(re)threads

What a week.

It's been an insanely busy time for me, next Saturday is the Buffalo Small Press Fair, which if you are in, or near Buffalo, you must come. 90+ small press/artists/vendors in the gorgeous Karpeles Manuscript Museum? Truly a site to be seen.

On top of that I have three (!) exhibitions coming up. Not one, not two but THREE! It's hard being so creative on demand, especially when you have so many other jobs and responsibilities. This is the kind of busy I long to be, but oh my... its tough.

This week saw much paperwork for me. What I want to tell you about today is a pet project of mine, my return to curating, called "(re)threads." It combines my work, and the work of some truly amazing artists, and I am really hoping to see it hung. The artists are:

Lily Booth

Elizabeth Emery

and

Joetta Maue

The exhibition brings together 4 artists, working with repurposed fibers thatare used to different ends. To quote directly from the statement:

"Histories of individual needlework and the more general history of women’s craft, is the underlying theme of this exhibition. The materials used for these works were found – something already created for a different purpose, and discarded before being repurposed.

These activities; sewing, embroidering, crocheting, and knitting, once meant to keep a woman’s hands busy are now used to tell intimate stories, chosen over the overtly political collective messages of previous generations. These entirely inefficient practices show the presence of the artist’s hand- a response to an overly slick, glossy, and mass-produced culture.

These discarded fragments are loaded with feminine convention. Grandma’s pretty embroidery is revealing truth, not hiding it. Telling you something that maybe you don’t want to know. It has been reconfigured and is now loaded with guilt, insecurity and bodily fault. "

Here's hoping I can find this exhibition a home!