May 2010 Archives

Well, here it is, readers: the moment has come that will test our staid commitment to events, event-going, and communicating exclusively and succinctly about events. These are trying times, people. Up in the news, its all softball scandals and oil slicks. Avert your eyes from these tawdry distractions! Resist the seductive temptations of the blogosphere and television set! Newscasts, be damned! This is all you need to know:

Friday night will offer to us a prismatic showcase of pop/rock and hunkitude. Erin Boucher, get r done! Shryne, Brian Severn & Those Victorious, and Heather Rose share the stage. Saturday promises a a glam-prog extravaganza: A Troop of Echoes celebrates their CD release with Herra Terra, Volcano Kings, and (thank the lord!) Mahi Mahi. And I swore I'd never wear spandex again! We're not just weekend warriors, team: Tuesday the 1st we'll welcome our June Artist /Hacker in Residence, Jimmie Rodgers. (I know, I know! Not the guy that wrote "In The Jailhouse Now." Thats where my mind went, too.) Get ready to bend circuits, build robots, and bust out the solder. Jimmie is here to show us how to hack in style. Make your early-mid nineties fantasies come true! Stop by the labs to see what we're building/destroying/turning into a cyborg (kittens!); stay to build an Atari Punk Console or turn your old toys into blinking musical instruments. 7-10pm every weeknight in June. For rizzle. Wednesday night we're thrilled to host Providence's Pecha Kucha. Did anyone see Lost In Translation? Like that. AND, the following Friday B Sharp is driving the bus. We aim to please.

There it is, readers. I'd love to stay and dish, but I have to break it to the Cute Overload pin-ups that soon they'll be half machine. For the full list of the happs, get thee to our calendar. I'll leave you to it. Until the rock show, away!

The AS220 Project Space/Reading Room is excited to offer Nancy Spero's Torture of Women published by Siglio Press.

This epic artwork, juxtaposing testimony by female victims of torture with startling imagery from the ancient world, is as powerful now as when it was created in 1976. Artistic ingenuity coupled with boldly feminist and political intent, Torture of Women is a public cry of outrage and a nuanced exploration of the continuum of violence and the isolation of pain. It is also a pivotal work by an American artist whose immense impact has yet to be fully examined.

Siglio's publication, three years in the making, translates the 125 ft. work into nearly 100 pages of detail so that the entirety of Torture of Women---with legible texts and vibrant color reproductions---can be experienced with immediacy and intimacy, providing a unique opportunity to engage this influential but infrequently exhibited work of art. Siglio's publication of Torture of Women also serves as a centrifuge for conversation, raising provocative questions that cross the borders of art, politics, feminism, and human rights.

Nancy Spero, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1926, studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Her work since the 1960s is an unapologetic statement against the pervasive abuse of power, Western privilege, and male dominance. Executed with a raw intensity on paper and in ephemeral installations, her work often draws its imagery and subject matter from current and historical events such as the torture of women in Nicaragua, the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust, and the atrocities of the Vietnam War. Spero samples from a rich range of visual sources of women as protagonists--from Egyptian hieroglyphics, 17th Century French history painting, and Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie advertisements. Her figures, in full command of their bodies, co-existing in nonhierarchical compositions on monumental scrolls, visually reinforce principles of equality and tolerance. "

Nancy Spero passed away last October at age 83.

Read an interview with her from 2008 here. Read an interview with Natalie Kraft on the making of the Siglio book Torture of Women here.

Nancy Spero's Torture of Women published by Siglio Press is available at the AS220 Project Space for $42 dollars. For more info neal@as220.org.

You heard right! In a mere four hours Denny Moers will be here, live, in the darkroom to show us how he does stuff like this:



and this:



And as if that weren't enough, after the demo Denny has some slides to show us. That's right, an ACTUAL COLOR SLIDESHOW!!!!
This is gonna be huge! Don't miss is, because I promise, you'll regret it. Plus, how could we possibly describe in words what Denny does with photos and chemicals and light? Not possible folks.
So get down to the AS220 Darkroom at 6:30pm. It's* totally free!* No excuses! Be there!!

If you're hoping to pick up a creative skill or two in June, or interested in the art of multiple-making, consider the following:

Intro to Screen Printing - Monday, June 14th and 21st from 5-9PM Learn how to Screen Print colorful flats layers of ink onto paper or fabric - or translate that graphic drawing into an ideal image for this fast, flexible printmaking process. This two-session class will cover screen selection, prep, and coating with photo emulsion, creating an image well-suited for screenprinting, exposing our screens, printing technique, multiple-color printing, registration, halftone images, and more. A very full 8 hours total. Only 1 spot left!

Intro to Offset Printing - Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 1st - 17th, 5 - 9PM

Come learn how to run the ABDick 9850 Offset Press - A commercial press capable of creating hundreds of prints in a matter of minutes. Publish your own colorful 'zines, newspapers, fliers, single-page artists' books, multiple-page book projects, and more. Only One Spot Left!

T-shirt Screen Printing, Saturday June 26th, 1-5PM Want to quickly learn the basics of screen printing and walk away from a 4 hour class with some hand-printed t-shirts? sign up for this class, design something nice and graphic, learn how to expose a screen and print up a small storm. Participants, bring your own fabric or t-shirts to print on, and we'll aim to make this basic class as productive as possible.

If you're interested in a class but June doesn't work for you, check out our July class schedule, too!

Don't forget! This Saturday from 1 to 3 we will be hanging out at our Mercantile building, giving tours and unlocking the secrets of our soon-to-be 22 residential studios, 3 beautiful practice spaces, future homes of the Labs and Printshop, and, most importantly, the recently unveiled Stable! Come by to see what we've been up to, or to pick up a rental application for your fabulous new Downcity pad. See you there!

That's right folks-Denny Moers will be in house giving a live demo of his photo printing technique that is responsible for the astounding images before you. Impressive, right? "How does he DO that?" you may wonder. Well, this is your chance to find out!



This Monday, May 24 at 6:30pm, Moers will provide a live darkroom demo followed by a slide presentation of more of his incredible and vivid work for our May Open House Event, which is, as always totally FREE and open to the public.

Denny's Bio:

Denny Moers is known for his highly imaginative, technically innovative monoprints created by controlling the action of light on the chemical-sensitized photographic paper during the print developing process, giving his black and white photographs an extraordinary range of tonalities. He has photographed subject matter as diverse as New England architecture, medieval wall frescoes and tomb reliefs, contemporary constructions sites and western landscapes and dwellings.



Denny Moers received his MFA from the Visual Studies Workshop. During the 1980's he worked as Aaron Siskind's first assistant and printer. He is currently on the faculty of Roger Williams University. He received a RI Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2003.

His photographic monoprints are included in over 30 public and private collections throughout the world including the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Ma., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art; The Huston Museum of Art, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City.


Recent publications include the portfolio: Between Now & Then-A selection of book covers with a foreword by CD Wright published in 2006 and COMPOSITION BY FIELD: An Olson Portfolio celebrating the 100th anniversary of the American poet, Charles Olson published by BoxKite Press, Australia in 2010.

His artwork is represented by the Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA., June Bateman Gallery, NY, NY and Thomas Meyer Fine Art, San Francisco, CA.

Prepare yourself for total photo awesomeness! See you in the Darkroom!

June 6-26, 2010

opening reception (free admission)

Sunday, June 6, 4-7pm

AS220 Main Gallery

New Work by Marylou Butler & Janice Causey

Open Window

New Work By Kevin Cunningham/Spirare Surfboards

AS220 Project Space (93 Mathewson St.)

Bury Me Deep new work by Serena JV Elston & Meredith Younger

In the Reading Room Fifteen Fluxus Books Artist Madolin Maxey &15 artist friends exhibit 16 unique Fluxus books.

Youth Gallery New Work by Norlan Olivo

Check out Greg Cook's review of our current exhibition here.

Ok. Thats not true. But local painter Kathy Hodges blogged about her recent foray into the fusion of Hi-Tech and traditional printmaking processes.

She's been a wonderful participant in the Laser-cut Japanese Woodblock Printmaking class, and we were delighted to visit her website and see that she's been setting up shop during her lunch hour - a brilliant demonstration of water-based woodblock printing's strength as a printmaking process that can be practiced nearly anywhere, at any time.

Photo: Kathy Hodge.

Visit her blog: Art and Nature or take a look at Kathy's paintings: Kathy Hodge

Lastly, some of her work is on display as a part of Providence Art Windows, right in Downtown Providence, across from City Hall, and next to Big Nazo.

Bonjour, readers! How goes life in the blogosphere? So far so awesome on this end, thanks for asking. Before we begin in earnest, lets take a moment to debut a new segment I like to call Your Week In Baffling Internet Gossip. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill sings on a new Christina Aguilera song called I Hate Boys. Seriously? The state of Texas is removing the word "slavery" from all of their textbooks, favoring instead "Atlantic Triangular Trade." Makes sense to me. Photocopiers have a hard drive, which stores scans of everything you ever xerox. When you dispose of/return from leasing/leave unattended your beloved Toshiba, anyone with a philips-head and a USB cable has a window into your passport info, social security number, and tuckus. True story. Ask the interwebs.

This Friday, the careening snowball of Rock n Roll and high fives picks up momentum as What Cheer? Brigade celebrates their fifth birthday. Cakes, greeting cards, and unpitched percussion encouraged. Rounding out the festivities are neat guy Jacob the Terrible, my-very-favorite-rock-band Arcing, and Veveritse. Saturday, in keeping with our apparently newfound tradition, encompasses a host of events so densely packed with intrigue and awesomeness that one questions their heretofore conception of mass. You know how you can fill a jar to the brim with marbles, but there's still room for a cup of sand? Then you think its really packed, but can still add 16 ounces of water? Starting at noon, an all afternoon youth-run collaborative extravaganza, Roots and Rituals, will present workshops about improv, laser cutting, and dance, as well as a Youth Arts Panel discussion at 2 and a slew of performative showcases. Simultaneously in the bar area, our weekly Irish Jam Sesh will provide the soundtrack to "The Best Day of Your Life." Ice cold cocktails! Outdoor seating! Not rain! Who knew? Between 1 and 3, we'll be hosting an open house of our brand-spanking-new Mercantile Building. Picturesque live/work studios! Practice spaces with real locks, and bathrooms you aren't terrified of! Sunday promises a mellow yet riveting chill-fest with haunting acoustic squad Allysen Callery & The Land of Nod, Paul Metzger, Amen Dunes, and Anikki Dawn & The Demons. Shhhhh. AND now, as Monty Python would offer, for Something Completely Different, Monday evening in the darkroom resident photo wizard Denny Moers will unlock the secrets of his signature and quasi-accidental developing processes. Check it out upstairs, and stay for Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa, Alec K Redfearn & the Eyesores, and Hector 3.

SHWEW! I'm breathless, readers, and am feeling flushed. I'm off to get ramped up on Red Bull and practice my Arcing lyrics. What? For a full list of the happs, get thee to our calendar. Until the rock show, Away!

After a only a week or two of work, Norlan has come up with this awesome Giraffe. It's made of felt, packing peanuts, sand, and a wooden pole to support the neck. His inspiration was simple: "I like giraffes, and I figured, I didn't want to make a bag in sewing class, so I made this instead." He drew out the trace for the animal, then cut out the material along the trace. The front and backside are machine sewn together, except for a small opening used to fill giraffe with packing peanuts, and then the opening was sewn up by hand. Norlan is also wearing a rain poncho which he made out of some water-proof material he found laying around. Then, for the finishing touch, he etched "Hello World" into the neckline using the laser cutter at a sensitive setting. Ka-Blam!