nature and sourcing inspiration from the world around us, Mary has brought the outdoors to the MFTA Gallery and gives new life into these materials."

"My creative process has been inverted, and consequently transformed, by my residency here at Materials for the Arts," said MFTA Artist-in-Residence Mary Mattingly. "Normally, as an artist I will have an idea and the challenge is finding the materials. Here, the materials direct the outcome of my work and guide me to new realms of possibility."

Raised in a rural town near Springfield, Massachusetts where the local drinking water was contaminated by agricultural chemicals, Mattingly's early childhood experience with environmental pollution informs her perceptions and approach to water in her work. From creating a floating food forest in New York City's waterways ("Swale") to developing a self-sufficient living structure on a barge ("Waterpod"), Mattingly's practice confronts climate change, resource scarcity, and the precarious nature of water. Now, for her residency at Materials for the Arts, water takes on a new meaning, beckoning visitors to listen closely to its constant flow.

Colorful assemblages of objects -pitchers, books, pedestals, ceiling medallions- varying in hues and height create a vibrant tableau. Fabric butterflies, plastic lemons, animal figurines made from metal and wood depict naturalistic elements and showcase the dichotomy between natural and synthetic. Unified by the water that courses through them, these fixtures' renewal rests within this constant stream that breathes new life into the objects. In turn, this faint trickle invites gallery visitors to pause and take time, to sit with water, listen to it, emote with it, and consider all the wisdom life's longest partner has to share.

Mattingly's exhibition name, "All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing," arose from the artist's wanderings through the MFTA warehouse where she found a collection of poems written by Alejandra Pizarnik of the same title. As a part of their residency, MFTA Artists-in-Residence have access to MFTA's 35,000-square-foot warehouse of materials to choose from, as well as an entire studio space to develop their work. Mattingly's exhibition reflects on this immense space replete with items and their collective histories, recognizing what they once were, where they are now, and what they could have become. "All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing" puts hyper-consumerism on display, suspending an abundance of materials connected by tubes of water, a nod to the way discarded objects can accumulate in our waterways.

MFTA will celebrate the opening of "All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing" with a free public event on Thursday, March 19, 2026, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

"All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing" will be on view at Materials for the Arts Gallery (located within the MFTA warehouse at 33-00 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens 11101) through June 12, 2026, welcoming visitors Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission to this exhibition is free and open to the public.

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About Mary Mattingly

Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist who cares deeply about water access and believes in the power of public art. She founded Swale, an edible landscape on a publicly-accessible barge in New York City. Swale's more permanent platform, Floating Garden, will launch in 2026 in Medina, NY. Recent public art projects include "Ebb of a Spring Tide," a water clock resembling a deconstructed apartment building at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, "Limnal Lacrimosa," a listening room for water in Glacier National Park, and "Public Water," a campaign and water cleaning system with +More Art in Brooklyn. Mattingly has exhibited sculpture and photography at the Cuenca, Istanbul, and Havana Biennials, as well as the Gangwon Triennale and institutions such as Storm King, the International Center of Photography, the Seoul Art Center, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Palais de Tokyo.

About Materials for the Arts (MFTA)
A program of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, with support from the Department of Education and Friends of Materials for the Arts, MFTA is NYC's largest reuse center supporting nonprofits with arts programming, public schools, and City agencies. MFTA collects millions of pounds of supplies each year which it provides, free of charge, to its member organizations. In addition to providing materials, MFTA has the MFTA Education Center, Gallery, Artist-in-Residence and Designer-in-Residence programs, and Third Thursday public programming, which are supported by Friends of Materials for the Arts. Learn more at nyc.gov/mfta.