DIY Printed + Cut and Sew Collection Presented with Original Visuals by
Paris
Contra el viento, Against the wind, is a show of quilts and quilted blankets made over the
past 5-years from discarded materials, thrift store scraps, old clothes and tarps. Here the
blanket becomes a suit of armor, uniform, costume and disguise. They are rough and
quickly made, but in a time of need they are the perfect protection from the cold. And why
not? There is great utility in multifunctional garments.
Contra el viento, Against the wind, is a portrait of the times. A sight not unfamiliar, maybe
from the Women’s March on Washington or at the State House, from TV, or from Standing
Rock. The blanketed figures are us, vulnerable protectors, proud activists, shielding
themselves and others from a relentless wind. They are every member of a working class
that has something to lose, that can be easily controlled and manipulated because of our
economic fragility
and set to fight against one another. I propose that we shield one another instead. We can
make our own soft armour, by using the scraps of the consumer culture, turning waste into
our pride and our defense. We can begin to value each other not on our ability to consume,
but our ability to make and exchange.
We stand against the wind. Estamos contra el viento.
Howie has lived in and around Olneyville since 2002, he was a longtime member of
the Olneyville Collaborative and has participated in numerous community art projects
throughout the neighborhood. Howie loves sewing and hiking and can often be found
bringing something hand sewn way out into the woods. His work is exhibited in galleries,
on the street, in sculpture parks and in the wild. Howie is the Executive Director of the Steel Yard where he has worked for the past 13 years.
DIRT PALACE ETSYVisit our online store if you're into screen printed shirts by Olivia, hand knitting by
Bridget, or years worth of Dirt Palace zines and prints! We'll be adding more
breath-taking works of art in the near future too -- come back often, support our dreams ~~~
*****UPDATES*****
New cowgirl at the palace--Maren rolls in this April
She has been working on some drawings about Los Angeles, new writing she is calling “Woman Road
Novel,” new songs with her band Milkmaid II (hi Al, hi Mickey), and some sad country guitar almost ready
to gig.
O HORVATHO will be teaching three weeklong art workshops for kids and teens at the Jamestown Art Center this
summer! We'll be making comics, puppets, games, and learning how to use a 3D printer. For more
information, visit the
JAC Camp Schedule.
Bridget just finished some new music that will be out on
Embalming Lately this spring. She’ll be on tour
with Wilted Woman and Dj Shlucht in May — see you up & down the east coast!
Have you ever wanted to surgically or conceptually remove misogyny from yourself and/or others...
Maybe like at a party as a ritual act of friendship, kinda like those cervix/speculum parties that I imagine all
of the stoned feminists of the 70's being really into...well this new Anne Elizabeth Moore book
Body Horrorisn't exactly about that...But it did send my brain into imagining spaces like that and so many others while
holding an inked up brush and channeling my visions.. There are 15 or 16 of my illustrations among her
essays on topics ranging from apparel industry labor in Cambodia to horror movies to the birth of Standard
time to robots and autoimmune diseases. A
review is here. You can order it
here. It was an honor to get to
work on this project & you will be happy when you own this book!
Daniella has been playing 12 string guitar and will probably perform with it, an electric guitar, and several
motors during her Taskmaster set at Psychic Readings on April 15th. She performed with her rock band
Wex April 17th at AS220.
She has also been raising several sensitive plant seedlings.
ALISON NITKIEWICZAlison is working on a new video that she will be screening Friday, April 28th at Penny Gaff with alongside
artists Andrea Williams, Chrissy Jones, Carlos Gonzales, Cybele Collins, and Leah Wishnia.
Her band, MILKMAID II, will be playing a show April 30th at Operatheque with MOTHER TONGUE,
STUPID CHRISSY, JUICY II, and HVAC with MC RAY'S LAWNS.
MONTHLY PICTORIAL TREAT FROM THE DUSTY SHELVES OF THE DIRT PALACE
FURTHERING THE QUEST TO SPREAD FUN
LIKE GIN AND JUICE, MOSTLY GIN
In 2000 the RISD Museum launched an exhibition and publication -
From Paris to Providence: Fashion,
Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers' Shop. From the museum "In their elegant Providence Shop, Italian emigre sisters Anna and Laura Tirocchi sold
French couture clothing to an elite clientele. The shop, remained virtually untouched from 1947 until 1990,
when RISD Museum curators were given their choice of its contents, which included apparel by Paul
Poiret, Lucien Lelong, and dresses in the style of Madeleine Vionnet.
All reflect the advent of modernism in the Paris art world of 1920s and 30s, when designers, painters and
printmakers were collaborating as never before to create fashion. From “Paris to Providence” catalogues
these efforts with beautiful illustrations and six essays that examine the era’s social and art-historical issues."
