There is still work to be done on the Wedding Cake House before all the Dirt Palace plans come to fruition, but it is already a functioning art gallery, open to the public on Saturday afternoons. Up now, throughout all three floors, is “Ruffles, Repair & Ritual: the Fine Art of Fixing.” According to the exhibition handout/map:
This show celebrates the extensive renovation of the Wedding Cake House into a cultural facility that will support an Artist in Residence program and expansion of the Dirt palace, a feminist art space going strong in Providence since 2000. This inaugural exhibition mounts 150 artist works to honor the 150th anniversary of the house being built.
If there is a link for this show please send it on. Perhaps the directors and curators have been busy with directing and curating. Now about that map!!! This is my new favorite thing and I can’t stop looking at it (see below). It is the work of artist Matt Tracy and it succeeds on all levels. At first glance it seems busy and overdone, but on closer examination you realize that it is a perfectly drafted map of the space and a guide to, not only the artwork, but the wallpaper and the tile work and the staircase rugs and chandeliers. (There are adorable little remarks tucked in as well.)
I know I should discuss the exhibition but last Saturday was my first visit to the WCH and I was pretty overwhelmed. But I intend to return — there is some exquisite work.
(Seen here is one of the spectacular custom wallpapers, this by artist Lara Henderson.)
1:30pm to 3:30pm, Saturdays, WCH Art Gallery, 514 Broadway, (directions)
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Page One of guide by Matt Tracy.
Floor painting by Jungil Hong.
Tableaux like these are around every corner.
(Restroom tile work by Nidal Fakhouri)