SOFA aka Sculptural Objects Functional Art and Design turned 23 this year. But that’s not all that Chicago celebrated on SOFA’s opening day. During the pre-opening media viewing, Navy Pier’s Festival Hall buzzed with electricians installing lights atop beeping hydraulic lifts and gallerists arranging their displays, and hummed with unabashed glee—it was the morning after the Cubs triumph.

SOFA 2016

SOFA 2016

Some key SOFA 2016 stats before moving on to particulars: 70 galleries from a dozen countries representing 800 artists; and 30 lectures. SOFA Special Exhibits included: of Ball State University School of Art; Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts); Collectors of Wood Art; Glass Art Society; CONNECT, a student design competition with installations from six universities (Purdue University was awarded first place); a live-in installation by Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) Chicago with AIDS survivor and ambassador Jim Petrakis; and the Hot Glass Roadshow from the Corning Glass Museum, a semi-trailer equipped to make glass.

Brent Cole, Ball State University exhibit

Brent Cole, Ball State University exhibit

 

Kirra Galleries, Australia

Kirra Galleries, Australia

It’s conventional among some art world inhabitants to look down on SOFA as beneath their interest—or as less worthy than art fairs that exclude work with associations to the descriptors craft, design, and decorative arts. For audiences who are interested in what artists and craftspeople create in materials such as glass, metal, wood, plastic, and fiber, SOFA 2016 didn’t disappoint.

Harry Roa Studio

Harry Roa Studio

That’s to say, SOFA isn’t simply for moneyed buyers of eye candy. Its scale makes room for works that are mind candy, feats of eye-hand coordination, and from time to time the results of pure luck. Here’s a selection of SOFA 2016 sights that invited me to look—and look again.

Marzena Krzemi?ska, work in glass, Ball State University exhibit

Marzena Krzemiska, work in glass, Ball State University exhibit

 

Tom Eckert, Obscured, work in wood, Adam Blaue Gallery

Tom Eckert, Obscured (work in wood), Adam Blaue Gallery

 

Humaira Abid, Proposal, detail. Abmeyer Wood Fine Art

Humaira Abid, Proposal, detail. Abmeyer Wood Fine Art

 

Derek Bencomo, Grace and Motion (carved teakwood root), Kirsten Muenster Projects

Derek Bencomo, Grace and Motion (carved teakwood root), Kirsten Muenster Projects

 

Why Wood? installation view. Collectors of Wood Art exhibit

Why Wood? installation view. Collectors of Wood Art exhibit

 

Tanya Aguiniga, Mend, detail. Volume Gallery

Tanya Aguiniga, Mend, detail. Volume Gallery

 

17cb Full circle 1-6; 2016; Caroline Bartlett; Stitched and hand printed linen; cotton thread; imprinted porcelain mounted on acrylic; silk and cotton

Caroline Bartlett, Full Circle, detail. browngrotta arts

 

Lucy Slivinski, Jeffrey Breslow Gallery

Lucy Slivinsky, Double Vision. Jeffrey Breslow Gallery

 

Kiel Arto Design, Latvia

Kiel Arto Design (coffee tables from retired cars), Latvia

 

ChiArts alumni and their works

ChiArts alumni exhibit

 

ChiArts alumni exhibit

ChiArts alumni exhibit

 

Miguel Ontiveros, Still Life of Attic, detail. ChiArts alumni exhibit.

Miguel Ontiveros, Still Life of Attic, detail. ChiArts alumni exhibit.

 

Hona Hideaki, Knot A. Tai Modern

Hona Hideaki, Knot A. Tai Modern

 

Isohi Setsuko, Hamakaze (Sea Breeze). Tai Modern

Isohi Setsuko, Hamakaze (Sea Breeze). Tai Modern

 

Dona Look, #15-2. browngrotta arts

Dona Look, #15-2. browngrotta arts

 

Urban Nature: A Recycled Sanctuary, detail of exhibition, Purdue University students. CONNECT winner

Urban Nature: A Recycled Sanctuary,  detail of installation, Purdue University. CONNECT winner

 

Steffen Dam, Flowerblock, Heller Gallery

Steffen Dam, Flowerblock, Heller Gallery

 

Karen Bexfield, Enigma 3, Winterowd Fine Art

Karen Bexfield, Enigma 3 (glass), Winterowd Fine Art

 

Michael Enn Sirvet (powder coated aluminum), Christopher Martin Gallery

Michael Enn Sirvet, detail (powder coated aluminum), Christopher Martin Gallery

 

John Kiley, Fractographst, Adam Blaue Gallery

John Kiley, Fractographst, Adam Blaue Gallery

 

Fractographstist's tools, Adam Blaue Gallery booth

The Fractographst’s tools, Adam Blaue Gallery booth

 

Lise McKean