The Button Man Arrives: Mattatuck Museum Celebrates Beau McCall and Its 20,000-Button Collection

WATERBURY, Conn., Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mattatuck Museum is preparing to debut Beau McCall: Buttons On!, the first-ever retrospective of the artist Beau McCall, opening on October 12, 2025, and running through January 4, 2026. This milestone event will showcase McCall's innovative work, which transforms everyday buttons into compelling wearable and visual art, exploring themes of identity, race, class, and joy.

The Mattatuck Museum is pleased to announce Beau McCall: Buttons On! on view October 12, 2025–January 4, 2026. Originally organized by Fuller Craft Museum and guest curated by Peter "Souleo" Wright, Buttons On!  showcases wearable and visual art from Beau McCall's nearly forty-year career. The opening celebration is scheduled for Sunday, October 12, 2025, from 11 AM to 4 PM, with remarks at 1 PM, and the Museum will offer a reduced admission of $5 for the day. To register, click here

The Mattatuck Museum–home to over 20,000 buttons in the Waterbury Button Museum permanent collection–is the perfect host for McCall's button-embellished artwork. Through his art, McCall hand-sews the everyday fastener onto mostly upcycled fabrics, materials, and objects to comment on topics related to pop culture and social justice.  Buttons On!  showcases McCall's button-adorned wearable art including jackets, sneakers, jewelry, and durags; visual art such as a 450-pound cast iron bathtub, a life-size Kool-Aid Man; archival materials documenting McCall's career; and select items of McCall's button-less works that spotlight his versatility.

"In most minds, buttons are simple, utilitarian objects used to fasten one's clothes," McCall explains. "But I use buttons to create wearable and fine art meant to provoke  deep consideration and reflection. Through my creations, I want people to engage with the topics of race, class, LGBTQ+ identity and to also find joy and personal connection. Hopefully, viewers are inspired as they consider how an everyday object, in this case, a button can be transformed into art."

This exhibition is organized into four themes exploring "The Button Man's" mastery of his chosen medium. 

Buttons on the Body explores nearly forty years of McCall's button-embellished wearable art. This section includes a plethora of jackets, vests, yokes, shorts, aprons, sneakers, jewelry, and durags.

Buttons on the Mind features over ten years of visual art created by McCall using buttons as the primary medium. These works demonstrate how McCall has elevated the button from the practical to the conceptual through pieces such as a button-covered cast iron bathtub that suggests a spiritual and ritualistic sanctuary, a large-scale 45-RPM record adapter snap-in insert inspired by The Staple Singers recording of "We The People," and an installation of over 100 jars of buttons featuring oral history recordings by button collectors.

Buttons on the Soul  is a collection of archival materials documenting McCall's career and evolution. Included are rarely seen personal photographs and press clippings, his sewing supplies, and a replica of the jar of buttons he discovered at the age of 19.

Buttons Off showcases select items from McCall's forays into wearable and visual art that do not feature clothing buttons, thereby extending his practice into other areas that highlight his boundless creativity. 

"We are so excited to bring the Buttons On! exhibition to our community," notes Executive Director, Bob Burns. "The Mattatuck Museum has a deep connection to the history of button manufacturing, but this show takes that heritage to a new level. Beau McCall transforms discarded buttons into powerful, emotional artworks. His work is rooted in Black and queer artistic traditions, using simple materials to create powerful messages about identity, memory, and resilience. This is a celebration of individuality and community- something we all need right now."

Beau McCall: Buttons On! is accompanied by a catalog featuring over 100 full-color images and essays by James Claiborne, Deputy Director for Community Engagement, Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia, PA); Barbara Paris Gifford, Senior Curator of the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY); and Petra Slinkard, Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles, Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA). In an intimate and candid interview with Kara Olidge, Associate Director, Collections and Discovery, Getty Research Institute, McCall tells his story in his own words. The catalog will be available for purchase at Mattatuck Museum.

Buttons On! will be on view at the Mattatuck Museum from October 12, 2025–January 4, 2026. It will then travel to the African American Museum in Philadelphia from March 20, 2027–July 11, 2027.

To celebrate the exhibition, the Mattatuck Museum will host a series of engaging programs inspired by McCall's art:

• Cocktails & Conversation with Beau McCall and Guest Curator Souleo Wright
  Thursday, October 30 | 5:30–7:00 PM
  Enjoy two themed cocktails created by Litchfield Distillery while hearing directly from artist Beau McCall and guest curator Souleo Wright about the exhibition's development.
  Tickets: $20 General | $15 Member | $10 Sober

• Kid's Art Workshop: Button Art!
  Saturday, November 15 | 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
  Children will learn how to transform ordinary buttons into a 2D work of art while exploring creativity inspired by Beau McCall.
  Tickets: $10 Non-Members | $5 Adults | Free for Kids Adventure Passholders & Waterbury Students
  Support provided by American Savings Foundation and Post University

• Adult Art Workshop: Cover It in Buttons!
  Saturday, December 6 | 9:30–11:30 AM
  Discover techniques for transforming ordinary vessels into extraordinary works of art inspired by McCall. Create a dazzling button-covered statement piece for your home.
  Tickets: $25 Non-Member | $20 Member
  Support provided by George and Grace Long Foundation; Linford and Mildred White Charitable Fund

Media Contact: Tanya Labeck, Marketing Manager, [email protected], (203) 753-0381 x127. Visit the website for more information: https://www.mattmuseum.org/

ABOUT THE MATTATUCK MUSEUM

Located in the heart of downtown Waterbury's architectural district, the Mattatuck Museum is a vibrant destination, known locally and regionally as a community-centered institution of American art and history. The collections at The MATT span the history of American art from the colonial era to the present day with special strengths in Naugatuck Valley history and Connecticut artists, as well as artists from around the world representing the diversity of our community. The collection includes more than 8,000 objects including paintings, unique works on paper, photography and sculpture. In February 2021, The Mattatuck reopened after a $9 million renovation project to reimagine the Museum while continuing to be a welcoming, inclusive, stimulating, and enriching community anchor. The "new" Mattatuck Museum, designed by Ann Beha Architects, includes an extensive 14,000 square foot renovation to the existing space and an addition of almost 7,000 square feet to enhance public access, educational programming, collections storage, and exhibitions. The Museum is operated with support from the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development/CT Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. The Museum is a founding member of the Consortium of Connecticut Art Museums and is a member of the Connecticut Art Trail, a group of 24 world-class museums and historic sites (ctarttrail.org). The Mattatuck Museum is located on the Green in Waterbury, CT at 144 West Main Street. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. The Museum is closed on Mondays from October through April. The Museum offers free, convenient off-street parking directly behind the Museum and in additional lots on Park Place. The Mattatuck Museum website (mattmuseum.org) outlines the Museum's updated guidelines for visitors, including what to expect on your visit, cleaning and safety protocols, and frequently asked questions. Face masks are currently not required indoors. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more updates and content.

SOURCE Mattatuck Museum