ANNA McNEARY interview with NINA RUELLE

 

NINA RUELLE: Anna, I first saw your window from across Olneyville Square when I was in town last month. It was such a gray day and your installation was just beaming. Even from a distance, the colors and shapes had a rhythm that felt so joyous and playful. The window can be a tricky space to work with, but you seem to have really embraced and engaged it to its fullest. How much of the installation was pre-planned? Or how much did you arrange and rearrange on the fly?

ANNA McNEARY: I was both grateful for the very specific spatial constraints and nervous about them. Having a confined space to work within made it easier to assess if installation was “done” or if it needed a bit more. I really like the idea of being a meticulous planner, but I am not one, so my ideas of making detailed installation plans to follow didn’t happen. I’m honestly glad I didn’t do that. I just threw sculptures on the wall and moved things around until color and composition looked right, kind of like how I would approach painting. Luckily each piece is very lightweight and pretty easy to move, and I had more space within the window to move around and see what was happening than I thought I would. I think working intuitively ultimately fits the spirit of this project, which is sort of about gently bending the conventions of craft in the name of making something fun, loud, spatial, and decidedly non-functional. 

NINA RUELLE: Constructing a quilt is often based on pattern and modularity. While the pieces in this window are a far cry from traditional quilts, are there aspects of those techniques that have carried over for you?

ANNA McNEARY:Yes, absolutely. I got the idea for this installation when thinking about the forms that household textiles take on when they’re actively in use. Rather than trying to literally replicate the lumpiness of a quilt thrown over a body or the curvatures of a slipcover on a chair, I went in a direction where form takes on simpler, clean lines and defined geometry, definitely owing a bit to op art and even minimalism. This soft-crispness is sort of what quilting, or designing a pattern in fabric, is all about. Generally, it can be very hard for me to let go of control, and I have made plenty of art that I now regard as overly-precious. So in that sense my interest in quilting has helped me a lot. It’s taught me to work more improvisationally and to make use of what’s on hand. Lately I don’t follow specific patterns with quilting projects. Instead I let color, shape and material act as loosely repeating motifs rather than elements of a strict pattern. 

NINA RUELLE: You recently showed “Common Set” at Overlap Gallery in Newport, RI. This piece is a collection of partial garments, meant to be assembled by the viewers into fully realized clothes of their own design. What is it like to witness interaction with this work? Has anyone ever assembled an outfit you found truly surprising?

ANNA McNEARY: I developed Common Set slowly over a couple of years, and I gave a lot of thought to the ways in which each piece of the installation could be specific enough to be functional, but ambiguous enough to have multiple uses and applications in the construction of experimental clothing. I’m trying to prompt my audience to think about personal preference and identity, existing within a sense of collectiveness and shared experience. Of course there are specific combinations of pieces that I like a lot, and that I think work well. But my favorite part of watching people interact with this work is when they come up with uses that I did not imagine for the installation’s different parts, made possible by the multi-use shapes that I’ve presented. I’ve witnessed some moments where my audience has built really culturally- or personally-specific garments that I simply would never have been aware of without observing them. I’m always a little skeptical of “neutrality” as a concept, but as intended, there is an open, unscripted quality in this project that enables that kind of engagement. At this point in time, when I fold interaction into my work, my highest goal is to get away from the prescriptive, and to design an interactive space that works more like a set of tools that my audience can use in response to the prompt that I’m offering. 

NINA RUELLE: You often use performers or invite participation in your work, where physical acts become stand-ins for social exchanges. In “Ravel” (2018), two performers knit and unknit blankets with each other. In “In Exchange” (2018), participants share removable parts of clothing as they navigate the exposure and protection of themselves. In your instagram post about this installation, you mention that the process of hanging the show felt like creating a set that you were performing in. What was this like? Did you get much attention from passers-by?

ANNA McNEARY: In Exchange was my thesis project at RISD. When I installed it at the final graduate show, I realized in retrospect that I was surrounded by people who were incredibly stressed out and absorbed by their own installations! We were paying attention to each other in a very fleeting, limited capacity, but I still had that vulnerable and self-conscious feeling that comes with showing a high-stakes project for the first time, which is akin to being on stage. In that sense the space did feel very set-like, not to mention that the work’s themes include the performance of social roles and costume as metaphor. This was the first fully-formed installation project I had executed. So piecing it together, and finally seeing all the components unified in completion, also felt very satisfying and empowering. 

NINA RUELLE: As a quilter, I often think about the ways that textiles can accrue meaning through use. A scrap of my mother’s old shirt, for instance, can remind me of my childhood. Or a piece of a curtain can signify a period of time in a certain home. How did you choose the fabrics you used in this installation?

ANNA McNEARY: For this installation I was really guided by color more than the source of materials I used. I try to make use of what I have on hand when starting a new project, so a few fabrics came from my fabric stash. I also frequent a fabric store in Massachusetts that sells a lot of funky deadstock stuff, and purchased the rest from there. They are very nice there and it’s never very crowded so I was able to awkwardly take over a corner where I laid a bunch of bolts out on the floor next to each other and tried to figure out the color scheme. I knew roughly what I was going for (I’m really into the earthy jewel tones of the Haribo gummy bears palette right now) but since you never know what you’re gonna get with the weird deadstock selection, there was some improv involved. I like this store not just because of the discounts and the chance to make use of what’s lying around in the fabric graveyard, but because the limitations that come with a random offering of material often jog new ideas for me. 

NINA RUELLE: I know that while you were in grad school at RISD, you studied printmaking. Is this where you started working in textiles and performance, too? Do you find your work still has ties to printmaking, or have you changed your focus entirely?

ANNA McNEARY: I came into RISD thinking that I wanted to learn weaving and incorporate fibers into my print work that way. But largely because of who my mentors were, and the fact that I was in a printmaking program, fabric printing and sewing became my areas of focus. I still combine the two very frequently, and I prefer to work with fabric over paper these days. In my opinion there are just more options as to how fabric can be used and transformed. It’s an inherently sculptural material. I actually didn’t know how to use a sewing machine until I went to RISD, and I never thought that I would try any kind of performance art, either. School did a lot for me in terms of exposing me to new ways of working and expanding my interests.

NINA RUELLE: In your professional life, you wear many hats: artist, teacher, curator. Do you find these different roles impact the way you approach your studio practice?

ANNA McNEARY: Since I was pretty young, my attitude about creative work has been that if I’m inevitably going to wear a lot of hats, they should compliment each other. Sometimes they can detract from each other (like, a busy semester probably means less time in the studio). But usually they are very intertwined. I think a lot about the advice I give my students and try to practice what I preach in terms of good habits– being curious about process, managing my time well, using writing as a tool to sort things out, drawing regularly, being accountable for eventually articulating purpose and meaning in my work, taking oneself seriously but not too seriously, etc. My students sometimes spark ideas and raise themes that end up informing my work. I think talking about art all day with students makes me a better curator, because good curators listen and unearth narrative connections based on what artists are telling them, combined with their own perspectives. 

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Nina Ruelle is an artist who lives and works in NYC. Previously, she's lived in Providence (including three years at the Dirt Palace) and Western Mass, and spent time at Art Farm (NE) and the Penland School of Craft (NC). She has worked as an art fabricator and installer at MASS MoCA, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Guggenheim, and currently works as a mount maker in the Objects Conservation department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Interview convo between July Window Artists WARP collective and artist Erik DeLuca

This past Summer WARP Collective did an Installation in the Dirt Palace Storefront Window Gallery.

WARP is a collective studio located in historic Atlantic Mills, Providence, RI. Currently our collective has 8 resident members representing varied interests and disciplines; Nat Brennan, Cybele Collins, Becci Davis, Lu Heintz, Jazzmen Lee Johnson, Jordan Seaberry, Eliza Squibb and Eric Sung. Our studio's infrastructure has an emphasis on pattern, textiles, printmaking and paper works. Our membership represents multiple ages, cultural backgrounds, and genders. We are interested in creating ties across various career stages and practices.

Below is an interview between WARP collective members and artist/educator Erik DeLuca

The Dirt Palance in Olneyville Square with a window installation by WARP Collective. (Photo credit: Dominique Sindayiganza)

The night before I left Providence for Palestine, I drove down Westminster Street, passing Olneyville New York System, until I reached the Dirt Palace Storefront Window Gallery, which was illuminated with the iconic pattern of the keffiyeh. The story goes that during the Arab Revolt in 1936, the British administration of the Palestine Mandate ordered that anyone wearing the keffiyeh was to be marked as opposed to the Zionist mission. This prompted Palestinians to wear the black-and-white headdress en masse. Several days later, after passing through what seemed like endless acres of settlement vineyards and farms on land dispossessed from Palestinians, I arrived in the contentious area of Masafer Yatta on an international law and human rights solidarity delegation. Living feet away from the Israeli settlement of Carmel, we visited the Bedouins of Umm al-Kheir who are battling constant tactics of forced transfer. Later, we drove just a few miles to the village of Sarura to meet with the nonviolent activists, Youth of Sumud that fight back against settler violence daily. Just before sunset, we headed back to occupied Hebron to discuss the AI-controlled machine gun at the Al-Shuhada Street checkpoint. All day, keffiyehs were worn en masse with dignity. On our way back to Bethlehem, we stopped at the Hirbawi Textile Factory—which I hear is Palestine’s only weavery still producing keffiyehs, founded by Yasser Hirbawi in 1961. His son Abdulla greeted us without words and led us to a warehouse full of mechanical looms. He turned them on one by one, with polyrhythms becoming more complex and vibrant. I watched his hands connect with the fabric. That familiar pattern came to form. I bought one. The tag on it read "Made in Palestine." This iteration of the Dirt Palace Storefront Window Gallery features the Providence-based WARP collective. We sat down recently to discuss their installation about the symbolism of the keffiyeh within a network of hands connected in solidarity and learning.

Erik: How does solidarity function for WARP? 

WARP: When we had the opportunity to share work in the Dirt Palace window, we all quickly agreed that we wanted to use this public visibility to make a collective visual statement for a free Palestine while also linking to the funding platform of Operation Olive Branch to support Palestinian families in Gaza. 

As a collective of eight interdisciplinary artists, with very different backgrounds and lived experiences, “solidarity” for us is also the action of maintaining a shared work space that is respectful and inspiring for each of us to practice our art. We support each other by listening deeply and supporting each other as a creative community. We are all multi-faceted people, but a core connection between us is that we process the world visually. Making art can be an avenue towards understanding empathy. For example, one of the prints includes words in Arabic for “Respect + Dignity, Peace, Water + Justice, Human, Life + Freedom.” In order to choose words that could be legibly transformed into each element of the keffiyeh pattern, many Arabic-speaking friends connected to the Middle East advised on this print. In that way, the visual art of the pattern can be a channel to amplify the voices of other people which, for us, creates a form of deep listening.  We would like anyone who encounters the window to know that even if Providence feels geographically distant from the struggle for liberation that is happening in another part of the world, members of WARP collective do not support the current and historical violence against the people of Palestine. As humans, we are all interconnected, and abuses of power and human rights make the world less safe for everyone. 

E: What draws you to the pattern of the keffiyeh?

W: As a collective originally founded around the textile arts and working out of a historical mill building in Olneyville, we often return to textile patterns and techniques as a source of inspiration and metaphor. Our project explores the pattern of the keffiyeh, a scarf that originated among the Bedouin people and that continues to be worn in many arid regions of the Middle East as protection against the sun and sand. The black and white keffiyeh has been viewed as a symbol of Palestinian national identity since the 1950’s and later, as an emblem of Palestinian solidarity. The woven motifs in the keffiyeh represent connections to land, water, and heritage; universal human rights and experiences. 

(Photo credit: Dominique Sindayiganza)

E: Tell us more about your art in the window.

W: Working into the black and white forms, each artist in our collective could imbue the pattern with our own maker-style, visual references, and expression of solidarity. For example, two of the keffiyeh prints include sculptural elements with glazed ceramic sunbirds, the national bird of Palestine, and white paper poppies: native flora and fauna that are symbols of Palestinian indigeneity. This textile-based work, in particular, with paper poppies as the bold stripe across  the bottom, features a hand-drawn net and olive leaf motifs with black ribbon sewn with red thread. Poppies are emblematic of sacrifice and remembrance across multiple cultures. They have added significance to the Palestinian people, their resistance, and connection to the land as one of the national flowers of Palestine and for the fact that, as they exist in nature, they include all three colors of the Palestinian flag.

One print pattern is created from the silhouettes of archaeological objects extracted from Rhode Island’s oldest prison grounds, sharing symbols of persistence and resilience against human suffering. Another print features a portrait from a Reuters photo from Palestine following an Israeli bombardment. In that piece specifically, the fishnet mirrors a chain link fence. Palestinians are fighting ethnic cleansing, where their very existence makes them targets, as the fence that cages them in. All the artworks in the window include a range of techniques including drawing, silkscreen printing, collage, painting, and digital art.  Formally speaking, the use of black and white patterning at large-scale was our technique to increase visual impact as people, our audience, drive through Olneyville Square. There are challenges around visibility and reflecting light when displaying artwork in this particular public gallery space, so we chose to install high contrast prints directly on each pane of glass for legibility.

Detail shots of two prints referenced above with passersby. (Photo credit: Dominique Sindayiganza)

E: What is something unique that WARP learned during this process?

W: We learned that this unifying framework of focusing on patterns to unite all of our styles worked well for us. In collective art making, finding an equilibrium of freedom and individual expression, as well as unity and cohesion is a hard balance to strike. For this project, we all felt solidarity with the dire need to make a statement that Palestine must be free.

Working together feels like a pattern, or model, for collaboration that we will use again in the future. It’s also a nod and continuation of collective works WARP has done in the past. For example, the Repair Shop is a collective performance where in WARP members repair submitted objects and garments while mentoring community participants in their own transformative repair projects. Re means ‘back’ or ‘again’; pair comes from the Latin ‘parare’ meaning ‘to make ready’.  Repair- to make ready again. To be repaired, an item does not need to be maintained in its original state but can move forward into something new. Damage and defects become our points of entry for artistic interventions that reorganize, confuse, enhance, and elevate. Stitches, patches, and dedicated handwork develop new design elements. The textile vocabulary of repair is exaggerated and extended into bizarre, playful and vogue iterations, and in that way, WARP Collective performs Repair Shop as an experimental twist on the logic of repair. Based on our experience creating the keffiyeh prints together, we have gathered some momentum to potentially perform another Repair Shop.  Our solidarity efforts will continue. Some members will expand their window prints into larger projects, while others have participated in Prints for Palestine, a Providence-based artist-organized art auction that raises funds for health workers in Gaza. We each aim to sustain our solidarity efforts to support the fight for liberation, whether as artists, teachers, or visual researchers.

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Erik DeLuca is a site-responsive interdisciplinary artist who focuses on themes of collective remembrance, environmental justice, and dispossession. His work has been supported by Braunschweig University of Art, Kling & Bang, Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, MASS MoCA, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Fieldwork: Marfa, and Montez Press Radio. His writing has appeared in Public Art Dialogue, Mousse, Third Text, The Wire, and Boston Art Review. DeLuca pursued a PhD at the University of Virginia, was a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and worked in Myanmar as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow. He has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts, Brown University, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Art Education and Contemporary Art Practice at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.

Hot Summer Nights

 

JULY  2024  NEWSLETTER

WCH RESIDENCY APPLICATIONS LIVE!!!

Wedding Cake House Winter 2024 - Summer 2025 Artist Residency Applications are live!!! For more info and links to the application portal, go HERE

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Our summer Family residency is coming up real fast! This year we’re super pumped to be collaborating with Aunty’s House! Artists include: Cas Inez, Denice Banks, Jessie McClain, Rashin Fahandej and Auntie’s House founder Lilly Manycolors. There will be an end of residency expo at Aunty’s House on Sunday July 28th, from 2-4 so save the date on your calendar!

Family residency time also means Wedding Cake Lawn workshops that are free and open to youth 8-12 years old. There are a limited number of slots so RSVP if your young friends are interested (dm or send us an email at weddingcakehouseresidencies@gmail.com - and we’ll send you all of the sundry details like rain plan All workshops 1:30-4 Tuesday July 23rd - A PLAY IN A DAY with Eli Nixon Join us to brainstorm, imagine, create, rehearse and perform a new short play, in a day. In about 3 hours actually. Eli will facilitate participants to collaborate and contribute their interests and skills in a range of possible modes from costume design to acting, dancing, music, props, special effects, audience experience and stage management. The show will be performed in the last 20 minutes of workshop time for invited guests. All welcome. No theater experience necessary (and off-stage roles abound). Feel free to bring costumes or other DIY theater materials you are excited about or just bring yourself and use the weird stuff Eli brings. Wednesday & Thursday July 24th & 25 - BEYOND HUMAN STORY TELLING (two day workshop) with Hannah Liongoren and Alex Hornstein BEYOND HUMAN STORYTELLING  is a two-day workshop that combines nature, science, imagination, and art.  During the first day of the workshop, participants will work to gain an understanding of the wild animal neighbors of the wedding cake house, place wildlife cameras around the premises to capture videos of what they do when people aren't around, and learn to create their own character sheet showing how to draw the protagonist of their story. Participants return for a second day where they review footage of wild animals who visited the wedding cake house overnight, and to blend a combination of observed fact and imagined narrative to draw an epic hero's journey narrative from the perspective of a wild animal neighbor.  The workshop concludes with a pinup exhibit of all participant comic work and interested participants can volunteer to read their work before the rest of the workshop and their parent. Friday July 26th - MURAL WORKSHOP with Savonnara Sok Ever wonder how big murals get made? Be part of making one in a day! Youth will help paint a mural outlined by Savonnara Sok (and input by our kid cohort).

BANGER SHOW ALERT!!!! RAGANA SUNROT TROPHY HUNT DIVA KARR HARPY Tues 7/30/2024 @ DP CLASSIC (Olneyville) 7pm doors 7:30pm muzack All Ages $15-$20 NOTAFLOF Masked Event Will this show sell out?

THE HOTTEST  ANIMATION EVENT OF THE SUMMER IS HERE!!!!! 2 DAY ANIMATION EXTRAVAGANZA TO KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF August 2, Friday 6.30PM doors, 7PM films 3 hours of the most awesome animation made in the last few years; presented by Jonni Peppers $10-20 NOTAFLOF Masked Event August 3, Saturday 10AM - 1PM (ish) Animator’s Brunch Hang out and talk animation! Secret location, all welcome, ask for address 3PM doors, 4.30PM film Barber Westchester Screening + QNA Masked Event   7PM doors, 7.30PM films 1.5 hours of all New England animations! Almost all filmmakers will be in attendance, a moment of unparalleled celebration and glee!!!! $10-20 NOTAFLOF Masked Event

WINDOW GALLERY

June - July Window Artist - WARP Collective WARP is a collective studio located in Atlantic Mills, Providence, RI. Artists in WARP emerge from varied interests and disciplines, and together develop a studio infrastructure with emphasis on pattern, textiles, printmaking and paper works. The collective has 8 resident members representing varied creative interests and disciplines; Nat Brennan, Cybele Collins, Becci Davis, Lu Heintz, Jazzmen Lee-Johnson, Jordan Seaberry, Eliza Squibb, and Eric Sung. We are interested in creating ties across various career stages and practices. Our installation centers on the pattern of the keffiyeh, a scarf traditionally worn in many arid regions of the Middle East as protection against the sun and sand, which has become a Palestinian symbol since the 1950’s. The woven motifs in the keffiyeh represent connections to land, water, and heritage; universal human rights and experiences. Working into the black and white pattern, each artist in our collective has re-created it through their own lens; including symbolic images like the Palestinian sunbird representing Indigenous Palestinian heritage, portraiture, poppy flowers and other plants emblematic of resistance and solidarity across cultures, and words in Arabic for Respect + Dignity, Peace, Water + Justice, Human, Life + Freedom. We are integrating our diverse research; including the history of incarceration in Rhode Island, with documentation of artifacts unearthed from the ruins of RI’s first prison, as well as exploring parallels between the current struggle for human rights in Gaza, apartheid in South Africa, and the civil rights movement in the United States. While elements of our research touch on histories that divide us and create human suffering, our keffiyeh pattern design is focused on what brings people together and the woven ties that connect us.

Photo by Dominique Sindayiganza

When the Wind Blows, the installation that we collectively created demonstrates how people of different backgrounds can come together to amplify voices and take a stand against violence. We want to take this opportunity to not only to share our work with you, but also to invite you to participate in this shared goal. Use the link below to open a spreadsheet compiled by Operation Olive Branch. There you can find instructions and resources on how to support families in Gaza, Congo and Sudan. https://bit.ly/4cCwU2h

This window was made possible in part through funding from the Providence Department of Art Culture and Tourism

UPDATES!!!

EXYL

Omg!!!  What has even happened… My hair is long now… longer than it has been in a decade I do not have AC, I am simply melting into the heat… I like to think that the humidity is lubricating my joints… maybe this is not true I am SO EXCITED for the animation show happening here at the start of August!!!!!!!!! I am also worried about the Heat, but we will be armed with fans and waters. I am elbow deep in the middle of making my dirt palace film… here’s a snippet from it:

Here is a picture of me calling a friend in Singapore and waving to the swans:

Now imagine I am waving to you <3 because I am That is all from me I think. I miss my friends from near and far very much. I hope to see you soon.

Naffisatou Koulibaly

It rained on my birthday this year. For the first time that I can remember in 25 years, it rained on my birthday. (I’m 25 now). I never considered rain in July. My mother says I was born on the hottest day of ‘99. Right in the belly of summer when the heat reaches down into you. Likened to a swelter since birth. I’ve only ever known heat and flame and sweat. When I’m fifteen, I write a poem in which I call myself “a hurricane of woman.” A tropical storm. When I’m twenty-four, I take a poetry workshop and the instructors check-in question is: What kind of weather are you? I say: I am a hot, uncomfortable rain. The older I get, the more I want to be like the moment of stillness after a summer storm ceases. The moment it runs out of anger. It’s an honor to witness yourself age. No matter the weather. ~UPCOMING EVENTS~ ProvSlam’s last show of the season is July 18th!!! Thursday!!! JR Mahung is featuring. See you there ;) CasaFutura is happening July 27th in Chad Brown. I was a voice actor for this project. Shout out Vatic & Shey <3 ummmmm that’s it? I’ll ttyl xoxo gossip girl

Q (John-Francis Quiñonez)

Oh Howdy, Oh My, Dear Dirt Palace Readers….what can one say about this Burdenful, Steamy Summer? I couldn’t tell you (plain or in metaphor)! Don’t ask me! I am simply TOO steamed and curled up all J-shaped under my Window A/C, but from my Low Battery Stupor I will gently pass along… * BIG FEELING ICE CREAM is on the slow gear up towards our First Brick and Mortar! Things are Happening! We will announce an Opening when it is time and UNTIL THEN catch us at a SUNDAE MONDAY every other MONDAY at Bolt Coffee (Washington St) from 5-9 PM for Scoops, Sundaes, and Pints! * LOST BAG (DIY Artspace in Olneyville) is a-chuggin along! Figure Drawing Sessions every Monday! Shows Speckled Throughout! The SWEET Reading Series & Open Mic are taking a quick Vacation for early July, but will be back in August. Check out our insta at @lostbagspace * I’ll be at a Writing Residency in Lake George, NY for a week or so ~ rapidly working towards a new collection of Poems. Will be looking to Tour doing performances of said work in the Early Fall. Have a Reading Series, or Mixed Disciplinary Bill I can hop on sometime between now and December? That’d be so Lovely, thank you! My Booking Email is: themiddledistancetouring@gmail.com *JULY 27th at BINCH PRESS/QUEER.ARCHIVE.WORK. we are hosting a COMMUNITY SCREENPRINTING DAY with POWR from 1-4 PM! Come through! * Oh also IN AUGUST I’ll have some New Paintings at RiffRaff Bookstore & Bar! Be nice to me! I haven’t shown work in like…..9 years! I just had a lovely chat with fellow Dirt Palacer Exyl about feeling newly comfortable wielding the throughline between all my practices ~ Painting, Poems, Events, Ice Cream, etc. It’s good to get out of one’s own way and really unfurl and play in a voice, ya know? I’m grateful to be at ease with my Harsh Dualities ( Gentle V. Blunt, Salty V. Sweet, Still V. Frenetic ) and preference for many Layers despite it not totally being the Season for it. Anywho, Hope you are faring as well as one can, Stay Sweet, Q

ses

My tattoo booking for August is OPEN!! Let me tattoo your EARS and LOWER BACKS!!!!

This past month has been Quite Busy despite taking a break from tattooing until August. I have been gathering different supplies and preparing to make little things and it has been really exciting!I keep seeing little aftercare baggies that people give to their clients after they get a tattoo and since I have had more free time, I felt inspired to finally copy them!

I got cute little organza bags with shiny stars and moons, mini aquaphor packets, and I designed a sticker to go with it! I always forget to write my username or name on things I design, so this was Specifically for that. The little bags are also going to have a little business card type thing with a QR code to my aftercare information! I’m excited to start handing these out.

I did a drag show with my dear friend Randy! The theme was anime so we were Panty and Stocking! I had so much fun making the outfit and prop and choreographing our number together. I also designed the stupidest bumper sticker ever and I am absolutely in love with it. They finally came in the mail so I’ll be selling them for $8 each! If you want one you should message me on instagram (@fernfloods) and I can ship them whenever or do local pickup!

Kai Van Vlack

Trophy Hunt will be on tour for the next two weeks! This is probably the last time we’ll leave the Northeast until next year so I hope to see some of you out there.  @trophy.hunt on instagram has all the details but here’s the rundown:

7/19/2024 Providence RI AS220 7/20/2024 Burlington VT The House Project 7/21/2024 Montreal QC Turbo Haus^ 7/22/2024 Kitchener ON The Yeti 7/23/2024 Detroit MI Job Stoppers Inc. 7/25/2024 Cincinnati OH Boneyard 7/26/2024 Huntington WV Joe's House 7/27/2024 Richmond VA Secret Skate Park Show Shhhh 7/28/2024 Philadelphia PA Haus^ 7/29/2024 Worcester MA Distant Castle* 7/30/2024 Providence RI Dirt Palace* (With RAGANA!!!) ^ With Black Matter Device and Rong *With Diva Karr

Pippi Zornoza

HARPY Tour with Mirrored Fatality and Hide was absolutely incredible

HARPY Performances coming up ***** July 30th at Dirt Palace with Ragana, Diva Karr, Trophy Hunt & Sunrot August 10th at Cambridge Community Center with HKFY, Vomitdolls & Pageant August 17th at Fete with Nox Novacula, House of Harm & Silver Daggers September 14th at Dirt Palace with Dropdead, Trophy Hunt & KOQueen

It was electrifying to be able to perform again as RECTRIX with Rene M Greene at this year’s FX4th Fest. Thanks to the Bell choir who sang with us - Reba Mitchell, Chrissy Wolpert, Evans Molina, Sarah Reis, Susy Prouty, Vikki Warner, Exyl, Nat Brennan, Anna Kerber, Gyna Bootleg, Mimi Chzanowski, Lois Harada, Rue Sakayama, Greta Sheing, & Ses Houghton

Above pics by Sam L

Xander Marro

Xander finally got COVID and is currently riding it out while day dreaming of riding waves at Point Judith instead. There’s Diamonds in the Ocean, bring back a starfish, settle back easy, make up your mind to stay.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ BULLETIN BOARD ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

Upcoming Opportunities:

Interlace Project Grants support the creation and public presentation of new work by Providence-area artists, artist collectives, and other artist-directed projects. Interlace Project Grants range from $4000 to $6000 and support artist-driven projects in the Providence area.    Interlace prioritizes the making of new visual artworks that expand the public’s understanding of the visual arts, especially through unexpected collaborations.   The intended outcome of Interlace Project Grants is to make visible often unseen and under-supported artistic activity and to cultivate engaged communities around this work, via collaborations in process and/or presentation.   Please see the Interlace Grant Fund Project Grant Page for times on when our info sessions are or for more information on how to apply! Timeline August 18, 2024 Early Review deadline September 15, 2024 Project grant applications due (Sunday September 15, 11:59pm EST) November 2024 Applicants notified