(1.31) Talks and conversations with textiles and the people who love them. Join Work in Process: Darning a French Work Smock with Reed McLaren this Thursday from 11am to 2pm.
A cotton twill weave work smock worn by a teacher in 1920s France displays mendings from multiple hands. Artist Reed McLaren continues to darn this piece with her own signature stitches in the exhibition, Repair and Design Futures. Talk with McLaren about how her hand contributes to the life and story of the garment, along with techniques and supplies used to darn.
Also on Thursday, Work in Process: Textile Conservation from noon to 1pm.
Hear from Anna Rose Keefe, Conservation Assistant, in the exhibition, Repair and Design Futures about the Costume and Textiles inventory project, repairing records and rediscovering lost object histories.
Also on Thursday, Work in Process: Fantasy Island runs from 11am to 4pm.
Shey Rivera Rios hosts an open studio about their work collecting and archiving stories of Puerto Rican residents and the diaspora.
Repair and Design Futures runs through June 30th and is located in the Contemporary Art Gallery.
Repair and Design Futures is a multidisciplinary exhibition and programming series that investigates mending as material intervention, metaphor, and as a call to action. In this context, repair is framed as a useful exercise applied to beloved textiles and as a global, socially engaged practice within contemporary art and design culture, addressing environmental and sociopolitical ruptures.
The entrance on the Benefit Street side is closer to this gallery which is essentially “above” the Pearl Cafe.
Repair & Design Futures continues, Thursday, January 31, Contemporary Art Gallery, RISD Museum, 20 North Main Street, (directions)