A vision of change and radical break from the business-of-fashion-as-usual, the caftan can be worn by people of any gender, age, or size, and in any climate. The radical caftan rejects the discipline of the body by providing free movement and minimal restriction for the wearer. Using yardage, upcycled, and found materials, participants will learn basic caftan pattern drafting, sewing, and embellishment techniques. No sewing experience necessary and all levels welcome. We will complete the caftans just in time to parade them for P-town’s Wednesday Tea Dance. radicalcaftan.com
March 24 and 25, 10 am – 5 pm The National Gallery of ArtEast Building, Concourse – Gallery Lobby
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. The fire is one of the worst disasters in American industrial history, as the deaths resulted from inhumane, dangerous working conditions—including locked doors within the factory. To commemorate this anniversary, in conjunction with Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, join us in observing as textile superhero Frau Fiber continues her work towards sewing 146 shirtwaist blouses.
The National Gallery of Art presents Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, an exhibition exploring the intersection of abstract art and woven textiles over the past century. The nexus of textiles and abstraction embodies key political, social, economic, and aesthetic issues that have shaped the history of the modern era. Beginning in the first decades of the 20th century, the exhibition presents a diverse range of genres, materials, processes, and technologies, which artists have utilized when probing these issues: painting; basketry; photography and film; woven, knitted and felted cloth; costume; attire; and tapestry. Further, it foregrounds the increasingly important role of textile heritages today as affordances in constructing identity, kinship, and community.
Featuring over 150 works, the exhibition assembles a roster of transnational and intergenerational artists. Works by pioneering women artists from the historic avant-gardes are put into dialogue with those of contemporary creators: Anni Albers, Jeffrey Gibson, Hannah Hoch, Yvonne Koolmatrie, Ulrike Mueller, Liubov Popova, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Andrea Zittel, and others.
Woven Histories is organized in seven sections: key moments of interchange, impact and confluence, between textile and abstraction, that unfold in a loose chronology. These sections include: Materialist Abstraction, Design, and Utopian Social Visions; Line Involvements; Pictorial Interlacings: The Grid, the Net, the Web; Basketry as a Textile Art; Labor and its Technologies; Self-Fashioning and Life Wear; and Community and the Politics of Identity.
Woven Histories is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with LACMA, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition is curated by Lynne Cooke, Senior Curator of Special Projects in Modern Art, National Gallery of Art. The LACMA presentation is overseen by Rita Gonzalez, the Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head, Contemporary Art, LACMA.
This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Generous support was provided by The Claire Falkenstein Foundation and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by The David & Meredith Kaplan Foundation, with generous annual funding from Louise and Brad Edgerton, Edgerton Foundation, Emily and Teddy Greenspan, Mary and Daniel James.
The Dividual explores an emergent subjectivity divided from itself and always-already a part of something. Since antiquity, the Individual (άτομο or átomo in Greek, individuum in Latin) has been defined philosophically, legally, and psychologically as an entity that is distinctively separate from the rest and indivisible from itself. In many societies, the individual is perceived as an objective subjectivity. As the relations and social institutions that constitute the individual and those that are formed around it change, there have been throughout history struggles around the gender, class, race, age, ethnicity, and species of those recognized as individuals.
While the long history of individuation is well documented in philosophy, literature, law, and social sciences, it is in the history of the arts that we find iterations and examples of the dividual and its proposition. Within the realization of individual-based structures collapsing all around us before, during, and after the pandemic, various recent cultural products, describe the rise and fall of individualism and invite conversations on other forms of being in the world. The Dividual denotes a broad set of subjectivities that are divided and at the same time always in relation to others. Through a multidisciplinary approach, these contingent subjectivities propose us other forms of self.
Six different perspectives provide entry points to this incipient subjectivity: In anthropological literature of South Asia and Melanesia (McKim Marriott, Marilyn Strathern) and of the Andean and Amazonia (Eduardo Viveiros de Castro), the dividual appears as a form of kinship. In the critique of the society of control and the rise of digital and financial networks (Gilles Deleuze, Gerald Raunig, Arjun Appadurai, Michaela Ott, John Cheney-Lippold), it is presented as a distributed subjectivity. In Black study (Frantz Fanon, Robin D. G. Kelley, Cedric Robinson, MLK, Marronage, Octavia E. Butler, Sylvia Wynter, Fred Moten and Stefano Harney), it is experienced as a presence that expands historically and by that generates the solidarity of the under commons. Within the shock of modernity, it emerges as a form of being that both expands and divides the individual (in digressive modernities such as Feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis and surrealism). In relation to the Soviet science of management and shock work (Platon Kerzhenetsev, Andrei Platonov, Sergei Eisenstein, El Lissitzky, Evald Ilyenkov, Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin), it is perceived through new divisions of labor that provide measures or scales between individual and mass, or person and collective. And in the philosophy of symbiogenesis (Lynn Margulis, Boris Kozo-Polyansky, Bruno Latour, Alexander Tarakhovsky), it is perceived as a holobiont—a unit that is an assembly of elements folded into one another. The Dividual is informed by the persistence of these social imaginaries, their histories and futures, and provides us with a proposition for living, thinking, and organizing.
ARTISTS EMANUEL ALMBORG CHRIS KRAUS SHANA LUTKER CAROLE FRANCES LUNG, SL MODE ARCHIVE OHAD MEROMI RUTH PATIR IGNACIO PEREZ MERUANE EL LISSITZKY SYLVERE LOTRINGER ROEE ROSEN EMMANUELA SORIA RUIZ PAUL MPAGI SEPUYA SONNIE WOODEN BARAK ZEMER
INCLUDING WALTER BENJAMIN BERTOLT BRECHT OCTAVIA BUTLER DREXCIYA SERGEI EISENSTEIN LUCE IRIGARAY STEFANO HARNEYAND FRED MOTEN PLATON KERZHENTSEV PAUL KLEE JACOB LAWRENCE KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS RIGOBERTA MENCHU ANDREI PLATONOV ALAIN RESNAIS AND CHRIS MARKER CEDRIC ROBINSON
SMALL ACTS is a curatorial collaboration between SDSU professors Kerianne Quick and Adam John Manley, taking place at SDCC City Gallery from March 12 – April 13, 2022. The exhibition brings together artists and craftspeople whose work explores the subversive nature of craft. Works by more than 60 artists/craftspeople from across North America address the theme of subversion through a range of approaches, processes, and media. To emphasize the power of even the smallest actions, the scale of the work was limited to that which could be shipped in a small, medium, or large USPS Priority Flat Rate mailer.
Curated by Carole Frances Lung, Professor of Fashion, Fiber and Materials at Cal State University, Los Angeles, and archivist and biographer of the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms Frau Fiber’s experimental factory and working archive located in Los Angeles, CA.
Closed Loop is a term used in the circular economy, describing practices in which materials are reused rather than discarded as waste. Closed Loop, the exhibition, features the work of artists, community members, and businesses that deploy systems of sustainability and social justice, and promote the reuse of fiber, textile, and apparel materials.
The exhibition is designed as a series of loops. The outer loop holds Pattern Pieces, collages and drawings by Catherine Esmond Mulligan (Boulder, CO). In this series of studies, Catherine reflects on women’s apparel sewing patterns. The artist places material from her personal collectionof vintage patterns, in the context of the history of modernist art and architecture.
The middle loop, on the columns of the gallery, features the Quechquemitl Geschichte Kleidungsstück (Little Chest Story Garments) made by Susana Rodriguez, Ariana Garcia and Blanca Patricia of the Mama Leonas (Boulder, CO), and Adriana Paola Palacios Luna of Luna Cultura (Boulder, CO) and workshop participants.
Special thanks to Jaime Kopie and the Boulder LIbrary for supporting this exhibition, Eli West for hosting the Sewing Rebellion workshop and wool donation, and Jerónimo B. Palacios Luna for the video and still documentation.
A fully illustrated history of modern and contemporary art in California from the early twentieth century to the present day.
Description
This introduction to the art of California focuses on the distinctive role the state played in the history of American art, from early twentieth-century photography and Chicanx mural painting to the fiber art movement and beyond. Shaped by a compelling network of geopolitical influences—including waves of migration and exchange from the Pacific Rim and Mexico, the influx of African Americans immediately after World War II, and global immigration after quotas were lifted in the 1960s—California is a center of artistic activity whose influence extends far beyond its physical boundaries. Including work by artists Yun Gee, Helen Lundeberg, Henry Taylor, Richard Diebenkorn, Albert Bierstadt, Chiura Obata, and Judith Baca, among many others, art historian Jenni Sorkin tells California’s story as a place at the forefront of radical developments in artistic culture.
Organized chronologically and thematically with full-color illustrations throughout, this attractive study stands as an important chronicle of California’s contribution to modern and contemporary art in the United States and globally. In one stunning volume, Art in California addresses the vast appetite for knowledge on contemporary art in California.
Contributors
Jenni Sorkin
Author
Jenni Sorkin is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She writes on the intersections between gender, material culture, and contemporary art, working primarily on women artists and underrepresented media. Her publications include Live Form: Women, Ceramics, and Community; Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016; and numerous essays in journals and exhibition catalogs. She was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bard College, and received her PhD from Yale University. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Modern Craft.
2020 was a year of great uncertainties. Amid the anxieties, the tears and the rage, many of us have also discovered a surprising calm and determination. Flux asked artists about the ways in which they’ve navigated the challenges and the ways in which they’ve discovered inner strength. Spring and summer shows will reflect some of the responses. Frau Fiber, the alter-ego of artist Carole Frances Lung, has sewn masks every day since the lockdown began inMarch of 2020. They have become like journal entries– marking time, referencing current events, noting moments of hope and moments of challenge. Betsy Lohrer-Hall, Director/ Curator of Flux Art Space.
Join Frau Fiber in Solidarity at a Distance March 18th – April 17th, 2021 @ Flux Art Space, Long Beach
OPENING-AT-A-DISTANCE WITH FRAU FIBER mask up and walk up or drive by SATURDAY MARCH 20TH, 1-3 PM
Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake) with Frau (onlive via zoom): Saturday April 3, 11:30 am (PST)
Long Beach, CA – Join Frau Fiber, the alter-ego of visual artist Carole Frances Lung, for Solidarity at a Distance at Flux Art Space, March 18 – April 17, 2021. The exhibition can be viewed from the sidewalk 24/7 at 410 Termino Avenue in Long Beach. We’ll have two opportunities to meet Frau – one in person and one over Zoom. First, you can mask up and drive by or walk up to the opening-at-a- distance on Saturday, March 20, 1-3pm at Flux. Then, you can join us for Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake) on Zoom, Saturday April 3, 11:30am (PST). See below for more details!
About Solidarity at a Distance On March 18, 2020, Frau Fiber went into lockdown at the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms (formerly at 322 Elm Ave LB, now at The LOFT, 401 S Mesa Street, San Pedro). In response to the lock down, the supply chain’s inability to provide face coverings, and in solidarity to combat COVID, Frau Fiber generated a face mask a day for herself and for Carole Frances Lung, her biographer and archivist of the ILGWU. To bolster the supply chain Frau Fiber produced over 300 masks that were donated to homeless shelters and the Long Beach VA. The face coverings were made with a dust cloth liner and textiles from the waste stream. From the waste stream supply, Frau Fiber chose to make her face coverings from solids, texture and woven textiles, while Carole selected novelty prints. The making of the masks is the only production Frau has been able to accomplish and it has become a way of settling into this long winter of isolation.
Both Frau and Carole have received their first COVID vaccines recently without incident. Face mask production will conclude on March 21, 2021, after their second vaccination.
Flux Art Space is currently open for window-viewing only. The exhibition can be enjoyed 24/7 from the sidewalk. We also have two opportunities to meet Frau – one in person and one over Zoom.
If you’re in Southern California, mask up and join Frau (from a safe distance) in celebrating the opening of the show by driving by or walking up to the window on Saturday, March 20th, between 1- 3 pm. And, from wherever you are in the world, join Frau Fiber virtually on Saturday, April 3, at 11:30am (Pacific Time) for Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake) on Zoom. Email for the link
Kaffee und Kuchen is one of Frau Fiber’s most beloved traditions. In Apoloda Germany, Frau Fiber’s hometown, she would stroll to Backerei Doepel on Wihelm Strasse with a friend for a leisurely cup of coffee, a slice of cake, and lively conversation. Frau Fiber invites you to join her virtually from the Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms south of the 110 freeway, for a slice of cake, cup of coffee, and conversation.
Frau Fiber will be baking a Covered Apple Pie from her favorite East German Cooking website https://www.erichserbe.de/075 You are invited to try this recipe, bake one of your favorites, or purchase from your favorite bakery.
About the Artist:
Carole Frances Lung is an artist, soft power guerilla activist, and Associate Professor of Fashion Fiber and Materials, at California State University Los Angeles. Through her alter ego Frau Fiber, Carole activates a vocabulary of fashion and textile production and consumption, crafting of one-of-a-kind garments, installations, performances, and social sculpture, paying homage to labor, textile and apparel manufacturing histories and contemporary production systems. Her slow durational practice of careful listening, problem solving, skill sharing and community building engages in hands-on experiences, which attempt to instigate change in the current Fast Fashion system. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious art awards and has exhibited and lectured widely. Carole maintains the Institute for Labor Generosity Workers and Uniforms, Frau Fiber’s headquarters and experimental factory in The Loft, a warehouse building in San Pedro, CA.
Founded in 2018, Flux Art Space connects emerging and mid-career artists with each other and with members of the vibrant community of Long Beach—and southern California—through exhibitions, workshops, and gatherings.
Flux Art Space encourages cross-cultural and cross-generational dialogue and celebrates creative expression as an integral part of life. We’re especially interested in presenting experimental and experiential works, small-scale events and workshops.
In an effort to do our part to keep members of our community safe and healthy during the current pandemic, Flux Art Space is currently open for window viewing only and online, via Instagram and Facebook (@fluxartspace).
Carole Frances Lung 