Tuesday, February 4, 2014

PAHK THE CAH IN HAHVAHD YAHD‏

DIRT PALACE
 
 

JANUARY 2014
 

Blingee
The Dirt Palace is trilled to be a part of the Living as Form (The Nomadic Version) exhibit that opens this Thursday at Harvard's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. The Living as Form exhibition "surveys works from around the world that together register one of the most important developments in recent art history: the rise in the last twenty-five years of a renewed sphere of artistic practices that blur the lines between art and everyday life in projects emphasizing political concerns, participation, and forms of dialogue." Our installation narrates one possible variation on the history of the Dirt Palace by presenting work by each of the various (42!) artists who have taken part in the project over our 13 years. It's sort of a time-line, or a time-machine. Come take a ride! The opening is Thursday Feburary 6th from 6-8pm and the show runs through April 6th.

 
 
DECEMBER'S WINDOW ARTIST: JENNIFER AVERY
Jennifer Avery is currently a sophomore resumed under graduate (RUE) student at Brown University, where she is an art editor for Bluestockings Magazine. She cut her teeth in  the alt/cabaret movement of the most recent fin de siècle , and received her Associates degree in Fine Art from Bristol Community College in 2012. She currently lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts with her cats, various collections and fiancé. In February she will have a solo exhibition  at Yellow Peril Gallery in Providence, RI.
"Wolves holding tea parties in the forest that end in Bacchanalian orgies (“Could I warm up your cup of lamb’s blood?”) Filthy children dressed in silk and cashmere snipping thread to the rhythm of vile, throbbing machines (they, of course are fed on nothing but treacle and dirt cake) Sacred dance rituals actually performed by the gold foiled bone exposed relics (held in place with jewel-toned thread, scraps of trash and bubble gum) Velvet salon conversations by rotting pieces of wood with monocles and spats (“I say old chap that witches butter fungus on your clavicle is delightful”!)

Absurdities, contradictions, opposites, amuse and frighten me-things whimsical and macabre, glamorous and rotten, strong and vulnerable,natural and constructed, erotic and innocent: strict Victorian decorum and ferocious punk rock dances. I like things in the uncanny realm of attraction and repulsion. Most of my work takes on the aspects of childhood; particularly dolls through a lens of a cherished nightmare, and identity as these these little cherubs are all some sort of self portrait. One of the inspirations for my adoration of competing dualities comes from a through enjoyment and loathing of socially constructed performances of gender and femininity."

 
"The Dance of the Doll's: Terpsichorean Evolutions for a Party of  Little Girls." 

paper mache, Fabric, scrap fiber fill

This is the husk, or corpse or props and costumes of a performance piece. Actually what you see posing in the Dirt Palace window Gallery are the stars of the piece, particularly the smaller dolls. The other warm human bodies that used to manipulate them really are not terribly  important, but those other bodies did do a wonderful job, even if  their performance did disintegrate into a violent and chaotic melee and gluttonous tea party. I suppose it was all part of the lark. This piece was inspired by an article I found in the New England Home Journal from May 1890. In it Lillian Morton Paige thrillingly reveals a dance and song  for young girls and their dolls to perform; choreographed and composed by Professor Ad. Newberger of New York. 

"Up you go and down you go./up as high as the moon./You shall dine on cakes and wine/And eat with a silver spoon."

"A little witch dance then begins as, with a polka step, each cherub dances eight measures to the right around her own doll, and during another eight measures glides around the dolls to the left, shaking her forefinger at her.They finally drop to the floor, where they sit, rocking forward and backward, singing:  'Baby . baby, sleep my darling baby.' "



 


JANUARY'S WINDOW ARTIST: LANI ASUNCION

TITLE: 

3 SISTERS: Lost Myth
[Eruption Installation]

BIO
Asuncion has been an artist in residence at Caldera Arts Center in Sisters, OR; Contemporary Arts Center at Woodside in Troy, NY; and I-Park Foundation Inc. in East Haddam, CT. She has screened her video work nationally and internationally in New York, Los Angeles, New Mexico, United Kingdom, and Germany. The diverse combination of growing up in Okinawa, Japan; Hawaii; as well as, the North American South has influenced Asuncion’s work immensely. Giving her the ability to observe a culture objectively in different contexts and the flexibility to adapt. She lives and has a studio at Erector Square in New Haven. Working full-time as a Media Production Specialist and part-time Adjunct Professor teaching Video Production in the Film, Video, and Iterative Media department at Quinnipiac University. Her work is part of the Flatfile collection of Artspace in New Haven, CT; and has been included in Aspect EZ: Vol. 4, Déjà Vu a limited edition DVD printing by ASPECT: The Chronicle for New Media in Boston, MA.


ARTIST STATEMENT


By researching the histories, local stories, and myths of specific locations I collect texts. These texts are then reconstructed through abstract narratives that explore place and identity. I create wearable sculptural pieces made from found or common materials. These pieces are activated by ritual based actions that reflect aspects of performance; they become relics of a moment. The actions create happenings that are recorded. Through the stories I create characters that are based off of fact and fiction, embodying a sense of the past in the present. I choose locations that stories remind me of my own multicultural background, which hold the same resonating traditions of storytelling. Using poetic imagery each piece is a complex multi-layered mix of a place, memory, and conjuring of a constructed past. Aiming to point back to the idea of stories and the exploration of their use and need in our everyday banal lives.
 



This installation is an extension of the 3 SISTERS: Lost Myth video and constructed myth Asuncion wrote about the 3 sister mountains of the Cascade Range in Sisters, Oregon. This installation references the eruption and rage exchanged between the sisters told within the myth.





 
MUFFY BRANDT

Muffy has been pretty psyched about 2014.  She's had a great time finally photographing her kid's leggings and getting to hang out with Arlo and Ada. Here are some of her favorite shots:

She is working on an exciting new set of items for her Etsy shop, and is on indefinite hiatus from printing adult leggings, if you have had your eye on a pair it might be now or never!
She's really psyched to have stickers in the shop!
you can shop here 
Muffy is looking to put her photography skills to work, if you want uncommon portraits of people or pets, your art, or anything you can dream up get in touch.
Muffy is looking to work her buns off.  Photography, childcare, painting,  custom printing, any thing and everything, send it her way epochellipse.now@gmail.com




 
Jieun has been keep on keeping oning… and also buying some sick new books, etc.
Many, many new jewelry pieces in progress. Here are some in a very rough state. Notice, her first rings ever!


 
Check out her shop if you haven't yet: almanacforjune.etsy.com
Last month she finished the last in the Dirt Palace tea towel set! Here it is resting in the distance on a blanket. 


Here are some beautiful halfway frozen waterfalls.
Thea is SUBLETTING HER ROOM from April 26th until June 8th!! (see below for details!)  
Thea Ulrich has been spending much of this winter hibernating and listening to audiobooks. She is continuing research into performance and ritual, and an ongoing part of this investigation is a series of paintings of figures from the Venetian Carnevale: 
She has also been working back into figurative studies and portraiture:

    
 

 
She has also been getting back into video work....one of which is in the show opening up at Harvard's Carpenter Gallery this Thursday at 6 o'clock!! Come and check it out! 
***********ALSO************
Thea is SUBLETTING HER ROOM from April 26th until June 8th!! 
There is the possibility that this sublet can extend until halfway through August, if you are happy about moving into the room next door halfway through! 
If you are interested, or have any questions, please contact her at dulrich@risd.edu




 
ANGELA DIVEGLIA



After performing at the first-ever Summer Street Dinner Theater, Angela's been celebrating the coldest month by slowly working her way through her basket of partially-finished knitting projects. Also, re-potting plants. Also, planning a comics workshop (for grownups) and a diorama contest (also for grownups) at the library. She'll be presenting a cantastoria with Maryann Colella at the UConn Spring Puppet Slam on February 1st.





ALISON NITKIEWICZ

Alison worked on a diorama for Living As Form for the first half of January and the poster for Magic Lantern's TECHNOLUST show the second half.


 
The 5-layer CMYK screen print is up around town and is also available for purchase! Please email alison.nitkiewicz@gmail.com if interested!  Also, please come to the event! (more info hereIt promises to be a cyber-erotic time!

She finally updated her website with the work she did this fall. CHECK IT



Other than that, January has been a month of darkness for Alison, only brightened by nightly episodes of X-Files in chronological order starting from Season 1, Episode 1.







 
Is heading out to far off shores. See you in the springtime New England! But wait! first! have you seen this compilation book that she published earlier this winter? 

 

Witch Fingers
Book of stories/pictures about witches. Or maybe the whole thing is one big spell. Printed on Risograph, many colors, silkscreen cover on flocked paper. Four cover color options while supplies last (maroon, green, dark grey, light grey). Perfect bound, 162 pages, edition of 250. Edited/prited by Xander Marro. Contributors include: CF, Kate Schapira, Joanna Ruocco, Alison Nitkiewicz & Julia Moses, James Talbot Frain, Sussy Santana, Aaron Anderson, Carrie Collier, Mickey Zachili, Shey Rivera-Rios, Polina Malikin, Sasha Wiseman, Anna Purna Himel Wagner, Olivia Horvath, Liz Luisada.

She'll be taking down her web store temporarily while she's traveling and her listings from the Dirt Palace Etsy on Wednesday so order (from one of those links) now or cry yourself to sleep each night that you're NOT reading it.
 


PIPPI ZORNOZA

Bonedust is going into the Studio this February to record the material from their 2011, Fruit of the Ash theatrical performance.  You can help fund this recording and buy Bonedust Posters, Shirts, and the 2005 CD by going to  http://www.pippizornoza.com/pippi/shop/  or http://www.dirtpalace.org/bonedust/shop.html



There are only 4 Fruit of the Ash performance posters left!!!



After a delightful design process, the final design for the Olneyville Square neighborhood street banners was chosen by Olneyville Housing CorporationThe hand cut metal banners were fabricated by the Steelyard and installed on light posts through out Olneyville Square, (the neighborhood where the Dirt Palace resides) as part of Olneyville Housing's Square One Initiative. In the summer of 2012 OHC launched its Square One Initiative to promote economic development in Olneyville Square. The project works with businesses and property owners in the Square to develop consistent marketing and branding, implement capital projects in the area such as façade and street scape improvements, and to enhance maintenance of the Square. Working with a team of marketing and communications consultants, a new logo and website were created to develop a unified identity for Olneyville Square. Pippi volunteered to design the neighborhood banners that were planned to hang from the new Olneyville Square light posts. Thanks to Olneyville Housing for such a fun and rewarding project !


 






 
***DIRT PALACE LIBRARY HI-LITES***
 
MONTHLY PICTORIAL TREAT FROM THE DUSTY SHELVES OF THE DIRT PALACE
FURTHERING THE QUEST TO SPREAD FUN
LIKE GIN AND JUICE, MOSTLY GIN


So a week or so ago when Mickey was on the road she texted and was like 'what's the deal? is there some Conspiracy Magazine that's published out of Providence' & I was like 'well, it's not published out of Providence anymore, but Paranoia & Joan D'Arc are the best ever!!!' Seriously Joan is beyond a hero of the Providence sub-underground and a major inspiration so figured it was time give Paranoia a shout out in the Library HI-LITES. So next time you're thinking to yourself "How DOES the illuminati control me?" or "What DID Carl Jung know about UFO's" come over and get some answers!!! Or buy one of Joan's books here  or here.

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