dirt palace: December 2015

DIRT PALACE

DECEMBER 2015

We Loved Your Diamond Eyes

Louise DeCurtis
1979-2015

It is with much sadness in our hearts that we report the loss of our beloved friend, former Dirt Palace member, and brilliant artist Louise DeCurtis. Her rebellious spirit and scintillating sense of humor will be sorely missed. Louise's irreverent Shit Talker zines are some of our libraries most prized possessions (but don't just take our word for it that they are AMAZING, they also exist in the MOMA's collection and are featured in MOMA's historical compendium of women artists - MODERN WOMEN). It was an honor to have known her and to belong to her Sisterhood of the Snake. Our love goes out to all of Louise's friends and family.
This spring we plan to have a memorial ceremony for Louise at the Dirt Palace in conjunction with the creation of a permanent installation based on her art work. We don't have a date set in stone, so if you'd like to participate but need to plan travel in advance, please be in touch. In the meantime we are trying to compile as many images of her work as we possible so that we can archive her legacy on the web. Do you have any of Louise's work (Paintings, photographs, zines, writing, flyers, drawings, etc)? If you do, we'd love to get a digital image for our archive. Please send any images to dirtpalace@yahoo.com

WINDOW

NOVEMBER WINDOW ARTIST: MIKE LESLIE

A Whole World of Cones

Mike Leslie

B. 1981

Worcester, MA

Found road cones, pants, shoes and 10 years of skateboard wheels.

DECEMBER WINDOW ARTIST: MIMI CHRZANOWSKI

Mimi Chrzanowski physically works in Providence, Rhode Island, but mentally works in a
pink-dolphin-shaped submarine with a crew of cute demons. Her installation, Pink Bull,
makes public the most popular energy drink enjoyed in the paradise of hell aka Babytown.
Read Babytown and other comics at Mimi's website --- http://bbytown.tumblr.com

*****UPDATES*****

PANZ

Ongoing collaborative installation from Dirt Palace members Alison Nitkiewicz and
Pippi Zornoza (PANZ) is now in the AS220 women’s bathroom.

XANDER MARRO

December = Days of Masks nights of quilts, afternoons mailing stuff at the post office.

“We don't know much about Masks in this culture, partly because the church sees the Mask
as pagan, and tries to suppress it wherever it has the power (the Vatican has a museum full
of Masks confiscated from the 'natives'), but also because this culture is usually hostile to
trance states. We distrust spontaneity and try to replace it with reason” - Keith Johnstone Impro

Winter as one long spontaneous performance mostly indoors. But keep me making the
walk to the post office by ordering some stuff! 50 Lampshades of Grey won't last long, and last
year's Trouble anthology makes an awesome gift. Some prints, tee-shirts, masks are
available at my store through the mail, but most everything on my web-site (posters, dolls
etc) can likely be bought – just inquire. Always open to trades, deals, offers of useful
services and cold cash discounts for stuff bought direct outta the studio.

PS – "in progress" quilt pictured above features patches by past dirt pals Sam Merit and
Mickey Z check out their rad shops too!

DANIELLA BEN-BASSAT

Daniella is back from her residency in Montreal. You can see what she worked on here:
https://vimeo.com/147517329

She also has some new items in her webstore. If you have always wanted something that
says "TAKE MY IDENTITY....PLEASE", "THIS 'TUDE SHALL PASS", or "FEAR IS THE MIND
KILLER" hop on over to Club Darnell. Use discount code "SPOONEMS" for free local
delivery.

JIEUN REINER

Jieun has been going wild in studio filling holiday orders! Check out almanacforjune.etsy.com for all of your holiday needs ;)

ALISON NITKIEWICZ

Alison is working on a short film. Stay tuned!

Here's another shot from the AS220 bathroom collab with Pippi:

NINA RUELLE

Nina is spending December at MASS MoCA, where she is an artist in residence at the
Assets for Artists studios. So far she has been making a mess playing with sequins and
listening to lots of apologetic pop songs.

PIPPI ZORNOZA

After 5 years of working on the project, the Dirt Palace Facade is finally installed!
Thank you to One Neighborhood Builders and Chris Ackley, the Rhode Island State
Council on the Arts, the Winton Bell Gallery and Nathaniel Walker, Erika Tazberik,
Melanie Bohrer, Sabina Matos, the Department of Art Culture and Tourism, LISC and
Citizens Bank's Growing Communities Fund, the Rhode Island Foundation, NEFA,
Rhode Island Housing Corporation, Sam Hogg, Meredith Younger, Doug Borkman,
Will Reeves, Shauna Duffy, and everyone at the Dirt Palace. Without your support,
this project could have never happened.

PANZ finished their ongoing installation in the AS220 womens’ bathroom.

RECTRIX goes into the studio to record this month

O HORVATH

O is contributing a page to merritt kopas' surgery fundraiser project INTERNET MURDER
REVENGE FANTASY, a collaborative poem-comic about growing up on the internet. It's a
super exciting project and all proceeds go to an great cause. merritt also has a bunch of
other exciting donation perks (including custom art, sex toys, and other freaky surprises)
listed at MERRITT.HELP