Houston Center for Contemporary Craft will present Wendy Maruyama: The wildLIFE Project, an exhibition that serves to illustrate the plight of elephants and the illegal ivory trade. Through a moving installation of life-sized objects made from exotic woods and string and shrine-like forms made from steel and glass, the show makes a compelling case for the preservation of animals in the wild.

Furniture maker, artist and educator Wendy Maruyama has been making innovative work for 40 years.  While her early work combined ideologies of feminism and traditional craft objects, her newer work moves beyond the boundaries of traditional studio craft and into the realm of social practice. The wildLIFE Project focuses on the endangerment of elephants, a cause that is very personal to the artist. She recently took a sojourn to Kenya and met with wildlife advocates to investigate the dangers of the continued poaching of these magnificent animals. The trip served as a source of inspiration for the artist to create a new body of work and incorporate a strong societal message.

Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on display through January 3, 2016. The wildLIFE Project is made possible by generous support from the Windgate Charitable Foundation.