Sentimental Value: Emily Spivack

May 17 – August 18, 2013

Opening reception: Friday, May 17, 2013, 6-9 pm

Philadelphia Art Alliance

251 South 18th Street

Philadelphia, PA

“Emily Spivack’s web-based art project Sentimental Value connects the age-old desire to tell stories through special objects with the easily accessible platform of the Internet. Spivack recognized a new vernacular mode of expression emerging in personal narratives accompany some of the clothing for sale on eBay. Although it’s meant to be an online marketplace for financial transactions, eBay has unintentionally become a repository of millions of anecdotes and fleeting memories that are surprisingly personal- brushes with fame, funny mishaps, historical provenances, woeful tales. Spivack has been collecting and documenting these stories in all their raw honesty online, and acquiring the objects in the process. This installation at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Spivack’s first solo exhibition of “Sentimental Value, ” highlights many of these garments and their stories. The exhibition mirrors the powerful relationships we have with our possessions, and challenges us to consider why we consume, what we hold onto, and how we share.”

Source: http://www.philartalliance.org/exhibition/emily-spivack-sentimental-value/

Sabrina Gschwandtner, Camouflage, 16 mm film, polyamide thread, 2012

If you are in Philadelphia this weekend, be sure to check out the Philadelphia Art Alliance for the first solo exhibit of Sabrina Gschwandtner!

“Sunshine and Shadow,” May 17-August 18,2013, is the first solo exhibition of Sabrina Gschwandtner’s film quilts in Pennsylvania. The exhibition features six quilts constructed from 16 mm film. The works are displayed in framed light boxes, engaging the notion of filmic suture through a reconfigured, backlit form. The show is based on “Sunshine and Shadow” quilts, which take their name from a concentric diamond pattern created by squares of color in dramatically intertwined light and dark hues. There are compelling connections between this body of work and Philadelphia’s status as a global center of textile production until the general decline of US manufacturing that began in the 1960s, as well as Pennsylvania’s rich heritage of quilt-making by Amish and Mennonite women. ”Images of hands at work - spinning yarn, dyeing cloth, and feeding fabric into machines - are repeated throughout the show,” says Gschwandtner, “referencing not only my labor and similarly tactile experimental filmmaking methods, but also the historical connections between pioneering cinema and sewing. The sprocket mechanism of an early movie camera/projector was modeled after the newly popular sewing machine, and Hollywood’s first film editors were women who were hired for their agile sewing fingers.”

Philadelphia Art Alliance; 251 South 18th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

www.philartalliance.org

Designers- Sustainability starts with you.

Can you minimize waste in production? Reuse materials? Use less energy? Create a smaller carbon footprint? Avoid toxins? Can you make something so useful and/or beautiful that it’s treasured and not tossed in favor of something new? When it is no longer of value is it recyclable? Biodegradable? Do you know how to ensure fair labor practices, maintain cultural integrity? Oh – and what does it cost – what are the business decisions for you and your clients?

Sustainable Design is a complex and important challenge. Take it on.

Reading, Pa—July 20, 2013 is the Call to Artists deadline for “Food for Thought,” the next salon exhibit being presented by some things looming, the Fiber Arts Gallery and Studio at 526 Washington St., Reading.

The phrase “food for thought,” according to gallery founder and director Rebekah Ritter,describes something that is “stimulating and interesting to think about, perhaps even profound.  The essential idea behind the phrase ‘food for thought’ is figurative. It’s the idea that some problems or concepts might feed our minds much as food nourishes the body.”

Gallery Co-director Melanie Ritter Mitchell said some things looming challenges artists to express conceptually, figuratively, or literally the phrase ‘food for thought’ in a visual format, 2D or 3D.  Fiber or fiber techniques must be incorporated into the piece.

Key dates for the Call to Artists are:

·      July 20: All submissions due.
·      Aug. 10: Acceptance letters sent.
·      Aug. 27, 28, and Sept. 7 (or by appointment): Artwork sent or delivered to the gallery.
·      Nov. 2: All artwork returned or picked up by artists.

All questions concerning submissions may be e-mailed to: service@somethingslooming.com.  For complete entry instructions, go to http://tinyurl.com/FoodForThoughtEntry to register online. Or visit http://tinyurl.com/FoodForThoughtCallToArtist to download the complete prospectus.

some things looming is open Tues. and Weds. from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sats. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and by appointment. It is closed Sun., Mon. and holidays.

The mission of some things looming is to create a thriving, viable community for the fiber arts and artist in Berks County and beyond. some things looming contains a gallery, boutique, studios, community spaces, classrooms, networking resources and a library. Off-street parking is available at the nearby Wyndham Hotel, 5^th and Washington streets, and other Reading public parking garages.

Housed in an historical multi-story brick row home, some things looming features gallery exhibits, studio and equipment rentals, instruction, workshops and more. Individual and group tours are by appointment.

 Special thank you to Suzanna Finley for the amazing photography. More photos here.

We’ve been getting ready to move outdoors for the season. And, oh boy, we have exciting things coming up!

This Saturday, May 18th, we’ll be in the Bergen Street garden transplanting some of our baby plants, getting the soil ready, and starting some seedlings outdoors. Come lend us a hand and  learn a thing or two about the project and natural dyes. We’ll be in the garden from 2-4PM, weather permiting. If you’d like to volunteer in the garden and receive updates on garden working days email sewingseeds@textileartscenter.com to be added to the Sewing Seeds mailing list.

Also, the deadline for the Garden Residency is coming up — and we’re giving a couple of extra days, for all those last minute applications. EXTENDED DEADLINE is MAY 20th! Only hearing about the program now? Learn more here.

And finally, the Sewing Seeds Natural Dye Garden will be open to the public starting in June. WE CAN’T WAIT!

Designers include Gretchen Jones, Erin Considine, Dirty Librarian Chains, Babe, Dusen Dusen, Nettie Kent, and Samantha Pleet

Love At First Sight (Umbrella Plant)
yarn, resin
46” x 20” x 20”
2012
photo by Karen Philippi

Parasitic Fish
yarn
2010
54” x 19” x 13”
photo by Karen Philippi

During my weekly scouring of inspiring things on the internet, I came across Tatyana Yanishevsky’s Knit Plants on tumblr…

Tiger Lily
yarn, steel
2011
60” x 60” x 50”
photo by Karen Philippi

Anatomically Correct Hibiscus
yarn
2005
photo by Megan Jones

These beautifully elegant pieces are created with such care! They remind me somewhat of Kelly Boehmer‘s work – beautiful yet somewhat grotesque. The two photographs above are from her series The Knit Garden, “This ongoing body of work features anatomically correct flowers and plants. Each piece is hand knit with different fibers and stitches to capture the unique textures and forms within the plant kingdom. The process of knitting, stitch by stitch, mimics the growth of a plant, cell by cell.”

Tatyana pays such close attention to detail without weighing down her work by focusing on anything that isn’t important…she even has work that is interactive!

Love Muffin
yarn, steel, LEDs, pullcord
2010
40” x 19” x 8”
photo by Karen Philippi
Pull the cord and the Love Muffin lights up inside. Issues a warm yellow glow.

My Offering
yarn, resin, steel, lights
2010
58” x 39” x 11”
photo by Karen Philippi
My Offering plugs into a wall outlet. Tentacles wrapped in crocheted blood hold three light-drops. Each light makes visible yarn and gems inside its plastic fixture. Bulbs are replaceable.

“Tatyana can be found in a variety of places including Alaska, Massachusetts, South County Rhode Island, but mostly in her studio in Providence, RI. Much of her time is spent knitting, bending and welding metal, embroidering, building pulley systems, wiring simple circuits, installing stoves, singing, testing software, counting fish, dancing, and napping.”

If you are feeling as inspired as I am then check out our course catalog…we have some machine knitting, felting, and crochet classes coming up! See what you can create this spring!

All images courtesy of Tatyana’s website.

(main image: yarn, pillow stuffing, shattered glass; 2013; 18” x 6” x 12”;photo by Natalja Kent)

ROUNDTABLE I

The first event of this series aims to initiate a conversation on the practice and research of Fashion Design in Latin America.

The roundtable will encompass Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and approach different case studies exploring issues of practice, mediation and consumption of fashion as they relate to social, political and economic realities in this diverse and multicultural region.

The four case studies from Peru, Mexico and Cuba will introduce different approaches in the study of fashion systems in these areas.

PARTICIPANTS
Susana Aguirre (Peru), Carmen Artigas (México), María A. Cabrera (Cuba), Lucía Cuba (Peru).

DATE: Friday May 10th, 2013

TIME: 6:30 – 9pm

PLACE: Room A407, 66 West 12th Street New York, NY 10011, The New School

For more information about the event please visit: http://latamfrp.wordpress.com/47-2/ [Contact: luciacuba@luciacuba.com]

This event is possible thanks to the support of the MA in Fashion Studies, School of Art and Design History and Theory Parsons The New School for Design 

For information about the MA visit: www.newschool.edu/parsons/ma-fashion-studies

Lucia Cuba is seeking participants for a series of conversations on the agency of clothes:

OBJECTS | SUBJECTS [CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS] is the first of a series of conversations among a diverse group of people to exchange —through open dialogues and garment creation— different understandings and approaches to issues of gender, identity and human rights, among other topics.

These interactions stem from a broad debate on the “agency of clothes” and their role as social mediums for exchange and critical thought.

This is an Open Call. Participants should commit to attend all four sessions as part of this conversation series. Please fill in the form available in the following link: http://bit.ly/XRpYFU

The form includes:

• Short bio (250 words)
• Participation statement (200 words): Why would you like to participate in this conversation series?

Deadline to apply:  Tuesday May 7^th, 2013

THESE CONVERSATIONS EXPLORE:

• The agency of clothes,
• Notions of garments as objects/subjects,
• How can garments, imbued with intention, become key actors in human development,
• Notions of gender, identity and human rights as experienced by participants (among other topics)

THESE CONVERSATIONS USE:

• Conversation as a collective and collaborative social technology that allows for connections and unions between the ideas and creations of participants,
• The participatory construction of garments (participatory garments) as a collective experience in the building of objects/subjects,
• Participatory garments as a medium to discuss and exchange notions of gender, identity and human rights as experienced by participants.

THESE CONVERSATIONS WILL GENERATE:

• Garments, photos, audio and related visual documentation that will be recorded during 3 conversation series and presented publicly,
• The garments created will be property of each participant,
• The visual, audio and related documentation will be accessible to participants and general public online.

Objects/Subjects [Constructive Conversations] is the first conversation series as part of Objects/Subjects, a design project by fashion designer and social researcher Lucia Cuba.