Sunday, July 21, 2024

Hot Summer Nights

 

fancy text that says "the dirt palace" in a dusty, dark teal. the word "the" is smaller and each letter is on a diagonal line while the words "dirt" and "palace" are the same size as each other and in a straight line.

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!


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).


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

UPDATES!!!

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



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

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!

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

HARPY Tour with Mirrored Fatality and Hide was absolutely incredible

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

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