Alberte Tranberg and Adam Shirley Open "Steel Work of Mild Hands" at Wasserman Projects
Work by Alberte Tranberg (left) and Adam Shirley (right).
Alumni Alberte Tranberg (MFA Metalsmithing 2018) and Adam Shirley’s (MFA Metalsmithing 2010) two-person exhibition Steel Work of Mild Hands opens on Saturday, May 16, at Wasserman Projects in Detroit. The exhibition runs through June 13, 2026, spanning the duration of the 2026 SNAG x Detroit conference, Labor & Legacy, taking place June 10–13, and is presented within the context of that gathering of the international metalsmithing and jewelry community.
Steel Work of Mild Hands, presented at Wasserman Projects, brings together recent works by both artists, united by a shared commitment to making labor visible. Rather than concealing the processes behind the work, cutting, bending, joining, repeating, both Tranberg and Shirley allow these acts of making to remain present and meaning-bearing. The exhibition frames labor not merely as a means to an end but as a mode of thinking through material: a position that resonates directly with SNAG 2026’s central theme of honoring the effort, knowledge, and intergenerational commitment embedded in metalsmithing practice. Presented together, the works open a dialogue across different approaches to metalwork — from precision and control to repetition, accumulation, and wear — while foregrounding a shared ground of deliberate, embodied making.
Alberte Tranberg is an artist and metal fabricator who engages the performative nature of interior objects through subtle architectural interventions. Her approach to making is a responsive dialogue between material and tool, shaping familiar forms toward emotive narratives. She earned her MFA at Cranbrook as a Fulbright recipient in 2018 and has since exhibited internationally at Devening Projects (Chicago), Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (Buffalo), Ornamentum Gallery (Hudson, NY), Matéria Gallery (Detroit), BULK Space (Detroit), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), and at the 5th Venice Design Biennial. She has designed an award-winning series of handles for Reform Kitchens and works collaboratively with Iris Eichenberg as BERG+BERG.
Adam Shirley investigates the relationships between two- and three-dimensional objects, material, and scale. Working primarily in steel, a material defined by utility and function, he creates objects suspended in a state between idea and physical form, inviting the viewer to explore what each piece might become rather than what it is. Shirley received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies in 1993 and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010. He is a recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award.
The opening reception for Steel Work of Mild Hands takes place Saturday, May 16, from 5 to 8 pm at Wasserman Projects, 3434 Russell Street, #502, Detroit. The exhibition is on view through June 13, 2026.
Click here to see our roundup of Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni and Artist-in-Residence programming available to the public during SNAG 2026 in Detroit.
Learn more:
Steel Work of Mild Hands – Wasserman Projects
Cranbrook at SNAG 2026 – Cranbrook Academy of Art
