In addition to being a sculptor, Denver artist Laura Phelps Rogers has spent many years dealing antiques — something she says “brings a historic aesthetic to my contemporary sculpture. It’s all documentation — me remembering things that have come and gone. All of my work is memory-based, layered in a complex manner.”

Working primarily as a metal caster but incorporating mixed-media elements, in her new show, A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, which opens tonight at Edge Gallery, Phelps Rogers mines the controversies surrounding stereotypical roles and expectations women face. Among the six small installations is "Nipple Quilt," a play on genealogy consisting of 42 metal squares containing anonymous cast nipples in different metals.

“They’re not gender-specific,” the artist explains, but they are meant to explore roles in a conceptual manner. Another work, “Iron Maidens,” depicts gift packages in disarray, some opened to reveal symbolic castings. You’ll want to walk around these pieces. Expect to do some hard thinking at this show.

An opening reception takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight at Edge, 3658 Navajo Street; A Woman’s Work continues through August 19, with another reception planned for First Friday on August 3. For information, visit www.edgeart.org.
Fridays-Sundays. Starts: July 20. Continues through Aug. 19, 2012